MORTIMER WEST END PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of the Council Date: Thursday 21st June 2018 Time: 7.30pm Place: Mortimer West End Village Hall Present: Cllr Nick Thurlow (Chair) Cllr Jonathon Bray Cllr John Robertson Cllr Andrew Arthur Cllr David Lister In Attendance: Christine McGarvie (Clerk) Cllr Roger Gardiner (Borough) Andrew Liddle – Divisional Director, Hills Quarry Products Richard Edwards – Englefield Estate Jason Searancke, Chairman Mortimer West End Cricket Club Pam Critchley – Calleva WI Sheena Cartwright – Primary school governor

3 members of the public

Action 1 Apologies for absence County Councillor Rhydian Vaughan, Borough Councillor Marilyn Tucker and PCSO Luke Robinson sent their apologies. 2 Chairman’s Welcome and introduction to the meeting Cllr Thurlow welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave his report (appendix A). 3 Guest Speaker – Andrew Liddle. Divisional director of Hills Quarry Products The work in Benyon’s enclosure is a phased 10 year gravel extraction project. The first phase has been stripped and digging has started. Refurbishment of the plant has been completed. There will be 8 phases of work and they are currently doing wood stripping for phase 2. There is a website where more information can be found and Hills are holding regular liaison meetings with local groups. Hills are holding an open day on 21st to give residents the opportunity to see what goes on. They will also be promoting cycle safety during the event.

The sites operation radius is 30 miles. Wet run trials have started and in July the site will start to sell on a regular basis. There are 2 vacancies at the site and also an apprentice position for a 16-year-old.

There are 5 employees on site and also 4 or 5 drivers.

The sites hours of operation are 7am until 6pm Monday to Friday and 7am until 1pm on Saturday. Lorry movements will be mostly between 7.30am and 9.30am in the morning and then returning to the plant by 4pm.

4 High Speed broadband in Mortimer West End – Cllr Andrew Arthur

FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) – Ultrafast broadband is being implemented by BT Openreach in Mortimer West End. It is possible to get faster speeds on 4G mobile networks now with up to 30mbps available.

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Action Although much of the infrastructure has now been installed by openreach it is not yet available. Residents should go to the website www.dslchecker and enter their home telephone number to find out if fttp is available.

Once the service is available residents will need to contact an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to sign up to the service the ISP will then contact openreach to connect the service. Ultrafast broadband is only available with some ISPs but BT are not the only provider. Ultrafast broadband is an optional service and prices vary from around £42 to £55 a month at the moment. You can obtain speeds of up to 300mbps on this service. Voice over IP for voice calls also becomes an option with Ultrafast broadband speeds. 5 Borough Councillors Report See appendix B for full report

6 Organisation reports a. Englefield estate – Richard Edwards , Forestry manager. Currently carrying out tree felling and clearing ahead of the gravel extraction in Benyon’s. The phased work means that areas will be replanted as soon as the gravel extraction has been completed. A variety of species of trees will be planted. Hills website has more information on the restoration plan. The estate has been working with charities and community groups such as the Scouts. They are involved in educating children on the woodlands and the link between growing timber and what it can provide. Roadside tree safety surveys are still being worked through. They try to minimise road closures by doing the work at the same time as utilities road closures. Chapel road will traffic lights in the next few weeks so the roadside trees can be cut. 80 to 100 thousand pounds a year is spent on tree safety. b. Mortimer West End Cricket Club - Jason Searancke, Chairman Clerk The Chariman thanked the Gravel Allotment Trust for their contribution to the mower refurbishment. The club has 80 members including 53 juniors. It is a friendly village club which is inclusive. The club also supports Burghfield Football club. It is harder to attract younger players these days and they currently have no women players. Plans for the future would include improving the Pavilion. An issue was raised about people parking on Church Road when a match or practice is on. It is unclear whether this is when the football or cricket is on but Jason agreed to raise the concern with his members and ask them to park in the village hall car park when the recreation ground is full. Clerk to also raise the issue with Burghfield Football Club. c. Trustees of the Gravel Allotment Trust – John Robertson The parish councillors are trustees of the Gravel Allotment Trust which is responsible for the recreation ground and the allotments. Use of the Recreation ground is rented out to Mortimer West End Cricket Club and Burghfield Football Club on a yearly basis. There are seven allotments which are currently all taken. There is an annual ground rent of £20 per plot. Since our last Annual Parish Meeting the equipment in the Children’s Play Area has been renewed with modern units and the rubber mats have been replace with green bonded rubber mulch. These renewals should ensure that the play area will provide a safe and challenging facility for our children in the years to come.

