THE FARRINGDON VILLAGE MEETING THURSDAY 12th APRIL 2007
The Annual Parish meeting was held in All Saints Church on the 12th April with the traditional venue for this meeting being one of the main but not the only topic under discussion on the night.
In
addition to members of Farringdon Parish Council, Hampshire County Council
Representative Mark Kemp-Gee (left) and East Hants District Council
representative Patrick Burridge (right) not forgetting the imposing
figure of Community Police Office PC Simon Dear.
Also on hand were Paul Granger, acting Chairman of the Village Hall Management Committee and Gillian McCallum, representing the Massey's Folly Preservation Trust.
Parish Council
Chairman Keith Haskell opened the meeting with thanks to the Vicar and the
PCC for allowing the meeting to be held in the Church as the Village Hall
was still closed to the public.
Acknowledging that Massey's Folly would be the main point of discussion the
Keith moved fairly swiftly through the initial formalities to the Chairman's
Report which began with reference to the ever changing boundaries of the proposed
South Downs National Park, now defined in this area but the lines are stilll
on the move in counties to the east of Hampshire which suggests that it will
be several years before the Park becomes a reality.
Moving
back to local issues first on the list was the newly built Shirnall Meadows
Estate in Lower Farringdon. The developer still had some remedial work to
complete and weather had delayed the work on the grass play area on the site
of the demolished Chase Field Houses. The Farringdon Mill site was another
area of concern although any housing development could only proceed once the
problems of access to the site could be resolved.
Planning applications for outsize extensions to houses in Farringdon had resulted in a large number of objections from residents and applications which exploit a planning loophole by demolishing one house and building multiple dwellings on the cleared plot had also given the planning committee cause for concern.
Road maintenance and the speed of traffic on the A32 Gosport Road was also a regular topic at Parish Council meetings and the audience were asked if they would support participation in a review of local speed limits in Hampshire. The overwhelming majority voted to proceed with the study although it was made clear there would be further consultation on the results before any major changes were introduced.
The Farringdon Parish Council was now reaching the end of a four year term and The Chairman took the opportunity to thank all elected council members and the Parish Clerk, Mike Findlay for their services not forgetting all who give up their time for a variety of contributions to Village activities.
For the first time in many years and despite the fact that several existing Parish Councillors will be standing down, there are 10 nominations or the 9 seats and for the first time in many years Farringdon residents will have the opportunity to elect their local representatives.
The Councillors who will be standing down at the end of this term are, John Cavendish and Tim Charrington who have served as parish Councillors for many years and more recent additions to the Parish Council Bob Elkington and Nadya Wagland.
If further encouragement were needed, the Polling Station will be at the Royal
Oak which will give voters the chance to quench their thirst and vote at the
same time, although your Council Chairman recommends voting first otherwise
there may be some difficulties with the complications of placing crosses in
the relevant square.
For a full list of candidates seeking election on May 3rd click here (opens new window)
Hampshire County Council Representative Mark Kemp-Gee began with an endorsement
of the contribution local councils make to the community but also indicated
that planning regulation is likely to be in the hands of regional bodies whether
or not the South Downs park becomes a reality.
Recycling in Hampshire had now reached the stage where 50% of household rubbish was recycled with only 20% going to land fill, the remaining 30% being incinerated.
Less welcome was the news that there will be a large number of redundancies in the Hampshire library service, based on the premise that people using libraries no longer want to read books but sit in front of computers.
Road maintenance was another ongoing problem with insufficient money to maintain the 5000 miles of roads in Hampshire. The collapse of the Petersfield road at Stoner hill was obviously an unexpected drain on resources but other projects leave few resources for the more basic and regular maintenance of minor roads locally.
Patrick Burridge East Hants District Councillor revealed that his postbag contained a large number of objections to various applications in Farringdon and revealed that there is a possibility Farringdon might be included in a plan to create special planning rules to protect villages from over development of out of character construction and extensions to existing houses.
PC
Simon Dear, Community Beat Officer (shown chatting to Iain Ross during
the tea break) was able to report a 100% detection rate for the one burglary
reported prior to the meeting although since then there have been a number
of reports in Farringdon and neighbouring villages, of burglaries and attempted
burglaries which will be the subject of discussion at the meeting on Thursday
prior to the Village Hall AGM.
