The presentation by HBC’s Wayne Layton to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 19 June was a significant departure from the glossy, content-free and frankly out-of-touch presentations we’ve seen from his predecessors over the past five years. Mr. Layton is the recently appointed Executive Head of Corporate Finance who in addition holds the post of Head of Regeneration. His presentation to the O&S Committee confirmed the impression gained by the HCS committee in a recent face to face meeting, that as a resident of Havant borough with a strong background with Portsmouth City Council, he looks to have the experience and ability to make a difference.
With Cllr. Alex Rennie now owning the Cabinet Regeneration and Economy portfolio, we’re cautiously optimistic that things may now start to move.
| Link | Topic |
|---|---|
| Wayne Layton (WL) | Well worth watching this in full. He begins by talking through the ‘Statement of intent” slide from last year’s Strategy pack, leaving the impression that he may be as unconvinced by that document as we were at the time. Bear with it though, as he continues with the pitch, he demonstrates a greater understanding of the borough’s problems than his predecessor ever did. If you’ve an hour to spare, it’s worth listening to the whole session. The links below will enable you to jump to individual questions. |
| On Waterlooville | Current thinking on Waterlooville regeneration. |
| On Hayling Island | Current thinking on Hayling Island |
| On Havant Town Centre | Current thinking on Havant Town Centre |
| On Leigh Park and Broadmarsh | An admission that the team is still staffing up and the resource to tackle these two key areas of the borough is not yet ‘on board’. |
| Questions | |
| Cllr. Diana Patrick | “It’s not very long ago that £150,000 was spent on advertising Havant. What happened to the money?” What happened to the video and the glossy brochure? WL Response included the admission that parts of that video were “not settled in commercial reality”. WL also hints that the dreadful ‘Have with Havant’ branding will be consigned to history, with work done on the website “which is pretty poor at the moment”. |
| Cllr. Sceal | Does the Council own the ASDA site in Waterlooville? And what about the shocking state of the Brockhampton access (Harts Farm Way). |
| Cllr. Weeks | “Link up Leigh Park”. Is it a success? Hayling Island beach replenishment. Housing Fund – where are you going to put the refugees? |
| Cllr. Munday | How to improve the link between the Solent Retail Park and Havant Town Centre? (Discussion misses the obvious issue – getting across Park Road South traffic! But Cllr. Rennie thinks the unions flags put up to mark the coronation could make a difference). Cllr. Munday also queries parking arrangements for South Court, who currently have concessionary access to Bulbeck Road car park. Despite holding a role on Meridian Centre futures, was not involved in the High Streets Task Force and hasn’t seen the report. |
| Cllr. Turner | Questions whether Regeneration has a budget for tourism and regarding improvements to disabled access on Hayling. |
| Cllr. Crellin | Havant Town Centre shopping. A slightly depressing demonstration of confused attitude to town centre retail. More on “Link up Leigh Park”. |
| Cllr. Sceal | Who are the biggest employers in Havant Borough? |
| Cllr. Weeks | The Freeport – is the skills centre still in plan? |
| Cllr. Milne | Can we have regular progress updates on Regeneration? WL is already looking for his new regeneration manager to produce a regular quarterly update newsletter. This would be another positive outcome given the lamentable lack of response to our questions and offers of help in previous years. |
| Cllr. Patrick | Why have some of our bigger employers gone away and is there something the council can do about this? There are many surely obvious answers to this question, which is far from unique to Havant, but it seems some councillors may not be be aware. Having all but blamed Brexit for the loss of Pfizer to Belgium, Cllr. Rennie applauds the arrival of Amazon. “… that site is now employing far more people than it was when when Pfizer was there… we’re looking at getting towards 700-800 people that could be working in that site… ” – which is, of course, either the wrong answer or the result of an incorrectly framed question. Has anything come from her hosting of a party of Chinese businessmen at Dunsbury Park? WL hints at forthcoming announcements by Portsmouth City Council but doesn’t link them to this particular party. |
| Cllr. Gray and Cllr. Munday | Questions about Brockhampton West. |
| Cllr. Brent | This sounded from the response like an interesting question but was sadly inaudible. WL response clearly indicates that after five years of programme management inadequacy, he is committed to getting a more professional grip on the programme, its reporting and, we hope, its management of risks and issues. |
| Cllr. Gray | Rephrases her question for clarity – Terms of Reference for Broadmarsh regeneration activity. WL response includes the comment on consultation – “we’re keen that regeneration is something people come along with rather than have done to them” |
| Cllr. Kennett closes the session and sparks a few more questions | Great question from the Chair. “Not wishing to go backwards too much because obviously this is all about a brand new dawn and a re-invigorated regeneration approach, but we were talking about, for the economic development side, comms, linking up to businesses and having an offer. Why haven’t we had these as priorities before. Surely they’re in the bleeding obvious category.” Bravo Cllr. Kennett! Worth a listen and read between the lines of the diplomatic answer from WL. Cllr. Rennie admits that what we needed to see is some deliverables. Do listen to Cllr. Patrick’s comments about ‘If we want to win the next election’! Cllr. Kennett asks the Amazon headcount question again, Cllr. Rennie reiterates his earlier response that Amazon are pulling something together regarding how many live within 10 minutes, 20 minutes and 30 minutes of the sites. (Residents have had enough of the council’s deliberate evasion and obfuscation over the past three years, so please just ask the following, obvious question: “How many full time equivalent new hires have been added to the Amazon headcount, based onsite at the New Lane DP01 facility since, let’s say, January 2023?” The number of DSP and Flex drivers living within a 30 minute radius is an irrelevance since, like many of the warehouse staff, they’re seasonal gig-economy or short contract workers and not Amazon staff employed under the company’s terms and conditions.) |
| Cllr. Munday speaks for most of us in the last question of the session. | And it’s worth a listen. We need to see something happening, a clear plan and some real, measurable objectives. |
The main takeout from this is that Regeneration is under new management, something that makes a very welcome change from the almost complete lack of management over the past five years. HCS look forward to working with Mr. Layton, Cllr. Rennie and the regeneration team as the new programme plan takes shape.
Havant Civic Society 