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Action d. MWE Village Hall committee – Cllr Andrew Arthur gave the report provided by Heather Sims Brian Totham is the new treasurer. Accounts are healthy and the Village hall is now making a small yearly profit. Woodland Walk will be held on July 15th which is one of the biggest fundraisers of the year. A Quiz night will be held in October. There are regular bookings in the hall for Pilates, spin classes, MWE produce show and lots off one off bookings for parties. Doors were replaced with high security doors last year with financial support from the parish council and borough council. Roof needs some significant work and the committee are currently seeking sources of funding. A defibrillator was installed on the outside of the hall, paid for by First responders. Grounds maintenance work was done this year and the committee are looking for volunteers to do some ongoing tasks maintenance at the hall. Heather Sims thanked the Village Hall committee for all their hard work over the past year. A question was asked about whether the heaters could be upgraded. Quotes have been received for replacing the current heaters so this is being looked at.

f. Calleva WI – Pam Critchley An update was given on the many events that have been held over the year including a mini Antiques Roadshow, a talk on churches, a talk on shoes, Yoga session and traditional storyteller. The AGM was held in March and a resolutions meeting. g Silchester C of E Primary School – Sheena Cartwright governor See appendix C for report. g. Other reports were displayed from County Councillor Rhydian Vaughan (appendix D), St. Saviours Church (appendix E) , Burghfield Football Club (appendix F) , AWE Local Liaison committee (appendix G) and Relief in Need Charity (appendix H). 8. Open forum A suggestion was made that the parish council could put articles in Silchester Clerk Magazine which is delivered to residents in order to promote their work. Clerk to look into this. A resident asked why the speed limit on Welshman’s road is 50 mph. Issue to be Clerk raised with County Councillor and discussed at the next parish council meeting. Clerk to add to agenda.

9. Any other business The meeting closed at 9.04 pm

Signed: …………………………………………………………………. Date:……………………………………… (Chairman)

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Appendix A REPORT OF THE PARISH COUNCIL FOR 2017/18

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome and thank-you for attending our Mortimer West End Parish Assembly.

I am Nick Thurlow chairman of your Parish Council and it is my pleasure to introduce the other councillors.

Firstly, I would like to thank John Robertson, our outgoing Chairman for his 9 years of service as a councillor and Chairman, I am delighted that he is remaining on the Parish Council.

Jonathan Bray and Andrew Arthur are in their second years on the Council and I would like to thank them both for their significant contributions to in supporting the village. Andrew is now vice-chairman of the council.

I am pleased to welcome our latest Parish Councillor, David Lister – who joined us 2 months ago. The appointment of David is significant in that we are now at full strength as a Parish Council, the first time in several years.

Lastly, I would like to introduce the Parish Clerk, Christine McGarvie – who manages all aspects of the operations of the Council.

As members of the Parish Council, all of us participate in other local bodies and charities, notably & Deane Association of Parish & Town Councils , Clarke’s Educational Trust, The Village Hall committee, Mortimer Relief In Need Charity, the AWE Local Liaison Committee and the Roman Town Advisory Committee.

I will now give you my Report for the past year.

As everyone is aware, there have been significant developments in the area of Gravel Extraction on Welshman’s road – with the company Hills taking over the operations of the site. I am delighted to welcome Andrew Liddle from Hills to give us an update on developments.

