MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL

Date:                     Thursday 24^th July 2025                                                  Time:    6:30 pm

Venue:                 Village Hall, Northington

Present:               Juliet Balnshard                                                                 Chair

                                Andrew Bason

Gail Taylor

Rhona Hatchley

Margot Power                                                                   District Councillor                            

Claire Pinnger                                                                    District Councillor

                                Wendy Simson                                                                  Clerk     

Apologies:          David Corney

                                Jackie Porter                                                                      County Councillor

                                Russell Gordon-Smith                                                    District Councillor

Welcome and apologies.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Cllr Porter and Cllr Gordon-Smith sent apologies. David Corney also sent apologies.

Declaration of Pecuniary & Personal Interests to note any conflict with any item on the agenda.

None were declared.

Co-option of New Councillor

The Clerk reported that no applications for the vacant Councillor role had been received by Winchester City Council. Two interested parties from the community had enquired about the role, David Corney had agreed to stand as the only applicant. Cllr Hatchley proposed that David was co-opted on the Parish Council, Cllr Bason seconded this, all Councillor voted to co-opt David onto the Parish Council.

Action: Clerk to send David a register of Interests forms to be completed.

Action: Clerk to inform Winchester City Council that David Corney had been co-opted to fill the vacant position.

Any additional agenda items

The Chair asked if there were any additional agenda items for the meeting, none were proposed.

Minutes of the last meeting

The Councillors reviewed minutes for the meeting on 20^th May 2025 and agreed the minutes as a true representation of the meeting. The Chair proposed that the minutes be formally accepted, Cllr Bason seconded this, the minutes were approved.

Matters arising from the last meeting

These items included actions from the Annual Parish Meeting and Annual General Meeting of the Parish Council.

Southern Electric updates – This action was to contact the electricity supplier and ask for a scheme of maintenance work annually including tree work to reduce the number of outages due to avoidable faults. The Clerk is to email the energy provider to request this information.

There has been one power cut since the last meeting with the electricity off for half a day, this was likely to be weather related as it was lost during a thunderstorm.

Action: Clerk to contact energy supplier.

Positions for speed indication device – This action was to agree locations and circulate to the community prior to applying for permission to install the sign. The Chair and Clerk agreed to meet to photographs suitable existing posts to site the device on. The Clerk informed Councillors that some may need to be extended which could be done by Hampshire Highways at a cost.

Action: Clerk and Chair to meet and photographs the proposed posts before sending to the community for approval.

Replacement of the millennium bench – At the Annual Parish Meeting it was agreed that the bench could not be repaired and should be replaced using the CIL funding held by the Parish Council. The Chair agreed to get three quotes for replacement benches which incorporate the design on the original bench but do not need to replicate the bench.

Action: Clerk to send photograph of bench created by Jono, local carpenter.

The site for the bench needs to be cleared and Councillors agreed to ask the Lengthsman to do on the next visit (23^rd September).

Action: Cllr Bason to book with Lengthsman to ensure they have the correct tools.

District Councillors Reports

The Councillors reports were circulated to the Parish Council earlier in the month. The main topic is the proposed changes to Unitary Authorities in Hampshire and possible mapping and number of Unitary Authorities. There are two surveys open, and the District Councillors recommended that Parish Councils complete both. The links for the surveys are:

Hampshire County Council survey – http://www.hants.gov.uk/lgr

Winchester City Council survey – https://ourplaceourfuture.commonplace.is/

The Councillors all agreed to complete both surveys and to circulate to the community and encourage others to do the same.

Action: Clerk to forward details of both surveys to all Councillors.

Financial Update

The Clerk listed the payments to be approved at the meeting, they are:

• Insurance – £241.00
• Clerk’s salary (April to June) – £300.00

All payments were approved by Councillors.

Village Hall Update

Cllr Hatchley has received the following update from the Chair of the Village Hall Committee:

The recent BBQ was a successful and happy occasion. 

The next social event will be a Harvest Lunch in October. 

Future Projects – 

Repair, sand down and re-polish the parquet flooring.  (There are loose pieces and damage from damp in places.)

A grant is being sourced for a fenced area in the field for the Little Learners’ use. 

General business and income generation continues steadily, although there is usually a dip over the summer holiday season. 

In a more serious note, could we ask that some serious consideration is now given by your good selves over a precept on the Council Tax, at the next opportunity, to enable the Village Hall to go ahead with establishing a contract for the re-roofing project. It has been mooted from time to time in the past. Other Parish Councils have undertaken similar moves. We can move forward with it as stated at the AGM but need the financial backing of the NPC to help support the process. To know that a worthwhile amount of money will be coming in April would certainly reinforce what we propose beyond a deposit to a roofing company.  

The hall is technically the only asset in common ownership in the parish, is held in high regard by the parishioners and used for a multitude of purposes. 

Further discussion on specifics will need to follow. This is a mark in the sand now that we are ready for the off! 

The Councillors discussed the request to increase the precept for 2026/27 and agreed that the Village Hall Committee should gain three quotes for the work to ascertain the costs of the work. The Councillors also asked that details of grant opportunities which the Village Hall Committee intend to apply for should also be given to the Parish Council to ensure support can be given where needed.

Action: Cllr Hatchley to request this information from the Village Hall Committee in time for the budgeting meeting on 20^th November 2025. A member/members of the Village Hall Committee to be invited to join the meeting on 20^th November.

Planning applications & related matters

The Paris Council received on application since the last meeting; it is:

• Northington Down Farm (25/01069/LDP) – proposed erection of an ancillary static caravan. The Clerk contacted the Planning Officer following the meeting as requested by the Councillors and received the following response:

The application is for a certificate of lawful development. It is for development that is intended to meet the conditions of the relevant Permitted Development class. Customers submit an application for a lawful development certificate if they want a legal decision from ourselves that the proposed development meets the requirements of permitted development – often useful for when selling a property etc.

