Present:
Cllr C. Neville - Chairman
Cllr S. Carryer
Cllr R. Seeckts
Cllt A. Blaber

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting

A copy of the management accounts for the year ended 31st March 2007 had been circulated to Parish Councillors and there were no questions arising. The Chairman advised the meeting that subject to final accounts being completed, the reserve fund at the end of the year amounted to £13,500 and that he would suggest later in the meeting how some of this might be required in the near future.

Mr Godfrey began his talk by explaining that the army’s decision to withdraw from Bordon had arisen from the Defence Training Review, a rationalisation project of training facilities for the armed services which had started in 2003. The decision to site facilities at St Athan in South Wales had finally been announced in January 2007. This withdrawal would result in a lot of land becoming available and a huge opportunity to develop Bordon and Whitehill, the success of which would depend on clear planning and making sure the needs and desires of the local community were fully understood.

He explained how the District Council had already worked hard to raise consciousness of the project at regional government level. He emphasised the District Council’s determination that the Green Town Vision, developed for Whitehill and Bordon, should be at the centre of whatever development took place. A maximum of 5,500 extra houses was anticipated, providing the catalyst for regeneration of the area, but this must not be at the expense of the local environment and must enhance, not detract, from the quality of life. Clearly planning for increases in facilities and local infrastructure would be vital once there was clearer information on exactly what land would be released and when.

There were many questions from members of the public which Mr Godfrey answered and are summarised as follows:
Until the development was finished, there would be a period of uncertainty and a reduction in the need for some facilities, such as schools and health services, which it was important that the County Council recognised was only short term. He explained that the District Council was already raising these issues with the County Council to ensure that they recognised the need to plan for investment, rather than contraction. He acknowledged that the development would have an impact on the surrounding communities and that there had not been much consultation directly with them so far which needed to be addressed. He explained that a master planning process would commence in due course which would involve consulting the local community about what was wanted in order to ensure that developers were not simply given a free hand.
He stressed that at the moment, the project was in its very early stages and that the army was still deciding what land would be released and how the disposal would be managed. It was hoped that most development would be on brownfield sites, although development of some greenfield land could not be ruled out; however, he emphasised that protection of SSSIs such as Kingsley Common was a core principle of the Green Town Vision.
In reply to a question about improving capacity at the local railway stations, he explained that getting the railways to invest would probably be a longer term aspiration. As far as the local road network was concerned, there was no prospect of the A325 being made dual carriageway in the short term; the major traffic route would therefore be the A3 and there would probably need to be a relief road built ultimately although again this was for the longer term.

He estimated that once the development was complete which might take up to 20 years, the population of Bordon and Whitehill would increase from its current level of 15,000 to at least 25,000 which would make it the biggest town in East Hampshire. It was very difficult to say exactly what facilities and infrastructure would be required as this would emerge from the master planning process and from consultation with the local community, once the army had completed its plans for the disposal of the land.

Mr Arbuthnot began by congratulating the Parish on holding such an effective meeting which allowed the community to come together and take the opportunity to ask questions to the head of the local authority on such an important issue as the army withdrawal from Bordon. He then described a recent, fairly typical day in his life as an MP and as Chairman of the Select Defence Committee. He spoke about the importance of the Select Committee in providing all-party scrutiny of the role of the armed services, which of course was so vital when the services were so actively engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan as at the moment. Meetings of the Committee were interspersed with dealing with correspondence, a meeting with the Editor of the Jewish Chronicle in his capacity as the Chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel, voting in the House of Commons and dinner with a company running the Defence Training Review.

Questions were then answered on a variety of matters as summarised below:
In response to a question about government guidelines on density of housing development and how important it was that these should not be applied to the letter in Bordon, he agreed that it was important that government inspectors must recognise the different situation and that Bordon actually needed more development of larger houses of which at present it did not have enough.
The issue of the possible closure of the Accident and Emergency unit at Royal Surrey Hospital was raised and the problem with medical facilities in NE Hampshire this would create. He said he had signed the petition to save this unit and urged everyone present to do the same. The local MP was fighting hard to prevent this closure and he promised to do whatever he could as an opposition MP to ensure that both Royal Surrey and the Chase Hospital remained thriving facilities for the area.
He was asked for his views on the future of the three party system. He said he thought it quite possible there would be a hung parliament at the next election. He saw some advantage in trying to create greater consensus on issues such as pensions that required a very long term view. However, reducing the adversarial aspect of politics could be dangerous if it ended up that there was insufficient differential between the parties and this allowed extremism to have a better chance of making an impact. The onus was on politicians to encourage public interest in politics and government. He was not convinced that making voting compulsory was the answer to apathy by the electorate although he would not rule it out and it appeared to work successfully in Australia.

Cllr Neville reported on his fifth year as Chairman. He said that ideally he would like to stand down and let someone else take on the role but this might have to wait another year. He spoke first about the frustration of the police’s refusal to support a 30 mph speed limit in the village. The mean speed of traffic shown by the survey last Summer was 35 to 36 mph and it was beyond him how the police expected it to be nearer 30mph when there was a 40mph limit currently in place. However, there was now the chance to participate early in the County Council’s review of rural speed limits known as the Village 30 project which the Parish council had applied for.

