This option splits the 5-10 hectare requirement of greenfield land for new jobs across the Borough. The Emsworth and Hayling Island allocations would remain as in Option 2 but the central mainland allocation could be divided into three locations and be provided in the Bedhampton and Wecock areas together with a central Havant Gap location as proposed in Options 1 and 2.  The allocations would each be about 1 hectare.  The main advantage of a diverse distribution would be the provision of greater employment opportunities closer to residents' homes.  A major disadvantage would be that smaller sites would be of less interest to developers and prospective tenants and reduce the opportunities for investment in critical infrastructure and the other related uses mentioned in Option 1.

 

In addition to those sites within the urban area and those with planning permission, the additional 1,600 new homes on greenfield land would be dispersed to be located adjacent to all the larger settlements in the Borough – Havant, Waterlooville, Emsworth and South Hayling.  Urban extensions would be built at some or all of the following locations: north of Wecock, land to the north and west of Leigh Park, land at Bedhampton and east of Cowplain, land between Havant and Emsworth, north of Emsworth and adjacent to South Hayling.  The dispersal of the housing can be seen as a consistent approach to all areas, but will bring less development to those areas which need regeneration most.  This option would spread new residents to support smaller local services.

 

The dispersal of the shopping expansion could be on the basis that Havant and Waterlooville town centres take 25% each of the floorspace requirement and the remaining 50% could be split between the four district centres (Cowplain, Leigh Park, Emsworth and Mengham/Gablehead). The difficulty with expanding the district centres is that this is likely to entail the redevelopment of existing commercial premises and in some cases existing residential property next to the shopping centres, for example at Mengham/Gablehead and at Cowplain.  There is scope to expand Leigh Park centre by building on the existing car parks but this centre already has an over provision of retail space.  Emsworth is a special case as its historic appearance and character would constrain the development of new shops of any significance, apart from the small scale extension of existing shops.

 

The dispersal option promotes small scale development across all locations in the Borough: Havant Town Centre, Hayling Island seafront, Staunton Country Park and Havant Thicket Reservoir, Broadmarsh and Emsworth. Development at Hayling and Havant would be on a smaller scale than previous options but could allow promotion of a wider choice of tourist facilities e.g. wildlife/nature activities at Broadmarsh, B&Bs/restaurants on Hayling seafront. Smaller projects may be more deliverable. However, there is no wow factor, no key iconic selling point and the limited investment in each project would not necessarily change the current face of tourism in the Borough.