There is no requirement to notify neighbours or display a site notice for this type of development (with some exceptions, although these would be dealt with by prior approval applications and not a lawful development certificate). This is because the development either meets the requirements of Permitted Development and automatically receives consent under that legislation, or it does not. It is my understanding that we notify Parish Councils as a courtesy on these types of applications.

Action: Councillors to agree if any action is required.

Lengthsman

The dates for the Lengthsman visits in 2025/26 are:

• 18^th June 2025

• 23^rd September 2025
• 15^th December 2025
• 10^th March 2026

Councillors agreed the work to be completed at the next visit earlier in the meeting.

General Correspondence

Village Emails – The Chair informed the Councillors that Simon has been in touch about handing over sending out the Village Emails. Cllr Hatchley agreed to work with the Chair to send out the message in the future using the Northingtonparishcouncil@gmail.com account.

Action: Clerk to send password for account to Cllr Hatchley and Chair

Northington Crossroad – Cllr Bason has cut back to vegetation on the approach to the Northington Crossroads from Northington Road. The topography of the road in the area meant that road users in particular cyclists who are unfamiliar with the road did not see the “give way” sign until late and approaching at speed down a steep hill. The Councillors thanked Cllr Bason for this work.

Accident on B3046 – Councillors were informed of an accident on the bend at the entrance to the Grange on the B3046 which involved just one vehicle.

Defibrillator checks – Cllr Bason agreed to check the defib after each meeting.

Date of the next meeting

The next Parish Council meeting will be on Tuesday 23^rd September.

The meeting ended at 7:45pm

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE COUNCIL

Date:                     Tuesday 20^th May 2025                                                                 Time:    8:30 pm

Venue:                 Northington Village Hall , Northington

Present:               Simon Walker                                                                                                    Chairman

Juliet Blanchard

Andrew Bason

Gail Taylor

Cllr Jackie Porter                                                                                              County Councillor

Dave Corney                                                                                                     

Naomi Corney

                                Wendy Simson                                                                                                  Clerk

Apologies:          Rhona Hatchley

Cllr Margot Powers                                                                                         District Councillor

                                Cllr Fiona Issac                                                                                                   District Councillor

Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith                                                                            District Councillor

1. Minutes of last meeting

The minutes of the last Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 17^th May 2024 were approved as a true record of the meeting, the Clerk presented a copy of the minutes for signature.

• Resignation of Chairman

The Chairman informed the Parish Council that he was stepping down as the Chairman and as a Councillor. The Councillors thanked his for all the work he has led over the last year and his service to the community for the eight years he serviced as a Councillor.

• Election of Chairman

Councillor Blanshard confirmed that she would be prepared to stand as Chairman but asked that he take the role for a one-year period and would review at the next AGM. Councillor Bason and Councillor Taylor proposed and seconded the appointment.

Councillor Blanshard took over chairing the meeting.

•        Councillor vacancy

The Clerk informed the Councillors that the vacancy had been notified to Winchester City Council and that it would be advertised for 14 days. Two members of the community had expressed an interest in the role; these would be added to any nomination made to Winchester at the end of the period of advert. The Parish Council will then co-opt onto the Parish Council unless 10 or more residents write to WCC to ask for a by-election.

• Agreement of Roles and Responsibilities

The following roles were provisionally agreed:

• Cllr Blanshard – coordinating Highway matters with Hampshire County Council
• Cllr Hatchley – Community Plan & Village Hall
• Cllr Bason – Lengthsman, Annual litter pick, fly tipping and all things practical
• Cllr Taylor – Enironment including the river.
• Simon Walker – continue to volunteer and look after the website

The Councillors agreed to all look after sending the community messages out via email.

6.            Confirmation of certificate of exception

The Councillors agreed that Northington met the criteria for exception.

7.            Annual Governance Statement for 2024/25

The Clerk presented the Annual Governance Statement for approval, which was signed off by Councillors.

The accounts were agreed as a true record and presented for signature by the Chairman.

8.            Accounting Statement 2024/25

The Clerk informed Councillors that the Annual Governance and Accounting Return had been Internal Audited and signed off with no actions.

The Clerk presented the Accounting Statement to the Councillors, this was approved and signed by the Chairman.

Action: Clerk to prepare the public consultation notice for the website and Parish noticeboards.

9.            Questions from the public

There were no questions from the public.

The meeting closed at 8:55pm

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL

Date:                     Tuesday 20^th May 2025                                                  Time:    8:55 pm

Venue:                 Village Hall, Northington

Present:               Juliet Balnshard                                                                                 Chairman

                                Andrew Bason

Gail Taylor

Dave Corney

Naoim Conrney

                                Wendy Simson                                                                                  Clerk     

Apologies:          Rhona Hatchley

Welcome and apologies.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Cllr Hatchley sent apologies.

Declaration of Pecuniary & Personal Interests to note any conflict with any item on the agenda.

None were declared.

Minutes of the last meeting

The Councillors reviewed minutes for the meeting on 20^th March 2025 and agreed the minutes as a true representation of the meeting. The Chair proposed that the minutes be formally accepted, Cllr Bason seconded this, the minutes were approved.

Financial Update

The Clerk listed the payments to be approved at the meeting, they are:

• HALC membership – £209.00
• Annual Village Hall Grant – £1,000.00
• Annual grant to St Peter’s Church – £600
• Village Hall hire (November, January & March meetings) – £90.00

All payments were approved by Councillors.

Planning applications & related matters

The Paris Council received on application since the last meeting; it is:

• The Old rectory (25/00802/HOU) – replace garage with new garage and residential annex. – the Councillors agreed there were no comments to be posted.

