Annual Report 2018
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1 WELLOW Annual Parish Meeting, Wednesday 25th April 2018 6.30 pm Wellow Village Hall Wellow Parish Council Annual Report 2018 Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Parish Council Activities: • Replacement of Wellow Cricket Pavilion • Wellow Community Garden • Wellow Neighbourhood Plan • Other Activities • Keeping in touch with Parishioners • Parish Council Finances 3. Representation on External Committees and Bodies 4. Parish Council Members’ Responsibilities and Officers: • Parish Council Members’ Responsibilities 2017/18 • Parish Council Officers WPC Annual Parish Meeting 25.04.2018 2 1. Introduction This Report highlights the main activities of the Parish Council 2017/2018. Your Wellow Parish Councillors are: Cllr Gaye Chesterton-Kay (Chair) Cllr Harmeet Brar (Vice-Chair) Cllr Edmund Chesterton-Kay Cllr Alan Clark Cllr Trevor Grant Cllr Mike Jones Cllr Sue Jones Cllr Rich Millard Cllr John Sampson Cllr Philip Stehr A full list of Councillor responsibilities is attached to this Report and can also be viewed on the Parish website at www.wellowparish.org.uk Since last year’s Annual Parish Meeting, there have been a couple of changes in members of the Parish Council. Cllr John Saunders decided to stand down after 2 years’ service and we would like to thank him for all his hard work on behalf of Wellow residents. Welcome to Cllr Rich Millard who joined the team in June 2017. Cllr Millard’s primary focus has been and will continue to be on Recreation and Sports facilities in the village. As many of you will be aware, two major projects that had been in the planning stage for several years, have finally been completed during the last twelve months: 2. Parish Council Activities Replacement of Wellow Cricket Pavilion The old Cricket Pavilion was demolished in October 2017 and a brand new one has been erected. This project simply could not have been achieved without Grant Funding from Test Valley Borough Council along with further Grants from our Ward Councillors and Hampshire County Council. The new building boasts a spacious new club room, bar, kitchen, away and home changing rooms along with wet rooms and toilets. Huge thanks must also go to members of Wellow and Plaitford Cricket Club – this project was very much a joint venture; their ‘can-do’ attitude, personal input and boundless enthusiasm meant that every problem encountered (and there were plenty!) only made us all more determined to see it finished - a perfect example of what working together can achieve. WPC Annual Parish Meeting 25.04.2018 3 A PowerPoint presentation will be running in the hall during the Meeting and will continue afterwards for those of you who are interested in seeing the build process as it has taken place. The official opening of the new Pavilion will take place on Saturday 2nd June at 11.00am, following which the Pavilion will be open if any residents would like to take a look, before the commencement of the scheduled match that day at 1.00pm. Heartfelt thanks to Cllrs Mike and Sue Jones and Cllr Ed Chesterton-Kay who put in so much hard work and physical effort towards this huge project – their skills with project management, carpentry, tiling, painting, ground clearance and a host of other tasks not only saved a lot of money but also ensured that the Pavilion will be ready for the new season. It wouldn’t have happened without you guys! Wellow Community Garden The Wellow Community Garden has also been completed, again in large part, due to Test Valley Borough Council, Hampshire County Council and Viridor Waste Management funding grants which gave us enough money to complete the project. The Garden has been planted with shrubs and plants that give colour and structure throughout the year, along with six ornamental trees on the hillside next to the Garden. The six benches encircling the Garden were donated by Test Valley Borough Council, Hampshire County Council, our local Nisa store, Blackwater Equestrian and two residents of the village. We are delighted that the Garden is now in situ and I’m confident that it will prove to be a great meeting place for everyone. Wellow Neighbourhood Plan Over the past year the Neighbourhood Plan team has been mobilised. The project team is organised into three working groups and one support group. These are the: • Development Working Group: focused on potential land-use changes • Community Facilities & Services Working Group: focused on community needs • Environment Working Group: focused on environmental impact of any changes • Project Office: support for all teams and liaison with other parties such as TVBC The work performed by these groups is reported on through a monthly public Steering Committee meeting. Strong liaison is maintained with Test Valley Borough Council to ensure alignment with and understanding of the relationship between the emerging Neighbourhood