Welcome to our event
We’ve heard many of you are keen to have more opportunities to speak to our team and have your say about the future of South Ham and Buckskin. We’re here today to listen to what’s important to you, how you feel about where you live, what makes it special, and what you think could happen in the area to benefit your community.
Who we are:
Sovereign Network Group (SNG) wants to invest in your community to benefit residents who live and work here. Whether it’s a comfortable and affordable home; a safe green space to play, relax, grow, and be healthy; a place to learn, to build a business, or simply connect with neighbours, SNG wants to work with as many people as possible to bring meaningful improvements and opportunities for those who live and work in Buckskin or South Ham.
Our partnership:
To deliver the best long-term outcomes for Buckskin and South Ham, SNG partnered with The Hill Group to form the Sovereign Hill Partnership (SHP), bringing in additional place expertise and to make sure that future ideas are deliverable.
Public Exhibition
Working with you:
We are still in the early stages of exploring with you how Buckskin and South Ham could be improved. Right now, there are no fixed plans or designs. This stage is all about continuing to listen to you, your family and your neighbours to understand what works well, what needs improving, and what matters most to this community.
What you share will help guide our next steps and it’s important to us that you’re involved in shaping any future ideas or decisions.
Your involvement is vital to get any future improvements right, so thank you for joining us today. If you have any questions, chat to a member of the team who are here to support you.
Working with you through the process:
We understand that change can bring questions and uncertainty, so we’re committed to keeping you informed, listening to your concerns, and making sure you are included every step of the way. Any long-term plans will take time and careful thought to get right together.
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Listen & respond to your needs:
We’ll continue to gather feedback at every stage and listen to you to understand your needs, concerns and priorities.
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Be available for 1-1 support:
Whether in person or over the phone, our team will be on hand to offer guidance and answer questions, so you are fully informed at different stages of the process.
You said, we did:
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We’ll offer multiple ways for you to be involved in shaping plans - that are convenient to you and work around your life. Involve you in shaping plans:
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Keep you updated and informed:
From exhibitions and drop-in events, to clear regular updates online and in the post, we’ll make sure you know what’s happening and what it means for you.
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Continue to maintain your area:
We’ll keep actively supporting and investing in South Ham and Buckskin. This includes continuing to maintain our existing homes and investing in existing green spaces and community facilities.
Our work with members of the community in 2023 helped us to take early action in response to what we had heard. We invested in Westside Community Association by providing new premises to support them in opening the new Kings Road café and commissioned local artists to brighten up the area with a new arts trail. Children and professional gardeners created a community garden to improve the area around Burnaby shops. To strengthen community safety, we forged closer working relationships with the police and council.
Creating a long-term vision together:
Over the past 18 months, we’ve been hearing from you about all the things you love about Buckskin and South Ham, especially from the many extended families who have long standing roots in the area talking about the great sense of community.
Reviewing the ambitions for the area with you:
While it’s too early to be able to say what will happen where, we started to think about how feedback from your community could be turned into big ambitions for the area – to help guide what happens in future years.
We recognise the importance of these communities and want to make sure any future decisions reflect the strong history of the area.
Four ambitions were created through discussions at community events, with both the Young Design Academy and Community Design Associates, and informed by our own research.
You told us you’d like to see the quality, affordability, and safety of homes in the area improved and that it can be difficult to get around the area by foot.
We identified an ambition that focuses on renewed homes & streets where people feel safe. This could mean introducing new homes that meet modern standards, improving or refurbishing existing homes, and designing safer streets with easier walking and cycling routes.
You shared that better, more reliable, and affordable public transport and local services would make a real difference.
We identified an ambition that focuses on supporting a prosperous community with strong links to a growing economy. This could mean helping to provide better links to Basingstoke town centre so that people can access jobs and shopping, as well as better shops and services more locally.
You told us that parks and green spaces could be improved to feel safer, more welcoming, and better equipped for play, sports, and community use.
We identified an ambition that focuses on supporting a sustainable, healthy and resilient neighbourhood. This could mean improvements to Russell Howard and Stratton Parks, better play facilities, more energy-efficient homes and space to enjoy nature.
Do you agree with what we’ve already heard? What’s your experience?
We heard there’s a strong sense of pride in the area – something we want to celebrate and pass on to future generations.
We thought it was important to have an ambition that continues to support a proud and empowered community. This could mean new social facilities for the area as well as opportunities for local people to be more involved in local community initiatives and what happens in their neighbourhood.
What would you suggest the priorities should be for your neighbourhood?
Do you think there should be different priorities for different areas of South Ham and Buckskin?
Are there any specific improvements that you think your neighbourhood would benefit from?