Lengthsman

The dates for the Lengthsman visits in 2025/26 are:

• 18^th June 2025

• 23^rd September 2025
• 15^th December 2025
• 10^th March 2026

General Correspondence

The Clerk confirmed that any correspondence had been circulated when received.

Any other business

None

Date of the next meeting

The next Parish Council meeting will be on Thursday 24^th July.

The meeting ended at 9:15pm

MINUTES OF NORTHINGTON COUNCIL ANNUAL MEETING

Northington Village Hall, Northington

7.20 pm on Tuesday, 14^th May 2025

Present:               Simon Walker (SW, Chairman)

                                Juliet Blanshard (JB)

                                Andrew Bason (AB)

Gail Taylor (GT)

Jackie Porter (County Councillor)

Peter Lamb

Beth Lamb

John Mitchell

Rosie Warner

Frank Warner

Dennis Nye

Ben Guest

Linus Guest

Fred Baring

Mark Ashburton

Dave Corney

Naomi Carney

Yvonne White

Paul Lowman

                                Wendy Simson (WS, Clerk)

Apologies:           Margot Power (District Councillor)

Fiona Issac (District Councillor)

Russel Gordon Smith (District Councillor)

Rhona Hatchley (RH)

Belinda Mitchell

The Chairman welcomed all present.

1. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

Minutes of last year’s annual meeting held on the 17^th May 2024 were adopted as a true record. The minutes were proposed by Mark Ashburton and seconded by Peter Lamb. The Chairman signed the minutes.

2. MATTERS ARISING

None

3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

INTRODUCTION
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced himself as the Chair of the Parish Council, having served for the last year as Chair and as a Councillor for 8 years before that. The Chairman explained that he would be stepping down at the end of the meeting as both Chair and a Councillor creating a vacancy. The Clerk has completed the vacancy notice and this will be promoted for 14 days following this meeting to allow anyone who is interested to step forward. The Parish Council hope to have a suitable candidate to co-opt at the next meeting but if more than one application is received then an election will be called.

Southern Electric

The Chairman updated the meeting on the issues with Southern Electric in the last 18 months which have caused more than 20 power cuts, including the major outage in November 2024. This did result in Southern Electric to carry out major tree clearance work, but the Parish Council was disappointing that they blamed the Ash dieback and unjustifiably landowner restricting access.

Special mention to Natasha Cochrane who contacted Danny chambers the local MP and anyone else she could find to get the message heard and understood.

Dennis Nye informed the meeting that the supply for the village comes from two different directions and means that some properties have power while other do not. He asked if power could be redirected to those properties with a power cut from the source that is still connected?

John Mitchell reported that the outage at Christmas 2024 had brought a plan of tree work.

Mark Ashbourton asked if an annual report could be requested to monitor the work done and planned works for the future to prevent further power cuts.

Frank Warner informed the meeting that he had a report of when the outages had occurred through the report on when the internet was down.

This remains hot topic.

Action: Clerk to include on Parish Council meeting agenda for July.

Planning

The Chairman gave an overview of the Parish Council’s role in responding to all planning applications. The Parish Council is not the planning authority but does have a important role as the conduit and voice of community. Councillors consult and collate if required and use community plan to inform any response.

Most of the responses are no comment/Neutral, however the Council may comment if there the plans compete with the Community Plan or there have been multiple comments form the residents.

It is extremely rarely (not in the Chairman’s 9 years) that the Parish Council would support an application if strongly aligned to community plan and over whelming support.

This last year the most controversial application was the Southern water Augmentation scheme to provide water for Southampton and Portsmouth from the aquafer in the Candover Valley. This application was withdrawn in November 2024 and as the temporary pipeline was to be decommissioned by 2030, it is hoped that it won’t be resubmitted.

Community plan – update since 2013

The Chairman explained that this has been a major project led by Cllr Hatchley with technical input by the Chairman.

The survey of the community produced 30+ responses, which is a statistically valid result.

The key areas for Northington Parish Council action are:

• Speeding – the Parish Council are looking at purchasing a speed indication device similar to the one in Preston Candover outside the school and also in Old Alresford. The cost of one of the devices including a solar panel is £2,340 plus VAT and this could be purchased from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) held by the Parish Council.

The Chairman asked the meeting for their views on making this purchase. Peter Lamb asked about the locations that the device would be placed. The Clerk explained that Hampshire Highways would need to be consulted as permission is required. There may also be a need to increase the height of the existing signposts to accommodate the device. The sites suggested are bottom of Kites Hill, on the B3046 by the Village Hall and on the bend by the Grange entrance.

Action: Parish Council to apply to Hampshire Highways for permission to site speed indication device once public consultation is completed.

• Fly tipping – the last year has seen multiple incidents of fly tipping in the Parish, it seems to have improved, but not zero.  Cllr Bason invited Gary Brown, the Hampshire fly tipping officer/ investigator to update the Parish Council in November 2023. The key message was that the Parish Council and residents must report all incidents quickly.

