It was a hot night in the Village Hall when, for the second month running, the Parish Council meeting attracted a larger than usual number of residents who had come to listen or participate in the debate on several contentious matters on the agenda.

The first item was a discussion about the bus service, attended by two officers from WBC’s public transport section. Whilst the service works for some, others were less happy. We were assured, however, that the service is unlikely to be further reduced in the immediate future. The basic problem remains as it was: there aren’t enough people using the bus service to justify the cost of increasing the frequency.

The Parish Council received a report from residents of Common regarding traffic speeds on the B3051 in Brimpton Common. This is a dangerous road with a blind bend and the speed limit is often ignored. A number of residents offered accounts of accidents and of difficulties in leaving their houses. The Parish Council agreed to endorse the report from Mrs Verity and Mr Smith and to seek a meeting on site with highways engineers from both WBC and Hampshire County Council.

As I am involved in the campaign against gravel extraction, Phil Bassil took the chair whilst I updated the meeting on action taken in the past few weeks. Nearly 100 people attended a public meeting in June and an email list to update residents on developments now has over 130 names. and Parish Councils have submitted objections, as have a number of national bodies and more locally, AWE. The latter has asked for Boot Farm to be removed from the list of sites whilst they investigate the impact on their seismic monitoring station at Blacknest. The consultation period has now closed and we await a response from West Council.

The meeting moved on to discuss whether a Neighbourhood Development Plan would benefit Brimpton. The Parish Council felt it needed more information and agreed to investigate further before coming to any decision.

At its last meeting the Parish Council agreed to accept funds raised from the sale of The Brimpton Story (£5 and an ideal present for Christmas) and to use them to award grants for projects promoting environmental awareness. The meeting discussed how the Parish Council might do this and will advertise how to apply for grants in the Autumn.

WBC has not made any recent planning decisions affecting Brimpton. The Parish Council supported a new application for the rebuilding of Pelynt on Crookham Common Road, which is felt to be a better alternative to additions to the the present building. There is still no news regarding the application to build houses at Blacknest Farm.

Finally, Councillors discussed the installation by Gigaclear of the large green box against the wall of Elmet House. It is part of their high speed broadband network but was installed without the Parish Council’s approval. For various reasons, including land ownership and it being a conservation area, the box is in the wrong place and WBC has been asked to require Gigaclear to move it. This looks like it may be a long saga.

And before I end, I must report the new bus shelter is expected before the end of July. This probably means it will be a dry August.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 1 August, starting at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

John Hicks www.brimptonparish.org.uk www.facebook.com/brimpton-parish-council