Hampshire police
will also have two representatives operating in Penn's Place although direct
contact through the Farringdon Improvement Group will still be available.
Tim Charrington reported on the Current Financial State of Three local charities,
Trustees of the Poors Charity has £50 in the coffers
Farringdon Playing Fields Trust has £20 and
The War Memorial ( Rose Garden) Trust has assets totalling £242
For the Parish Magazine John Prynne , in the absence of Patrick Fuller, reported that the Magazine is entirely self supporting and hopes to continue to be so although one unexpected potential drain on funds was from support of the Chawton village web site which was expected to yield a return on combined advertising with the Parish Magazine but had requested a subsidy in the region of £300 towards running costs although these financial arrangements are under discussion.
A combined presentation from Paul Granger for the Village Hall Management Committee and Gillian McCallum for the Massey's Folly Preservation Trust on the present state of affairs in the two Village Hall Charities.
The Village hall will be the subject of a more detailed report after the AGM in the Church on the 26th April but Chair Donna Corbin has resigned as Chair of VHMC and as a trustee, Christine Bohringer has resigned as Secretary and Trustee and Paul Granger, elected Vice Chairman of the VHMC, has taken over as caretaker Chairman on a temporary basis until officers can be elected at the AGM with Nicky Bovey-Howell as acting Secretary.
For the MFPT Mary Roberts and Alison De Lesma have resigned as Trustees and Nadya Wagland has also resigned after moving away from the area. These resignations will be ratified at a combined AGM with the VHMC and new trustees will be appointed to fill the vacancies.
Both organisations involved with Massey's Folly have announced their intention to hold open meetings in future and to make more use of available channels, including this web site, to keep villagers informed of progress, policy and plans for the future. They also intend to consult with neighbouring parishes to draw on their experience in financing and planning Village Hall Restoration, particularly Selborne who ran a very successful campaign to fund Restoration of their Village Hall although it has to pointed out that they didn't have the added problem of maintaining a listed building needing extensive restoration.
With the scant information available to them Paul and Gillian did their best to give and idea of progress and finances but hopefully a more comprehensive report will be available at the AGM
After
a brief Interval for refreshments served by the ladies of the Church and a
chance to ease those parts in intimate contact with the Church pews, the meeting
resumed with a question and answer session.
A number of question regarding the speed and volume of traffic using the A32
and the observance of the 30 mph limit on Shirnall Hill were put to the various
representatives. The possibility of lower speed limits on the A32 my be influenced
by a traffic study in progress and as reported above Farringdon Residents
present backed a proposal to take part in a study of traffic problems in rural
areas in the County.
Dog fouling was also a continuing problem and the possibility of providing suitable bins for responsible dog owners to place these offerings was discussed when it became apparent, after a request for better signing of the receptacle currently in use in Parsonage Close, that this was not a designated receptacle for the articles currently under discussion.
The Farringdon Parish Council has no powers to fine owners who allow there dogs to scatter offerings at various places around the village but appointed dog wardens do and they should be notified about persistent offenders.
There were also complaints about signs obstructing sight lines adjacent and on the War Memorial Garden. It was reported that after a request from a council member signs were removed from the garden but the Parish Council had no jurisdiction over signs placed on the area owned by the motorcycle sale room which had now reopened next to the garden.
Discussion then moved on to the Massey's Folly and the Village Hall Committee. Again, as reported above, there was some concern expressed about the lack of information available, particularly on the financial situation and the funding expected from the Heritage Lottery Fund. As before both representatives did their best to answer questions but the lack of detailed information available on the night made it impossible to produce fully satisfactory answers
It was announced that the Committee had been engaged with the Charity Commissioners to define the areas from which eligible residents can become trustees in order to reduce the rather broad definition used at present but they would not accept Farringdon parish boundary as a wide enough area of those likely to benefit from the provision of a Village Hall in Farringdon Again more details will be available at the AGM.
The VHMC were determined to undertake the necessary surveys and repairs to reopen the Village Hall to the public as soon as possible to restore a source of income from lettings.
Several questions about expenditure followed particularly the cost of removal of pigeons and their accumulated excrement from one of the Towers. It was explained that the health hazard from these droppings made it necessary to employ specialist contractors to clear and dispose of the material safely.
By now the hard pews were beginning to make their presence felt and the meeting closed just after 10:00 pm.