June 2005 PC Meeting Report

Report on the Meeting held
Tuesday 7th June 2005, Compton Room, Shawford Parish Hall

County Councillor’s Report

The Chairman, Cllr. Adrian Walmsley, welcomed Mrs. Charlotte Bailey, the new County Councillor, to the meeting. County Councillor Charlotte Bailey reported the Itchen Navigation, Shawford Down, Parking in Compton Street, the Integra site in Poles Lane and the request for a new Bench Seat at the Highways Road Bus Stop. In respect of the Itchen Navigation it is estimated that in 10 to 20 years the Navigation will be dry. A project has been established to seek Lottery Funding for necessary maintenance and improvement works. The request for a new Bench Seat at the Highways Road Bus Stop will be investigated by the Clerk, but it is unlikely that such a facility can be provided in this financial year due to budgetary constraints.

District Councillor’s Report

District Councillor George Beckett reported upon the increased pressure from the planners at Winchester City Council on the issue of developers including an element of Affordable Housing in developments of less than 15 dwellings. It is difficult to impose a requirement for Affordable Housing within such developments and therefore it is anticipated that there will be a growing number of exception sites.

Finance and Admin Committee

Cllr. Nick Campbell-White presented the completed accounts for the Financial Year ending 31st March 2005. These were duly adopted by the Parish Council. These accounts have now to be submitted to the Audit process, part of which requires the Parish Council to confirm the Statements of Assurance. This was duly confirmed by a unanimous vote.

Jubilee Pavilion

Work on the outstanding issues in respect of the Jubilee Pavilion continues. There are now only four outstanding issues and the Parish Council are close to final resolution of these issues with the Building Contractor. Resolution to the Car Park problems has been identified and remedial work together with extending the Car Park is to commence shortly.

New Tennis Court

Work on constructing the third Tennis Court at Memorial Playing Field is to commence within the next few weeks. This will enable the clean up and landscaping work of the area where the old Pavilion used to stand to be undertaken. This will be the final piece of work at the memorial playing field under the Jubilee Pavilion project. It will result in the closing off of the old entrance to the Memorial Playing Field where the old Pavilion used to stand.

Planning

The main discussion under Planning, reported upon by Cllr. Jeremy Dolphin, was the Planning Application concerning Overcombe and Rothiemurchus, St.Cross Road. It was originally thought that the Parish Council need not raise an objection. However, in the light of objections raised by The City of Winchester Trust together with further consideration given to the matter, it was agreed at the Parish Council should raise an objection to the Planning Application.

Significant discussion took place on the question of developing a Parish Plan. Cllr. Jeremy Dolphin had attended a seminar on this subject at which it was made clear that a Parish Plan does impact the Planning Process at Winchester City Council. It is envisaged that increased pressure will be brought to bear on those Parishes which do not have such a Plan. Compton and Shawford Parish is one such Parish. The discussions concluded that a Working Party of Parish Councillors will be established to determine the interest from within the Parish to develop such a Parish Plan. It is envisaged that all the Residents Associations will be invited to join this initiative from which it is hoped that a group can be established to undertake the work involved. District Councillor George Beckett will make enquiries within Winchester City Council with regard to obtaining assistance as well as possible funding.

Memorial Playing Field

It was finally reported that the long awaited notices prohibiting Golf Practice, amongst other things, on the Memorial Playing Field have been installed. It is unfortunate to note that despite these notices, instances of people undertaking Golf Practice on the Playing Field continues to be seen.

Highways & Byways

Cllr Patricia Caffyn reported upon the response that had been received from the Countryside Service, Hampshire County Council, in respect of the maintenance and management of Shawford Down. Little, if any, work on keeping the down free from encroaching scrub and grass had been done due to the absence of Budgets and/or funds. It was concluded that this excuse is not acceptable in that Residents fund Hampshire County Council through the Council Tax and as such are entitled to expect Hampshire County Council to Manage those areas for which they are responsible. This argument concerning the lack of Budgets and Funds has been put forward for a number of years and is now no longer accepted. The matter will be escalated within Hampshire County Council.

Meeting reports

Due to changes in the editorial policy at The Hampshire Chronicle, the Parish Council has been informed that this monthly report will no longer be published [verbatim] by the Hampshire Chronicle. Requests for the continued submission of this report, which would then be selectively edited by the Hampshire Chronicle before any element is published, were resisted by the Clerk. Accordingly, the full Parish Council Minutes will be published on the WEB site, albeit one month after the event when those Minutes have been ratified by the Full Parish Council.

M LANGFORD, CLERK