• Lengthsman – the list of activities that the Lengthsman can complete are:

HAMPSHIRE C.C.	DISTRICT COUNCILS	PARISH COUNCILS
Examples of work areas covered by the Parish Lengthsman. (Mostly related to maintenance, but new work can be undertaken as appropriate).
Drainage: GripsLocalised ditchingCleaning channelsRodding of pipes (off highway) Signs excluding street name plates (including reflector posts): Cleaning Minor repairsSpeed Limit Reduction sign relocation Highway Minor Works: Removal of soil/detritusCutting back vegetation overhanging the road or footwayClearing footways of weeds/mossRemoving vegetation from parapets or fences.Highway grass strimming around postsReporting defects	Environmental: SweepingLitter clearanceRemoval of fly-postingLand drainage (not highway)Graffiti/unauthorised sign removalStreet name plates cleaning and repairRepair of street furniture including litter bins, benches, bus stopsReporting	Community: Maintain public open spacesMaintain public rights of wayMaintain play areasMaintain playing fieldsMaintain associated fences, styles etc.Acting as eyes and ears for the community having regard to vulnerable parishioners and anti social behaviour such as noise, car crime etc. Reporting

Due to the health and safety implications the Parish Lengthsman shall not undertake cleaning, repair or any work on:

• Street Lighting
• Illuminated signs and bollards (i.e. any street furniture with an electrical connection)
• The live road, and,
• Patching and structural repairs (no excavation due to possibility of underground apparatus)
• Emergency callouts to highway incident

The dates for the Lengthsman visits in 2025/26 are:

• 18^th June
• 23^rd September
• 15^th December
• 10^th March

The Councillors – The Chairman asked each of the Councillors to introduce themselves and their key areas of responsibility, they are:

• Cllr Blanshard – coordinating Highway matters with Hampshire County Council
• Cllr Hatchley – Community Plan & Village Hall
• Cllr Bason – Lengthsman, Annual litter pick, fly tipping and all things practical
• Cllr Taylor – Enironment including the river.
• Clerk – super star – Clerk keeps us on our toes
• Me – continue to volunteer and look after the website

4. VILLAGE HALL LIAISON REPORT (Cllr Hatchley)

Firstly, I have worked to establish good liaison between the Parish Council and the Village Hall Committee with the aim of ensuring each is aware of the other’s ongoing activities and that where appropriate, the Parish Council can offer advice or support. In a community as small as ours such communication and connectivity are vital.

Secondly, Simon and I have produced our Community Plan 2024 which has been submitted to Winchester City Council. By now you will all have had an opportunity to read the finished survey report. The process took 9 months to complete and provides an up-to-date snapshot of the views of approximately 30% of Parish residents, and a valuable comparison with a very similar set of topics surveyed in 2013. Based on these findings it concludes with a 6-point action plan for the Parish Council as follows:

• Continue to work for the introduction of a 30-mph speed limit to include the dangerous bend at the entrance to the Grange.
• Press service providers, the City and County Councils to provide a fast and reliable broadband service across the Parish, together with 5G provision from the mobile networks.
• Work for measures (including speed reminder technology) to curb speeding traffic throughout the villages, but particularly on Kite’s Hill and Stratton Lane.
• In line with residents’ opinion, encourage the re-use of redundant and underused buildings for residential and/or commercial use.
• Discourage development threatens the particular character of the villages of Northington, Swarraton and Totford in the outstanding environment of the Candover Valley.
• Push SSEN for the provision of far greater resilience to the electricity network. 

4. CLERK’S FINANCIAL REPORT

WS gave the meeting an overview of the accounts.

The Parish Council made a small increase to the precept in 2024/25 taking it from £4,950 to £5,346 (8%), a similar increase to £5,508 (3%) has been agreed for 2025/26. The Councillors agreed that the increasing prices of insurance, training, and supplies for items such as the defibrillator necessitated an uplift in line with inflation. 

Councillor spent a total of £4,185.74 which included grants of £2,250. Other costs included insurance, membership to Hampshire Association of Local Councils (HALC), hall hire for the meetings and the Parish Council website.

The Clerk’s salary remains at £1,200 in 2025; this is in line with other Parishes of a similar size.

The closing balance on the account is £10,998.35 this includes £3,565.57 of Community Infrastructure Levy funding. The Parish Council have investigated the option to purchase a speed indication device to support the reduction in speed through the village.

The Annual Governance and Accountability Return has been completed and will be signed off as part of the Parish Council Annual General Meeting which will follow this meeting. Once signed it will be posted on the Parish Council website. The period of the Exercise of Public Rights to inspect the account is Tuesday 3^rd June to Friday 14^th July but the Clerk invited any member of the public to view the accounts at any time.

5. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Mark Ashburton informed the meeting that he is working with Southern Water to improve the water quality by taking the stream round the lake and dredging the lake.

English Heritage and the Environment Agency are involved with the project.

Peter Lamb asked a new bench could be purchased to replace the millennium bench by the church and the move it so it looks down the valley.  The Parish Council agreed to look at options to be purchased from the remaining Community Infrastructure Levy.

Action: Parish Council to add to the July agenda

Yvonne White asked about the Conways lorries which are driving through the village and damaging the road surface.  Cllr Blanshard agreed to speak to the contact she has at the site to ensure that the lorries are only going west and not coming east through the village.

Action: Cllr Blanshard to speak to Conways

Beth Lamb reported that one of the footpath signs has fallen, Cllr Bason agreed to go and look at it.

Frank Warner proposed thanks on behalf of the community for the work done by the Parish Council in the last year.

The meeting ended at 8:30pm.

WS 22/5/25

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL

Date:                     Thursday 23^rd January 2025                                                          Time:    6:30 pm

Venue:                 Village Hall, Northington

Present:               Simson Walker                                                                                  Chairman

Rhona Hatchley

                                Andrew Bason

Juliet Blanshard

Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith                                                            District Councillor

Cllr Jackie Porter                                                                              County Councillor

Cllr Margot Power                                                                           District Councillor

                                Wendy Simson                                                                                  Clerk     

Apologies:          Gail Taylor

Cllr Clare Pinniger                                                                            District Councillor

Welcome and apologies.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Cllrs Taylor and Cllr Pinniger sent apologies.

Declaration of Pecuniary & Personal Interests to note any conflict with any item on the agenda.

None were declared.

Minutes of the last meeting

The Councillors reviewed minutes for the meeting on 21^st November 2024 and agreed the minutes as a true representation of the meeting.