The Parish Council had fought a long and hard battle to oppose Grundon’s plans for further sand extraction at Frith End, but had lost. The primary concern was that sand extraction would leave a hole that Grundons would then fill with waste, but because the application was only for sand extraction, this argument was discounted. He thanked Brian and Gerry Davey, David and Audrey Graham, Dr Roger Trout and local County Councillors Mark Kemp-Gee and Adam Carew who had helped the Parish Council respond to what was a very complex application. He then explained that the County Council was currently engaged in a Minerals Review to cover the next ten years or so and that several sites were being considered at both ends of the village and that there were concerns with all of them.

The repairs fiasco with the B3004 was well documented. The Parish Council had written a strongly critical letter to Hampshire Highways and had asked for details of when the remaining work would be completed.

The Jalsa Convention last Summer had passed off smoothly with only a small amount of inconvenience to Kingsley and it was hoped this experience would be repeated this year.

Meetings had taken place with the local Commander of Bordon Garrison to make him aware of misuse of the Common by trail bikers and 4x4s and it was hoped that matters would improve this Summer

St Nicholas Church had been broken into twice during the year but this had been covered by insurance and a new door had now been installed at the West entrance.

Parish Council finances were healthy and placed the village in a position to contribute financially as part of the Village 30 project, which would undoubtedly assist our application. The Parish Council had also been able to make a contribution to the re-development of the Kingsley Centre that was now underway. The precept had been held at £10,000 in total for four years running, although it may not be possible to do so again next year.

The football area on Upper Green has now been re-turfed using Developers Contributions and major pruning of the oak trees on Upper Green had been completed to ensure they remained in a safe condition. The playground remained very popular with village youngsters but there had been some thoughtless damage during the year and all parents were urged to remind the children that the playground was for their benefit and they must look after it.

The Parish Council had welcomed Cllr Mary Herbert as a new Councillor last Summer. Cllr Richard Seeckts had decided not to seek re-election after four years and Cllr Neville thanked him for his considerable contribution, not least steering the funding of the playground. There would be no election of Parish Councillors on 3rd May as only five nominations had been received for five places on the Council.

He promised that in the year ahead, the Parish Council would continue to work on the village’s behalf in battling to get the 30 mph speed limit, making decisions on planning applications, monitoring Grundons activities and the progress of the Minerals and Wastes sites review and taking any necessary action to protect the village, fighting to get the B3004 properly repaired and battling against misuse of the Common and fly-tipping.

He thanked the Parish Councillors for the voluntary time they give for the benefit of the village, Sid Newman and Malcolm Rust for the work they do at Upper Green and St Nicholas, Martin Ansell and Andy Cox for repairing damage to the playground seats, and County Councillor Mark Kemp-Gee for his efforts on behalf of the village often unseen and despite the failings of others. He bade farewell to District Councillor Warwick Womack who is relocating to Greece. Finally he explained that the Parish Clerk would be leaving her post in August to take on a full time teaching position. He thanked her for her work over the last three years and said she would be greatly missed. He hoped someone would come forward from the village to replace her.

Cllr Kemp-Gee thanked the Parish Council for helping him to work on behalf of the village. He described the year as an “annus horribilis” for the roads in the Alton rural division, especially the B3004 and B3006. He intended to write to Cllr Mel Kendal, the Executive Member for the Environment in the County Council, and make the following points; that the seven year tender for road maintenance shortly up for review must be put out to full competitive tender, that there must be benchmarking for the quality control of road repairs; that the utility companies must be required to properly repair the roads after digging; and that more must be spent on the rural road network than at present. He said that in the early summer, work was scheduled to repair the lanes damaged during the B3004 closure. Finally he encouraged Kingsley and Worldham to work together in their efforts to get the speed limit reduced.

Cllr Womack said that at the end of such a long and interesting meeting, all the points he would have made had been covered. It only remained for him to say goodbye and that it had been a privilege to be a District Councillor here.

The following questions were raised and comments made:

I. It is not surprising that people do not engage with politics when you consider the stupidity of the situation with the speed limit and how incapable politicians appear to be of doing something so straightforward. Cllr Neville sympathised with the frustration and said he hoped that the County Council would not be foolish enough to embark on their Village 30 project without the real prospect of change. Mr Arbuthnot said that the issue of enforcement was a real one but Cllr Neville said he no longer agreed with this and that there was no reason for the police to deny a 30 mph limit on the grounds of enforcement when they did not enforce the 40 mph limit. He believed that reducing the speed limit would have the effect of reducing speed and the Parish Council was prepared to contribute to speed warning signs.

II. It should be made impossible to speed by putting chicanes in the middle of the road.

III. What other reasons were needed when there was a disabled centre, pub, pond, nursery school, and playground all in the centre of the village and no safe place to cross?

IV. What chance do the village have to feed into this Village 30 project? Cllr Kemp-Gee explained that expressions of interest in being considered for priority review had to be made by the end of April and Kingsley had done this. The County Council would seek to put in calming measures and it was hoped that the police were now of a mind to relax their previous attitude on mean traffic speeds.

V. Why are the police having the final say when they are unelected? Cllr Kemp-Gee explained that traffic regulations are set by central government and these determine the police involvement.

VI. All residents should drive at 30mph now

VII. Have the working hours for Dennards changed as they appear to be working at night. Cllr Neville said that it would help if evidence could be provided to take to the Enforcement Officer