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Christian Aid Week

11 - 17 May

News

Lib Dems hold their seats

With a relatively (within the borough) high turn out, the sitting Lib Dems held their seats in the bourough council elections. The percentage difference between the parties was smaller than in any recent election.

Overall in the borough, Conservatives have acheived overall control with 35 of the 60 seats. This is a change from their being the largest party with no overall control before the elections.

Annual Town Assembly fills the Gill Nethercott Hall

In the third meeting held in 4 days a full hall and the local press full heard details of what's been happening in the Town for the last year and news of developments in policing and the fire service.

The Mayor, Steve Robbins, chaired the event and explained the Town Council's plans for the coming year including how it would have to juggle the legal demands of health and safety legislation in the cemetery and the need to handle the issue sensitively.

Mr Tommy Carr, Group Manager for Hampshire Fire and Rescue explained the plans for the Fire Service in the area and made a plea for more volunteers to become retained firemen and women.

A very detailed explanation of the new policing arrangement came from Basingstoke's Chief Inspector Jill Baldry.

Local volunteers explained how their organisations had fared during the last 12 months and how their hopes for 2008/9. Reports were given by the Millennium Green Trust, the Parish Hall Committee, the Town Hall Trust, the Whitchurch Association, Whitchurch Welfare Trust, Whitchurch Youth Project, Working4Whitchurch, the and the 2 borough councillors.

The reports and details of the discussions can be obtained form the Town Hall and will be published on this site when they are available.

Hustings 2008

A small but very interested crowd turned up to the hustings organised by Mike Stead to question the candidates in the Borough Council elections. The reason both of Whitchurch's seats are being contested is because of boundary changes since the last elections

Therese Coffey, Eric Dunlop and Keith Watts each gave a short introductory speech and then answered detailed questions on their views on, parking, traffic calming, housing, youth issues and the environment. In answering the questions, the audience learned much about the powers of the borough and county councils. Bill Judge took the opportunity to do some electioneering elsewhere.

Pubs Race is Back

After a gap of over 10 years the event will be back on 25th May. Teams of 3 to 5 in fancy dress will visit all 8 pubs in the town. There will be prizes for the best dressed team, the fastest team and the team collecting most money for charity.

Starting at the Railway Hotel from 4.30pm onwards teams will follow a route that takes them to the Prince Regent, the Red House, the White Hart, the Bell, the Kings Arms, the Harvest Home and finally the Longmeadow Sports and Social Club. The teams will be roped together and provide an interesting spectacle for the late May Bank Holiday Sunday.

Full details are on the Whitchurch Festival website www.whitchurchfestival.org.uk where the rules and an entry form can be downloaded, they are also available at all the Town's pubs. Entry forms should be returned to any of the pubs.

Weather stays fine for Spring Clean

A team of willing volunteers assembled in the Bell Street car park on Sunday dressed for the worst, but the morning rain held off while they scoured the Town's streets for the Winter's collection of rubbish.

Mike Stead again organised the event and sent the 3 teams off ably supported by PC Paula Osmond looking after road safety and Basingstoke & Deane's collection vehicle.

Testbourne School Classes Hit by Teachers' Strike

Pupils in Testbourne's years 7 and 8 had an extra day's holiday this week because of the teachers' strike action. Year 9, 10 and 11 pupils were not effected.

Testbourne School Planning Application

The planning application to build houses on Testbourne School grounds off Micheldever Road which has been referred to the Development Control Committee will not now be on the agenda for 7 May.

There are discussions with the applicant which are not yet complete, so the matter is expected to be tabled at a future Committee Meeting.

Town Bridge

Progress is being made on the replacement for the old Town Bridge. A statement from Hampshire County Council is below (edited to remove 1st person references). The picture shows the type of single span bridge being proposed. It doesn't have the pier in the centre that the old one did.

All officers involved with this project are aware of its importance, particularly for access to the local schools. Every effort is being made to arrange for a new bridge to be installed as soon as possible. There are however certain considerations, procedures and consents that must be explored and obtained prior to proceeding, unfortunately this can be a lengthy process.