One of our functions as a Council is to review Planning applications within the Parish and pass our comments on to Basingstoke & Deane Planning Department. These are, in the main, to do with building extensions. We make a point of speaking with immediate neighbours regarding applications and taking note of any comments.

A focus for the past 12 months, and also loking forward has been speeding through the village, and we will continue to work with the police and other authorities to reduce speeding on the main roads.

2018 saw the opening of the new Children’s playground next to the cricket ground. This was organised by the Parish Council and represents an approximate £50K investment in the infrastructure of the village. We sought and received funding from there sources: Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council, The Greenham Common Trust and Mortimer Relief-in- Need. We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to these bodies in supporting the daily life of Mortimer West End.

The issue of high speed broadband remains a hot topic in the village and Councillor Arthur has been liaising with several commercial entities throughout the year. Although the village

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is not yet served by consistent levels of high speed connectivity, progress has been made and we will provide a short update at this assembly.

As Parish councillors we are Trustees of MWE Gravel Allotments Trust which makes us responsible for the Recreation Ground and the Allotments. Use of the Rec Ground is rented out to MWE Cricket Club and Burghfield Football Club on a yearly basis.

I would conclude with a call to action for all residents. As a Parish Council we are here to serve the needs of the residents of Mortimer West End. As we plabn our activities for 2018 and 2019 we would like to hear from everyone on how they would like to see our resources applied. The Parish Council does have money to spend and we would rather see it applied to projects in the village, rather than sitting in the bank. Please contact any councillor, Christine – our Parish Clerk – or simply give us some input on our web-site.

Lastly – I would like to thank you all for attending – and I hope you find this Parish Assembly a useful and informative session.

Nick Thurlow

21st June 2018

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Appendix B Borough Councillor Roger Gardiner – report to Mortimer West End Parish Council

Before I report on the council’s activities for the year, I will just update on the last Council Meetings and the results of the local elections. At the local Elections two seats changed hands – In the Conservatives failed to hold the seat by 58 votes and the seat went to Labour who now hold both Winklebury seats. Keith Watts stood down as the Liberal Councillor for Whitcurch and the seat went to the Conservatives. Whitchurch now has one Conservative member and one Labour. While this was going on Anne Court a member for the Kempshot Ward who had been absent for six months due to illness was removed from the Council for non-attendance. There is a by-election pending and Anne is a candidate. However, this means that at present the Council has 32 Conservative members (who form the administration and take the cabinet posts) 21 Labour members, 5 Liberals, 1 independent and 1 vacancy. There has been no change to the cabinet positions. I have been voted onto three committees, Audit and Accounts, which I chair, Licensing and Human Resources and I am reserve on 3 others. My outside bodies include the AWE Local Liaison Committee, the Forest Advisory Committee and the Northern Area Road Safety Council. The Council has a new Mayor and Councillor Sean Keating has the role with Cllr Diane Taylor as the new Deputy Mayor. On human resources I have taken part in the appointment of Graham Cadle as Interim Director of Finance replacing Kevin Jaquist who has retired after over twenty years with the council. The Council has progressed over the last year with the Development Partner for the Manydown site being appointed, plans in place for the redevelopment of the Leisure Park, progress on the development of Basing View with planning permission being given last week for the new hotel and office development proceeding. The decision was made to continue with weekly bin collections after public consultation came down in favour. The council’s enforcement officers have been active across the ward, with some success here in Silchester, but an unhappy outcome from the traveller’s appeal for the two units off Silchester Road in where the education of the children was allowed as a reason to allow their appeal. In Pamber Heath the planning department made what I consider to be the right decision in turning down the application for 55 units at the rear of Pelican Road, and the right decision in approving the 12 affordable units in Pamber Heath Road. After the long drawn out finalisation of the local plan, work is commencing on the next won with “possible” sites being put forward by land owners and developers for a judgement to be made on their suitability for inclusion. 2019 will see major changes in the council with a new ward structure of 18 three-member wards. The current Pamber and Silchester ward is likely to disappear with Pamber Heath being included in a three- member ward, with the rest of the ward being amalgamated with Bramley and Sherfield-on-Loddon. This has no effect on the current parishes which remain unchanged. At the moment ward boundary submissions have been submitted to the Boundary Commission with a final decision due in the autumn. Finally, after serving on the council for 23 years. I have decided not to stand in the 2019 elections and look forward to seeing some exciting new blood representing the interests of the parish and ward going forward.

