Rowlands Castle Parish Council

10/12/2025

The Parish Council is excited to embark on a strategy to see what improvements might be made to the sports pavilion at the Recreation Ground and its facilities. An example of one of the areas that could be considered within the strategy is provision for older children/adults following on from the new Play Park that caters for a younger demographic. We would very much welcome your views to help shape how it might look and what it could provide. Please click on this link to complete a short questionnaire (it only takes two minutes) Recreation Ground survey: https://forms.gle/oKMhfb1cYbewd8yKA

It is important we get the views of as many residents as possible with a broad range of ages and interests. Please share with other members of your household, including young people, to ensure we capture a diverse range of opinions.

There will be other ways to feed into this process over the coming weeks and updates provided.

If you have any queries, please email Claire Newman, Facilities Officer [email protected]

06/11/2025

27/10/2025

A revised application to develop land adjacent to Woodlands Avenue, off Whichers Gate Road, has been submitted to EHDC, and this is currently open for consultation until 10th November 2025.

Details about this application can be found on EHDC’s Public Access System (PAS) at https://publicaccess.easthants.gov.uk/planning/index.html?fa=getApplication&id=127521. The Parish Council will submit comments following discussion at its next meeting on 3rd November, and if residents want to submit their own responses, you can do this via the PAS. You will need to register on the system initially, but this is a simple exercise.

Since the original application last year, EHDC has updated its planning database and not all documents have been carried over. If you submitted comments previously, or want to view the comments made by others on the original application, you can find these by using the old system at https://planningpublicaccess.easthants.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=_EHANT_DCAPR_255756

22/10/2025

PLANNED RAILWAY ENGINEERING WORK will result in closure of the line between Guildford and Havant, from Saturday 25 October to Sunday 2 November 2025.

During the line closure, buses will be replacing South Western Railway services between Guildford and Havant. This will include a fast service running between Haslemere and Petersfield and a separate stopping service. More information can be found at

In order to maintain and improve the rail network we need to carry out engineering works. Find out more about our October engineering work.

15/09/2025

HAVANT THICKET RESERVOIR - Portsmouth Water are holding a Volunteering Day this Friday, 19th September between 10am to 1pm. The session will centre on replanting translocated macrophytes (aquatic plants) within Havant Thicket woodland.

The forecast for Friday is dry and sunny weather so if you would like to attend, please register using the link below, by 5pm tomorrow, 16 September 2025.
https://forms.office.com/e/pZv6FGBAky

08/09/2025

A WILDLIFE HABITAT BANK AT FORESTSIDE
Portsmouth News recently posted this story and, although this land is outside our Parish, and within West Sussex, you may be interested to know about this initiative at Forestside.
Harrow Estates, part of Barratt Redrow plc, has acquired land to set up a new wildlife habitat bank in the South Downs National Park, which will restore wildlife habitats and generate environmental credits for sustainable development.
As part of essential early stage works, a recent survey has identified a significant number of Ash trees on site affected by Ash dieback. This fungal disease has severely compromised the health of many trees on the site, leaving them in poor and unsafe condition. Targeted tree removal works will begin in mid-late August to address urgent safety risks to the highway and public footpaths and then allow for the phased delivery of new habitats across the site. An ecology survey will take place prior to the works commencing.
Julian Larkin, managing director from Harrow Estates, said: “Land at Rowlands Castle represents a significant investment in environmental stewardship, and this habitat bank will play a meaningful role in supporting the recovery of biodiversity on the South Coast. While some necessary early works will take place, including the removal of unsafe, infected trees, we remain committed to ensuring the long-term ecological integrity of the site. “
Whilst farming in its typical nature will stop, Harrow Estates will be improving this area of land into a higher diverse (for habitats/ nature) grassland area, along with retaining the hedgerows and providing new species-rich native hedgerows.