Matters arising.

Clerk to look at prices and design for village sign

The Clerk explained to Councillors that there was a huge variation in the costs of Village Signs. Cllr Porter also informed Councillors that HCC would charge a licence fee of approximately £500 and fee of the service check of £400. The Chair informed the Council that the sign that was in this position has been damaged and is in the hedge. It was agreed that Cllr Blanshard would report the sign as damaged including photographs and ask if the posts could be replaced and the Parish Council be allowed to purchase a new sign.

Action: Cllr Blanshard to report the damaged sign.

Cllr Blanshard to speak to the resident about speed data

Cllr Blanshard reported that she had spoken to the resident who had the speed check completed but it had been some years ago. The outcome of the test was that most vehicles were travelling on average at approximately 40 mph. The resident did suggest that the Parish Council speak to the member of the HCC team who they had booked the speed check through, he no longer works for HCC but offers a consultancy role to Parishes looking to change their speed limit.

Councillors agreed Cllr Blanshard would make contact and ask about the services offered and prices.

Action: Cllr Blanshard to bring update on consultancy offer and prices to next Parish Council meeting.

Chair to speak to Chair of Candover Parish Council about how they got set up.

The Chair explained that the Chair from Candovers Parish Council had been away but he would make contact prior to the next meeting.

Action: Chair to bring report to next meeting.

Chair to send an email to the community asking about installing a SID

The Chair informed the Council that he had drafted questions to ask as part of the communication to the community. Cllr Hatchley suggested that residents had been asked about speeding as part of the Village Plan update. It was therefore suggested that the communication should be to confirm that residents wanted the Village Name signs, Drive Carefully signs and signage to alert drivers to school children.

Action: Chair to draft and circulate to all Councillors.

Clerk to investigate having a children sign installed by the entrance to the Grange where the school bus collects them.

The Clerk apologised this had not been completed. Councillors asked if a second sign could be requested for the turn to the Village Hall where the school bus also stops to collect and deposit children.

Action: Clerk to file request to HCC.

District and County Councillor updates

The Clerk had forwarded the County and District Councillors reports prior to the meeting.

Cllr Power asked if the Councillors had been invited to the Parish Connect Briefing: Local Government Reorganisation on 5^th February. The Clerk agreed to check all the email files as it had not been received and forward to all Councillors. Cllr Power asked that the Parish Council did not just send the Clerk as a representative but as many of the Councillors as possible attended.

Action: Clerk to access the invite email and circulate to all Councillors

Action: All Councillors to confirm that they can attend

Cllr Porter gave the Councillors an update on HCC’s move to becoming a Unitary Authority. All staff are working to continue to delivery services as usual whilst agreements about the changes are decided.

An additional £500million has been allocated from Central Government for schools up to 2028.  Part of the funding will be used to create spaces for pupils with special needs across the County.

HCC are also asking that any questions are only asked of the Directors in each department and that Officers are not named or contact details shared. This is due to reorganisation and redundancies.

The Local Plan is now at the Inspection stage; however, the new update is being developed which will include the new Government housing targets.

Cllr Gordon-Smith reiterated that the devolution of Local Government is going to impact Parish Councils which is why it is important that Councils join the meeting on 5^th February.

Financial Update

The Clerk informed the Councillors that the Clerk’s salary for October to December had been paid along with the hall hire for the November meeting.

Cllr Porter confirmed that the Lengthsman Project has been approved for 2025/26.

The Councillors discussed the precept request for 2025/26 and agreed to an increase of 3% from £5,346 to £5,508.

Action: Clerk to complete and return Precept Requestion paperwork.

Community Plan Review

Cllr Hatchley informed the Council that residents had confirmed that they had read the updated plan and were pleased with the content.

Cllr Porter informed Cllr Hatchley that the plan needed to be sent to the planning team at Winchester City Council to be adopted. The email address given is afox@winchester.gov.uk

Action: Cllr Hatchley to send Village Plan to Winchester Planning team

Village Hall Update

Cllr Hatchley has not received an update from the Village Hall Committee.

Cllr Porter suggested that there may be Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding available along with grants specifically for Village Halls. Cllr Porter offered her support to the Village Hall Committee to identify and apply for funding as required.

Action: Cllr Hatchley to ensure Villag Hall Committee are aware of funding opportunities and support offered.

Planning applications & related matters

There has been three planning application since the last meeting.

• Ravenswold (24/02749/HOU) – 2 Storey rear extension, along with removal of the existing main roof, build up ground floor walls to create full height first floor accommodation, along with the addition of a new roof for storage. All existing windows and external doors to be replaced with new, all walls to be rendered. Create a front entrance porch, internal alterations throughout. The Councillors raised concerns about the impact on the view from the church of the historic landscape. The comments made as part of the Village Plan review were about the desire to protect the rural views in the Parish.

Councillors asked the planning committee to consider the visual impact of the proposed development from St Johns Church, a listed and important building to the village.  This is consistent with the parish’s Community Plan stated aim to not unduly impact the special nature of our villages rural setting.  

• Cherry Tree Cottage (24/02784/HOU) – Single storey rear extension with internal alterations. No objections from the Parish Council.
  • Apple Tree Cottage (24/02352/HOU) – Construction of a detached timber frame building, replacement of approved application with a smaller building. No objections from the Parish Council.

Lengthsman

The final date for the Lengthsman Scheme in 2025 is Thursday 13^th March.

Cllr Bason suggested that the Village Litter Pick be booked for Sunday 23^rd March.

Action: Chair to publicise on the Village email.

Action: Clerk to book litter picker, hoops, etc from Alton Town Council.

