November 2010 Meeting Report

Report of the meeting held on Tuesday 2 November 2010 in the Compton Room, Shawford Parish Hall.

Police Report

The clerk reported that he had been advised, by PCSO Gavin Cooper, that there had been a number of incidents within the parish in the past month. These included three separate reports of theft (a coat, two off road motorbikes and a mountain bike); two reports of criminal damage (an unattended vehicle was broken into in Otterbourne Road and a vehicle damaged at Shawford station); one non-dwelling burglary (tools taken from a garage in Fairfield Road) and a man was arrested for aggressive behaviour towards ambulance staff.

Councillor Broomfield noted that several incidents involving vehicles did not appear to be reported to the police e.g. the bent road signs in Shawford Road and Shepherds Lane. He was also concerned about the way some parents parked in the lay by between Hurdle Way and Compton Street, while waiting to collect their children from the school. Some vehicles, not fully parked off the road, constituted a hazard to other road users. Councillor Southgate undertook to raise the issue with the school.

Councillor Beckett noted the increased police presence in the parish. It was agreed that the clerk should write to Sergeant Hills expressing the council’s appreciation of this example of policing in the public view.

County and District Councillors’ Reports

County Councillor Charlotte Bailey advised the council that she was in the process of arranging a meeting with Hampshire County Council (HCC) highway maintenance engineers and Councillor Broomfield to try to overcome the various highway maintenance problems the Parish Council was currently encountering, e.g. overgrown road side vegetation, siting of speed limit signs, etc. This should take place in December. She also notified the council about forthcoming consultations on improvements to car parks at Farley Mount (including the possible introduction of a charging regime) and on the future of mobile libraries: vehicles for the latter were very old. Finally she added that the application to designate Bushfield camp as a village green was moving forward but a final decision should not be expected for some considerable time.

Councillor Beckett reported that Winchester City Council (WCC) had received some responses to the Blueprint initiative but not as many as he would like. The central grant towards the WCC’s budget had not been reduced but he expected several non-statutory services, e.g. museums, leisure and entertainment, advisory and charitable services etc. to come under pressure for a reduction in their budgets. The Park and Ride facility was working well: usage was increasing.

Planning

Councillor Bell confirmed that the Planning Committee would meet informally during the coming month to produce the council’s Blueprint submission on the Local Development Framework (LDF). Details would be circulated to all councillors in time for the next meeting on 7 December 2010. [The deadline for submissions is 10 December 2010.]

There was considerable discussion of the further developments at Four Dell Farm. The council agreed with Councillor Beckett’s suggestion that the company should be asked to provide a long term planning brief for the site. At the moment planning permissions were being ‘drip fed’ into a planning system that was divided between the county and district planning departments. This was far from satisfactory.

Highways & Byways

The clerk advised the council that, as at 2 November, 328 households had submitted responses to the Otterbourne Road survey (637 leaflets were distributed). The final count was due on 15 November 2010. The chairman, Councillor Stevens, noted Mrs Caffyn’s comments that, should HCC agree to reduce the speed limit along Otterbourne Road, from just north of Southdown Road to Poles Lane, there would be a potential increase in risk to road users and pedestrians on the approaches to Shepherds Lane and Shawford Road. Councillor Broomfield announced that, when he meets HCC highways engineers in December, he intended to discuss the possibility of using existing road signs as potential sites for the speed light: the next deployment of which will commence on 17 December 2010. Councillor Evans confirmed that WCC had acknowledged the legitimacy of the request for additional parking at Attwoods Drove and Martins Fields. It was now being considered along with similar requests from other parishes.

Councillor Southgate advised the council that South West Trains expects to begin work on the extra parking spaces at Shawford station in November. He requested a ‘steer’ from the council on parking in Shawford and it was agreed that he should consider the option of parking restrictions in the bays outside the shops.

Councillor Campbell-White reported that John Wilkinson, who was continuing to walk the parish footpaths, had expressed concern about ‘Footpath 3’, which crosses the South East corner of Four Dell Farm. The field has been ploughed and sown recently and, in the process, the footpath route had become hidden. It was agreed that the chairman should write to HCC Rights of Way Department requesting that the issue be investigated. Councillor Campbell-White also announced that he had agreed that Mr Wilkinson should accept an invitation to become a member of the Countryside Access Plan (CAP) Working Group for the Test and Itchen area.

Playing Fields

Councillor Campbell-White advised the council that HCC was prepared to lease land at the base of Shawford Down for the use of a play area. The onus was now on the council to liaise with the utility suppliers to ascertain the location of cables and pipes.

Councillor Millar said that she was delighted to advise the council that John Richardson had agreed to take over the supervision of the projects to cut back overgrown vegetation at the Memorial Playing Fields and Compton Street play area. But, to date, only one company had submitted a quote: two others had been invited but had declined to so. Invitations to two further companies had issued and they had been given until 15 November 2010 to submit quotes. The council also discussed the potential project to install a 2.7m fence around a section of the Compton play area boundary, to reduce the number of incidents of balls being kicked into the road and neighbouring gardens. Councillor Campbell-White reported that each tender had produced a different solution. He would evaluate each one in turn and make a recommendation. In the meantime Councillor Millar would approach the Open Spaces Fund to see whether the project was eligible for funding. Councillor Evans expressed concern at the height of the netting and wondered whether it was really necessary. She would not wish to see a ‘creeping urbanisation’ of Compton.

The council also discussed the request from a local schoolboy for a skateboarding and BMX park. Councillor Walmsley reported that a request for a skateboard park had been considered in 1998 by the then parish council, when the cost had been estimated at £12,000. It had decided not to proceed with the project at that time. The council decided that, given the quality of the submission, it was worthy of further consideration by the Playing Fields Committee.

Finally, Councillor Millar reported that she had asked, Simon White, Vita Play, to attend to the broken timber support on the ‘springer’ in the Compton play area.

CASCA

Councillor Millar reminded councillors that the CASCA Christmas party would be held on 3 December starting at 7.00pm.

Councillor Campbell-White

At the end of the meeting, Councillor Campbell-White announced that, as he was about to leave the parish, he intended to retire from the parish council with immediate effect. The chairman thanked him for his considerable efforts, over many years, in support of Compton and Shawford.

Date and Venue of the Next Meeting

7.30pm Tuesday 7 December2010 in the Compton Room, Shawford Parish Hall.

David Drake
Clerk