HHRA Update

Haven Visitor Centre. There is nothing new to report. Haven House is being marketed by Savills estate agents. The Titchfield Haven Community Hub trustees will be resubmitting their bid, with the additional (mainly repeat) information HCC have requested and will then await their decision.

Temporary Closure of Salterns Road. The road will be closed all day on Tuesday 7 November for hedge cutting.

M27 and A32 Temporary Closures. Just a reminder of our earlier notice that Junction 10 works have commenced and there is a programme of overnight closures between junctions 9-11 and on the A32.

Fareham Shopping Centre. As some will already know, Fareham Borough Council has bought Fareham shopping centre and several adjoining properties on West Street. The £14.25 m acquisition forms part of FBC's broader regeneration programme, which includes £16.7m for Fareham Live (replacement for Ferneham Hall) and £2.5m to replace Osborn Road multi storey car park which has reached the end of its useful life.

Vandalism at Hill Head Sailing Club. Our Councillors Kay Mandry and Steve Dugan together with the Police have met with the Club to discuss recent youth vandalism.

Dogs on the Beach. As many will already know, to protect migrating birds, dogs are now banned from the stretch of beach under the western-end beach huts with effect from 1 October until 1 April, though they can of course be walked on the promenade. To summarise for all of Hill Head: it seems most likely that that ban will continue in future years; the Salterns beach dog exclusion zone is 1 May to 30 September.

Remembrance. Our member Manon Burton and her Poppy Ladies group have again been hard at work and their decorated nets will be attached to the cenotaph hedge on 29 October. They have also made lots of poppy badges and if you know of anyone who is housebound and would like one let us know and we will pass that on to her.

The King's Coronation Bench unveiling will take place at QE2 Platinum Jubilee Park, Daedalus on 1 November.

Scams. "You have won a Nike voucher. Just click....." "Halifax" again - "We need to update your information"; looks very authentic but not personally addressed. "Halifax" yet again - "Greetings .... An update awaits you ...."; not quite so authentic-looking and clearly an inappropriate sender's address; oh, and I don't even have a Halifax account!

Latest on Haven House

Many of our supporters are asking where things stand with Haven House, not least because there has been supportive media coverage in recent days. In essence, this is where we are:

Haven House is now formally up for sale and is being marketed by Savills, estate agents.

For anyone with at least £800,000 to spare, the details can be found via this link:

https://documents.hants.gov.uk/property-services/HavenHouse-HillHead-MarketingParticulars.pdf

Those of you with eagle eyes will quickly spot that the sales particulars do not mention planning potential, for example as a private dwelling house, simply listing the existing planning permissions instead.

We understand this might be because, in Savills own words “We are advertising “offers invited” and will be suggesting that we would expect to achieve an unconditional sale in excess of £800,000 (VAT not applicable). Whilst this would be an excellent private dwelling, the feeling is the politically charged nature of the sale will make planning a challenge, but we will not discourage interest.”

The fact that they acknowledge that change of use to a private dwelling might be ‘politically charged’ is testament to the success of all our efforts to make it clear to HCC the degree of opposition to any buyer seeking a change of use of Haven House, and might encourage bids from those interested in running Haven House as a café/restaurant and holiday flats. Whilst this would not achieve the benefits of the community hub that we want to create, at least we might get a café back.

In other news, HCC have issued a press release after our last meeting with them on 3 October which yet again misleads people about the scale of the financial challenge facing the Haven, referring to a shortfall of £1.8m. We know from their own figures that this was the original figure last autumn and includes the monies for repairs to Haven Cottage, which has already been sold and Haven House, which is being sold. The real figure required to fund works to the Haven and in needlessly re-providing new visitor reception facilities, which we will happily provide in Haven House, (again based on their own calculations), is £1.3m, and is the figure upon which we based our revised bid. As you will recall, nearly half that £1.3m is for the new visitor and staff facilities in the back yard, and only £670,000 is for repairs to the nature reserve.

They also point out that repairs to the nature reserve were delayed by the six month moratorium arising from the Asset of Community Value listing we obtained for Haven House. However, Haven Cottage was put up for sale at the beginning of 2023 and was sold some months ago, providing significant funds for use on the reserve.

HCC have also repeated their totally unfounded assertion about our business plan relying on ‘ambitious income targets to meet revenue costs’. This is despite our repeated offers to meet with their finance officer to go through the financial spreadsheets attached to our bid – most recently on 3 October - which they have declined.

