Fareham Borough Council decides on 7 September whether to spend £30,000 on a Freedom March and a free heritage day in summer 2027, before the borough ends.

Fareham Borough Council wants to give itself a send-off. Its Executive will decide on Monday 7 September whether to spend £30,000 on a Freedom March through the town centre in the summer of 2027, with a free family heritage day around it.

The report calls it “a final opportunity for Fareham Borough to host a Freedom March under its current governance arrangements”. That is the point of it. The borough is being abolished.

The government confirmed on 25 March 2026 that Fareham will be part of a new South East Hampshire unitary authority from April 2028, along with Gosport, Havant and Portsmouth, plus Newlands from Winchester and Clanfield, Horndean and Rowlands Castle from East Hampshire. Elections to a shadow authority are expected in May 2027.

What is actually proposed

Nothing is booked yet. The Executive is being asked to approve the event in principle and to authorise officers to make formal approaches to HMS Collingwood, other agencies and VIPs. The plan, as it stands, is:

  • a Freedom March by HMS Collingwood, including a Drumhead Service and an Arms Drill Display
  • all Freemen of the Borough attending, with contingents from Vannes and Pulheim, Fareham’s twin towns in France and Germany
  • a special meeting of the Council to mark the history of the borough and its predecessor, Fareham Urban District Council, with commemorative gifts to the civic guests
  • free heritage activities in the pedestrianised part of West Street, at Westbury Manor and in the Civic Gardens
  • a ticketed evening showcase at Fareham Live

The free activities named in the report are heritage crafts, where families design Fareham brick patterns or make paper sailing boats; Build Fareham in LEGO, recreating Fareham Creek, the historic High Street and Portchester Castle; Meet a Fareham Character, with costumed Victorian brickmakers, shopkeepers and wartime residents; a mini archaeology dig in the pop-up beach; and storytelling with a history exhibition at Fareham Library. The council says it would work with the Fareham Society on the programme.

The evening showcase at Fareham Live would feature local musicians, choirs, dance groups, schools and community performers. It is the one part with a charge attached. Ticket income would go towards the cost of putting it on, and the council says it may look for sponsorship. Its date has not been agreed.

What the £30,000 buys

Indicative cost of the proposed Fareham Freedom March and heritage celebration Bar chart of the five indicative cost lines totalling £30,000: Freedom March and public safety £20,000, heritage activities £4,000, community showcase at Fareham Live £4,000, civic ceremonial gifts £1,000, promotion and advertising £1,000. Where the £30,000 would go Indicative costs, Fareham Borough Council Executive report, 7 September 2026 Freedom March, including public safety for viewing areas £20,000 Heritage activities £4,000 Community showcase at Fareham Live £4,000 Civic ceremonial gifts £1,000 Promotional and advertising £1,000 Source: Fareham Freedom March and Heritage Celebration report, Fareham Borough Council Executive, 7 September 2026. Graphic by Fareham News

The largest single line is public safety for the viewing areas along the march route. No budget exists for any of this at the moment. If the Executive agrees, the £30,000 would be added to the 2026/27 revenue budget as a one-off item, funded from General Fund reserves.

Travel, accommodation and catering for the twinning parties would come out of the council’s existing civic ceremonial budget rather than the £30,000.

Why HMS Collingwood

The connection is older than the borough itself. Fareham Borough Council held its first annual meeting at 11am on Tuesday 9 April 1974, when the Charter of Incorporation was presented to the Mayor by the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire. The Captain of HMS Collingwood presented the Mayor with the Civic Mace, which the council still uses for ceremonial purposes today.

The twin towns have their own claim to be there. Fareham’s formal twinning with Vannes in Brittany began in 1966, and with Pulheim, near Cologne, in March 1984. Both towns were granted the ceremonial freedom of the Borough of Fareham in 1998.

So a council that started with a mace from HMS Collingwood is proposing to finish with a march by it.

What it means for you

Nothing is fixed. There is no date beyond “summer 2027”, no confirmed participation from HMS Collingwood, and no programme. What Monday’s meeting settles is whether the council spends the money and starts asking.

If it goes ahead, the daytime activities would be free, deliberately so: the report says free entry should keep people in the town centre through the day and put footfall through its shops, cafes and market stalls. The evening showcase would be ticketed.

The £30,000 is a one-off from reserves, not an addition to the council tax bill. For scale, it is a fraction of the £4.73 million the same meeting is being asked to spend on repairs to the Civic Offices.

The Executive meets at 5pm on Monday 7 September in the Collingwood Room at the Civic Offices. The meeting is public, the agenda and reports are published, and deputations can be lodged in advance. The Freedom March report runs to eight pages.