Author Archives: Monxton Matters

Parish Council Minutes – 20 November 2013

by Monxton Matters

Minutes of the Monxton Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 20th November 2013 in the Monxton Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Present: Cllr Mike Cleugh – Chairman; Cllr Sarah Dowding – Vice Chairman; Cllr Judith Balding; Cllr David Eaglesham; Cllr David Bateman; Richard Waterman – Parish Clerk; Members of the Public – 5

Apologies: Borough Councillor Mr Ben Few-Brown and County Councillor Mrs Pat West

WELCOME – The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Cllr Sarah Dowding declared an interest in the planning application for School House Reference 13/01776/LBWN.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
The Chairman signed the minutes of the September meeting as a true record.

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
The Chairman stated that members of the public have a 3 minute slots to speak, which they must register the issue 10 days before the Parish Council meeting. There were no pre-booked slots for this meeting.

PLANNING

  • 13/01556/FULLN – Application for retrospective planning for the bridge at Upper Mill House is still awaiting a date for the TVBC committee meeting.
  • 13/01776/LBWN – Change of front door – School, House, Amport Road, Monxton. The Parish Council had NO OBJECTIONS to this planning application.
  • 13/02433/LBWN – Replace concrete paviours to drive with bound gravel and a line of sandstone paviours at the road boundary – Brewery House, Green Lane, Monxton. The Parish Council had NO OBJECTIONS to this planning application
  • 13/02478/TREEN – Fell one Cherry Tree – Newcott, Amport Road, Monxton. The Parish Council OBJECTED to this planning application and suggested that pruning would be the preferred course of action.

PARISH REPORTS

ENVIRONMENT – Cllr Judith Balding
PILLHILL BROOK: Cllr Judith Balding was pleased to report that the current status of the Pillhill Brook is slowly improving, as the vegetation between the dam and the bridge, which was completely blocking it has recently had a channel cut through it.

Unfortunately, the channel is only approximately 3 foot in width, so it remains to be seen how effective this will be. The dam still only has a small notch in it, with the further proposed works to the dam, yet to be implemented. If these works allow an adequate flow of water to return to this stretch of the brook, any future flooding should be averted.

Report received from Tor Peebles, Project Officer, County Planning at HCC. A channel has been cut through the vegetation lying in the Pillhill Brook, this should allow water in the channel to move down stream rather than be held back. An environmental engineering company has been engaged to carry out the flood risk assessment of the lower watercourse and the solution to the weir. Any work on the weir will require consent from the Environment Agency of which the land owner is aware. He is not aware of any decisions made by Test Valley BC on the retrospective planning application submitted by the land owner for the bridge on the Pillhill Brook.

FOOTPATHS AND BRIDLEWAYS: An email was received from Peter Derbyshire reporting a large tree, which was brought down in the recent storms, blocking Hook Lane bridleway and making it impassable. Cllr Judith Balding contacted Cllr Charles Stephens from Amport Parish Council, and would like to thank him for his very prompt action to get it removed.

FRACKING: ‘Fracking’ is short for hydraulic fracturing, which uses high pressure water and chemicals blasted underground to fracture shale rock and release gas. The Department for Energy and Climate Change has issued drilling licences for possible fracking underneath an area a few miles from Andover, Stockbridge and many historic villages, including Monxton and Amport. Based on information available from DECC, the existing licences are located at the following locations: North of Winchester, from Kings Worthy stretching west almost to Stockbridge, and further north, reaching from Chilbolton west to Amport.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH – David James
Reported Crime: Once again, non-dwelling burglaries have been the most reported crime in the rural area of north and east Hampshire. Power tools have mainly been targeted together with off road vehicles. In addition there has been an increase in thefts from stables including horse tack and rugs in Hampshire. A separate alert was posted regarding this on Monxton Matters.

Telephone scams continue to be a problem. Hampshire Trading Standards Service publish information on these including prize wins, tax rebates and loan scams.

Crime Alerts – Since the last meeting there have been no general alerts distributed in Monxton.

HIGHWAYS – Cllr Sarah Dowding
The bollards are now installed around the village green and various other vulnerable sites, including Old Hoyles’ garden wall. There were other sites identified that will be pursued by the Traffic Steering Group.

The Traffic Steering Group have produced a map of actions required and have given it to TVBC (the map and supporting information can be vied on the Monxton Web Site).

Cllr Sarah Dowding explained the various items on the map. TVBC are to start work on agreed actions week commencing 25th November 2013.

