Fears are growing that a £2.3billion development, dubbed the Venice of Britain, could be scrapped after the landowner announced he would be stepping away.
The Fawley Waterside development - described as "one of the most beautiful new towns in England" - spans 300-acre within the Solent freeport and New Forest National Park.
Ben Pentreath, the King’s favourite architect and Leon Krier, who designed Charles’s planned town of Poundbury in Dorset, were recruited for the project.
The "vibrant coastal town" was set to bring a economic boost to the area but is now under review since the landowner stepped back from the "day-to-day" running of the project last month.
The Fawley Waterside development spans 300-acre within the Solent freeport and New Forest National Park
Fawley Waterside
The development will be the home to 1,500 canalside homes, a hotel, school and marina.
Businessman Aldred Drummond - who pioneered the project and owns the Cadland Estate - said he will remain a "part of a firmly committed group of investors" but advisers would determine the next steps.
Small business-owners hope plans continue to run its course as the news sparks concern.
"With how close we are, for us, it’s definitely important that it continues and it does actually happen," Damo Grove, an employee at B’s Garage near the earmarked site, told The Times.
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"From our point of view it would bring in more custom with obviously a lot more people in the area having vehicles, requiring repairs and MoTs and so forth. We’re all for it, really."
Hayley Elston, owner of The Fabulous Catch Company, a fishcake producer in Calshot said: "From a business point of view it would be quite exciting because it’s quite an underused part of Southampton Water."
She added that she does have concerns about the uncertainty of her business’s long-term location on the land: "For me running a business, that’s not great, that doesn’t help.
"There’s been a lot of demolition going on, they’re building a big road near the quarry… It seems to have taken a phenomenal amount of time. Like I said, we’ve been here for nine years and the building isn’t demolished."
Fears are growing that a £2.3 billion development - dubbed Venice of Britain - could be scrapped
Fawley Waterside
David Harrison, a New Forest district councillor, described the development as an "ambitious project" with Drummond as the "chief driver".
He said: "This may be a significant and unwelcome development if it turns out the scheme will ultimately be dropped or drastically scaled back. It promised so much in terms of the economic boost, jobs and housing it would deliver — a huge amount of work has gone into it."
A spokesman for Fawley Waterside said: "Aldred Drummond has stepped back from the day-to-day management of the Fawley site, but he remains part of a firmly committed group of investors behind the project.
"The team is currently in the process of working with its advisers to review the current plans for the scheme and to determine the next steps to advance the development of the site, and we look forward to sharing further news in due course."
