HHRA Update 15 April 2026

Driver Skills Scheme 60+

You may recall that in my 25 January Update I mentioned the Hampshire County Council Driver Skills Scheme for those of us who are over 60.  Since then, a number of HHRA members have done the assessment and yesterday I did mine.  The reaction of all of us who have done it is very positive: the assessor comes to your house, goes through various admin points for ten minutes or so, then you go for a short drive (typically, Stubbington, involving parking and everything else that one encounters in the village) with some initial feedback. Next is a longer drive – I did junction 11 to junction 9 of the motorway, returning via Posbrook Lane, concluding with another ten minutes or so general feedback and advice. The total time taken is 90 minutes.  The assessor is a very pleasant person with many years’ experience as a driving instructor and she does a number of different jobs now, eg assessments arising from a medical referral.

The outcome may be

·       Safe drive with further assessment in 24 months’ time

·       Satisfactory drive with further assessment in 12 months’ time

·       I recommend refresher training to help lower the risk of collision

https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadsafety/drivertraining/driverskills

May I commend it to you very warmly and, if you are not over 60 but have family or friends who are, feel free to pass the information to them.  It costs £65 and in my view is money well spent.

Beach clean Thursday 21 May

A beach clean is being carried at Lee on the Solent and Hill Head from 09.00 to 13.00 on Thursday 21 May and we are all encouraged to join. I know many of us try to keep ‘our’ local area of the beach as clean as possible, but there are areas that are certainly in need of improvement.  The person organising it is Henry Barker and it is an ONS (Office for National Statistics) volunteer day.  Henry will be providing litter pickers and bags though if you have your own litter picker, it would be worth taking it.

The muster point is Salterns car park at 09.00 though of course you can join in later if you are involved in school run or other activities first thing.  Do contact Henry direct if you have any queries: henry.barker@ons.gov.uk

Daedalus Waterfront Update

You may remember the very interesting meeting we had in September 2023 when we heard from Honor Fishburn about the plans for the redevelopment of Daedalus Waterfront.  Since then, many planning applications have been approved by Gosport Borough Council and attached is the recent announcement of the considerable progress which is being made.

Daedalus Update.docx

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Text frauds

Copied below is a warning from Hampshire Alert about a recent text fraud. May I again encourage you to sign up to Hampshire Alert – it is very good at putting out these timely warnings.

You will receive a text stating your bank/credit card has been added to an APPLE PAY wallet and asks you to phone a number to verify your identity.  This is a form of phishing (smishing) text to gather your personal/financial information in order to defraud you further.

APPLE state they do not call or text to warn you of issues, they will not text you and ask you to call a number, and they will never ask for codes, passwords or PINs, they will never email or message you with links or ask you to download software.

If you receive this type of message, please ignore it and do not respond.  You can forward it to 7726 if possible, or your phone provider may offer you the option to report it to them, then block the sender and delete the message.

Please do share this important update with friends and family and encourage them to sign up for their own Hampshire Alert: https://www.hampshirealert.co.uk/ 

Solent Cliffs Nursing Home extension P/24/1672/FP

Those living near, or using Old Street will have seen that last month work started on the extension of Solent Cliffs Nursing Home.  HHRA drew the planning officer’s attention to the fact that no construction management plan had been submitted, which was a condition of planning consent.  The planning officer followed this up with the agent and work stopped.  The construction management plan has now been submitted and may be viewed online, but there is now an objection from the ecology specialist, expressing concerns about lighting, badgers and bats. Note to agent: in Hill Head, it is wise to get your ducks (and other wildlife) in a row before embarking on a project….

HHRA Update 1 April 2026

Old Street appeal 2026.docx

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Old Street appeal by Bargate Homes

Attached are the comments we have sent to the national Planning Inspectorate on Bargate’s appeal against FBC’s refusal of planning consent for up to 62 houses on the fields west of Old Street.  As I have advised in previous Updates, we are not expected to repeat what has already been said on the application, so I tried to achieve a compromise by referring briefly to our earlier comments and adding new information on two areas – ecology & habitat and water management.  I would have liked to add more – eg re road safety – but I had no new evidence (though many thanks to the person who has sent the picture of passing vehicles).

You will see I have referred to FBC’s Statement of Case and the Landscape evidence from Ian Dudley, both of which were posted on late on Thursday and are excellent.  They do, frankly, say most of what we would wish to convey to the Inspector and can be viewed by going onto the FBC planning website, P/24/1553/OA, scroll down and click on Appeal and then click on documents.  You will also see there a further letter from HCC Highways who continue to reject any idea that there is a problem about road safety etc.

