Tag: Waterlooville

15th June Deadline – Get your choices in.


15th June, 2012 – That’s the deadline to give your opinion on sites for new Havant homes.

THE public is being urged to make its views known on plans for 5,000 new homes in Havant.

Havant Borough Council’s planning policy team wants help deciding where the homes and nine employment areas should go.

The News headline is misleading. What we are really talking about is the Havant Borough Council area. Of prime interest to me, of course, is Waterlooville.

So I did my civic duty and I visited the exhibition held at Waterlooville Library yesterday lunchtime.

On entering the foyer I was handed a form on which I was invited to indicate my preferences.

I could choose Option A, B or C and then further define my choice by indicating my favourite site and my least favourite site.

There were three large maps each with a number of shaded areas indicating possible housing developments.

Although I did have some discussion with one of the council reps on duty the venue was hardly conducive to absorbing the details of the proposed development sites. Or to be able to determine the differences between the options.

I asked if the information was available on-line and was told yes it is. That may well be true but I could not find the same maps on-line that were on display in the library. Certainly the maps are there, but without the supporting information about each of the sites.

Once again it seems like HBC don’t want you to easily understand what they are up to.

Needless to say I haven’t let them know what my choices are. I need to do some more digging.

What I did find was some maps indicating sites that have been excluded for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most surprising is that they are so desperate to find land to build on that they were considering the kiddies play area at Sage Close, Woodsedge, Waterlooville.

The hand out suggests that you can submit your choices on-line at http://www.havant.gov.uk/havant-12298

However, you do really have to do some digging to find the background information.

Here is another link to get you to useful information http://www.havant.gov.uk/havant-12133 and take a look at this map to see what is being proposed

So come on folks. You need to get your opinions registered. Go see the exhibition or trawl the council website and get your votes in.

Give your opinion on sites for new Havant homes – Politics – Portsmouth News.

Waterlooville Wally Of The Week Award


A few posts ago I introduced the Waterlooville Wally Of The Week Award

Well I have a new candidate, Bradley Woodacre.

Woodacre, of Boxwood Close, Waterlooville, who has a string of previous convictions for driving offences, later admitted dangerous driving and driving while disqualified and without insurance

So he drives while disqualified and obviously that means no insurance but he doesn’t have the brain cells to drive quietly. No he drives like a total twat and then wrecks the car.

Father-to-be Bradley Woodacre was driving a Volkswagen Golf while disqualified when he narrowly avoided hitting a 13-year-old boy on a bike and a Peugeot 307.

Woodacre then lost control of the car, which a witness claimed was travelling at up to 70mph in a 30mph zone in Park Avenue, Widley.

The Golf mounted the kerb and ploughed through a fence and a brick wall before flipping on to its side and hitting a van parked in a driveway outside a house.

Him and his mate do a runner. When later interviewed by the police he denied driving the car. Seems like the fashion police were out to get him to. Not showing exactly the height of sartorial elegance his attire let him down.

Daniel Sawyer, prosecuting, said: ‘Unfortunately for Woodacre, CCTV from a petrol station showed him filling up that car that morning, wearing the pink or peach-coloured top and the red shorts described by the witnesses.’

Woodacre was sentenced to 18 months in jail and banned from driving for five years. At least while he is locked up we can assume he won’t be on the roads. However his previous record shows that he is unlikely to heed the driving ban.

What compounds this piece of driving is the fact that you are no stranger to these courts and in particular you are no stranger to the offence of bad driving.

‘You are a man now of 23 but you have been before these courts on 11 occasions for 23 convictions.’

On this basis alone, Bradley Woodacre, I award you the “Waterlooville Wally Of The Week Award”

‘Appalling’ Waterlooville driver handed 15-month prison sentence – Local – Portsmouth News.

It’s Polling Day !!!


The News, our local rag, has run an article imploring us to use our votes.

If you asked me, I would only be able to name two of our local councillors and only one for my own electoral ward.

The local candidate is Margaret Beauvoisin. I have never seen her, she certainly hasn’t come knocking at my door. Nor have any of her supporters.

So how do I know that she exists ?

Well someone stuck a screwed up leaflet through my letter box and I have read it.

