Annual Parish Assembly Tuesday 16th May 2017 at Lady Rose Hall at 7.30pm

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1 Laverstoke and Freefolk Parish Council Chairman Bob Hough, Longhouse, Freefolk, Whitchurch, RG28 7NW Clerk - Nicky Nicklin, Parish Office, Lady Rose Hall, Laverstoke Lane, Whitchurch, RG28 7NY Tel: laverstokeclerk@gmail.com Annual Parish Assembly Tuesday 16th May 2017 at Lady Rose Hall at 7.30pm Present Parish Councillors: Borough Councillors: County Councillors: Police: Bombay Sapphire: Parish Clerk: Members of the Public Bob Hough, Jim Marsh, Jo Probut, David Ellis Cllr Ian Tilbury, Cllr Colin Phillimore Cllr Anna McNair Scott PCSO Emma Page Phil Skipp Nicky Nicklin 1. Apologies for absence - Clare Albert, Charlie Seligman, James Morrison 2. Approval and signature of Minutes of the last Annual Parish Meeting on 16 th May Chairman s Report for 2016 The Chairman thanked all the Parish Councillors and Nicky for the work they did in Jim is leaving the council, but we hope to welcome him back in the future. Thanks to Jim for his help with the Speed Indicator and all the legal work in getting Nursery into LRH. The Nursery has been running since Sept They are working really well with the PC. Speeding We now have a speed indicator device which was purchased with support of Bombay Sapphire and is managed by Basingstoke & Deane. Dog Fouling With help of Community safety office Daniel White we got Litter bins installed by the gate to Batts Meadow and on Priory Lane. Cllr Colin Phillimore arranged a meeting with B&D at which we realised that if The Men s Shed took control of the Pavilion we could save the PC thousands in rates. Thank you Colin. The Ginkhana was both a great success and great fun. It helped raise funds for the Millennium Green playground, which were kindly matched by an anonymous donor. BT finally with Clare s persistence the broadband project is moving forward, there is now real hope of superfast broadband by end of Sept or Christmas. The PC is pleased that the Millennium Green was awarded 30k from B&D and Test Valley Men s Shed has gained ground over the year although they re still without a water supply. Tennis and Archery clubs are doing well and seem to be successful.

2 On the planning front the Home Farm planning application went through after second application. The PC supported with grants: the L&F Senior Citizens, the Millennium Green for insurance contribution and the Parochial Church Council for its woodpeckerdamaged spire campaign. Looking forward, the PC is looking to put in a LIF application in July for the car park in Freefolk and shall be discussing use of the Bombay Sapphire Defibrillation machine within the community. It will require coordination of communication due to the time sensitive nature of incidents requiring a defibrillator. 4. County Councillor s Report Cllr McNair Scott can help provide defibrillator training. In 2017 there are a number of Jane Austin celebration events in the county, some of which are taking place close by. Steventon (where Jane was born and spent first 25 years of her life) parish website is a good source of info: o The Mysterious Miss Austen the Gallery, Winchester Discovery Centre 13 th May 24 th July, M F 9.00 am 7.00 pm, Sat 9.00 am 5.00 pm, Sun 11.00am 3.00pm. Interesting exhibits coming together for first time plus manuscript in Jane s own hand of an alternative ending to her final novel Persuasion o Jane and her Alton Apothecary the Allen Gallery, Church Street, Alton 3 rd June 20 th Aug am 16.30pm: the story of the apothecary that treated Jane when she was ill o The Navy at the Time of Jane Austen: Fighting, Flirting and Fortune Gosport discovery Centre, Walpole Road, Gosport 15 th July 20 th September 9.00 am 5.00pm exhibition exploring importance of the navy in Jane s lifetime o Retail and romance: Jane goes to the Ball The Sainsbury Gallery, Willis Museum, Market Square, Basingstoke 29 th July 7 th October 9.00am 5.00pm Jane knew Basingstoke well and her letters are full of references to shopping, descriptions of what was worn to balls and lively gossip. o Jane s Winchester: Malady and Medicine - City Space, Winchester Discovery Centre 13 th May 24 th July M-F 10.00am 6.00 pm, Sat am 5.00 pm Jane arrived in Winchester in May 1817 for treatment and this exhibition offers a snapshot of the city as it was then and the hospitals and doctors. o Winchester Cathedral is also organising tours with coffee and cake first Saturday of each month June to Nov. Contact or visits@winchester-cathedral.org.uk. o Other events also include outdoor performances of Pride and Prejudice on 28 th, 29 th and 30 th June (bookable from the Cathedral box office), o Other information from the Jane Austen House museum can be found on their website: Colin Phillimore added that there will also be 24 Sitting with Jane benches in a public arts trail including one in Overton Community Centre forecourt. De La Rue