It was noted that Lorries using the Monxton Road to get to the Co-op site are fined £500 a time. The fines pot controlled by HCC stands at some £500,000. Monxton are getting some of this money to fund the traffic calming measurers. The Chairman will visit the Co-op in person to discuss the traffic problems in person.

The Police have carried out speed radar checks in Monxton and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

The Chairman spoke about the problems the village are having with the Nelson Lorries visiting Georgia Farm. A recent aggressive confrontation with Mr Nelson was not a pleasant experience, and this was witnessed by a TVBC Planning Officer who happened to be present.

PORTABLE SPEED INDICATOR: Cllr Sarah Dowding reported that the chosen portable speed sign displays speed of vehicles and records speed and time. Funding has been discussed with various options including sharing the sign and costs with neighbouring parishes. However Monxton may purchase the speed sign outright asking if the HCC Coop fines fund would help with the cost.

SUNNYBANK – No issues to report at this meeting.

MONXTON WEB SITE – Cllr Sarah Dowding
18,610 views since the launch in March 2013. October: 1653 page views and 400 visitors. November (to date): 1063 page views and 233 visitors.
September – November = 4 pages/visit (peak 10 pages/visit in July).

FINANCE – Cllr David Eaglesham
The Audit has signed of the Accounts for the Year 1st April 2012 – 31st March 2013 on the 27th August 2013. There were no issues raised. The Parish Councillors signed a ‘Request for Dispensation’ form enabling them to discuss the Precept.

Cllr David Eaglesham gave a full report on the Parish Council finances. This will be available to view on the Web Site. The Parish Council have a healthy reserve so he suggested that the Precept for the year 2014/2015 is reduced by £350 to £5,200. This was discussed at length taking into account the various ongoing projects in the parish.

The Chairman proposed that the 2014/2015, Precept be reduced to £5,200, this was seconded by Cllr Sarah Dowding. All agreed. The Monxton precept for the Year 2014/2015 was therefore set at £5,200.

CHEQUES ISSUED IN NOVEMBER 2013
R.N. Waterman    Wages  September – December                £800.00
Clive Hutchinson   Mowing of the Village Green                    £360.00
N W Adams        Sunnyside Play Ground Inspection              £65.40

ALPINE GROUP
The Chairman reported that developers/builders have expressed scepticism regarding the support by the various councils, therefore Monxton PC & Abbotts Ann PC wrote open letters confirming their support in principle for a development.

The MPC Chairman met with the Planning Consultant appointed by Alpine to manage the new development (& the move to a new factory location) and the Head of Planning at TVBC to discuss the proposed development at the site. The consultant is twin tracking the search for a site and the development as one is needed to fund the other.

The Chairman reported that work to repair the garden wall at Old Hoyles has been agreed by the Alpine Group and should commence shortly.

VILLAGE PROJECTS – Cllr Mike Cleugh
VILLAGE GREEN CLEAR UP: The response from the village to the request for help to clean up the green was a total of 3 people over five dates which was extremely disappointing and therefore the council will revisit this early next year. After some discussion it was agreed that another clear up will be organised in the spring with refreshments in the Pub after the event for any volunteers.

VILLAGE POND PROJECT: There has been some conflicting information distributed around the parish on whether this is actually a pond or a soak away. It was confirmed at the meeting by residents that it is actually a natural pond. However it was agreed that the area should be tidied up regardless and the work required to re-instate the pond carried out next year with the villagers support and if NOT abandoned.

VILLAGE VERGE WEED REDUCTION: It was agreed that a working party will be organised to tackle the various overgrown areas in the parish. Mr Clive Hutchinson (current Garden services provider) will also be asked to quote to take on some of the more overgrown areas and verges in the event that villagers do NOT come forward to undertake the works.

DATES FOR THE NEXT MEETINGS
Wednesday’s 7.30pm in Monxton Village Hall
15th January
19th March

CLOSE OF THE MEETING The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting at 8.45pm.

Moviola dates for 2014

by Monxton Matters

Friday 24 January             – “Blue Jasmine”
Wednesday 26 February   – “Le Weekend”
Friday 28 March               – “Philomena”
Wednesday 23 April         – “One Chance”

Moviola is held in Monxton & Amport Village Hall. Doors open at 7pm and the film starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 and available from Caroline Unwin (772375), Veronica Bacon (771285), Karin Staines (712061) or Jennifer Richards (710308).

Visit the Moviola website – www.moviola.org 

Traffic Monday 4 November

by Monxton Matters

Monday 4 November saw a degree of traffic chaos in the High Street.

