The meeting pack for the Havant Council Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 18 December 2024 included a discussion of the Hayling Island Coastal Management Strategy, the Corporate Strategy Delivery Plan and the fees and charges for 2025/26.

Hayling Island Coastal Management Strategy

The report pack for this meeting included a proposal to adopt the Hayling Island Coastal Management Strategy.

The report noted that many of the island's coastal defences are nearing the end of their design life. Coastal Partners identified a number of properties at risk from coastal flooding and erosion, which will increase substantially as sea levels rise, and recommended a series of capital works projects, maintenance schemes and studies to understand and manage the risks.

The estimated cash cost of all assets at risk from coastal flooding and erosion on Hayling Island in the next 100 years is £1.33bn. The present value cost to implement the strategy over the next 100 years is £176m including optimism bias¹. £5.1m has already been secured from the Environment Agency for the first 5 years of beach management works at Eastoke. The strategy also included a proposal to implement an action plan for the next 10 years, including beach management at Eastoke, an environmental management plan for West Beach and North Shore Road, and Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) schemes for Northney and Selsmore and Mengham.

The estimated cost of the short-term action plan projects is £119.8m including optimism bias.

The strategy proposed to adopt the North Solent Shoreline Management Plan’s policies at the local level for the next 100 years.

The report pack included the strategy document itself (Appendix A), the short-term action plan (Appendix B) and the public consultation report (Appendix C).

Corporate Strategy Delivery Plan

The report pack included a report that proposed adopting the Corporate Strategy Delivery Plan, setting out the key actions, milestones and outputs of the council’s corporate priorities.

The priorities and proposed actions included in the plan were divided into four categories:

• Wellbeing – including the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF)² to provide temporary and move-on accommodation, expanding social rent housing, delivering the new Local Plan, a new Active Wellbeing Strategy and reviewing the leisure and arts provision in the Borough, including the redevelopment of the Havant Leisure Centre.
• Pride in Place – including a new Open Spaces Strategy, regeneration of the seafront at Hayling Island and Waterlooville Town Centre, lobbying water companies to improve water quality, installing water quality signage on Hayling, addressing fly-tipping, a comprehensive Environmental Services Strategy, allotment improvements, and the Environment Act changes.
• Growth – including providing employment support and skills opportunities to young people, supporting local businesses, reviewing cemetery provision, supporting active travel schemes and supporting businesses to develop green skills, develop green jobs and reduce emissions.
• A Responsive Council – delivering consultations and engagement activities, reviewing and delivering a new communications strategy, implementing customer-led improvements, reviewing the council's investment portfolio, reviewing external contractors, improving its use of digital technology, implementing the Arcus software³ for planning, environmental health, licensing and grants, reviewing its ICT infrastructure, implementing a new Finance System and preparing for the Corporate Peer Review.

The plan was appended to the report (Appendix 1).

Quarter 2 Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring

The report pack included a report containing the results of the Quarter 2 (Q2) revenue and capital budget monitoring for 2024/25.

It contained an update on the financial position of the council, including projected revenues and expenditures, and its treasury management strategy. The report noted that significant progress had been made towards reducing the overspend in Q1, with the bottom-line figure being an overspend of £1m.

The report identified a number of variances from the approved budget:

• Commercial Services – the forecast overspend in the Commercial Services budget was £812k. This includes an overspend of £454k in the Environmental Services budget for an unbudgeted salary uplift for Norse, the council's waste services contractor. £189k of the overspend was in the Property Service budget because of voids in the Meridian Centre and because the Havant Lorry Park had been vacant.
• Coastal Services – the forecast was a £6k overspend, reduced from £95k in Q1 because the team had increased the amount of fee income generating activities and reduced spending on planned maintenance.
• Housing and Communities – the forecast overspend was £587k. The report noted that the number of households living in temporary accommodation “remains high”, and that there are “associated financial pressures” because of this.
• Regeneration and Preventative Services – the Parking Service was forecast to overspend by £180k, with a parking review underway to identify initiatives that could reduce this in the future.

The capital budget in 2024/25 is £25.4m, with a forecast outturn of £18.8m.

The report included a number of appendices:

• Appendix A – Detailed Q2 revenue outturn
• Appendix B – The Q2 Prudential Indicators⁴
• Appendix C – Detailed Q2 capital outturn
• Appendix D – the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)⁵

Fees and Charges 2025/26

The report pack included a report proposing an increase of 1.7% in fees and charges, in line with September 2024 CPI⁶, for statutory services and for many discretionary local services, which are decided by the council.

The report noted that the increase is estimated to generate £31k for the council.

The report pack included the Fees and Charges Schedule for 2025/26 (Appendix A). Two corrigenda were issued to the Fees and Charges Schedule (Corrigendum 1, Corrigendum 2).

Climate Change Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy

The report pack included a proposal to adopt the Climate Change Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy, which replace the existing Climate Change and Environment Strategy (2021).