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Appendix C

Silchester CE Primary School report

• Pupil numbers are stable and we currently have 194 on roll. We are expecting 28 to start in our reception class in September. • Our Deputy Headteacher is leaving to become the Headteacher of Kintbury CE Primary in West Berks. 1 teacher and 2 LSAs are retiring at the end of the year. 1 LSA is leaving to spend more time with her family. • We have successfully recruited to fill vacancies and are fully staffed for September. • We continue to have very good results and our pupils leave in Y6 with reading, writing and maths results in line with or above national averages. • We are currently judged outstanding in our most recent SIAMS inspection (February 2015) and good in our most recent Ofsted inspection (May 2015) • We are a Fairtrade School and supported Fairtrade fortnight, including a pop up Fairtrade cafe • We have moved the school library to make a bigger and more useable space. We also created a new small teaching/meeting room where the library had previously been. • We have increased the number of mobile ICT devices available for the pupils to use and are currently upgrading the computer hardware in the classrooms. • We now have a successful holiday club and a before school club that runs from 7.30am. • Other school clubs include judo, choir, tag rugby, multi-sports, art, football, tennis, cricket and Spanish. • We have a very supportive PTA. They have helped to purchase furniture for the new library, paid for a new projector and screen in the hall and paid for a new climbing frame on the playground. • The school will be represented at the Silchester summer fete • We have strong links with the Church. Revd Richard Harlow, Revd Rob Young and Em Paddick Wilsdon regularly lead worship in school. Em also runs a living bible club for KS1 and KS2 pupils.

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Appendix D – County Councillor Rhydian Vaughan annual report

Report for County Council May 2017 – May 2018

What is Calleva Division? This consists of 12 Parishes in the northern most part of Hampshire. There are 10’273 Electorate and it is part of North East Hampshire Parliamentary Ward.

My job is to a) get the best services for the electorate of the Division and b) fulfil the statutory duties at Winchester. I am a member of 8 Panels/ Committees and a member of the Hampshire Fire & Rescue Authority. Please see Hantsweb.

The main focus this year has been the £140 million that we are required to save by 2019. As a County Council we are legally not allowed to run a deficit. Contrary to various predictions, Armageddon has not happened and by good husbandry we have started to make savings. For instance, greater use of electric vehicles and converting to LED lighting all make significant savings.

We have had to raise the Council Tax by 5.99% but Hampshire is still the second lowest council tax in the Country. 3% of this increase is ring fenced to help pay for our greatest cost, Adult and Child Social care. This costs us £1million per day. In addition, 8’000 more Hampshire residents reach the age of 80 every year.

I continue to lobby to save the 14 bus route in some shape or form. HCC subsidize this route to the tune of £127K per year, it is underutilised but I am well aware that for some it is a vital transport link and rural transport links should be preserved where possible.

We have recently employed 100 more people at Winchester. Through our Integrated Business Services we have sold our County Council services to Oxford CC, the Police and Fire Services of Hampshire and 3 London Boroughs which provides a good revenue stream.

Upper Tier Funding; this is a per head amount provided to local government across the country and the levels are widely different. As an example, Manchester gets £503 per head, Hackney gets £ 455 per head and Hampshire gets £155; this represents a wide gap and HCC is lobbying the Hampshire Members of Parliament to try to get a better deal for us.