General Correspondence

The Clerk has circulated contact details for the new Police Constable covering Northington, they are:

PC 28129 Lacey is covering the following area. Winchester Rural East, this covers New Alresford, Old Alresford, Bighton, Bishops Sutton, Kilmeston, Chilcomb, Northington, Cheriton, Bramdean & Hinton Ampner, Beauworth, Tichbourne, Avington & Itchen Abbas and Itchen Stoke & Ovington.

He can be contacted via dalin.lacey@hampshire.police.uk or 07775547805.

Any other business

None

Date of the next meeting

The next Parish Council meeting is Thursday 20^th March at 6:30pm in the Village Hall.

The meeting ended at 7:35pm

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL

Date:                     Thursday 21^st November 2024                                                    Time:    6:30 pm

Venue:                 Village Hall, Northington

Present:               Simson Walker                                                                                  Chairman

Rhona Hatchley

                                Andrew Bason

Juliet Blanshard

Cllr Clare Pinniger                                                                            District Councillor

                                Wendy Simson                                                                                  Clerk     

Apologies:          Gail Taylor

Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith                                                            District Councillor

Cllr Jackie Porter                                                                              County Councillor

Cllr Margot Power                                                                           District Councillor

Welcome and apologies.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Cllrs Taylor, Porter, Power, and Gordon-Smith sent apologies.

Declaration of Pecuniary & Personal Interests to note any conflict with any item on the agenda.

None were declared.

Minutes of the last meeting

The Councillors reviewed minutes for the meeting on 19^th September 2024 and agreed the minutes as a true representation of the meeting.

Matters arising.

Dates for Cyber Security Training – the Clerk has contacted Hampshire Police about an alternative date for 2025, but they are not yet planning that far ahead. It has been agreed that in January new dates will be circulated.

Action: Clerk to provide updated poster for the next session in Preston Candover to Cllr Hatchley for the notice boards.

Defibrillator check – Cllr Bason visited to complete and inspection to find that it had recently been done. Cllr Bason and Chair to check when local to the unit to confirm OK.

Speed Indicator Device – Cllr Bason has looked the available posts to identify 3 or 4 sites. Cllr Blanshard suggested that whilst the SID slowed drivers it only works for about a week and then gets ignored. One of the problem areas is on the B3046 as you enter Swarraton from Alresford, the limit at this point is still 60mph and continues until the bend outside the Grange. The children wait for buses on this corner and driver who don’t know the road can misjudge the bend. Cllr Blanshard’s suggestion was to install a welcome to Swarraton sign to alert drivers that they are entering a village.

Speed test data could also be helpful, and it is believed that a resident has had a survey completed.

The agreed actions are:

• Clerk to look at prices and design for village sign
• Cllr Blanshard to speak to the resident about speed data
• Chair to speak to Chair of Candover Parish Council about how they got set up.
• Chair to send an email to the community asking about installing a SID
• Clerk to investigate having a children sign installed by the entrance to the Grange where the school bus collects them.

District and County Councillor updates

The Clerk had forwarded the County and District Councillors reports prior to the meeting.

Cllr Pinniger gave an update on the report sent at the start of November. The Winchester Local Plan has been through consultation and is now going to reg 15. Once approved it can then be amended to include housing number from the new Government. There are concerns that as Winchester boarders the South Downs National Park, where this is limited development allowed, greater pressure is placed on towns and city in the area.

The development on Sun Lane, Alresford is progressing.

The Alresford tip is save at this time; the booking system will remain in place, but it was agreed that this is tactical to reduce the number of visits.

There may be plans to reorganise Local Government, more will be announced before Christmas.

Hampshire County Council are £182million in deficit this year and plan to use £90million from reserves, this is about 25% of the total reserves held.  Winchester City Council are not in the same situation as they do not to deliver care, highways, education, etc.

Cllr Pinniger has suggested residents sponsor getting potholes filled. The Councillors agreed this would be a marvellous idea.

Financial Update

The Clerk informed the Councillors that there has been not income or expenditure since the last meeting. The Clerk’s salary for October to December will be paid in January.

The Village Hall Committee have asked about a grant application made earlier in the year. The application dated 26^th February was for £3,500, £1,000 toward electric, £2,000 for external decoration and £500 for the damp proof course repairs. Cllrs discussed the application in May and approved providing £500 out of the one-off grant fund of £1,000. This would be paid in addition to the annual £1,000 grant. It appears the Village Hall believed that they would be given the full grant of £3,500. Cllr Hatchley has spoken to the Committee who have spent the funds on having the work completed. The Chairman agreed to contact the Chair of the Village Hall Committee to discuss.

Action: Chair to report back at next meeting.

The Clerk reported that Citizen’s Advice have asked for a grant of £150. Cllr Blanchard took no part in this discussion as has a vested interest. Cllr agreed that Citizen’s Advice were an excellent resource and approved the grant.

Action: Clerk to pay the grant to Citizen’s Advice.

The Precept request paperwork has just arrived, Councillors agreed to discuss at the next meeting. Action: Clerk to ask to defer sending the Precept Request until after the next meeting.

Community Plan Review

Prior to the meeting Cllr Hatchley circulated the Draft Community Plan.

The format of the plan allows readers to see the feedback and the current position and on the final page lists the 6 actions, they are:

1. Continue to work for the introduction of a 30 mph speed limit to include the dangerous bend at the entrance to the Grange.
2. Press service providers, the City and County Councils to provide a fast and reliable broadband service across the Parish, together with 5G provision from the mobile networks.
3. Work for measures (including speed reminder technology) to curb speeding traffic throughout the villages, but particularly on Kite’s Hill and Stratton Lane.
4. In line with residents’ opinion, encourage the re-use of redundant and under used buildings for residential and/or commercial use.
5. Discourage development threatening the particular character of the villages of Northington, Swarraton and Totford in the outstanding environment of the Candover Valley.
6. Push SSEN for the provision of far greater resilience to the electricity network.