The Climate Change Strategy is designed to achieve a 68% reduction in the council's carbon emissions by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement. To achieve this, it is proposed that climate change be put “at the heart of everything we do”. The strategy sets out how this will be achieved:

• Creating frameworks to embed sustainability and net zero in the council, for example by changing the culture and reviewing procurement frameworks
• Increasing awareness, education and training opportunities through training and publicity.
• Changing internal operations to reduce emissions, for example by acknowledging that “all departments need to take action” and monitoring progress closely.
• Setting an example and influencing others by making a pledge to achieve net zero targets, ensuring sustainability assessments are part of decision-making processes, dedicating resources to support sustainability and rewarding positive actions.
• Galvanising community action and partnership working with local businesses, community groups and residents of the borough, for example through co-design, borough-wide engagement, supporting businesses to install solar panels and working with staff and communities to “shape good practice and procedures”.

The report noted that the strategy will be a “live document”, to be updated to reflect changes in circumstances.

The report pack included the Climate Change Strategy document (Appendix A).

The Biodiversity Strategy is designed to “provide a framework for action towards nature recovery” and will be used to inform the council's actions and help others protect biodiversity.

The strategy sets out a vision to implement nature recovery using four key approaches:

• Protecting and enhancing designated wildlife conservation sites and other wildlife-rich places.
• Creating and restoring wildlife-rich habitats, corridors and stepping stones.
• Improving the resilience of the natural and urban environment to climate change.
• Sustaining vital ecosystems that provide healthy soil, clean water and clean air.

The strategy highlighted that “simply trying to protect nature from harm is not enough”, and identified a number of challenges to biodiversity:

• Agricultural Management - including the reduction of farmland bird populations by more than 50% since 1970 and the loss of 97% of wildflower meadows in the past century.
• Climate Change - noting “growing evidence that climate change is driving widespread changes in the abundance, distribution and ecology of the UK’s wildlife”.
• Pollution - from plastic waste, chemicals, noise, light and nutrients.
• Urbanisation - noting the “direct consequences for wildlife” of infrastructure development as well as the impact of increased pollution and disturbance on urban green spaces.
• Woodland Management - the impact of a lack of management, overgrazing, increasing levels of recreational disturbance, invasive species and nitrogen pollution.
• Hydrological change - including the historical drainage of land, loss of ponds, modification of watercourses and over-abstraction of freshwater.
• Invasive and non-native species - noting that 12% of the UK's established non-native species are invasive.
• Marine environment - the impacts of climate change, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, unsustainable fishing and invasive species.

The strategy identified the following key mechanisms for protecting and enhancing biodiversity:

• Planning and development - for example, through the use of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments, S106 agreements⁷, Biodiversity Net Gain, nutrient neutrality and Green Infrastructure (GI) policy.
• Land management - for example, adapting existing land management regimes to enhance biodiversity.
• Partnership working and community involvement - for example, the Hampshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS)⁸

The strategy document (Appendix B) was appended to the report.

Council Tax Base for 2025/26

The report pack included a report proposing a Council Tax Base of 43,147.4 for 2025/26.

The tax base will be used by Hampshire County Council, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service and the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner to calculate their precepts for 2025/26.

The Council Tax base has increased by 619.2 band D equivalent dwellings from 2024/25.

The calculation of the tax base was carried out in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 2012, and was based on the following assumptions:

• The data available to the council as at 11 October 2021.
• A 98.75% collection rate.
• The addition of 173.5 new band D equivalent dwellings to the valuation list.
• A 100% premium on second homes.

Development of Commercial Opportunities at Chichester Avenue, Hayling Island

The report pack included a report that proposed exploring a range of initiatives that could generate revenue at Chichester Avenue, Hayling Island. The report noted that this is a “key seafront location on Hayling Island” and that the land is currently underutilised. The report pack included a supplementary item to the report (Supplementary Item).

The options being considered include developing a food and beverage outlet, a cycle hire facility, a beach shop and a mini-golf facility.

Outside Body Appointments

The report pack included a proposal to approve changes to the Outside Body appointments previously agreed on 12 June 2024. The document (Appendix A) included a number of notes about the appointments, including that Councillor Michael Lind would be appointed to the Bedhampton Community Centre, that Councillor Gwen Harris would be appointed to Community First Wessex and that Councillor Antonia Harrison would be appointed to the Cowplain Activity Centre Association. Councillor Richard Coates, Councillor Clare Satchwell, Councillor Prad Bains and Councillor Rosy Raines were appointed to the Hayling Island Community Centre Association. Councillor Harrison was appointed to the Horizon Leisure Trust and to the Off The Record. Councillor Diana Patrick was appointed to the Southern and South East England Tourist Board, and Councillor Julie Berwick was appointed to the Stride Community Centre. Councillors Harrison, Robinson, Brent and Faiz were appointed to the West of Waterlooville Forum together with Councillors Bowdell and Harris as standing deputies. Councillors Harrison and Robinson were appointed to the Wecock Farm Big Local. Councillor Harrison was also appointed to the Wecock Community Association and to the Westbrook Hall Association.