As we move into the New Year, we’re feeling cautiously optimistic. With a new executive team in charge at Havant Borough Council, the unproductive relationship with East Hants District Council is now behind us and with an ‘ever-so-slightly more balanced‘ elected council following last May’s elections, the signs are that the town’s prospects are looking up. All-in-all, we’re rather more positive than we were this time last year.
The same hot topics continue to occupy the borough, but with the new regime in place and with every local councillor up for re-election in May, there’s opportunity for 2024 to bring further improvement to the level and quality of engagement with debates, decisions and outcomes in the council chambers. As we move into 2024, the refreshed organisation will need to find constructive ways to move on from some of the less helpful decisions of the past few years and we at Havant Civic Society will be doing our bit to make sure that the town centre residents’ voices are heard.
Regeneration
Now led by former Portsmouth City Council finance manager and long term Havant resident Wayne Layton, Havant Borough Council’s Regeneration team has brought a positive change in attitude to engagement with the town centres and we’re looking forward to the town moving forward from the costly stalemate of the past five years. There are still ‘interesting’ challenges to be faced, including the redevelopment of the Bulbeck Road car park site, but this year we’re hoping to see the presentation of a pragmatic, viable and deliverable, draft regeneration plan for Havant town centre. As part of the new approach to engagement, a new Havant Town Centre Partnership Board was inaugurated just before Christmas, with two of the Havant Civic Society committee members invited to participate. We’ll keep you posted on progress.
Planning
Major planning activity was relatively quiet in 2023, however we expect that there will be much to keep us occupied in the coming year on the following topics:
| Southern Water’s Water Recycling Plant proposal | Southern Water’s proposal to build a massive ‘reverse osmosis’ water recycling plant near Budds Farm continues to be driven through the water industry RAPID process as a candidate for a Development Control Order (DCO). The DCO approach takes planning decisions away from the local authority, removing any opportunity for public engagement and leaving the final decision in the remote hands of the Secretary of State. Southern Water have commandeered Portsmouth Water’s Havant Thicket Reservoir development project, changing the intended design and operation from the original ‘freshwater reservoir storage’ for Havant’s plentiful natural spring water into the ‘environmental buffer lake’ necessitated by Southern Water’s plans for energy-intensive forced recycling of output from Budds Farm. The revised planning approvals needed for the reservoir’s amended design and the new pipelines needed to link it with the recycling plant seem likely to be overtaken by the DCO process. |
| Portsmouth Water’s New HQ site | Despite the availability of suitable vacant office space in the borough, Portsmouth Water are still committed to developing a new office block behind the Bosmere Medical Centre, routing traffic through that NHS facility’s current entrance. Following considerable public concern when first raised in 2021, the amended plan submitted by Portsmouth Water in July 2023 covered just the new HQ office development. We expect the planning application for the second part – development of commercial units between the Bosmere Medical Centre and Manor Court using the same access – to be submitted by new landowner Chancerygate, Portsmouth Water’s original partner in the scheme, once the office development application has been approved. Internal pressure for local authority planning approval will be high since Havant Borough Council currently earn little or no income from Portsmouth Water’s extensive land-holdings in the borough and therefore stand to gain financially from redevelopment of these sites. |
| Campdown | The housing development proposal for 628 houses in a highly contentious location, with two overlapping planning applications, until recently both confusingly still open for comment. |
| Southleigh gap | While it’s good to see that the recent Barratts’ site access planning application has been refused, we’re sure this won’t be the end of the matter. Strategic planning for the Southleigh gap, including the essential pre-requisite of the essential ‘spine’ link from Bartons Road to the A27, must be addressed in the Local Plan. |
The Local Plan
We need to step up our engagement with the development of the Local Plan in 2024. Our first and last formal meeting with the council’s ‘Building a Better Future’ team was a disappointment, but with the team’s publication in May 2023 of the sites submitted by developers, we will be looking for greater proof of engagement with the community.
Traffic
Traffic and transport planning are subjects which Havant Borough Council and Hampshire County Council Highways either cannot grasp or deliberately ignore. In 2024, Havant Civic Society will be pushing for a summit meeting between Havant Borough Council, Hampshire County Council, Highways England and the Havant Borough Residents’ Alliance to press for strategic solutions to the area’s growing traffic problems, not the least of which is the the continued lack of a strategic plan and schedule for the A27 – Southleigh Link road.
Saving Havant’s heritage shoreline
Climate change adaptation is a subject of increasing interest given the emotive issues surrounding the gradual collapse of a small section of sea wall at Langstone. However, as we noted in a recent post, observations suggest that general neglect has probably played more of a hand in this than the changing climate. Lessons from the September 2020 sea wall breach at Southmoor need to be learned and we look to HBC based Coastal Partners to bring together the Defra bodies, local authorities and the Chichester Harbour Conservancy to facilitate a solution which protects Havant borough’s coastal heritage. The risk of an unmanaged rollback at the Langstone millpond and the paddock to the south of Wade Court raises strong emotions amongst local residents. To read the detailed Havant Civic Society posts on this topic, follow the News > Langstone Sea Wall link in the menu bar at the top of the page.
As we go to press, it looks as if the sheer strength of public opposition and concerns over future polling might just have facilitated an outbreak of common sense.
Retail
It is important that Havant capitalises on the unique relationship between the ‘Out-of-town’ retail centres at Solent Road and Central Retail Park and the traditional High Street town centre, each within walking distance of the others. With its growing attraction to out of town shoppers from as far afield as Portsmouth, we need an imaginative approach to both vehicle and pedestrian access which focusses on both the strategic road network connections and public transport connections. We also need to recognise the rapidly-growing importance of the ‘pre-loved’, sustainable retail market. Havant’s town centre charity shops are thriving and we should be turning this to our advantage as part of the town’s retail offer.
Employment
It’s currently unclear when we’ll see any new long-term quality employment prospects in the borough. The last few years of empty promises have seen tumbleweed rolling in the speculative construction dust of three empty units at Dunsbury Park, while Portsmouth City Council and the Solent Freeport continue to veto viable and appropriate development at that valuable Havant borough employment site. The consequent planning farce which, against all logic, located Amazon’s vast new Portsmouth delivery station at 32 New Lane, appears to have brought few local jobs of any value and as yet, no business rate income.
Despite Havant Civic Society’s persistent attempts to blow the whistle during the planning process, this ‘slow-motion train crash’ of a development proposal resulted in the long term-loss to the town of a prime brownfield site which would have been perfect for sustainable, suburban manufacturing employment opportunities.
Havant Civic Society 