Roads; I drive through the same potholes as you; the roads are in a poor state and this frankly is a result of 20 years underfunding by Governments. The bad weather in early 2018 didn’t help and in concurrent terms will cost us £10million and put the repair plan back by 12 months. The Government has given us an extra £3million but as there are 5’400 miles of roads in the County, that may not go very far. Repairs are being carried out (not as fast as I would like) but there is a backlog. A programme of surface dressing will commence shortly in this part of Calleva.

There are several diversions and road closures in the area at the moment. It is worth pointing out that under the New Roads and Street Works act 1991, Utility Companies do not have to seek permission from HCC to do work on the highway. Of course they are required to liaise with us and to return the highway to its former state.

Hampshire continues to be an excellent county to live in and in Calleva we enjoy a wonderful rural setting. 75% of Hampshire is deemed rural. Thanks to our two ports in the south,

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Hampshire is a vital hub for the rest of the UK and we will continue to attract investment for the benefit of the County.

Cllr Rhydian Vaughan

Member for Calleva Division [email protected]

07774 681516 fb.com/tellrhydian

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Appendix E – St Saviour’s Church St Saviour’s Annual Report 2017

2017 saw little change in the life of St Saviour’s. The Service pattern remained the same with 1st and 3rd Sunday 9am Eucharist, 2nd and 4th Sunday 6.30pm Evensong and midweek 2nd and 4th Thursdays 9 am Eucharist. Remembrance Sunday and Christingle, as always, were well attended which just shows that there is still a need amongst the Community for the traditional festivals if not regular (weekly) Church. We are very grateful to Rhona Johnson and Carole Wood who play the Organ for us at our Services. From the Quinquennial inspection which took place in 2015 and the Architect’s comprehensive report which arrived at the beginning of 2016 which listed immediate work to be done and other defects to be attended to over a period of time. Immediate work to the gutters and roof has been attended to keep the church water tight. The rest will be dealt with over a period of time when finance allows. The Electrical Survey carried out at the suggestion of our Insurers listed necessary work to be done which has now been dealt with. The Church has been fortunate in receiving a legacy which the Donor stipulated should be used for the fabric of the Church and not general running costs. The PCC decided to use the legacy to replace the very dilapidated Lych Gates and have two very fine Wooden Altar Candlesticks made. Work on the Lych Gates will begin when the right wood is found and the Altar Candlesticks are already in place. There is always maintenance required on a building which is 162 years old and this is done as and when finance is available. The Churchyard also requires regular attention and general maintenance which is overseen by Andrew Port and his son. Graves and their tidiness are the responsibility of the families of the deceased whilst Contractors keep the grass under control. We are very grateful to the Parish Council for their financial contribution towards the cost of the Contractors who cut the Churchyard in the summer months and hope that they will continue to do so.

In May by kind permission of James and Mel Strang we held a Dressing Gown Farm Walk and Forty people took part accompanied by forty well behaved dogs. This was followed by a full English Breakfast held in the Barn. Greatly enjoyed by everyone and it also raised much needed funds for the Church.

Regrettably it was not possible to hold the Last Night of the Proms this year which has been our main fund raising event for several years. The Gift Aid rebate enabled us to pay our part of the Parish Share in 2017 but not able to contribute to the administration costs of the Benefice. What the future of the Village Church will be we do not know but we continue to hope that it will be possible to keep the Church open and serving the community.

We thank the Clergy for their Ministry. The Churchwardens

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Appendix F - Burghfield Football Club Burghfield Football Club

For the season 2017/18, we had 3 of our teams residing at Mortimer West End Cricket pitch. AS a club we see it as a great introduction for age groups making the step from 9 aside football to 11 aside. The pitch is slightly smaller than most 11 aside pitches that are designed for Mens football so it gives the younger, and usually smaller players, the chance to learn the rule changes and positional sense of the game more easily.

The end of this season brings end of our current U18s before their step into Mens football, University or full time work and with that we have our two teams from the soon to be U12s age group that will be making that step into 11 aside. Let’s hope they have as much success and enjoyment that Des’ team have endured over the last few years.

