Is HBC preparing to use Bloor’s 1,800 home Southleigh proposal as a planning system test case?
Havant Borough Council’s much‑touted cloud‑based planning system has stumbled into 2026 still offering end‑user functionality that falls well short of the system it replaced and a database still riddled with unacceptable errors. This is hardly a system capable of safely supporting a public consultation on a planning application as significant as the Bloor Homes proposal for Southleigh. (‘Hot Topic – Read here)
The proposal seeks to place 1,800 new homes on a landlocked greenfield site, with no meaningful assessment of the consequences for surrounding streets and no commitment to the Southleigh A27 relief road – an already urgent requirement made worse by the persistent failure of the local planning authority and the county highways authorities to coordinate their planning. (‘Hot Topic – Read here)
Click the image above to view the details of the Development Consultation Forum for the Southleigh proposal, scheduled as a ticket only event for Tuesday 27 January.
Selected earlier articles
For a bank who only a few weeks ago were trumpeting the news that their two branded branches would happily process each other’s customers’ business, doesn’t this seem ridiculous?
Transport Planning Consultants and the TRICS of their trade. In this post, we take a look at the consultants’ use of the ‘Trip Rate Information Computer System (TRICS)’, an estimating tool owned and endorsed by a consortium of local authorities including Hampshire County Council. As far as HCC Highways are concerned, if a planning applicant uses their estimating tool, the data it provides must be robust. But is it?
On 26 July 2025, the Planning Committee approved the planning officer’s recommendation that Portsmouth Water be permitted to drive a new road right through the medical centre entrance, to enable the construction of its new office block behind the surgery, and to set the precedent for commercial redevelopment of the field to the west.
We tend to think of Portsmouth Water as a responsible local business with the interests of the town at heart, at least in comparison with Southern Water. But is there really any difference between them?
We take a look at the ransom strips and other traps that the Company sets when it sells off plots of its extensive local estate for development.
If you enjoy maps and appreciate the ability to use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) coordinates to map local data of interest, this post takes a good look at one of the more useful but unpublicised services offered by the HBC website.
The image may show the the New Lane / Eastern Road junction but by far the bigger issue is HBC Planning Service’s failure to manage the 2,000+ vehicle movements that they approved by siting Amazon at the former Pfizer site.
Our Hampshire County Councillors remained silent during the recent debate on devolution, voting to defer the County’s elections in May while hanging on to their expenses and allowances well into 2027. The Society’s view is that our County Councillors’ democratic mandate expires on 1 May this year. There is no good reason for the election to be deferred and to do so would deprive residents of their democratic right to elect their representatives.
Those who kept up with the national news over the year end may already be aware of the Labour Government’s latest policy sledgehammer, aimed at disbanding both Hampshire County Council and Havant Borough Council at a stroke. In three years time, will Havant be competing with Gosport for attention as one of the two deprived areas within a new Greater Portsmouth unitary authority?
Looking for a quick way of finding the right page on the HBC website? Take the ‘HBC Info’ link in the main menu at the top of the HCS website pages, or even easier, just click here.
Last year was a good one, with a new exec team, a new elected council and some real, tangible progress on town centre regeneration. Sadly, it ended in a screeching emergency stop with the English Devolution white paper and the loss of yet another executive head of Planning and Regulatory Services.
Fancy a couple of new marina developments on Hayling anyone? Details of the sites which have been submitted to Havant Borough Council for consideration in the upcoming Local Plan. The usual suspects plus a few new ones.
The Warblington A27 Junction and the Southleigh ‘Spine’ road – unveiled.
If you thought that PDP Architecture had already squeezed a quart into a pint pot between Streets and the Pallant, take a look at what they’re proposing here in South Street. An interesting development proposal for the town centre.
Reflections on the Langstone Sea Wall drop-in session. We’ve put together the combined thoughts of the committee and one or two others following the Chichester Harbour Conservancy 12 December ‘Langstone Sea Wall’ drop-in session at the Plaza. It’s another long read, so if you’re not doing ‘dry January’, pour yourself a tot to help it down.
“Site 72”, Brockhampton West, sold by the Council for employment use to raise funds for the Meridian Centre re-development, now hijacked by Southern Water to build a recycling plant to enable output from Budds Farm to be pumped into the Havant Thicket reservoir.
Recognise the date stone in this image? It’s ‘hiding in plain sight’, so if your daily walk takes you into the town centre through the Pallant, keep your eyes peeled. Click the image for an introduction to heritage and conservation matters, applied to sites within and around the town centre.
This account of the first Full Council meeting of the year is of particular interest given the curious reluctance of the council to engage with the public on the subject of Devolution and, more particularly, Local Government Reorganisation. It wasn’t even on the agenda of this Council meeting and the Leader’s update to his report, which you can listen to below, wasn’t even covered in the published supplementary papers.
#rethinkhavant
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