This report covers the May and June council meetings. If you'd like to know more, the minutes are published on our village website.
Martin Lampard from The Station and Richard Maloney from North Acre have joined the council to replace Robert Streatfeild who has left the village and Peter Jones who has retired. Thanks very much to Robert and Peter for their hard work as councillors. At the May meeting officers and committees are elected for the year to come. The members of the council and their various roles are
Chairman Jeremy Barber, 2 Forton, tel 720459. Member of all committees. Chairman of Finance. Representative on School/Playgroup project steering committee, Test Valley Association of Parish Councils (TVAPC)
Vice Chairman Jenny Jolliffe tel 720207. Member of all committees. Chairman of Open Spaces, TVAPC rep
Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer - Paul Jarrett, White Windows, Millway Rd, Andover, tel 323254
Ricky Bourne - Open Spaces, Footpaths, TVAPC rep
Jo Clear - Open Spaces, Footpaths
Chris Dewbury - Open Spaces, Footpaths
Mike Johnson - Chairman of Planning, Open Spaces
Sandra Jones - Village Hall rep
Martin Lampard – Finance, Footpaths
Richard Maloney - Footpaths
Jane Rowland – Chairman of Footpaths, Communications, Hill and Valley management committee rep
All councillors are members of the planning committee.
In addition the council is very grateful to the following people for their help
Mary Jo Darrah - Footpaths, Communications
Graham Darrah - Tree Warden
David Gould - Clerk to the Burial Board, Open Spaces, Communications
Fiona Gould – Communications, Chair of Village Plan
Julian Seidman - Finance
Paul Knipe - Footpaths
Vi Mears - Bus rep
Lyn Pennefather-Neal - Footpaths
Tim Sweet - Internal Auditor.
Open Spaces The council has taken on responsibility for the football field and working parties will be getting it back into good order. If you can help please contact Martin Hulme (tel 720347). Martin has qualified as a coach for youngsters and will be arranging training sessions. The council will buy goals and cones to mark out the pitch. All villagers are welcome to use the field to kick about. As it will be used by children it is very important that dogs are kept under close control and not allowed to foul the grass.
The council has applied for permission to fell the thuya tree in the church car park. This will improve access to the church and reveal the mature cedar behind it.
A group of volunteers led by Jenny Jolliffe improved the fence at the playground and installed a new picnic bench. Sadly the bench was vandalised shortly afterwards. This is a serious matter and we are involving the police. We are lucky that criminal behaviour at the playground is very rare but if you see it please contact the police straight away and advise Jenny Jolliffe.
Footpaths Thanks very much to the volunteers led by Jane Rowland who have put in a new kissing gate on the path from the shop to Upper Mill. We need helpers for footpath maintenance. Please see separate article.
Planning The council had no objections to
- An extension at Gavelacre Cottage
- Retention of a stable at Meadwsweet
- Replacement of the garage and improvement of outbuildings at Upper Mill
- Demolition of the fire damaged cottage in Forton
TVBC are investigating whether the Go Kart track requires planning permission. Various members of the council have visited the club and found them to be both safety and community conscious. But there's no doubt that their sport is noisy. If you'd like to find out more about them visit their website at www.fekc.co.uk. Please see separate article if you wish to report noise nuisance.
Amateur Dramatics The council has offered a start up grant of £200 to our new group. It is excellent news that the stage in our village hall will be back in use by a village group after many years. If you'd like to join contact Jerry Flynn-Williams (720505) or Martin Hulme (720347).
The next meeting is on Monday 12 July in the Village Hall committee room. It will start around 8pm after the council's annual village inspection. Our meetings are public and all parishioners are welcome to come and can speak. The agenda will be on the website and the notice boards at the shop and in Forton a few days before the meeting.
Jeremy Barber Chairman
Tel 720459 email jeremy.barber@longparish.org.uk
Noise and nuisance
The question of noise
and nuisance came up at a recent parish council meeting and our Borough
Councillor, Jim Neal, kindly gave his advice. We all make noise
and we all put up with it. It's part of being neighbours. If you
expect to be noisy (for example a party with fireworks) it always helps
to warn your neighbours. If you are disturbed by noise from neighbours
(for example dogs or music) the first thing to do is have a word with
the people concerned. Usually that will do the trick but sometimes
noise is so loud and persistent that it becomes an unbearable nuisance.
If that happens you should report the problem to TVBC Environment
and Health Department (tel 368000) at the time so they
can visit to assess the situation. Outside normal business hours
you can speak to the duty Environment and Health Officer on the same number.