The cost of the new bridge is approximately £22,000 which is excluding the cost of foundations. This is clearly a significant sum of money and it has therefore been necessary to firstly secure funding and secondly to go through a tendering process to ensure that Hampshire County Council obtains value for money. A contractor has now been appointed to manufacture and supply the bridge. The contractor is based locally in Stockbridge and has supplied many bridges to Hampshire County Council in the past. Officers in HCC's Bridge Office have been in contact with local residents and landowners to discuss the bridge design. HCC has requested electronic copies of the plans and also photographs of similar bridges supplied by the contractor. Once received these details will be circulated.

HCC is now awaiting a method statement* from the contractor and final drawings. This technical information is necessary to satisfy HCC's requirements as well as those of the Environment Agency, Natural England and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. Although preliminary discussions have taken place with these statutory bodies in an attempt to speed up the approval process, it is obviously not possible to apply for full approval until such time as a contractor has been selected and the full plans supplied. A 6 month extension to the Temporary Closure for this section of the path was recently granted. The 6 month closure period commenced on 11th April. HCC is confident that the bridge will be open and available to the public prior to October 08, however this period of closure should cover all eventualities.

Subject to receiving the necessary consents, work to install the bridge abutments is planned to take place during July. This will be followed by the construction of the bridge. HCC's intended completion date is the end of August 2008 and the new bridge will therefore be available for the start of the new school term.

HCC will endeavour to make sure the bridge is completed on time with as little disruption as possible.

* A method statement is a detailed technical description of how the work will be done.

Annual Town Assembly

This year's Assembly will take place in the Gill Nethercott Hall at 7.30pm on 29 April.

There will be reports from the Town Council, Borough and County Councillors and Local Groups and Organisations. The Guest Speaker this year will be Mr. Tommy Carr Group Manager for Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service on Whitchurch Fire Station Action Plan 2008 - 2009.

Everyone is welcome to come along and hear what's been happening - and what will happen - in the Town.

Grants Available

The Big Lottery Fund is offering grants of £2,000 - £500,000 as part of the Changing Spaces Programme to local groups, charities and even some businesses.

The sorts of areas they are funding are:

• Community food growing projects and gardens
• Community parks and gardens
• Town squares and village greens
• Pond/access to green space
• Churchyards Nature reserves
• Green heating systems and energy efficiency measures
• Wildlife-rich natural places.

Details can be downloaded here.

Adult Care - What Do You Think

Hampshire County Council is planning (like all local authorities) to revamp its Adult Services. You can let the council know what you think.

The country’s ageing population and increasing numbers of adults with physical or learning disabilities, are placing additional pressure on the social care system and its ability to cope with demand. And there is the need to think about how this extra demand will be paid for and provided. Over the next three years, the Government requires local authorities to provide care and support that is tailored to everyone who needs it. This will include offering them personal budgets. By having a personal budget people will be able to choose how their own needs can be met. These changes will impact on and affect all of us, maybe not today or tomorrow but in the future.

Some questions that have already been raised include:

• Are you worried about selling your home to pay for care?
• Should the state pay towards social care for every person who needs it regardless of how rich or poor they are?
• Would you be prepared to match what the council pays towards the cost of your care?
• Would you like to receive money to arrange your own care with support and advice rather than having the care organised for you?

In Hampshire, the County Council wants to hear from anyone, including staff, about their views, stories and experiences of Adult social care. It has begun a Commission of Inquiry and throughout a series of public hearings is gathering evidence from local people, carers and national experts about their experiences and the challenges facing care services. Your views and opinions will help inform this process.

Write to:

The Personalisation Commission team Adult Services
FREEPOST SO2077
Winchester SO23 8BR

Visit: www.hants.gov.uk/adult-services/commission-personalisation

Email: personalisation.commission@hants.gov.uk

Telephone: 01962 847200

Whitchurch is Tops Internationally

Google, worldwide, recognises Whitchurch. A number of recent hits on this website generated by Google searches in places like Poland on the one word "whitchurch" brings up the Town Council's site together with this one as the top 2 in the world!

