Haven House. Many of you will have received direct the update sent out by the Trustees of Titchfield Haven Community Hub on 22 August, but for those not on that mailing list, the text is copied below:
Following the decision taken by the Hampshire Executive Member on 31 July to reject the bids from THCH and HIWWT and to put Haven House on the market for sale in mid September, we met the HCC officers on 21 August.
At that meeting, they confirmed that Haven House would be marketed in three to four weeks' time but that HCC was 'open to consider any bid received in relation to Haven House up until an offer is accepted'.
This leaves us with a very challenging situation. We know that HCC is seeking to achieve a capital receipt of £1.3 million to spend on the Haven, as stated in their report approved on 8 December 2022; at the public meeting on 31 July, it was stated that the receipt from the sale of Haven Cottage was £500,000. That leaves them with a gap of £800,000.
Our own 'red book' valuation of Haven House, undertaken by a specialist independent valuer, is for a maximum of £627,500.
We therefore need to think through whether we can and should make an offer of £627,500, or even a higher sum: however, as a charity, we would need to think very carefully about offering any sum that exceeded the valuation. If we did make an offer, we would need to undertake a very ambitious fundraising campaign to demonstrate to HCC that we could raise the money. During that time, HCC might well accept a higher offer from another potential buyer.
We are going to take advice from one of our supporters who is very experienced in fund raising as to how realistic such a large fund raising effort would be. We are looking at other sources of grant funding but it is unlikely that such large sums would be available in the timescale
It is also important to be clear that the purchase sum would be in addition to the money we need for remedial and refurbishment work to 'match fund' the Community Ownership Fund grant of £186,000. You will recall that in late July we asked for pledges for community shares to meet that sum and you responded magnificently: the total pledged within a week was £222,000. But the purchase cost is a much larger sum and is over and above that.
We will send out a further update as soon as we have been able to reach a conclusion on the feasibility of such a significant fundraising campaign. It may be that we have to accept it is beyond us, but of course we will welcome your thoughts.
Stubbington Fayre is on Bank Holiday Monday 28th August.
Bygone Fareham Event. Saturday 9 September in the pedestrianised area of West Street. Classic cars, singing and dancing. Free entry.
"Wellbeing" Meeting at Fareham Community Hospital. The Friends of Fareham Community Hospital (FFCH) will host a discussion meeting, with a guest speaker, on how you can manage your own wellbeing, particularly in the post-Covid era. Thursday 14 September at the Hospital, 6.00 pm for refreshments and 6.30 start. Entrance fee £5 with all proceeds going to fund the activities of the FFCH.
Daedalus Airfield.
Installation of airfield ground lighting is planned for early next year. Our Daedalus representative Ken MacKenzie has asked for details of the approach light that will be erected adjacent to The Shack (the only light outside the airfield perimeter fence).
A new "visual control room" is to be built above the existing control tower, to give a 360 degree view over most aircraft movements; it will also aid the identification of any aircraft infringing the circuit regulations.
Lee Victory festival - 22-24 September. Spitfires, other historic aircraft and military vehicles, flypasts etc. Should be fun for many but anticipate traffic congestion in Lee and probable increase in aircraft noise level.
"Hangar Homes". Some may have seen some minor press speculation about a continuing attempt to build some "Hangar Homes" (light aircraft hangar downstairs, living accommodation upstairs) on the airfield perimeter. We are assured that Fareham BC owns the land and has no intention to allow such development.
Household Waste Reuse Survey. Hampshire County Council is looking for ways to help people reuse items that might otherwise be thrown away and is inviting us to take part in an online survey of our attitudes to recycling, repair and reuse. It is quite thought-provoking and worth taking a look. The survey is open until Sunday 17 September. Find it on Fareham's website -
https://www.fareham.gov.uk/have_your_say/consultation/wastepreventionreusesurvey (Note that the lines between have your_say are underlines, not hyphens.)
Glass and Aluminium Cans Recycling. Under the government's new Resources and Waste Strategy local authorities are looking at further options for improving recycling, particularly glass and aluminium cans. It is likely that some revised arrangements will be introduced in 2025. As always, cost/income implications have to be weighed. We will provide further information as we hear it.
Change of last collection times from post boxes. You may have noticed that those local post boxes which used to have a last collection at 16.45 Mon – Fri and 11.45 Saturday have now been changed to 09.00 Mon – Fri and 07.00 Saturday. Later collections are made from the post offices in Crofton Lane One Stop and Stubbington.
Scams.
WhatsApp - Scammer targets a large group, presumably so that any member doesn't know all of the others - creates a false account and pretends to be a be a new group member, asks you to join in a group chat. Need to be doubly careful to whom you respond.
DVLA. Beware scammer purporting to be DVLA and asking for personal details.
"Curry's" has told Peter Wason that he's won yet another air fryer!
Next Members' Meeting. A reminder that our next meeting is on Monday 4 September at 7.30 pm. In addition to our usual councillors' updates, the guest speaker William Murray will tell us about the planned mainly residential development on the Lee part of Daedalus. Come along and hear all about it.