A recent meeting held at St. Faiths Church with town centre businesses, agreed to Havant Civic Society establishing the group within its Placemaking and Public Realm role.
The Civic Society has an effective working relationship with Havant Borough Council and the general public, as well as other organisations, and has a credible reputation to co-ordinate positive outcomes with the new group.
We plan to hold regular monthly meetings to discuss town centre topics and issues. We plan to invite St. Faiths Ward Councillors to some of our meetings, as well as council officers and hope that the soon to be appointed Town Centre Manager (TCM) will be our main its offer to residents and visitors.
We recognise that the Borough Council has acted positively during the past year to support the priority town centres of regular liaison with the group, to effectively work together to improve the town centre and Havant and Waterlooville in an attempt to arrest further decline since the recent spate of retail chain and bank closures in the towns. Government grants have already helped Waterlooville and we hope some of the smaller allocation of money awarded to Havant, will support the town centre to become a more vibrant and inviting place.
The new TCM will receive our support to make the town centre a place people choose to visit as their community and retail centre.
To support the TCM, the Borough Council are delivering new initiatives such as the Empty Shops Scheme, offering new businesses the opportunity to open with grants between £5-£50k to support them. They have a public arts initiative for the town centre, ongoing improvements to public realm and have added new CCTV in the town centre. Four smaller units will also be established in the former Wilko store in the Meridian Centre, to encourage smaller businesses.
The loss of our banks in Havant has already had a major effect on footfall in the town and therefore it’s excellent news that Havant town centre has been chosen for a Banking Hub after lobbying from Councillors, our local MP and the Civic Society, initially in a temporary site opening soon, with a permanent site opening by the end of the year.
Havant is fortunate to have an historic heart to our town centre, centred on the beautiful St. Faiths Church, with a traditional Cardinal road layout, including the route of a Roman road running through it in West Street. The Civic Society believes that with regular planned TLC and a town centre economic and community strategy, Havant can regain its residents’ sense of pride in the town.
By strengthening the connection between town centre businesses, the local authority and the people and places we all share, that makes the town a thriving meeting place, we can achieve our aim of a sustainable future
We have retail chains, independent shops and an indoor shopping centre, cafes, pubs, a public library, churches, other businesses of all types, as well as an arts and heritage centre. We must capitalise on this breadth of offer to residents and visitors alike.
To add to this we have a town centre park, a transport hub with a main line rail station and a nearby bus station, plus plentiful car parking (though charges are a current issue).
Add to this, two adjacent and successful big name retail parks, Havant should have a lot going for it. We hope that with the appointment of the TCM, this potential can be realised, supported by a realistic economic development plan for the sustainability of Havant town centre.
In its simplest form, this means clean litter-free and graffiti-free pedestrian areas, looked after public realm and street furniture, green spaces, a safe place to visit, spend money and time there to enjoy the visitor experience.
We hope the new TCM will support and work with others to create a year-round events programme. The twice-weekly market needs to be reviewed to improve its offer and the pedestrianisation of the road area outside St. Faiths Church still needs to proceed. We also need a town centre website and a supporting marketing and communication plan to attract the general public to visit our town centre, a place that we hope gets this support and also receives the TLC it deserves.
Not a lot to do then, but you have to make a start and that time is now.
Peter Hammond
Placemaking and Public Realm Representative
28 March, 2026
Havant Civic Society 