Cllr Pinniger suggested that the Community Bus in Alresford would come out to Northington and may offer an opportunity for residents to get into Alresford. The Parish Council agreed to a poster going on noticeboards to promote the scheme.

Cllr Hatchley explained that the love of the historic buildings in the community communicated through the survey feedback needs to be converted to support for projects within these buildings. Cllr Hatchley asked Councillors for any ideas how this might be done.

The Chair has taken some photographs which can be included.

The Chair suggests that the Community Plan can be sent to the residents.

Action: Clerk to ask about Winchester City Council adopting the Plan

Village Hall Update

Cllr Hatchley has had the following update from the Village Hall Committee:

It transpired that the tarmac level may not be the cause of the damp ingress as we discovered an extra, covered over drain by the kitchen that was blocked and damaged.  This we have sorted out and repaired ourselves at no real cost.

Planning applications & related matters

There has been no planning application since the last meeting.

The Water Augmentation Scheme application has been withdrawn.

Lengthsman

The Lengthsman Scheme is continuing in 2024/25, dates are as follows:

• 10^th December
• 13^th March

The Clerk explained that the Lengthsman funding is not guaranteed from Hampshire County Council for 2025/26, it would be prudent to include funds in the budget to cover the costs if it doesn’t continue.

Action: Cllr Pinniger to ask if there is any news of the Lengthsman Fund for 2025/26 and beyond.

General Correspondence

Cllr Hatchley informed Councillors that Cllr Taylor will be representing the Parish Council at the 9 lessons and carols service.

Any other business

None

Date of the next meeting

The next Parish Council meeting is Thursday 23^rd January at 6:30pm in the Village Hall.

The meeting ended at 7:30pm

Date:                     Thursday 19^th September 2024                                                   Time:    6:30 pm

Venue:                 Village Hall, Northington

Present:               Simson Walker                                                                                  Chairman

Rhona Hatchley

Andrew Bason

Gail Taylor

Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith                                                            District Councillor

Wendy Simson                                                                                  Clerk

Apologies:          Juliet Blanshard

Cllr Jackie Porter                                                                              County Councillor

Cllr Margot Power                                                                           District Councillor

Cllr Clare Pinniger                                                                            District Councillor

Welcome and apologies.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Cllrs Blanchard, Porter, Power, and Pinniger sent apologies.

Declaration of Pecuniary & Personal Interests to note any conflict with any item on the agenda.

None were declared.

Minutes of the last meeting

The Councillors reviewed minutes for the meeting on 18^th July 2024 and agreed the minutes as a true representation of the meeting.

Matters arising.

Invite Cllr Clare Pinniger to meetings – Clerk included Clare in invite email.

CIL funding on agenda – The Clerk has included this item on the agenda.

Dates for Cyber Security Training – the following dates have been booked.

• Wednesday 20^th November 7pm – Brown Candover
• Thursday 19^th December 7pm – Northington
• Friday 17^th January 7pm – Preston Candover

The Councillors agreed to cancel the 19^th December as it was too close to Christmas but look to book an alternative date either prior to 20^th November or in February 2025.

The Clerk informed the Council that Alton Town Council had hosted one of the sessions and the content was very informative. A poster to promote the dates had been created for the Alton event and was to be adapted for the three dates in the valley to use in the Oxdrove and via other communications.

Action: Clerk to look at a different date for the Northington session

Action: Clerk to circulate poster once completed.

District and County Councillor updates

The Clerk had forwarded the County and District Councillors reports prior to the meeting.

Cllr Gordon-Smith explained that the consultation for the Local Plan would not be affected by the changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) as revised housing numbers could be amended in the Local Plan at a later date.

Winchester City Council have approved £900k for upgrading the sewage systems serving Council homes in the area to reduce the nitrates released into the aquafer.

Financial Update

The Clerk informed the Councillors that the remaining 50% of the precept has been received (£2,673). The Clerk’s salary for July to September has been paid along with the insurance.

The current balance of the account is £12,029.09 of which £3,565.57 is CIL.

Community Infrastructure Levy Funding (CIL)

The Chairman suggested that this be discussed as part of AOB as he would like the Council to consider purchasing equipment to reduce speeding in the villages.

Village Plan Review

Prior to the meeting Cllr Hatchley circulated the Draft Community Plan with the following notes:

• Pages 1-2 might form the introduction to the new Community Plan.
• Pages 3-9 are comparisons of 2013 and 2024 responses, purely my interpretation, nothing more scientific. I think the eventual Community Plan will most likely take a different form, but we feel we all need to look at these results before we write that. The actual data will be available at the meeting if you’d like a look at that too.
• Pages 11-12 are the beginnings of next steps in writing the Plan. We need to bear in mind WCC states that a Community Plan:
  identifies local problems and opportunities
  • sets out an achievable and long-term vision for the future
  • prepares a plan of action to achieve this vision
• Interestingly between 80% and 100% of our respondents to each topic believe the issues to be still or somewhat relevant today.

Cllr Hatchley asked the Council for guidance about the format for the report as there were few local plans available to review. Cllr Gordon-Smith suggested that the Council look at any nationally but that the Plan needs to give only a brief history but focus on the possible contentious issues for example paving front gardens for parking or heights of new buildings or extensions.

Cllr Taylor suggested that the Plan should protect special features in the village including the chalk stream, the landscape and views.

The Chairman confirmed that as speeding was high on the list of priorities for residents that the Parish Council should take this as a mandate to look at how to reduce this.

It was agreed that a Google-Doc be set up to allow all Councillors to comment on the draft.

Action: Chairman to set up Google-Doc and upload the draft for comment.

