Councillor Connie Hockley
Email: chockley@fareham.gov.uk
Council: Fareham
Council Profile: View on council website
Committees:
Activity Timeline
Meetings Attended Note this may include planned future meetings.
80 meetings · Page 1 of 16
Licensing Panel - Tuesday, 2nd December, 2025 10.00 am
Executive Portfolio for Leisure and Community - Thursday, 20th November, 2025 1.30 pm
Decisions from Meetings
106 decisions · Page 12 of 22
Warm Homes Social Housing Fund, Wave 3
From: Executive - Tuesday, 11th March, 2025 6.00 pm, NEW - March 11, 2025
To provide an overview of the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund, Wave 3 grant and seek Executive approval to undertake energy efficiency works under this scheme. The Warm Homes Social Housing Fund (WH) Wave 3 is a government initiative aimed at improving the energy efficiency of social housing across England. The scheme provides funding to social housing landlords to retrofit existing properties. The fund focuses on upgrading homes with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) below band C. The Council will be required to fund a minimum of 50% of the eligible project costs. These costs will be incorporated in the HRA capital programme within existing budgets for stock improvements over the next 3 financial years to ensure this funding opportunity can be utilised. A confidential appendix is included in the report and outlines the cost of the project. The procurement process is still in the early stages, therefore in the interest of fairness, best value and commercial sensitivity the full details are restricted. An application has been submitted for this project, following consultation with the Director of Housing and the Executive Member for Housing. Subject to funding being awarded, approval is sought to undertake the works and enter a contract with an appropriate supplier, through an approved framework. Approval is also sought for the funding arrangements to meet the Council’s contribution.
Recommendations Approved
Communications and Engagement Strategy - Adoption
From: Executive - Tuesday, 11th March, 2025 6.00 pm, NEW - March 11, 2025
To seek Executive approval for the new Communications and Engagement Strategy. The creation and implementation of a new Communications and Engagement Strategy is a key project to be delivered under Priority Six of the Corporate Strategy 2023-2029 which aims to ensure we are a ‘responsive, inclusive and innovative Council. The Strategy sets out the Council’s approach to how we will communicate and engage with our diverse internal and external audiences. The Executive on 4 November 2024 approved the draft strategy for public consultation which ran from 20 November 2024 to 8 January 2025. The report summarises the outcome of the consultation and presents proposed minor amendments to the Strategy for approval.
Recommendations Approved
Community Fund Application - Repair Cafe Portchester
From: Executive Portfolio for Leisure and Community - Wednesday, 5th March, 2025 2.45 pm - March 05, 2025
This report presents an application for funding under the Council’s Community Funding Programme. An application to the Community Fund for start-up funding has been received from Repair Café Portchester for £1,363.27 towards basic repair tools and PPE, a PAT testing machine, a sewing machine, administration tools and consumables. Repair Cafes are free meeting places, where visitors can bring their broken items from home for volunteers specialising in repairs to fix, giving a new lease of life and reducing waste. Repair Café Portchester aims to launch on 29th March, with monthly sessions thereafter at Portchester Community Centre on the last Sunday of every month, from 10:30am-1:30pm. There has been an overwhelmingly positive response from the residents of Portchester and there is already an established team of 10 volunteers with diverse repair skills, including a PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) trained volunteer. They have also gained support from experienced Repair Cafes in Portsmouth and Gosport. It is anticipated that the Repair Café will be able to support residents with fixing items such as small household appliances, clothing items and bikes, in turn reducing the amount of waste going to landfill due to their repair activities. For long term sustainability of the organisation itself, the Repair Café will be community-funded through donations from visitors who use the service and introduce a ‘pay it forward’ scheme to ensure accessibility for all. They also hope to introduce a small café element, offering refreshments and additional volunteer opportunities. The estimated start-up cost of this project is £2,339.79. Repair Café Portchester are looking for £1,363.27 from the Community Fund with the remainder being funded through fundraising donations. Both Ward Councillors, Councillor P Nother and P Whittle support the Repair Café’s application. As per their Register of Interests, it should be noted that both are members of the Portchester Community Centre which is the location where the Repair Café will run from.
Recommendations Approved
Fareham Town Centre Regeneration Strategy 2025-2035
From: SPECIAL, Executive - Thursday, 13th February, 2025 5.00 pm - February 13, 2025
To seek Executive approval of the Fareham Town Centre Regeneration Strategy 2025-2035 alongside approval of the proposed increase to the Revenue Base Budget and identified project budgets to support the long-term delivery of the Strategy. To seek Executive approval of the proposed Stage one Masterplanning work and the associated capital budget. The Council has a strong ambition to reverse the decline of Fareham Town Centre through regeneration, recognising the wider placemaking, economic regeneration and health benefits a more successful town centre would bring. Fareham’s town centre has a key role in supporting the economy of the Borough. It is the highest-ranking destination in the Council’s retail hierarchy and as such, provides the main location for retail, leisure, entertainment and cultural activities for the Borough’s residents. Work has already begun to deliver the Council’s significant regeneration ambition with the construction of Fareham Live, the demolition and replacement of Osborn Road multi storey car park, the purchase of Birks Building (also known as Foresters Hall) for housing development, alongside the purchase of Fareham Shopping Centre in September 2023. The Council appointed an asset manager to manage the Shopping Centre, alongside regeneration consultants to support the development of a deliverable and realistic Regeneration Strategy. Stage 1 and 2 of this work was reported to the Executive in January and March of 2024 respectively. Stage 3 of this work has now been completed after a further round of detailed analysis and consideration. This is provided at Appendix A ‘Fareham Town Centre Regeneration Strategy: Analysis and opportunity Assessment’. This work has informed the development of the Fareham Town Centre Regeneration Strategy 2025-2035, which also considers the Council’s Corporate Priorities resourcing requirements and the need for economic and residential growth in the town as reflected in the Fareham Local Plan 2037. The ‘Fareham Town Centre Regeneration Strategy 2025-2035’ is provided at Appendix B to the report.
Recommendations Approved
Finance Strategy, Capital Programme, Revenue Budget & Council Tax 2025/26
From: SPECIAL, Executive - Thursday, 13th February, 2025 5.00 pm - February 13, 2025
The report seeks final confirmation of the recommendations to be made to Council on 14 February 2025, in respect of the revenue budget, capital programme and council tax for 2025/26. On 13 January 2025, the Executive reviewed the Council’s overall finance strategy and considered proposals relating to the revenue budgets and the council tax for 2025/26. This report updates the Council’s budgets to reflect the decisions taken and other known changes since 13 January 2025, including the provisional local government finance settlement. The net revenue budget for 2025/26 will be £15,050,100. With core funding estimated to be £5,819,957 no payment from the collection fund and other income sources and use of reserves totalling £693,500, this leaves the total amount due from the Council taxpayers to be £8,536,643. This level of council tax for 2025/26 equates to £191.42 per Band D property. This represents an increase of £5.56 per year from the council tax set for 2024/25 and is within the 2.99% referendum threshold set by the Government.
Recommendations Approved
Summary
Meetings Attended: 80
Average per Month: 3.5
Decisions Recorded: 106