Town Council for Hayling - Good or Bad? Come to our meeting.

- Fri 14th Dec 2007

On Thursday, January, 17th, at 7.30 in the URC hall, HIRA will be presenting the merits of a Town Council. It is quite clear that there are widely differing views on this matter but HIRA felt it was time to air opinion again, largely as a result of the feeling that Hayling does not get a fair hearing in some matters that affect us greatly. We hope to have speakers from areas of Hampshire that successfully operate such Councils. The ‘pros’ are that people feel that a local Council will enable Hayling to have a stronger voice in local decisions and, in certain matters, control its own destiny. Just think how effective a joint approach might be to bodies such as the County Council? The ‘cons’ are that such a Town Council would have limited powers, may cost more and would detract from the role of current Councillors. The next two items will cover topics that may have some bearing on the matter.

TESCO Planning Decision.

As most Islanders will be aware, TESCO has received permission to more than double the size of the store in Solent Road. The planning meeting was well attended, except, as far as I am aware, by the Hayling Councillors on the planning Committee. There was considerable disquiet about the way the meeting was conducted. People may know that under the ‘Prescott rules’ councillors who go into such a meeting are barred from voting if they have discussed the matter with the public and have reached a conclusion beforehand. Councillors are only allowed to make a decision and vote after hearing the evidence put before them at the planning meeting. It was clear that this was not the case as the chairman asked Committee members to announce their voting decision as they went along and long before they had heard all the evidence put before them.

Traders from Emsworth objected and the traders from Havant objected to the plans. Hayling was well represented in that opposition. In my role as chairman of the Hayling’s BEST MTI Group, I was tasked to make an objection, primarily on the basis of the effect the development would have on local shops. Of particular concern was the possible limiting of shopping opportunities for people of all ages and status not having personal transport. A representative from Hayling gave a spirited performance on behalf of the traders themselves and Sue Holt raised objections on behalf of Friends of the Earth. Together we made a very cogent and coherent presentation objecting to the proposal.

The decision as made was purely to be for the benefit of ‘Corporate’ Havant and the nub of the reason seemed to be as follows. ‘We have built a shiny new shopping centre in Solent Road and Potash Terrace. To keep Havant centre alive we must persuade shoppers at TESCO, Next, Wickes etc. to ‘link’ their visits and go to old Havant to keep that alive. At present we are not entirely sure that this will work so we need more people to go to TESCO so that, hopefully, more will then link to Havant and thus keep the old centre alive!’

The discussion did not mention, one way or the other, the affect on Hayling. Indeed one councillor from north Havant said ‘if the people of Hayling did not like it, they should stay on the Island’. Thus the views of Hayling, whatever they may be. were totally ignored. I fully accept that people from Hayling will use the extended store but it would have been nice if ANY view from Hayling had been taken into account.

Housing & Planning.

For years HIRA and virtually everyone on the Island has been moaning and objecting, usually unsuccessfully, about the extent of building on the Island. It has become more and more obvious that Hayling has had an excessive amount of building over the years. At our AGM, David Willets, our MP, offered to investigate a number of matters on our behalf. One of these was this topic of building. David has now sent us a very illuminating letter sent to him by Sandy Hopkins the MD of the Borough Council.

The current Borough town plan operates over the period 1996 to 2011 and was finally agreed last year! It is always good sense in government to produce a plan after the event; it is more likely to be correct!

By central government diktat Havant had to accept about 3000 housing units in the period. While no definite proportionment was made to different parts of the Borough, on the basis of existing population, Hayling should have accepted some 500 units as its share of the pain. Over the period, HIRA has consistently been of the view that this figure was being exceeded.

The figures now received show that in the period, not forgetting there are still four years to go, Hayling has had some 780 unit completions which are 31% of the total Borough’s figures. The Hayling population is only about 16% of that of the Borough so we have had, arguably, nearly twice our fair share... However, you will be pleased to know that most of this share came from ‘windfalls’ i.e. were not part of the plan but represent those units that were largely achieved by demolition and rebuild and infill. Only about 60o f these completions were ‘in the plan’ so what is the point of the plan?

The post-2011 plan is now being developed and the Government is calling for even more houses in the area!

On that note I will finish and wish everyone a Happy New Year and thanks for all the fish!


Tony Higham

By forum user, Bruce_Bennett

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