I would have enjoyed the opportunity to discuss with her the issues that are important to me i.e. the slow death of Waterlooville Town Centre. I would have enjoyed the opportunity to discuss how she believes the further annexing of the Town Centre, by pushing additional commercial enterprise into the West Of Waterlooville development zone, is going to be

an asset to our town

Lifted from her leaflet.

Well at least I got a leaflet from the Labour candidate. Haven’t heard a dickie bird from any of the others.

So The News wants us to

Please make sure you have your say at the ballot box

Will there be an option that allows me to say that I have no idea what any of my local candidates stand for ?

Oh, at the beginning of this post I said I could name two local councilors.

The other was Penny Mordaunt and I know she stands for elephants.

‘Please make sure you have your say at the ballot box’ – Local – Portsmouth News.

83 Additional Homes Proposed For Waterlooville


Is this the straw that broke the camels back ?

CONCERNS about traffic congestion and overdevelopment were raised as plans to redevelop a convent and its grounds went on show.

But Ian Roberts, highways consultant, said the road network could cope, with 34 vehicle movements estimated from London Road at peak times and eight movements from the Hulbert Road side.

Does that figure take into account the extra burden that is being placed on London Road by the Berewood development or the potential additional burden being placed on Hulbert Road by the proposed development at Dunsbury Hill Farm ?

Where on earth does the “34 vehicle movements” figure come from anyway ? Surely there must be an assumption of one vehicle for every home at the very minimum. I appreciate that not every vehicle will be on the move at peak times. The highways consultants must be assuming that many of the new residents will be either walking into Waterlooville town centre or hopping onto a bus to take up the employment opportunities mentioned by John O’Donovan.

John O’Donovan, the developer’s planning consultant, said: ‘I would suggest it is an ideal site for housing.

‘It’s very close to Waterlooville town centre, to employment opportunities and to the bus corridor.’

So what are these employment opportunities ?

These would be the same opportunities that the folks in Leigh Park, the new residents of Berewood and the current residents of Waterlooville and the surrounding areas have their hopes pinned on.

More than 50 residents packed into Havant’s council chamber as developers laid out initial proposals to build 83 homes on the site of the former St Michael’s Convent….

I’m glad to see that so many folks are taking an interest in their local area. We, the Waterlooville residents, have been too quiet. As a consequence the planners and the developers have had free rein and we are paying for it.

It comes as Peter Holloway, a spokesman for residents in Hermitage Gardens, said he would never have bought his house last year if he knew so many houses were in the pipeline.

He said: ‘We knew something might be built there but when we contacted Havant Borough Council we were told they would not be allowed to build any more than 57 houses and the part of the land nearest our garden would not be developed because there is an old apple orchard there, a sewage pipe running through it and it is so steep.

‘Now we’ve found out they want to build right at the bottom of our land, 26 more houses than we were told.

Sounds like the council were acting like the old-fashioned brush or encyclopaedia salesmen. Get a foot in the door with the low numbers, then jack them up once the flow of opinion is headed in the right direction.

Council officers said the land was earmarked for 57 homes in the latest local plans – but this figure was ‘indicative’.

Presumably “indicative” is the councils “get out of jail” card.

Fears raised as Waterlooville homes plan goes on show – Politics – Portsmouth News.

Localism Act – Your Chance To Get Involved


For some time I have been getting “unsettled” by the changes that are occurring in my local area, becoming more concerned about the way that planners seem to be taking our local community. Just take a look at some of my other posts to see my thoughts on the matter.

A few days ago I attended a meeting at which there was a presentation on the Localism Act and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). To be quite honest I wasn’t quite sure why I was there. I do know that I have been shooting my mouth of about the lack of involvement there appears to be between the community, meaning  me, and the planners.  In recent times I had seen articles which referred to Community Board meetings. To be more specific the articles typically were referring to meetings that HAD taken place, past tense. Then I saw in the paper that a meeting was to take place at Horndean Technology College so I made a note in my diary and then forgot all about it. That is until the reminder popped up a few days before the due date.

