ECLT appreciates the hard work of the planners at Havant Borough Council who have to draw up a new Local Plan after the Government’s inspectors threw out their draft one last year.  The aim is to provide new homes and jobs that the borough needs while ensuring that the environment isn’t harmed.  The local plan adopted in 2014 suggested an aim of 315 new homes a year, but the Government’s new standard demands that Havant aim at 516 new homes a year in the Borough.

This month planners have started consulting local people about the possible contents of a brand new plan.  It will take at least a year to get the document prepared, to include further consultation along the way.  That document, called ‘Building a Better Future’, will be put in for inspection by the Government in early 2024, but is likely to take until 2025 before it is accepted and put into practice.  In the meantime planners do not have an up-to-date guidance document and there is a much greater chance of unsuitable development going ahead.

Information about the development of this new plan is out for all to read at https://www.havant.gov.uk/local-plan  and local consultations are being held from October into November 2022.

ECLT would like to help the Council by facilitating the development of affordable homes, but there is a severe lack of suitable land in Havant.  The plan for the major development north of Southleigh Road could lead to 2000 new homes eventually of which 30% should be affordable, but that project is far from starting. Similarly Long Copse Lane, if it goes ahead, will include a percentage of affordable homes.