Our comments are not yet on the website, but I had immediate confirmation that they had been received last Friday (I had been waiting to see the FBC Statement of Case and Landscape evidence before finalising ours, hence leaving it to the last minute).

A reminder that the appeal will be heard at the civic offices on 9 and 10 June.

Osborne View

I have just returned from our regular meeting with the project management and construction teams for the Osborne View.  You will have doubtless seen the new arrival on site, namely the Raptor 48 crane.  It has already lifted a digger from first floor level to the road.  It can be operated remotely or by climbing to the ‘cabin’: site manager Damian advises that it works better if operated from the cabin, so he and other colleagues are going to get very fit!

Hill Head Road is now open but regrettably another lengthy spell of closure will be required of at least two to three months from 5 May. This is the result of the health and safety requirements which have been set for the period during which the steel girders for the frame are delivered and lifted onto site and scaffolding is erected on the road side to enable bricklaying to be carried out.  One more beam will also be installed at street level during this period to contribute to the stability of the site.

Breezes will be bravely remaining open throughout! 

The timescale for completion is under constant review and we will keep you posted.

Potholes and similar matters

I passed to Councillor Pal Hayre an inquiry from one of our members about work needed on potholes in Solent Road, Bells Lane and Cliff Road and received the following response from her:

As the weather has improved, Hampshire Highways have been able to progress with their scheduled works, and many of the potholes previously reported are now being repaired. I have also requested information on any planned maintenance for the roads in our area, so we have clearer visibility of upcoming works.     I am aware that Solent Road and Carisbrooke still have dips and potholes which have been reported but not yet addressed. I will be following these up to ensure they are prioritised.

I will keep you updated with any progress or information I receive.

Next members’ meeting

A reminder that our next meeting is on Monday 6 July, starting at the earlier time of 7pm, when we shall hear from Hampshire County Council and contractor VolkerFitzpatrick about the project to construct new access to the M27 at junction 10 as part of the Welborne development.

HHRA Update 25 March 2026

Local Government Re-organisation

You may well have picked up in the media the decision that five new single tier authorities will replace the existing mixed unitary and two tier structure in Hampshire & IoW with effect from April 2028.  As expected, Fareham will be part of the South East Hampshire authority, with Portsmouth, Havant and Gosport, plus a few parishes currently in Winchester and East Hampshire (not as many as I would have liked, but there we are….).  It has to be said that neither Portsmouth or Gosport are happy with the prospect of any change, but it is unlikely their views will alter the course of history. 

The imminent elections in May 2026 will be for councillors for the existing Fareham Borough and Hampshire County Councils.

Water Quality

With further thanks to our member who has raised concerns with all the relevant agencies, he has kindly shared with us the response he has had from the Environment Agency, which is attached.

Env Agency re water quality.pdf

Download PDF • 4.05MB

Shellfish Hand Gathering

As mentioned in the last Update, five HHRA members had a very useful meeting with representatives of FBC Environmental Health, Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Area (IFCA) and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority.  Attached are the notes of that meeting, agreed with all those attending.

You will see that the evidence is that although the groups are large, they are believed to be extended family groups and no evidence has been found of the shellfish gathered being sold for commercial use. Nevertheless, the agencies involved are very willing to received information from Hill Head residents and Wendy Shakespeare, Senior Environmental Health Officer FBC has kindly agreed to be the channel of communication: wshakespeare@fareham.gov.uk.

Shellfish Hand Gathering.docx

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Food waste

Next week is the first week in which food waste will be collected by FBC: the containers can be put out each week, on the same day as both general waste and recycling.

Request a roadside tree

Hampshire County Council are inviting residents to make contact if they would like to have a tree on the verge outside their house – see below.

You can help make Hampshire’s roads greener by requesting a new roadside tree. We welcome suggestions from residents as part of our work to increase tree numbers, improve air quality and support wildlife. Over the past decade, more than 15,000 new trees have been planted along local roads, focusing on areas with the greatest environmental benefit. Trees filter pollutants, trap dust, absorb carbon and provide shade. You can request a tree where suitable verges exist, and each site is assessed by specialist arboriculturists.

🌳REQUEST A TREE

Fake Banknotes

Hampshire Constabulary have warned of fake banknotes in circulation – see advice from the Bank of England: https://s-url.co/5MIsAA

Bargate: Old Street appeal

We are currently finalising our comments to go to the Planning Inspectorate by the end of the week, frankly struggling a bit to hit the right note and not simply repeat what we have said before (excellent though we think that was!) We will let you know what we send next week.