Titchfield Haven Visitor Centre will be sold after bid to breathe new life into it is rejected by Hampshire County Council

The council closed the centre visitors centre in December as part of plans to tackle a projected £1.8million funding gap. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT) submitted plans to manage the reserve, while Titchfield Haven Community Hub (THCH) wanted to take over the now-closed visitors centre. But last week, a council report said both proposals were not “viable or fully costed”.

At the decision day this week (July 31), Minister of State for Digital and Culture and MP for Gosport, Caroline Dinenage, said the decision not to engage with campaigners was a ”huge error” and she urged the county council to listen to residents and create a table for an ”open, honest dialogue”.

Dame Caroline Dinenage said: “I supported the Titchfield Haven Community Hub and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight proposals. My support is seconded by the Government, which agreed to provide the community with a fund.”

She also said there was no willingness to engage in dialogue from the county council which for her was a ”huge error”.

“We have to find a positive way forward, and Haven House visitor cafe centre is a site of massive importance for the community and brings enormous benefits.

“Residents were devastated by the council’s decision. Someone told me it is like breaking up with a partner and not wanting them to go with anybody else.”

• Anger as plans are not supported by council officials

• £185,000 government grant to help save centre

• MPs call for secure future for the 'much-loved' nature reserve

Lynn Murray, director of the Titchfield Haven Community Hub (THCH), said the people who are bidding for Haven House are professionals with multi-million-pound businesses. “We are not the amateurs that I suspect you and your bosses think we are”, she told the meeting.

“We deserve to have our proposal treated with professional courtesy and respect instead of having the proposals rejected outright without any evidence and without even any attempt of dialogue.”

She said councillors had been elected to represent all the people living in Hampshire, “not just those who voted for you”.

She added: “Yet the most common complaint we have heard from residents is why is Hampshire ignoring us? Why are they determined to go ahead with a plan which thousands of us don’t want? Why should we trust them? Why should we vote for them?

“This is a real crisis of democracy right on your doorstep, which you ignore.”

In the morning, members gathered to discuss the report presented at the universal services select committee (July 31).

Pamela Charlwood, co-chair of Hill Head Residents Association, said the council decision was another example of “working behind doors.”

“We were able to use the six-month moratorium period to prepare our robust business plan based on detailed, thoroughly researched financial information, so we were astonished to read such unsupported assumptions in the officer’s report.

“We are securing planning consent from Fareham Borough Council for two-holiday flats. We commissioned a professional commission survey that enables us to commission a 25-years repair and maintenance program.

“When we submitted our business plan, we offered to meet with officers and make a presentation. Apart from some questions, there was no contact until we received the report of today’s meeting (July 31).

“Our team has an outstanding range of skilled people representing private, public and charitable sectors at a senior level; we are not just three old ladies who think it would be nice to run a shop.”

At the meeting, councillor Alex Crawford asked the assistant director of recreation, information and business services, Jo Heath, the reasons why officers couldn’t discuss the proposal with the bidders.

Ms Heath said: ”During the process, we had been in contact with the community hub. We shared the details of the process and explained that there would be a period of information or clarification but would not necessarily be further dialogue.

“We believed no further dialogue was necessary with either organisation on this occasion.”

Despite the support received from Government, local MPs, the Titchfield Haven Community Hub (THCH), and the residents, who fundraised £222,000 in five days to help with the cost, the executive member for countryside and regulatory services, councillor Russell Oppenheimer supported the officers recommendation to decline both proposals from the organisations.

He said based on their submissions, the hub proposal was “unrealistic” and did not address the investment requirements set by Hampshire County Council. Officers agreed that if, in the next following weeks, a substantial proposal is submitted with an alternative viable option, they will present it to the executive leader again.