Longparish Parish Council

Open Forum

Over thirty parishioners and guests came to the Open Forum on noise and nuisance at the September Parish Council meeting.

Lt Col Andy Westcott, officer in charge of the Drayton Camp Army training grounds, gave the good news that there will be no further lettings to motor sports except the go karting.   So there will be no more screeching tyres from the cone dodgers who were both noisier and closer to the village than the karting.   Phil Anderson, treasurer of the karting club said they were keen to minimise the noise from their activities.   Appropriately sited bunds might help and they were willing to consider building them if necessary.    They have measured noise levels at various places in the village and found them to be not much over background levels.   Stephanie Shepherd, Environmental Health Office from TVBC confirmed this.   Her measurements of karting noise showed it to be well under the statutory nuisance level.   If you are still adversely affected by the noise please contact TVBC at the time (details in last month's magazine) and they will investigate further.

The other main subject was the behaviour of some young people who have damaged property and caused offence to people in North Acre.   Jim Neale, our TVBC councillor, who is a magistrate, explained about the TVBC Community Safety Team who can negotiate ABCs (Acceptable Behaviour Contracts) which are designed to prevent anti-social behaviour.   In most cases establishing contact with the young people and their parents leads to improvements in behaviour and is preferable to formal action.   A young person explained that there is little for them to do and sometimes actions such as chatting under street lights may be misinterpreted.   Sian Newland, our community police officer, explained that the high standard of evidence needed before the police can take formal action.   The discussion was constructive and helped improve understanding by all concerned of each other's points of view.

New Councillor

Richard Maloney was co-opted to the council to fill the vacancy caused when Robert Streatfeild left the village.   We still need a councillor to replace Jane Rowland who was also left the village.   Please contact the chairman if you'd like to find out more.

Planning

After lengthy discussions the council objected to retaining and increasing the size of green waste composting at Firgo because of existing facilities nearby, environmental considerations, the impact on nearby residents, and the prospect that once permitted the activity was likely to increase in size.

The council had no objection to

•  Repairs to timber frame at Meadow Cottage

•  New windows in existing openings and tree works at Upper Mill

•  Alterations to form two dwellings at River Barn

•  A garage at The Cottage

•  An extension at 5 Station Cottages.

Open Spaces and Footpaths

A contractor has been appointed to deal with the moles on the football field.   Working parties have improved the pitch and the surrounding areas.   The new goalposts and kit have arrived and, thanks to Martin Hulme, training sessions for youngsters have begun.

Jenny Jolliffe will press TVBC to replace various green wheelie bins which have gone missing.

Thanks go to the volunteers who have kept our roads clear of litter and maintained various footpaths in good order.   If you are willing to train to use the parish strimmer please contact Ricky Bourne on 720500.

Bus rep

Phil Harris (tel 720437) has kindly volunteered to be the bus rep.   If you have comments or suggestions about the buses please contact Phil.   Thanks go the Mrs Vi Mears who did the job for many years.

The next Council meeting is on Monday 11 October at 7.30 in the Village Hall committee room and the Open Spaces Committee meets on 4 October.   Our meetings are public and all parishioners are welcome to come and can speak.

Jeremy Barber Chairman.   Tel 720459

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  Ladies' Cricket Match

Thanks to Hurstbourne Priors ladies for a great day's cricket and to Angela for getting the team together.

For the second year we had a very competitive game and both sides were on top form.   The game was played on a 20 over basis.   Longparish batted first and scored 124 runs and Hurstbourne replied with a total of 68 runs all out. The sun shone on the day and at least 60 people came to watch.   There was a wonderful village spirit and an array of lovely homemade cakes and sandwiches.   Thanks to Isabel for organising the teas and all who helped to serve them.   A big thank you to all who gave up their time to play, to Ray Smith for coaching us so well and to Longparish cricket team for letting us use their very well kept pitch.

We are all looking forward to next year when we hope to have at least 2 matches on a home and away basis.   We would like to include St Mary Bourne if they are interested in getting together a ladies team.           Elaine Mancini