Dear villagers,

There is an election for County Council on Thursday 2nd May so please be sure to note the date and vote. If you can‟t get to the Polling Station you can apply for a Postal Vote here; http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/ and you can apply up to the 17th April.

As a result this is my final County Council newsletter for this term of office, but I will be seeking re-election and so, as always prior to an election, I have moderated the report appropriately.

Don‟t forget I also write a report to your Parish Council once per month in time for their Full Council meeting and you can follow my work for you there as well. The various web addresses are at the end of this newsletter.

This is also the time of year for village Annual Meetings. I have attended Grayshott‟s meeting and also the meeting for and . Headley‟s is scheduled for Monday 15th. April.

County Councillor News for Bramshott and Liphook

Parish Annual Meeting

This was well attended as usual with plenty of interaction all round. I‟m impressed at everyone‟s endurance in staying to the end but there was plenty of fascinating material presented.

Parking at Liphook Junior and Infant School

Following my meetings at the school, I have arranged for HCC Traffic Management to survey the situation. This has now been completed and results for drop off and pick up times for all five days of the week have been collated. The result of the assessment is that a scheme of parking control is the best short term solution and consultation with public and the Parish Council will begin shortly.

With so much housing development taking place in Bramshott and Liphook, the County Council Children‟s Services team have plans to increase junior school intake capacity, although exactly where and when is not decided. As a result there may be a need to re-assess the situation depending on the approach to accommodating the increased intake.

Surface Dressing Liphook

As I reported last time, there are plans for further surface dressing work in Liphook, this time in the centre to replace the paving bricks in The Square, as well as associated work. The problem last time was water getting into the bitumen and mixing with the oil content so releasing the stones. This led to the shiny wheel tracks and piles of stones at the side. Together with the Parish Council, we have negotiated to delay this work until the summer in the hope that the weather will be dryer!

Bramshott Lanes

HCC have agreed to implement my proposal for a project to calm traffic using these pretty lanes. It will start later this year. There will be rustic gateway signs to emphasise the rural nature of the area, a lower speed limit in parts of the area and some signage.

A3 Noise

Following pressure from Damian Hinds MP and myself, the Highways Agency have approved two schemes in the area to ease the noise problem from the A3. This map shows you the two locations of the work;

My main concern is that although this represents progress, I‟m not sure it is enough. As a result I am discussing this further with Damian to see if more can be done.

Other Highway Issues

Upper Hammer Lane Bramshott Footpath

This is proving to be more challenging. The county boundary with dog legs into the road for about 15 metres which makes this awkward from a bureaucratic aspect. There is also an intrusion of trees from one property which adds to the difficulty of negotiation. Finally, the other side of the road is owned by the Ministry of Defence‟s Defence Estates group who have a reputation for slowness. So far, despite many calls to the person responsible, I have not found them in nor have they returned my calls.

On the positive side I have had an excellent site meeting with Surrey County Councillor Steve Renshaw, plus engineers from both Surrey CC and Hampshire CC and a parent. There is a clear commitment to make this work one way or another and that is encouraging.

Portsmouth Road South, A333; White Lines.

The serious head on collision has caught the attention of Surrey CC and Surrey Police in a way that my letters could not! I‟m awaiting action from both agencies.

Junction Gunns Farm with Midhurst Road

I have now followed up on the complaint and a project has been approved to improve the situation. Existing faded markings will be re-marked and it is expected that an additional warning sign will be erected.

A3 Slip Road Off from Southbound Carriageway

I have followed up on complaints about road safety where this slip road meets the London Road. This is a Highways Agency responsibility, not a County Council one. However I have agreed with the Highways Agency that extra marking and kerbing is needed and they have scheduled this work for later in the current financial year. There are some works planned for this junction shortly, but the agreement to these changes was achieved too late to incorporate within the current project.

Public Transport

I have received several representations to improve local „bus services following the success with the 18.