Other Whitchurchs in England and Canada follow further down the page.

Spring Clean 2008

Yet again, Mike Stead has organised a Spring Clean for Sunday 27th April. Please turn up ready for a couple of hours of healthy outdoor work at the Bell Street Car Park at 1pm.

Those who survive the event will meet in the White Hart for a celebratory drink.

Election Question Time

A Question Time session has been arranged for 7pm on 28 April in the Gill Nethercott Hall. Both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties will be represented, so come along and ask your questions of the candidates in the 1 May Borough Council elections.

The event is free but a donation to pay for the hire of the hall would be appreciated.

Estate Agent Pulls Out of Whitchurch

Just as other business premises are improving their frontages and interiors in the Town centre, Redwoods has left its premises on The Square.

Redwoods' Operations Manager said that the decline in business had caused the closure of the office. A polite request to leave the windows clean and not to so obviously show that the building was not occupied was refused. The Operations Manager said that it was common practice and we should get used to premises in a similar state in high streets given the current economic downturn.

He did however state that there had already been several shows of interest in taking over the lease and expected new tenants to be in place by the end of the month.

Progress on Town Bridge

Hampshire County Council has just awarded the contract for replacing the bridge. But there are many "bridges yet to be crossed" in the form of consent from various bodies before work can start.

An HCC representative says that "Realistically we are still a few months away from installation".

Spring Flower Show Cancelled

The warm weather to date the year meant that all but a few of the Spring flowers so recently seen in bloom around the Town have finished - so there weren't enough to stage a show.

There were lots of children's entries in the class for Spring drawings and paintings so this will be added to the Summer Show Schedule.

To those who prepared entries, the Garden Association apologies and will try and get the timing right next year!

Old Library Development

The applications to build 3 flats and 3 maisonettes on the Old Library site in Bell Lane have been withdrawn.

Of over 80 letters sent to neighbours and other interested parties, only 8 responses for one application and 12 in the other were received by B&DBC, all were against the development.

The developers are believed to be changing the environmental aspects of the application and will then resubmit them - it is common practice when a developer expects objections to submit multiple applications which can mean that those concerned may only object to one of the applications.

New Parking Proposals - Update

In the first 3 days of the plans being on-line, around 50 users have downloaded one or more of the plans for parking restriction changes. Copies are available in the Town Hall and on line here.

Most interest appears to centre around the proposals for the Town Centre, the Winchester Road/Micheldever Road, Wells Lane and Fairfields/Berehill.

The major changes seem to be in the areas of the Micheldever Road/Winchester Road Junction with double yellow lines and Berehill/Fairfields with the introduction of limited waiting and permit parking.

There are 8 areas each with its own plan some needs lots of magnification (and rotating counterclockwise to read):

Comments can be made until 1 May in writing to Ian James, Civic Offices, London Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 4AH or ian.janes@basingstoke.gov.uk

It's Rambling Time Again

Next Wednesday sees the first of Whitchurch Ramblers evening. Starting with an easy 2.5 miles.

Meet at Bell Street Car Park at 7pm on 2nd April, with stout walking shoes and a camera. Full details are at www.whitchurchramblers.org.uk.

Borough Council Elections

Both of the Town's Borough Council seats are to be contested on 1 May 2008. The Publication of Notice of Election is Thursday 27th March and completed nomination papers can then be returned until noon on Friday 4th April 2008. Apparently political agents have already been sent nomination papers.

The statement of persons nominated will then be published from noon on Tuesday 8th April and copies of the statements will be put on noticeboards throughout the borough and then on the web.

More information from geraldine.hagley@basingstoke.gov.uk or 01256 845264. As at today there is no information at all on the subject on the BD&BC website.

Whitchurch on TV

The Potato Days held earlier this year featured on BBC TV's inside out on Friday 21 March. If you missed it you can still download the video until 28 March here.

The Day is featured in the last 10 minutes of the programme but took a team of 4 a whole day to shoot!