So I took myself along and it soon became clear that I was there, somewhat under false pretenses, as a resident of Waterlooville. You see, this meeting was called by the East Hampshire District Council with focus primarily on Horndean, Cowplain and Rowlands Castle but nothing to do with Waterlooville which comes under Havant Borough Council.

The really sad thing is that there were only, including me, perhaps 3 or 4 members of public in attendance. The bulk of the attendees were local councillors. Yet, the subject of the meeting, The Localism Act, is all about pushing the responsibility for planning decisions away from central government, down to the local community.

Thats you and me folks.

I  really knew nothing of the subject matter prior to the meeting.  I just saw it as a point of entry for my interest in local planning affairs. Also I was hoping that I would be able to identify some contacts and sources of information.

The meeting ran along the usual lines reading of planned agenda, acceptance of previous minutes etc. etc.. Then the presentations began ….

The Localism Act came into being 15 November 2011. The intent of the act is to  shift power from central government back into the hands of individuals, communities and councils.

The act is a recognition that central government has become too big, too interfering, too controlling and too bureaucratic. This has undermined local democracy and individual responsibility, and stifled innovation and enterprise within public services. The intention is  create a shift in the balance of power and to decentralise power as far as possible.

“Localism” isn’t simply about giving power back to local government. Rather it shows the government trusts people to take charge of their lives and is prepared to push power downwards and outwards to the lowest possible level, including individuals, neighbourhoods, professionals and communities as well as local councils and other local institutions.

There are five key measures core this new approach to decentralisation.

  • Community rights
  • Neighbourhood planning
  • Housing
  • General power of competence
  • Empowering cities and other local areas

You can read about the detail behind these bullets here

The other key item presented was CIL.

The Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2011 came into force on 6 April 2011 and is a levy on new developments over 100 square metres in size. The money raised by CIL will be ring fenced for local infrastructure.

In other words it is a tax.

Who is supposed to benefit from this tax ? Supposedly the community that has to suffer the new developments is the community that reaps the benefit from the moneys raised by the levy.

The money can be used to support development by funding infrastructure that the council, local community and neighbourhoods want – for example new or safer road schemes, park improvements or a new health centre. The system is very simple. It applies to most new buildings and charges are based on the size and type of the new development.

As I said earlier, he sad thing is that there were only a few members of public at the meeting. The whole point of the Localism Act and CIL is to put power back into the hands of the community.

Unfortunately, the community on the face of it doesn’t seem to care.

Personally I don’t think that is true. I think that people do care but they are not engaged by local council. The local councils don’t, in my opinion, do a very good job of communicating what is going on in their parishes and boroughs. From my own personal experience, when you do try to get involved it is difficult.

There are, apparently, Community Forums where this stuff is discussed. I tried to find out about the local Waterlooville forum and sent emails to the contacts published on the Havant Borough Council website. Either the links are dead or the owners of the email address choose not to respond.

Which is how I ended up as an interloper at an East Hampshire Community Forum meeting in Horndean.

My thanks to Cynthia Haveron who took the time to discuss the meeting set up with me, to introduce me to the Horndean representatives during the discussion period and also to send me contact names and email addresses for the Waterlooville Community Forums.

Localism Act will not stop new homes plan – Politics – The News.

Dunsbury Hill Farm – New Development Proposal Affects on Waterlooville


Today I received a letter from HBC (Havant Borough Council) pertaining to the proposed development of the Dunsbury Hill Farm site, adjacent to the A3(M).

The description of the development is as follows:

Site Address: Dunsbury Hill Farm, Park Lane, Cowplain, Waterlooville

Proposed Development: Hybrid planning application comprising a part outline application relating to employment uses and a hotel with conference  facilities and a part detailed application for a new link road with bus gate to Woolston Road; together with landscaping, infrastructure and associated works.

I am sure that they don’t intend to hide what this development really means but on first reading I was quite happy to go along with it. After all a new hotel and conference centre would not increase the daily traffic levels and road traffic noise. The additional employment opportunities that this would bring is also to welcomed.