I‟m very, very pleased to announce that as a result of my request, HCC Passenger Transport will fund an extension to the route of the 250 „bus service to help with access to Hospital, following the closure of all beds at The Chase Hospital. The official County Council comment is thus;

“Following the representations you have received, the passenger transport team has managed to identify some modest residual developer funding from the Sainsbury's store in Liphook. With this in mind, we can look at is the possibility of adding a Liphook to Haslemere journey to the 250 Liphook local service which the County Council funds. Like the former 213, the 250 runs on Monday to Friday. At present the 250 provides three morning journeys fitting around school contract requirements. It may be possible to include two return journeys from Liphook to Haslemere with a journey from Liphook at around 9.45am and a return from Haslemere at around 12.45pm, which is similar the last bus back on the 213.”

My suggestion was to extend the route of the 59 but that proved a much more expensive option and so I hope this solution will assist residents.

My General Activities Covering all Three Parishes

Have Your Say

Hampshire County Council made additional grant funds available recently and a public meeting was held to vote on which applicant should get the money. £2,500 was available for groups in my division but the applications were for much more than this.

The meeting was very well attended with over 60 members of the public present. After they had voted the £2,500, some groups were left with nothing. Luckily, I‟m also EHDC‟s Chairman of the local Community Forum and we had unspent grant funds. So we convened a meeting of the Forum immediately after the Have Your Say meeting and with a bit of a push and a shove we ensured that nobody went home empty handed.

Rural Broadband

As you know, I am lead councillor for the County Council on this project. The Council has now exchanged contracts with BT and the project is up and running. There is a slight delay due to the need to review the single supplier situation with the EU under their “State Aid” regulations, as I reported last time. As a result, roll out will commence later this year but we still hope to complete by the end of 2015. “Complete” means at least 24 megabits per second to 90% of the premises in the county and at least 2 mbps to the remaining remote 10%.

My Main News from the other Two Parishes

Grayshott

Grayshott Primary School Footpath

All the agencies, (School, County Council, Grayshott Pottery and the Diocese) are now in agreement over a solution first proposed back in 1996 and a landscape architect has been assigned to develop the solution.

Hill Road Street Lights

Installation is under way. This is a community funded project with contributions from residents, the Social Club, the Parish Council and my own devolved grant budget.

Crossways Road

Work is due to start in the Summer following delays due to the bad weather.

Village Centre Signing and Lining Project

This is almost complete now with a few remaining issues in School Road. Parking enforcement will commence almost immediately.

A3 Noise

The Highways Agency have produced maps indicating where measures will be taken to reduce the problem of noise from the new A3 bypass.

Village Centre Resurfacing

This is scheduled for Sundays from mid-April and some work on kerbs a little earlier.

Headley

The Holme School

I have been able to get HCC and Department for education agreement to some continuity of Governors following the poor Ofsted report. This was important given the turnover of Interim Head Teachers. I‟m advised that things are improving at the school.

Highway Issues

The main area of progress has been the development of a tentative proposal to cut rat running through Eddey‟s Lane. This has been shared with the Parish Council and will shortly be put out for public consultation.

A project has been authorised to try and improve the junction of Mill Lane and High Street by the Holly Bush pub.

Most people can see the new footpath work on Crabtree Lane around the green. There are several other minor projects under way or under assessment.

And finally……..

In Grayshott, please go to www.grayshott.com and look under “News” and then “Newsgroups” to read my two-monthly public newsletters.

In Headley please go to www.headley-village.com/parish Look under “Council Meetings” and then “County Council” for my monthly reports to the Full Council and at the top of the home page for my two-monthly public newsletters.

In Bramshott and Liphook please go to http://bramshottandliphook-pc.gov.uk/newsletters for my two-monthly public newsletters.

If you want to take up any County Council issues with me, please contact me on [email protected] or on 01428-609858.

I hope you had a lovely Easter and don‟t forget to VOTE!!!

Cllr. Ferris Cowper, Hampshire County Councillor for Grayshott, Headley and Bramshott and Liphook.