Here are the thoughts of the managers that have used the pitch this season.

Des Kinsella –Under 18s

We the current BFC U 18's have just completed our 8th and final season, again at MWECC....it has been a privilege for us to be able to use the ground for all of our 11 a side games since we were Under 11. The boys and parents have enjoyed the opportunity to call this our "home" ground with the support of the guys and girls at MWECC. We have thoroughly enjoyed our tenure. If we ever had a problem with the alarm, or temporarily missing keys, the very kind "Bray" family were always on hand to help us out....many thanks to them and all at MWECC.

Andy Willis and Tony Warkup – Under 14s

Burghfield U14s enjoyed another season at MWECC, both teams did well to compete in a very tough division this year. The boys are now growing nicely into 11-a-side football and the spectators enjoyed some exciting matches including the derby games between the two sides, both closely fought draws.

The cricket club facilities have worked really well for us this season, use of the kitchen for a hot drink on those cold mid-winter mornings has been very welcome by our parents and those of the opposition.

The car park could do with a bit of levelling and does tend to fill up on the change-over of games, but nothing cannot be worked around.

The pitch has stood up well to some pretty awful weather over the winter, it drains fantastically though the lack of grass in the second half of the season did mean it couldn’t really be played on during heavy rain, it would benefit from reseeding in the off-season.

The goals require some maintenance, with some dents and lack of securing bolts.

My take from this is that Burghfield Football Club as a whole really enjoy and benefit from the use of the MWECC facilities. It seems that the pitch could do with some recovering after what has really been a terrible winter for local football. I have been informed a few times that the goals are getting towards the end of their lifespan, so that is something we need to look into. Any support or advise that the parish council can give with this is appreciated. As mentioned above we have 4 teams playing there next season with the 2 new U12s joining alongside the 2 x U14s, they will be scheduled with home fixtures on alternate weeks by the leagues but it may need some attention during the busier months (at the end of the season) which the coaches and I will manage.

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I would be really interested to hear the parish council’s thoughts or concerns that they have with Burghfield Football Club as a whole or any knock on effects from us playing matches on a Saturday morning, to the neighbours.

Apologies again for our absence, we look forward to the new season starting in September.

Thanks

Liam Gillis

Burghfield FC – Venue Co-ordinator

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Appendix G - AWE Local Liaison committee

There is an AWE Local Liaison Committee which holds approximately four meetings a year. Our Council has a representative at these meetings. Typically, at each meeting, there is a presentation on the current environmental safety and health records, reports on any new building work being undertaken, presentations on various subjects, visits to different areas on both Aldermaston and Burghfield sites and the opportunity to ask questions of officers from both Health and Safety and Office for Nuclear Regulation.

At the December meeting information was given regarding recruitment. Over 1900 candidates applied for 150 graduate roles in a range of disciplines for the 2018 intake. Regarding apprenticeships there were 95 places available for the 2018 intake. If any of you require information on what is discussed at these meetings the minutes are available on the AWE website or as a councillor.

Appendix H - Stratfield Mortimer Relief in Need Charity

The charity is an amalgamation of several ancient charities dating back to the 16th Century. The area it covers is the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Stratfield Mortimer which now comprises the parishes of Stratfield Mortimer, Mortimer West End and Wokefield. Its principal asset is Burnt Common in Mortimer West End which has been used traditionally to provide winter fuel to the old and need in the Parish. The charity did this originally by providing wood from the land and later by raising money from the provision of grazing rights to local farmers. In 1995 an agreement was entered into with ARC Southern (now Hanson Aggregates) to allow that company to extract gravel from the land. The license entitled the charity to a royalty based on the amount of gravel extracted. Gravel extraction was completed in June 2006 following which the land is being restored, partly to agricultural land and partly to a nature reserve. Grants made in the last year to Mortimer West End local bodies include the children’s playground, the cricket club and the produce show.

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