Whitchurch Spring Show

Spring is here whatever calendars may say! On 5th April the annual Spring Flower Show will be held in the Methodist Church Hall.

There are classes for flower arranging, cut Spring flowers, flowers growing in pots, bowls and baskets, culinary, children and photography. There's an entry here or at 1 Winchester Street, the Old Paper Shop, House 'n Home and Flower Power.

Cheaper Shopping in Whitchurch

This website's price check might not be as comprehensive as those seen on TV but large organic eggs in Asda and Tesco are currently £1.98 for 6 and £1.50 in John Dennett's!

Large free are £1.35 for six compared with £1.45.

Support your local shops!!

Better Service in Whitchurch

The Town Centre dentist is now under new management and open for longer hours. The business is now called Whitchurch Smiles and is open every weekday 9am - 1pm and 2 - 5pm, plus Saturdays by appointment.

There is also an opportunity for more patients to register on 01256 893968.

Micheldever Houses Again

The builders, whose application to build 5 houses on the plot currently occupied by no 87 was rejected last September, have lodged an appeal.

There were 5 grounds for rejection:

• The proposed development would be out of character with the established pattern of development and would be contrary to the Hampshire County Structure Plan and the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Local Plan
• The proposed development would adversely affect existing boundary hedgerows, again contrary to the plans above
• The proposed development would adversely affect the landscape character of the area , again contrary to the plans above
• The proposed development would give rise to unsatisfactory building relationships with existing properties giving rise to unacceptable levels of overlooking and overshadowing, again contrary to the plans above
• The proposed development would lead to an unacceptable increase in traffic which would adversely affect highway safety along Micheldever Road and the junction of Micheldever Road and Winchester Road, again contrary to the plans above.

The developers claim that they had discussed all the above points with planners prior to the application and they had recommended approval.

Full details are here, if you have an opinion then why not put it on the Forum?

More services in Whitchurch

Men and boys can now have a haircut in Whitchurch 7 days a week. Taylor-Made Men's Grooming is now open everyday so there's no excuse for a lack of male sartorial elegance in the Town.

The barbers is now open from 10am to noon on Sundays and 10am to 4pm on Mondays, in addition to late night opening on Wednesdays.

Traffic in Whitchurch

The Town Council and Borough Councillor's traffic plans seem to have been thwarted by County Council officers.

The erection of £3,000's worth of warning signs would seem to be fairly pointless if motorists' reaction to those put up recently are anything to go by, see item below.

The suggestion that a roundabout might slow traffic also would seem to be a waste of money if my observations are anything to go by. The traffic slows, not because of any street furniture but because of the parked cars between the Weir and The Harvest Home. A mini roundabout would remove those cars, leaving the road clear (presumably for those who would like to continue their speeding as they approach the centre of Town from the A34 or leave the Town even quicker than they do now!) .

Station Parking Raised in House of Commons

Sir George Young is continuing his campaign for more car parking at Whitchurch and other local railway stations.

During a transport debate in the House of Commons he asked: "Does the minister agree that a major constraint on the capacity of the rail network is the capacity of station car parks? "Will he have urgent discussions with Network Rail and South West Trains with a view to increasing capacity on the Waterloo to Salisbury line, so that more people who want to travel by train off-peak can do so?"

He was told that while the Government accepted that enhanced car park capacity encouraged more people to use the railways, parking facilities were a matter not for the Government but for local authorities, Network Rail and, occasionally, the train operating companies.

Item from Andover Advertiser

Bulletin board is back!

With apologies to all for:

• the absence of the board for 11 days
• the loss of previous posts

The board is now back and is here!

Update is Published

The March edition of Update, Whitchurch's quarterly community newsletter is being distributed to every home and business in Whitchurch. You can download a copy here.

Under New Management

The Beehive Farm shop is now being managed by Sue and will soon be renamed The Village Bakery. There's a wider range of freshly baked bread and cakes and it's open from 8am - 2.30pm Mon - Sat.

New on offer are freshly made sandwiches to order , which Sue can deliver to cater for business meetings, plus hot drinks and snacks. The phone number remains 892431.