We understand that the marketing period will end mid- to end November. In the mean time we will be sending HCC further information, to help them understand how we will raise the funds to back up our bid and to spell out the social value of running Haven House as a community hub.

Do share this update – which also appears on Facebook Save our Haven Centre! – with any friends who would be interested.

HHRA Update 4 October 2023

Haven Visitor Centre. The text below is a summary of an update circulated today by the THCH Trustees to those on the THCH circulation list.

We met with Councillor Russell Oppenheimer and officers in Winchester yesterday afternoon. Councillor Oppenheimer had definitely understood the strength of opinion which you have all expressed in the vast number of emails he had received. He had also recently met with the Leader Cllr Humby, the Deputy Leader Cllr Chadd and the Executive Member for Universal Services Cllr Adams King: they too had taken note of the strength of opinion conveyed in your emails. He had also met with Cllr Woodward who repeated strongly the views included in the letter he and the two MPs had sent last week (see www.thcommunityhub.org.uk Latest News).

The less good news is that Haven House will be going on the market by the end of this week with Savills estate agents. To be honest, we always expected that would be the case so we were far from surprised to have it confirmed. They expect to assess what bids they have received within six to eight weeks.

However, our bid - the original one submitted 13 June with the additional proposals sent in on 14 September - will 'remain on the table' to be compared with what they receive via Savills. Councillor Oppenheimer and the officers requested some clarification of aspects of our bid and we will be glad to supply that. An important part of that is the description of the community benefits which would be achieved if Hampshire were to agree the sale - at less than market value - to THCH. They have also asked us to send information showing our 'confidence levels' about raising the funds necessary to both purchase and refurbish Haven House. We feel able to indicate that our confidence levels are high, thanks to all of you.

For reasons which we frankly do not understand, Councillor Oppenheimer and the officers remain of the view that it would be far better for them to continue with their plan of putting visitor reception and staff facilities in a new building in the back yard, rather than continue to use the existing entrance, plus the room we have offered for staff. This seems particularly incomprehensible in the light of Hampshire’s well publicised financial difficulties, since our proposal would not only save them capital but would generate far higher visitor numbers and the resulting revenue

It is difficult to know what message to leave you with, as it is more than possible that Hampshire may receive some extremely attractive offers for Haven House and they may well settle with a private buyer. But the door has at least been left open a crack for THCH and we shall continue to do all we can to press our case.

Local Police Stations. As some will already be aware, the Hampshire and IOW Police Commissioner Donna Jones has just announced that under her drive to make the Police more visible and accessible, 10 police stations will be opened/reopened over the next 18 months, all with "front counters" for direct access by members of the public; a rise from 13 to 23 across the Constabulary. Locally, they will include ours at Park Gate as well as Gosport, Portsmouth Central and Cosham.

Overgrowing Vegetation. You may recall that we alerted our councillors to overgrowing vegetation along Crofton Lane and an adjacent road that was impeding the safe passage of mobility scooters and pushchairs. We understand that the houseowners concerned were all asked to take the necessary action and it is very pleasing to see how quick the response has been. Many thanks to our councillors and to the residents concerned. Do contact Hampshire County Council if you encounter further such problems.

Postal Collections. As we reported some weeks ago, the time of last collections from local post boxes has been changed. Although the notice on the post box gives (or at least implies) 09.00 as being the collection time Monday – Friday, in fact the collection is made by the posties who deliver; you can therefore estimate the approximate collection time as more or less matching your delivery time. On Saturday, however, it is earlier, though whether it is the 07.00 shown on the box, who knows?

Consultations. There are no new consultations. The Hampshire consultation on care in the community/care homes continues until 12 November. The link is -

Public consultation opens on transforming nursing and specialist care | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk

Scams.

- Fraudsters on Facebook. If something on offer seems too good to be true .....; or if you are pressurised to pay immediately ...... Ideally try to look fo a local seller so that you can see your potential purchase first. Especially if from a distance, avoid paying by bank transfer, ask to use a credit card and if they won't accept that then.....

- "Temporary Promotion act now.....Top Deal.......Your £500 VISA card is reserved........ " Oh yes?

- From "Halifax" - "We have noticed some discrepancies in your account........etc" Well, I don't actually have a Halifax account! As usual, the clue is in the sender's address; plus it doesn't address you personally by name, which your genuine bank/building society would.

- Again "We've-BEEN-trying-to-reach-you .....etc". Very poorly composed so unlikely to fool many.

- And still lots and lots of the old ones!