Firstly the constant, two-way flow of large Nelson lorries.  The flow is continuous and is at peak time disrupting the flow of traffic – particularly in the area of the Pub/Murray Cottage.

Secondly at 16.10 today a large 55-seater coach, owned by Clegg & Brooking (VRN: N583 GBW) also brought traffic to a stand still. This is regular run and the coach is always empty so why come through the village?  Clegg & Brooking operate from the petrol station on the Salisbury Road at Middle Wallop Airfield.

Thirdly a large container with RTS on the side (VRN: OSR 8847). Traffic grid lock, again, back beyond traffic calming on Andover Road.

In all incidents traffic was stopped and forced to use Chalk Pit Lane.

A formal request has been made for Nelson lorries to work a one-way system with empty lorries coming through Monxton, which will mean slightly less vibration due to lighter lorries.

More lorries

by Monxton Matters

This evening at 17.30 on Tuesday 19 November a large lorry came trough the village, heading towards Andover, and scraped the Black Swan pub sign.

Last week (Tuesday 12 November) at about 21.00 a DHL yellow lorry was helped to reverse from the Black Swan pub into Chalkpit Lane. This took about 20 minutes and stopped the traffic. The driver was written a note to give to the person in charge at the Co-op but no phone call or correspondence has been received.

Friday night lorries – 15 November

by Monxton Matters

At 04:10 am on Friday 15 November a Monxton resident was woken by a large articulated lorry that stopped outside Orchard House; the vehicle was facing West – i.e. had come from Andover/A303. The vehicle then reversed into Chalkpit Lane – fortunately without cutting the telephone wires this time – and returned toward Andover.

Also at 10:34 pm that night a large white articulated lorry – no visible markings – came through the High Street – travelling from West to East – and departed toward Andover.

Fundraising Curry Night 19 December

by Monxton Matters

Monxton resident, Emily Bacon, aged 18, will travel to Bangladesh in January 2014 to work on a Government development programme for 3 months. She will team up with Bangladeshi volunteers to tackle some of the problems facing the local community, after winning a place on the government funded International Citizen Service (ICS).

ICS allows young people aged 18-25 to contribute to long-term development projects in countries like Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Bangladesh.  The scheme offers young people the chance to develop personally and learn about team work and leadership on projects that are of genuine value to communities around the world. On return to the UK, ICS volunteers undertake an ‘Action at Home Project’, ensuring that their new skills also benefit their local communities.

Emily is organising a pre-departure fundraising raffle/auction of promises and Curry Night on Thursday December 19th at 7pm in the Black Swan Monxton, to raise funding in support of the project that tackles poverty in Bangladesh.

Emily said: “It’s vital I achieve my target of £800 to ensure developing countries can continue to benefit from the work of future volunteers. I’ve been a busy bee organising a variety of events, such as a sponsored 100 km cycle ride, a cake sale/mufty day at Amport Primary School, and a raffle/auction of promises. Mikael and Sarah at the Black Swan in Monxton have also given me fantastic support. The project I’m working on is run by the development charity, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) which aims to build social capital and leadership amongst citizens, particularly youth. This is a unique opportunity to work alongside people from a different culture who have requested help from young volunteers to fight poverty and make a difference where it’s needed most. I’m really excited to go!”

To book your curry at the Black Swan please call the pub on 710260. The curry is £9.50 per person. £1.50 from each meal will be donated for Emily’s fundraising – and possibly more if enough people come along.

To support Emily and the project either call her for more information on: 07974 884557 or:
VISIT:  www.justgiving.com/EmilyCABacon
OR TEXT: ECAB94 £(insert amount) to 70070
To find out more about ICS or to apply, visit www.ics-uk.org.uk or call 0208 780 7400.

For more information please contact ICS media officer, Lucy Ing on 0208 780 7362 or lucy.ing@vso.org.uk

Traffic 4 November

by Monxton Matters

Monday 4 November saw a degree of traffic chaos in the High Street.
Firstly the constant, two-way flow of large Nelson lorries.  The flow is continuous and is at peak time disrupting the flow of traffic, particularly in the area of the Pub/Murray Cottage.

Secondly at 16.10 a large 55-seater coach owned by Clegg & Brooking (VRN: N583 GBW) also brought traffic to a stand still. This is regular run and the coach is always empty so why come through the village?  Clegg & Brooking operate from the petrol station on the Salisbury Road at Middle Wallop Airfield.
In both incidents traffic was stopped, and using Chalk Pit Lane as an alternative.