IN an unusual move planning chiefs at Havant Borough Council deferred a planning decision relating to the Thicket Reservoir Wetland embankment.

The planning committee was set to hear verbal arguments for and against plans for the Thicket Wetlands embankment infrastructure needed at 160 hectares-Havant Thicket Reservoir site, adjacent to Sir George Staunton Country Park and Middle Park Way, Havant.  The reserved matters application is to decide siting, scale, external appearance and landscaping of the wetlands embankment at the reservoir and it's linked to Southern Water's £1.3bn scheme to build a pipeline from Havant to Otterbourne to transport recycled water.

Firstly the councillors, on July 26, refused to sign the minutes for their working party site visit to the Wetlands, saying they were not accurate as they were not shown around the Wetlands. Then, in an unusual move, Cllr Elizabeth Lloyd (Con, Stakes) proposed a vote to defer the planning application for the wetlands embankment.

She said that she wanted more time to go through the report with officers and especially the reports within the document as well, saying she didn’t feel she would be ‘content’ to make a ‘sound judgement’ at this time.

Despite the fact Havant council officers pressed that all the information was in the public domain and available to read.

Cllr Lloyd said: “Given this is a unique application for a wetland on a unique development, a reservoir. I personally would like a bit more time, so that’s why I propose a deferment. I am not doubting the integrity of the report, the consultees and so on but that is my worry with barely a week on this application.”

After some toing and froing planning committee chair Cllr Richard Brown (Lab, Leigh Park Hermitage) called for a 10-minute break for council officers to check the council constitution for such a deferment.

The eight members voted to defer with one abstention so members did not hear evidence and go through the planning application on the Thicket Wetlands embankment. The people wanting to speak at the meeting will now have to go through the process of applying again, once a new date is set with no guarantee of success.

At the start of the meeting, when council members refused the minutes for the working party site visit on July 18, they said the minutes did not reflect ‘what we did’. They agreed to sign correctly amended minutes at the next planning committee meeting.

Cllr Lloyd said they were not accompanied around the Wetland site but it was pointed out to them from afar.

Cllr Jonathan Hull (Lib Dem, Hayling West), agreeing with Cllr Lloyd, said: “The minutes do not reflect the site visit at all. It was more a general visit to Havant Thicket rather than a site working party briefing on this particular application. We had a general presentation, not particularly about the Wetlands.

“We didn’t go around the Wetlands in any shape or form and we didn’t ask any questions because we hadn’t seen the [report], there weren’t any questions to ask. The whole of the minutes don’t reflect what we did.”

The Havant Thicket Winter Storage Reservoir, 1.6km by 0.8km and up to 18 metres deep, is to be built by Portsmouth Water in conjunction with Havant Borough Council and East Hampshire District Council (EHDC).

It is to be filled with spring water from Bedhampton supplying Portsmouth Water customers in the summer months, providing recreational facilities for the public and wetland habitats for birds and nature conservation.

The hybrid planning application can be found on the Havant Borough Council planning portal reference: APP/20/00990 dated October 15 2021. It will now be heard at a future date, to be set by the council.

Hampshire Chronicle 26th July