Test Valley votes on 14 October on £66.9m more for regeneration: Andover's riverside park rises to £12.65m, Vigo Park to £4m, the theatre's cost stays secret.

Andover’s riverside park will cost £12.65 million, up from the £9.6 million already approved. That is £3.05 million, or about a third, more than the council had set aside.

The new figure is in a report going to Full Council at Test Valley Borough Council on Wednesday 14 October. It asks councillors to approve £66.874 million of extra capital spending on regeneration in Andover and Romsey over the next two and a half years. (Test Valley Borough Council, Corporate Action Plan Update, report to Council 14 October 2026)

Most of that money, £63.324 million, is for four projects whose costs are kept in a confidential annex. One of them is the new theatre in Andover.

What councillors are being asked to approve

Project Already approved New in this report Total
Western Avenue Riverside Park £9.6m £3.05m £12.65m
Vigo Park £3.5m £0.5m £4m
Other projects £4.01m none £4.01m
Projects in the confidential annex £9.476m £63.324m £72.8m
Total £26.586m £66.874m £93.46m

The figures are from the table at paragraph 7.7 of the report.

Why the riverside park costs more

The park will turn a hidden stretch of the River Anton, between Andover College and Town Mills, into public open space. It needs part of the Western Avenue gyratory taken out of use, which the Transport Secretary approved in September. We reported that decision on 21 September. The report says the stopping up order took effect on 25 September.

The £12.65 million is the price after a competitive tender. The report gives three reasons it came in higher than the estimate:

  • the site sits on the river bank and needs utility diversions, while traffic and pedestrians keep moving around it
  • specialist landscaping and structures cost more than forecast
  • bidders had to fix their price for a 20-month build, so they priced in the risk of inflation

The report says the cost could fall as risks reduce during the build, but “this cannot be guaranteed”. The park is expected to be finished in autumn 2028.

Vigo Park: £500,000 more

The Vigo Road Recreation Ground scheme was approved at £3.5 million. The report asks for another £500,000, taking it to a maximum of £4 million.

It lists the extra items added after consultation with users:

  • a recirculation system for the splash park, to save water in hotter summers
  • a Changing Places toilet
  • shading
  • better security

Inflation and materials costs account for the rest. The splash pad won planning permission in September.

The four projects with secret budgets

The confidential annex covers:

  • a new theatre in Andover
  • the South of Romsey Town Centre development
  • improvements to the Chantry Centre
  • what is built on the former Andover Magistrates’ Court site once it is demolished

The report says publishing these figures could weaken the council’s hand in contract talks. It says the budgets will be made public once the major contracts are procured. The public will be asked to leave the meeting while councillors discuss the annex.

The report does give some detail on each:

  • Theatre. The Unit 62 site has been demolished. Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure was named preferred bidder in May 2026 and has given its first detailed cost assessment. The terms are “commercially sensitive”.
  • South of Romsey Town Centre. The council has secured £2 million from Hampshire County Council, from money left over from the former Local Enterprise Partnerships. The design team tender went out in September.
  • Chantry Centre. Feasibility and concept design work is under way. The options are in the annex.
  • Former Magistrates’ Court. £1.7 million was approved in April 2026 for demolition, surveys and fees. Surveys cover wildlife, the River Anton next door and asbestos. The site is planned to become extra public car parking.

Where the money would come from

The council says it can pay for all of it without borrowing. The new £66.874 million would come from:

  • £29.42m from revenue reserves
  • £12.486m from grants
  • £9.368m from capital reserves
  • £8.85m from selling council land
  • £6.75m from developer contributions (Community Infrastructure Levy and section 106)
Bar chart of where the extra £66.874 million recommended to Test Valley Council on 14 October 2026 would come from: revenue reserves £29.42m, grants £12.49m, capital reserves £9.37m, sale of council land £8.85m, CIL and s106 developer money £6.75m.
New budget by source of funding, from paragraph 7.11 of the report. Chart by Andover News
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Some of that money does not exist yet. The revenue reserves figure is built up like this, according to the report:

  • £14.1m left in the regeneration and Corporate Action Plan reserves after existing commitments
  • £2.4m moved across: the last £2m of a reserve held against swings in government funding, and the final £400,000 of the New Homes Bonus reserve
  • £7.9m of future contributions to 2028/29, which the report says are “not guaranteed”, though it has “a high degree of confidence” in them
  • £5m of extra investment income and other savings the council forecasts to 2028/29

The land sales are uncertain too. The report says two sales were agreed in confidential sessions in July and December 2025, and that the timing and the amount of both receipts “is uncertain”.

The grants include the £18.317 million Levelling Up Fund award, now called the Local Regeneration Fund. It is split between the riverside park and the theatre. The report says the government is “satisfied with the current programme of delivery”.

The council’s finance director, its section 151 officer, confirms in the report that using the reserves this way “will not jeopardise future years’ budget setting or the ongoing delivery of services”. After this programme the council would still hold £41.4 million in other earmarked revenue reserves.

Other projects in the report

  • Community Delivery Fund. £2 million was set aside in July 2025 for projects outside the two towns. 19 schemes have been approved, worth £1.1 million, and £485,000 has been paid out.
  • Charlton Sports Centre. A £310,000 all-user path around the playing fields is being installed and is on budget.
  • Romsey Sport Centre. An architect is being commissioned, with an £80,000 budget, to masterplan the site. Part of it would be kept for a new health facility. About £1.46 million towards that is being secured from developers.

What it means for you

  • For Andover town centre, the riverside park and Vigo Park now have the money to be built, if councillors agree on Wednesday. Expect construction around Western Avenue to run for about 20 months once a contract is signed. Our roadworks page will carry any closures.
  • For council taxpayers, this is capital spending from reserves, grants and developer money, not a council tax rise. But the council is committing reserves it has not yet earned, and the report says it would bring any “material shortfall” back to Council.
  • The theatre’s price stays private until the building contract is signed.

The meeting is at 5.30pm on Wednesday 14 October in the Main Hall, Crosfield Hall, Broadwater Road, Romsey. Public participation is item 3 on the agenda. To ask about speaking, contact Emma Silverton in democratic services on 01264 368000 or esilverton@testvalley.gov.uk. (Council agenda, 14 October 2026)

We will report the decision.

Sources