3 are sponsoring. At the end of the performances they will be auctioned with money raised going to the ARK Cancer Centre Charity in Basingstoke. Anna is the representative for the County Council for the North Wessex Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty. She is also involved in a landscape trust. Potholes are an area that the County Councillor can help with if we need some extra assistance. She commented that funding from Central Govt for this is reducing. She asked if the village had any specific road issues. A resident brought up the sharp bend on the road from Whitchurch into Freefolk where there have been a number or recent accidents, including one which took out one of the new BT boxes. It was requested that we have a slow red, non-slip surface on this bend as it is such a problem area. The SID can t be used that end because of the bends. Cllr McNair Scott will look into this problem area on the PC s behalf. Anna will also get in touch with Bob with respect to funding for the Men s Shed Councillor s Report - Cllr Colin Phillimore & Ian Tilbury Colin commented that he would try and remain non-political but pointed out that the central government funding reduction that Cllr McNair Scott referenced is from a Govt which has been in power for 7 years. Home Farm S106 is now available Businesses are under threat from the recent rates increase e.g. Overton bakery went up 26%. Highways come under Cllr McNair Scott s responsibility. Boundary review procedure and devolution are both happening. The borough is increasing in size e.g. the recent expansion of the Rookwood area. Each Borough Councillor should now represent 2100 people in a Ward but currently wards vary with some as low as 1900 people. Two changes are proposed 1. To go to election of all 60 councillors every 4 years (rather than current 20 every 3 years.) 2. For some wards to get amalgamated. Parishes can t be split but e.g. L&F could move to another ward. Currently we have a 2 councillor ward and we may go to 3 councillors representing a bigger ward. Action: PC to look out for consultation process in order to comment. Colin is happy to support the PC. Ian Tilbury added that the Manydown plan is the only one that will affect L&F (journeys to Basingstoke will be impacted.) Police Report L&F come under Overton & Steventon for policing and PCSO Emma Page has to filter reports for last 12 months to isolate L&F crimes. The B&D crime priorities have been: burglary, traffic incidents and theft from motor vehicles. L&F had 0 burglary, 2 x RTAs in Freefolk. In answer to the question of whether Emma can help ascertain accident rates on the B3400, the police can t identify damage only incidents as then they don t get involved, unless the road is blocked. Also when accidents are recorded the specific position is often vague e.g. the B3400 could be Overton, L stoke or Whitchurch. Although there has been an increase in theft from motor vehicles in B stoke this is not reflected in L&F. Other incidents of note are a couple of

4 assaults, 1 theft, 1 public order and 11 suspicious incidents. The latter are mainly poaching and mostly relate to the field off L stoke lane to the left of Micheldever Road. Emma requested we get registration numbers of suspicious vehicles! Responding to the question what number to ring, if it s an emergency (life or property in danger) dial 999. For anything else or to report a crime has already taken place then dial 101. A free Hampshire Alert service is available that publicises issues e.g. spates of thefts from cars or indeed positive news. You decide whether you want alerts by phone/text/ . Emma will send us some Crime Prevention tips soon. Colin asked whether fly tipping was a civic or criminal offence. Emma confirmed it is both and that the police do want to know about it (again capturing registration numbers is important.) Colin confirmed he will take up any fly tipping issues on behalf of the parish. Bombay Sapphire Update Last year there were 83k visitors and the distillery made it into the Top 10 things to do in Hampshire million litres of gin were produced (50 million bottles of Bombay Sapphire) and the outlook for the coming year is steady growth. Responding to a question on food offering, Phil confirmed the Manydown bus café will be around for a few more months. They have some further plans but funding is required. They are still talking to Jodie Scheckter about car parking and also considering shuttle buses. They are currently doing work to the old cottages parallel to the B3400. Although they are mothballed they are obliged to keep them weather proof. Accounts for the year ending 31 st March 2017 were circulated. Nicky ran through the audited copy and explained the main points of difference between last year and the prior year. Receipts were down overall as no big grants received this year but Property Income up because of the new nursery in Lady Rose Hall, Refunds up because of a rates rebate and Donations up due to contribution from Bombay Sapphire for Speed Indicator Device. The Payments were up on prior year because of Speed Indicator device, resurfacing of the third tennis court and LRH maintenance increasing as we re using it more. Commenting on the account balances Bob pointed out that 20k of the 30.7 k Community Centre budget was for roof repair provision. Other provisions for projects were also in place. Open Forum It was commented that the bus stop at Wells-in-the-field needs a drop kerb east bound to Basingstoke, like those outside The Gables and Oakley Hall, to help the elderly Action: check it s in our parish if not feed to Whitchurch clerk. A resident brought up that there has been no planning app for an LFP farm shop. Action: chase Clare Scheckter A suggestion was made that walking netball was becoming popular for keeping fit and could be instigated somewhere locally Another resident reminded the PC that the Bombay Sapphire Noise Abatement Order came into force today from 2100 to 0700 and that BS had broken it due to a tanker arriving before Phil Skipp replied that the tanker timings that they

5 were now working to had started 3 weeks ago. A new driver had arrived early today and had been refused entry onto the site. BS have complained to the haulage company, the driver was reprimanded and BS had phoned B&D to explain. The resident declared that the Order had been broken and that therefore a criminal rather than a civil offence had been committed. He said that he had sent three separate letters to Bombay Sapphire. BS said that they had replied to the first and taken advice that they should speak to B&D directly on the second and third. The resident explained that he would probably see BS in court. With no further items to discuss the Parish Meeting was immediately followed by the PC AGM.