Spencer’s Field playground

In the north of the town, the green area known as Spencer’s Field includes a children’s playground which has deteriorated to the point of being dangerous to use.  The playground is owned by Havant Borough Council (HBC), but they have not been able to include this in their programme of playground  refurbishment .  Therefore, in 2022, the Spencer’s Field Community Group began raising funds to pay for the refurbishment of the playground.

Following a public meeting at which there was a lot of support for the refurbishment, Emsworth Forum advised HBC that it wanted all of  Emsworth’s CIL allocation for 2022 to be put towards the project.  This amounted to £30,000.  Other substantial sums have been promised by The Friends of Emsworth Community Health (£5,000) and the Emsworth Residents Association (£5000).  Following the merger of the Residents Association and Forum, the latter commitment has now been taken over by the ERF.

With contributions from the National Lottery, a remarkable sponsored skydive by local resident Geordie Richardson, miscellaneous fund-raising and a top-up from HBC, the refurbishment is going ahead and should be delivered in Summer 2023.