However, without reading the actual proposal one is not likely to see what this really is. In their own words …

… proposed development of agricultural land at Dunsbury Hill Farm, Havant into a business and technology park with hotel, conference facilities and associated infrastructure

The  development proposal includes the creation of a new roundabout and potential dualling of a section of the Hulbert Road. In addition there are plans to create a new parking area double the area of the current lay-bys this development will replace. All of this is an indication of the increased traffic that the developers are anticipating.
I have lived in this area since 1985. The survey that I had on my house at the time carries a final comment

shame about the noise from the motorway

Over the years  I have become aware of the increasing noise levels and the changing nature of the noise. Waterlooville, specifically Junction 3 (J3), the junction of the B2150 with the A3(M),  has become something of a hub for the emergency services. As a result anyone living near to this junction will have noticed the increased siren activity. If recent news articles are to be believed the newly opened Hindhead Tunnel is also contributing to increased noise levels along the A3(M) due to heavy goods traffic choosing the A3(M) in preference to the M3 now that the Hindhead traffic jams have been eliminated.
The application pack includes  tables indicating noise levels. The constant theme running through the comments section is

A3 constant and dominant.

What is wrong with these tables is that they are taking noise level reading from a point on the centre line of the A3(M) into the development area and on into Calshot Road & Park Lane areas of Leigh Park. No measurements seem to have been taken from the Waterlooville side of the A3(M).

Yet this is the area that will probably be most affected by the additional traffic generated by the new development.

The location of this new development makes total sense when you consider the easy access to the motorway. Allowing traffic to clear the area very quickly.  However, the very fact that all that traffic will be coming and going via J3 of the A3(M) is going to have a negative effect on the area.

Presumably the planners are thinking that this new development will provide jobs for the soon to be residents of the Berewood (ex Newlands) development on the opposite side of Waterlooville. Did they also consider the additional traffic that will inexorably be sucked across the town ? Such traffic will also be using the J3 roundabout.

I also have other questions, ones that I have asked in other of my posts …

  1. Are there any potential tenants who have committed to take up residence of these new units when they are built ?
  2. Has a major hotel chain registered any interest in running this proposed hotel and conference centre ?
  3. Was the land adjacent to Junction 2, Horndean, considered as the site for this development ? If it was, why was it rejected since there is less potential for affecting local residents and the motorway access is just as good ?I am assuming that the answer is that the land comes under East Hampshire District Council rather than Portsmouth City Council.

I am the first to bemoan the fact that the planners don’t seem to have done much to provide employment for the residents of Waterlooville. So I am loath to be totally negative about this proposed development. However, I don’t believe that the planners have got the true measure of the impact that this development will have.

As usual the only people who will truly gain from this are the developers and, for a short while, the folks employed to carry out the construction.

Berewood Begins


The artists impressions of new developments always look idyllic. The truth of the reality is very often far from that alluring image.

Well, we the current residents of Waterlooville are about to find out the truth of what we are to be saddled with. The new development was to be called Newlands. A sign had already been put up, on the exit from the roundabout, but shortly after had been roughly painted over. Newlands was a truly uninspiring name and certainly one lacking in any imagination. The developer, Grainger, has decided on “Berewood”. A name that at least has some historical linkage with an area which was once covered by the Forest of Bere.

Development director John Beresford said: ‘We will start work next week and by September hope to have the main infrastructure in place ready for the first house builders to start work in the autumn.

‘That being the case, we would anticipate that the first dwelling will be ready to be marketed by the beginning of next year.

Then we will see the start in the rise of the traffic which is going to clog up Waterlooville. Ignoring the construction traffic and the mess that will inevitably become a bane on our lives during the build.

Even now this area of Waterlooville all but comes to a standstill during peak traffic times. With the additional housing becoming available early in 2013 this situation is only going to get worse. The difference is that there will be more folks heading into this area as they head home.

Lets not forget the new Sainsbury store that is being built on the other side of the road from this new development  as well as the new service station. All will be bringing more traffic to the area.

This is set to become one of the busiest road networks in the area what  with three major roundabouts and a set of traffic lights all within a mile.

For the sake of the new development residents, I hope the developer will ensure that there are no new roads which will become rat runs. I can see that motorists will be looking for a way to bypass this area and a new housing estate might just provide the escape route they are looking for.

The development will be built in phases, with the first one comprising 194 homes, next to the new roundabout on Maurepas Way.

