Portsmouth City Council is probably unique among UK local authorities in owning about 30% of our social housing outside the city’s boundaries. We’re rightly proud of this legacy and we continue to invest in Havant as part of our commitment to providing affordable housing.
We make no distinction between how we manage our properties in either location; all our responsibilities as a landlord are taken extremely seriously.
In the 1940s, we started building houses and flats on land bought in Havant as the city recovered from the Second World War; nearly all are within the Leigh Park and Wecock Farm estates. We are continuing to build there and allocating homes to residents of both Portsmouth and Havant.
Leigh Park became one of the largest council estates Europe had ever seen but the Right to Buy scheme meant about half of what we built in Havant passed to private ownership.
There are about 5,200 properties in Havant which we still have an interest in, about 4,800 still rented from us and about 400 flats now owned privately by leaseholders after they were bought under Right to Buy.
With this number of people living in our homes it’s only right that we continue to invest in community development.
We directly employ about 100 people to look after the estates and residents. In West Leigh we have our Resident Participation Centre offering a variety of social groups, life skills classes and support into employment, education and training. Two of our seven housing offices are in Havant, and we have green and clean teams based there to maintain and improve the estates. We also engage local contractors to maintain and repair our properties, providing employment and a boost to the area’s economy.
If you are a Portsmouth resident, you may be offered a tenancy in Havant. We enjoy a strong relationship with Havant Borough Council, meaning that we make tenancies in our properties available to people on their waiting list – including 30% of tenancies from the 213 flats and houses we are building in Cabbagefield Row and Strouden Court at a cost of more than £56m.
