Borough Of Havant

Its council is based in Havant. Other towns and villages within the borough include Bedhampton, Cowplain, Emsworth, Hayling Island, Purbrook, Waterlooville and Widley. The borough covers much of the semi-urban area in the south east of Hampshire, between the city of Portsmouth and the West Sussex border.

Borough of Havant
Borough and non-metropolitan district
Havant shown within Hampshire
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	South East England
Non-metropolitan county	Hampshire
Status	Non-metropolitan district
Admin HQ	Havant
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Non-metropolitan district council
• Body	Havant Borough Council
• MPs	Flick Drummond Alan Mak
Area
• Total	21.4 sq mi (55.3 km2)
• Rank	238th (of 296)
Population  (2021)
• Total	124,470
• Rank	191st (of 296)
• Density	5,800/sq mi (2,300/km2)
Ethnicity (2021)
• Ethnic groups	List 95.9% White 1.7% Asian 1.4% Mixed 0.6% Black 0.4% other
Religion (2021)
• Religion	List 47.4% no religion 45.3% Christianity 5.5% not stated 0.5% Islam 0.5% other 0.3% Buddhism 0.3% Hinduism 0.1% Sikhism 0.1% Judaism
Time zone	UTC0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code	24UH (ONS) E07000090 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SU717062

Havant itself was an ancient parish. Until 1852 it was governed by its vestry, in the same way as most rural areas. The parish was made a local board district in 1852, governed by an elected local board. Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894. The neighbouring parish of Warblington (which contained Emsworth) was made an urban district at the same time.

The Havant Urban District was substantially enlarged in 1932, taking in the urban district of Warblington and the parishes of Bedhampton, North Hayling, South Hayling and Waterloo, with some adjustments to the boundaries with other neighbouring areas. It was renamed the Havant and Waterloo Urban District, and the whole area was made a single urban parish called Havant.

The Havant and Waterloo Urban District was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district named just "Havant" by the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974. No successor parish was formed and so the area became an unparished area. The district was granted borough status as part of the 1974 reforms, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.

The Borough of Havant is twinned with Wesermarsch district in Germany and Yavoriv Raion in Western Ukraine.

Havant Borough Council
Type
Type	Non-metropolitan district
Leadership
Mayor	Rosy Raines, Conservative since 17 May 2023
Leader	Alex Rennie, Conservative since 19 May 2021
Chief Executive	Steve Jorden since April 2023
Structure
Seats	38 councillors
Political groups	Administration (30)   Conservative (30) Other parties (8)   Labour (4)   Liberal Democrat (2)   Green (1)   Independent (1)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Last election	4 May 2023
Next election	2 May 2024
Meeting place
Public Service Plaza, Civic Centre Road, Havant, PO9 2AX
Website
www.havant.gov.uk

Havant Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Hampshire County Council. There are no civil parishes in the borough, which is an unparished area.

Political control

The council has been under Conservative majority control since 2002.

Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows:

Leadership

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Havant. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2001 have been:

Composition

Following the 2023 election, the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in 2024.

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2002 the council has comprised 38 councillors representing 14 wards with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held in three years out of every four, with roughly a third of the council being elected each time for a four-year term of office. Hampshire County Council elections are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections.

The wards are:

• Barncroft
• Battins
• Bedhampton
• Bondfields
• Cowplain
• Emsworth
• Hart Plain
• Hayling East
• Hayling West
• Purbrook
• St Faith's
• Stakes
• Warren Park
• Waterloo

New ward boundaries have been drawn up which will come into effect for the 2024 elections.

Premises

 

The council is based at the Public Service Plaza on Civic Centre Road in Havant. The building was previously called Civic Offices and had been built in 1977, replacing the old Town Hall on East Street in the centre of Havant, which subsequently became The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre. A large extension was added to the Civic Offices in 2011 to incorporate some Hampshire County Council offices and space for voluntary organisations as well, after which the building was renamed Public Service Plaza.

• List of places of worship in the Borough of Havant