Plan and the Local Plan. Other Activities WPC Annual Parish Meeting 25.04.2018 4 Hatches Farm Hatches Farm will be our focus for the coming year, but in the interim the Parish Council responded to a request from Wellow Youth Football Club for extra storage space. The Football Club continues to lease the pavilion and pitches from the Parish Council and was desperate for additional storage facilities, struggling for space to store kit and other equipment. A large storage building was erected in the Autumn to solve this problem, thereby freeing up the main recreational area of the clubhouse. We are currently looking into ways of solving drainage issues with the pitches at Hatches Farm, which unfortunately have led to the disruption of some training sessions and postponed matches, due to waterlogged pitches. Car parking is also becoming a problem for all users of the venue, particularly the lack of parking spaces, especially for the Football Club which now coaches more than 200 youngsters. The car park surface has seriously deteriorated over the years and a point has been reached where it has been necessary to tow cars out during heavy periods of prolonged rain. The Council is in the process of obtaining quotes to undertake a complete renovation of the car park along with extending it to cater for the increase in demand. Grant funding is being be applied for to help with financing this project. Wellow Common SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) As landowners of Wellow Common, the Parish Council continues to manage this low- level heathland in accordance with the approved Management Plan, under the auspices of Natural England, from whom a grant of around £18,000 per annum is received. This money is ring-fenced and must be used specifically to cover the costs of implementing the Management Plan under a Higher Level Stewardship agreement. The current funding arrangements run until January 2019 and the future of such agreements will be impacted by new post-Brexit legislation. Unfortunately, although Natural England representatives are cautiously optimistic about future funding for Wellow Common beyond 2020, it is not clear exactly how the new arrangements will work, even at this late stage. In the last year the usual bracken clearance, gorse burning and rhododendron removal was undertaken, along with some thinning of silver birches and the removal of a dead Scots pine. In addition, smaller remedial activities have taken place such as re- positioning of the green bins at the Plantation Car Park, so that access isn’t hampered by a huge pool of water during poor weather, replacing the worn padlock at the gate at Pickett Hill and monies were spent on ragwort removal. The Parish Council continues to appeal for volunteers to help with removal of ragwort later in the spring, please contact the Clerk email: [email protected] for more information or to register your interest. WPC Annual Parish Meeting 25.04.2018 5 The Parish Council is very fortunate to own the Common but managing this special environment alongside the demands of recreational users is a constant challenge. It has been particularly disturbing to receive reports in the past year of activities such as quad-biking, overnight camping and drone-flying taking place at the Common, all activities that are not welcomed by the Parish Council. Footpaths Wellow Parish Council continues to monitor the 24 footpaths/Rights of Way around the Parish and arrange maintenance work as required. The Council takes advantage of ‘the Lengthsman Scheme’ run by Hampshire County Council whereby our £1,000 budget is match funded by HCC for footpath maintenance. The Parish Council also takes up the offer of HCC’s Rights of Way team to identify 4 or 5 footpaths each year to be included on the County’s Rights of Way Priority Cutting List. Major clearance and improvement is generally concentrated on the most frequently used footpaths and in the past year this has included the following: Footpath 7 (St Margaret’s Church to Foxe’s Lane) - major cut back of tree and vegetation growth Footpath 17 (Gazing Lane to footpath 18) - reforming of the drainage ditch, laying of hard core on path, cutting back of tree and vegetation growth and removal of fallen tree Footpath 18 (Romsey Road to Buttons Lane) - major cut back of tree and vegetation growth Footpath 22 (Foxes Lane to Scallows Lane) – major cut back of tree and vegetation growth, new bridge over stream and two metal kissing gates installed. A copy of the map showing each footpath is available on our website or from the Parish Office. When footpath issues are encountered by parishioners this can be reported at the Hampshire Rights of Way online system https://www.hants.gov.uk/landplanningandenvironment/rightsofway/reportaproblem as well as informing the Parish Council. Wellow Recreation Ground Maintenance of the Recreation ground in general continues, supervised by Cllr Sue Jones.