Regular visitors who cherish the peace and tranquillity of this lovely space will already have noticed the barriers around the Gazebo Garden in the Pallant car park, so we would like to give a brief explanation for the temporary closure.
According to a letter issued on Havant Borough Council’s headed paper, the Principal Building Inspector – an employee working within a Fareham Borough Council shared service – stated that the long‑standing structural crack in the garden’s northern wall had been judged unsafe following a concern raised by local residents.
In his letter, addressed to one of St Faith’s ward councillors, the HBC Conservation Officer and the residents who raised the concern, the Principal Building Inspector noted that “It is the property owner’s responsibility to maintain their property / structure in a manner which does not pose a danger to the public or any person accessing the property.” The letter went on to suggest that HBC were looking to the addressees to effect repairs, threatening “an order requiring you to make the structure safe and will charge you for the costs reasonably incurred by the Council in doing so.”
For many years, Havant Civic Society and the Gazebo Garden volunteers have cared for the planting and handled the daily opening and closing of the gate on Havant Borough Council’s behalf, under a ten‑year licence issued to earlier HCS members in September 2015. That licence has now expired and, although we had a brief exchange with the council last April about a possible renewal, nothing has moved forward. We had also reported the crack in the wall and other minor structural issues on multiple occasions, but no remedial action has yet been taken.
Sadly, in the absence of a renewed agreement, for the volunteers to continue maintenance on the planting would risk being present on site without formal authority. Repairs are evidently required, but it is difficult to see how HCS or local residents could reasonably be considered liable in these circumstances.
It would be a clear loss to the borough if this HBC-owned heritage asset were locked up and allowed to deteriorate again, particularly given the restoration work undertaken over the years by community groups such as the Bosmere Hundred Society.
Almost a month after the letter was received by the residents, we can at last report some good news. Havant Borough Council now accept that they own the structure and are “identifying the actions necessary to ensure the safety of the wall and will be liaising with Building Control and others regarding this matter.”
We’re left wondering how many other such historical misunderstandings will come to light once the dust settles on Local Government Reorganisation.
Havant Civic Society 