Design plans for the new habitat are being finalised with the aim to have the site registered with Natural England by the winter.
Further information can be found at https://www.harrowestates.co.uk/projects/harrow-estates-habitat-bank/

24/04/2025

A WORD OF WARNING for those living close to the railway. Network Rail will be working with on-track machinery on the railway between Rowlands Castle and Havant on 7th-9th May, between 12:30am and 4:45am each night. One machine will be carrying out track geometry corrections around Rowlands Castle and another machine will be undertaking rail grinding from Rowlands Castle to Havant. This work will produce noise and dust/particle contamination.
Work is carried out 24/7 to keep the railway running for passengers and freight when the timetable is the quietest and is often noisy, late at night and at weekends. The workers will do their best to keep noise and disruption to a minimum but the nature of the tasks means noise can't be prevented although they will aim to keep this to a minimum. Network Rail apologises for this disturbance.
For more detail about living by the railway, please visit https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/living-by-the-railway/ or watch the working at night / living by the railway videos below.

23/04/2025

Damian Hinds MP will be hosting a public meeting on Thursday 1st May in Rowlands Castle, from 7-8pm. It is open to everybody living in the East Hampshire constituency but those local to Rowlands Castle are particularly welcome. To book free tickets visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/public-meeting-with-damian-hinds-mp-tickets-1273674267019?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios

The venue details will be released 24 hours before the meeting to all those who have prebooked tickets.

If you have any questions about the meeting, please email: [email protected]

Come and meet Damian Hinds MP and share your views about important issues!

17/04/2025

A NEW CLERK FOR ROWLANDS CASTLE PARISH COUNCIL
Following a recruitment process, the Parish Council is pleased to announce that Mr Dominic Harland-Jones, a resident of Rowlands Castle, has been appointed to the post of Clerk to the Parish Council as of 28 April 2025. We welcome him to our excellent employee team. Our Admin Officer, Gill Whatley, is currently Acting Clerk and will continue in this role until 31 May to allow Dominic to get up to speed with the various responsibilities of the role and the current work portfolio.

A reminder that the Parish Office is above the Home Hardware store and is open for visitors on Tuesday and Thursday mornings between 1000-1200 hrs. Contact at other times should be by email or telephone as appropriate.

14/04/2025

PETERSFIELD BIKE MARKING EVENT ON SATURDAY 26TH APRIL 2025 AT 12PM 🚲🚲🚲

The Butser Neighbourhood Policing Team will be holding a Bike Marking Event at The Petersfield Mens Shed on 26th April between 2 and 4pm.
The marking kits used are BikeRegister and consist of two temper-resistant labels which are placed on the frame of the bike. The bike will then be registered on the BikeRegister national cycle database using the unique code on the label. For information on the details collected and the Privacy Policy for the BikeRegister database please see: https://www.bikeregister.com/information/privacy-policy
BikeRegister is the national cycle database loved by cyclists and preferred by Police. It is used by every Police force in the UK to reunite hundreds of owners with their stolen bikes every year.
Please note: Under 16s must be accompanied by someone over 18 with parental responsibility who can give consent to the bike marking.

Privacy Policy

27/03/2025

You may have noticed that the approved development for 800 homes on Land East of Horndean is beginning to get underway and Bloor Homes, one of the developers, is now starting to progress a further land interest in the area, known as Land East of Horndean Southern Expansion, for up to 750 additional dwellings. This will be entirely within Rowlands Castle Parish. Further information can be found by visiting https://landeasthorndeansouthernexpansion.co.uk/

Bloor Homes is keen for residents to engage with this development and invite feedback via a short consultation which can be found at https://landeasthorndeansouthernexpansion.co.uk/feedback/ The closing date for comments is next Friday 4th April.

Residents are also invited to attend a presentation by representatives from Bloor Homes, which will be held at 7pm in the Parish Hall, immediately prior to the Parish Council meeting, on Monday 7th April.

06/03/2025

IF YOU LIVE NEAR THE RAILWAY LINE, you can now benefit from a new digital service from Network Rail that will provide you with information about upcoming railway engineering work and emergency work, and updates about current maintenance and upgrade projects in ‘real-time’.
Line side neighbours living within 500m of a railway line across Network Rail’s Wessex routes are encouraged to sign up to this new email service by visiting www.networkrail.co.uk/railworknearme.
This free opt-in service will keep you up-to-date with the latest information about any works going on along the railway line, especially those that might cause a disturbance, providing details in a clear, accessible and timely way.