There is no new roundabout here. This really is only an adjustment to the existing one. So we will see the initial phase putting 194 homes with this as there only way in and out.

Waterlooville councillor Paul Buckley said: ‘Having accepted the fact it’s going to be built, it will be good to see it actually starting.

‘In many ways they are not our homes, they are Winchester homes.

Councillor Buckley seems like someone who is resigned to the fact that an issue he is opposed to is going ahead. I’m not surprised when further into the quote he also states that these  are Winchester homes.

How does Winchester get so much of a say in what happens in our area ?

‘In terms of the economy of Waterlooville, from a commercial shopkeepers’ point of view, the town can only benefit.’

Which commercial shopkeepers would they be then. All these new residents will be rushing in their hordes to visit the charity stores, the pound shops and the cafe’s.

All of the traditional shops are leaving. Waterlooville centre is dyeing. What are our planners doing to entice the big names, the prestigious names into Waterlooville.

What do we have now ?

For the Cafe Culture  we have Costa Coffee.  For the kids we have Macdonalds. Major retailers are  represented by Asda, Waitrose, Wilkinsons, Peacocks, Superdrug and Boots. Most of the major banks are represented too.

Much money has been spent of making Waterlooville look like a throwback to the 50’s idea of a modern town centre.

Sometimes it makes me wonder where the planners heads are. Time will only tell what kind of hell they have committed us to.

Construction to finally begin on huge new estate for Waterlooville – Politics – Portsmouth News.

Waterlooville Wally Of The Week Award


Stupid or just cheeky. Either way it really isn’t a good idea to steal a bike belonging to the police.

Leon Spencer-Jones, from Laburnum Road, Waterlooville, pleaded guilty to committing the offence in Waterlooville on March 8.

So I award Spencer-Jones “Waterlooville Wally Of The Week”
Waterlooville man tried to steal pushbike – Local – Portsmouth News.

Chapter ends as Derrick closes door at Waterlooville bookshop – Local Business – The News


This is a real shame.

As far as I know, I never met Derrick Meakins, but I used Baytree Bookshop many times over the years. His shop will be missed but I hope that he enjoys his retirement.

From the perspective of Waterlooville town centre this is bad news. Yet another shop closing and I would think not much likelihood of a replacement business. This is a real blow as we are slowly losing any traditional shops. With the Sainsburys development starting over to the west of the town there is very little left to draw folks into the centre.

Chapter ends as Derrick closes door at Waterlooville bookshop – Local Business – The News.

Care fears as Waterlooville day warden services are taken away


Over the last couple of years the media has been full of stories that indicate just how little the people of this country seem to care about the elderly and infirm. And for those that do care there is the feeling that the authorities cannot be trusted.

Here is an article that seems to promote that view, that once folk take the decision to move into care homes, they have no guarantee that the expected support services will continue. Even if they have signed contracts. This seems to be the experience of Paul Bayliss-Marten

Under the terms of his tenancy – and that of those in the other 69 flats in The Lodge, Lavender Road, Waterlooville – a warden was available from 9am to 9pm.

But that has been suddenly taken away by housing association Guinness Care and Support leaving Mr Bayliss-Marten, 61, with an alarm cord to pull if he gets into trouble.

Guinness announced last month that from April the daytime warden would be replaced by a mobile team during the day which responds when the alarm cord is pulled.

Question:

What happens when the “mobile team” is off-site ?

How will a resident have to wait for the “mobile team” compared to waiting for an on-site warden ?

The casual observer has to ask who is looking after the rights of these folk. Well one organisation, Age Concern (now part of Age UK) had this to say

Chris Perry, director of Age Concern Hampshire, said such changes are on the increase.

He added: ‘Many people take tenancies out on the understanding there is going to be a resident warden.

‘I can understand their concerns but equally from the point of view of the housing association I can understand they can’t have someone on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.’

Well that’s a nice balanced view but it doesn’t address the underlying problem that these folks have a tenancy agreement which provides for a Warden to be available from 9am to 9pm.

The housing association have changed the service that they are providing. Did they discuss things before hand or have they just ridden rough shod over the rights and wishes of the residents.
Care fears as Waterlooville day warden services are taken away – Local Health – The News.