Archived home page – January 2020

Spring 2020

Setting aside global politics and climate change, there are cautious signs of the emergence of some kind of spring around Havant. The Bedhampton daffodills are bursting out, primroses and snowdrops are thriving in the Chairman’s garden and more importantly the “Six billboards outside 44-54 West Street” have been replaced by new wooden site fencing behind which heavy machinery is reducing the remainder of the single storey structure to rubble.

We have it on good authority that the new owner of the site wants to crack on and get something built. With planning permission granted long before the wretched Nutrient Neutrality issue caused all other plans to grind to a halt, it looks like the only site that should progress for a while. The developer has been persuaded to modify the design to fit more sympathetically with the newly re-launched Regeneration Programme plan and we look forward to the groundworks continuing over the coming weeks as the pile of rubble subsides.

Elsewhere around the town centre, the Wessex site is now up to first floor level and appears to be progressing well. The flats at the former Trentham art gallery on the corner of Prince George Street and North Street are now for sale. On the opposite side of the road, we understand that the application for 21 flats on Prince George Street has gone through, albeit subject to a Grampian Clause. (See the Nitrate Neutrality piece for an explanation).

East Street continues to languish unloved (by the council, not by us) and we’re particularly dismayed that the ‘Street’s Clock’ seems to have disappeared.

Havant Town Regeneration

The Havant Regeneration Programme has been re-launched, marked by a ‘public’ event at the Meridean Centre on February 4th. Take that link to read the details, or just take a look through some of the main images below.

Take a look at this proposed scene and see if you can remember where it was, and here’s a hint, before the Meridian Centre was built.

(Scroll down for the answer)