Action: All Councillors to add comments by 18^th October to allow the plan to be updated ready for the November meeting.

Village Hall Update

Cllr Hatchley has had the following update from the Village Hall Committee:

The hall has had all the exterior windows and doors repaired and repainted as planned. Do look while you are there, as it is all looking very smart and neat. I attach an image of the invoice for you. It has been paid but came in more than the estimate unsurprisingly due to the amount of rotten wood that needed attention, the replacement of some window ledges plus further repair of the fire door. On our April 16th bid for a grant from the council we asked for a contribution to help with this specifically. I hope you can still assist us. 

Financially, we are managing but our income is less after the loss of the regular police bookings. The Little Learners group has helped mitigate this but not to the same degree. General bookings are ticking along well. 

The electrical problem was sorted eventually but was quite complicated to locate. 

The fire doors have been patched up for another year or two. We will eventually need to replace the whole thing including the frame, so will ask for further assistance in due course. For now, it is secure and watertight. 

We have not addressed the repointing and damp course issues as yet. 

Our next event is the upcoming Harvest Lunch on Oct 6th. It has been advertised on the website and in the Oxdrove. Will follow up with something through the village email shortly and on the WhatsApp group. 

The service and wake for Peter Campbell showed how well the church and Village Hall worked together for a truly local need. I was very heartened to see it. 

That is all the updates for the V Hall for now.

The Councillors agreed that the Little Learners was a good addition to the regular bookings.

The Chairman asked if additional funding was requested, the Clerk suggested that an application had been approved at the May meeting for £500 from the one-off grant allocation towards the exterior decorations work. A further £500 is available within this allocation.

Action: Cllr Hatchley to liaise with the Village Hall Committee about their needs.

Planning applications & related matters

There has been one planning application since the last meeting.

The application for The Grange (24/01634/FUL) was received on 2^nd August.

The proposal is for internal and external repairs to the roofs, including guttering, of the auditorium, east portico and central well of the main house roof. Repairs, including excavation works, to surface and foul water drainage gulleys, pipes and manholes. and is to replace the garage with a wood store.  The Councillors agreed that they had no objections to this application, the Clerk forwarded the Councils response on 3^rd September.

Lengthsman

The Lengthsman Scheme is continuing in 2024/25, dates are as follows:

• 6^th September
• 10^th December
• 13^th March

Cllr Bason reported that there had been a long list of items for the Lengthsman to attend to when they visited on 6^th September. Most were dealt with, but some are still outstanding and will be added to the list for December.

A hedge which obscured the line of sight at the entrance to the Grange was discussed. This is privately owned, and it was agreed that the owner needed to be contacted to ensure it was pruned back sufficiently to allow a clear view for drivers.

General Correspondence

The Clerk received posters to promote the Public Consultation on the Local Plan, these were given to the Councillors to be displayed in the noticeboards.

The Clerk has also had an email about the Winchester Community Resilience Distribution List, the Clerk has asked that Northington Parish Council be included with these communications. The link to their website is Local Resilience Forum | Hampshire & Isle of Wight (hiowprepared.org.uk).

Any other business

Defibrillator checks – the Clerk has messaged to get the defibrillator check completed but has not had a response and suggested that one (or more) of the Councillors take the details so they can check it is working correctly. Councillors agreed to check it at every meeting and appoint a Councillor to check between meetings to ensure monthly check. The Clerk showed Cllr Bason how to complete the check.

Action: Cllr Bason to complete the report for the September check.

Action: The Chairman to complete the October Check.

Cllr Bason asked about the defibrillator at the farm and if this was included on the list of units available to the ambulance service.

Action: Clerk to email Heartbeat Trust and ask if they can help with this.

The Chairman suggested that the Parish Council use part of the CIL funding to purchase a Speed Indication Device to be located at various points through the village. Councillors approved this project.

Action: Cllr Bason to identify suitable sites using what//three//words.

Action: Clerk to get a price from Elan for one solar powered unit.

Action: Clerk to talk to Hampshire Highways about the locations for the device to get these approved.

Cllr Bason explained that some residents were not getting al the emailed on the Village Email system. The Chairman agreed to investigate why this was happening.

Action: Chairman to report back Councillors about what the issues has been.

Date of the next meeting

The next Parish Council meeting is Thursday 21^st November at 6:30pm in the Village Hall.

The meeting ended at 7:30pm

Date:                     Thursday 18^th July 2024                                                  Time:    6:30 pm

Venue:                 Village Hall, Northington

Present:               Simson Walker                                                                                  Chairman

Rhona Hatchley

Andrew Bason

Cllr Jackie Porter                                                                              County Councillor

Wendy Simson                                                                                  Clerk

Apologies:          Juliet Blanshard

Gail Taylor

Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith                                                            District Councillor

Cllr Claire Pinniger                                                                           District Councillor

Cllr Margot Power                                                                           District Councillor

Welcome and apologies.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Cllrs Blanchard, Taylor, Power, and Gordon-Smith sent apologies.

Cllr Power suggested that Cllr Clare Pinniger be invited to meetings (c.pinniger@winchester.gov.uk).

Action: Clerk to ensure Clare included in email invite.

Declaration of Pecuniary & Personal Interests to note any conflict with any item on the agenda.

None were declared.

Minutes of the last meeting

The Councillors reviewed minutes for the meeting on 14^th May 2024 and agreed the minutes as a true representation of the meeting.

Matters arising.

Dates for Parish Council meetings for 2024/25 – The Councillors agreed that they were available for the following dates:

• Thursday 19^th September
• Thursday 21^st November
• Thursday 23^rd January
• Thursday 20^th March

The Clerk has booked the Village Hall.

District and County Councillor updates

The Clerk had forwarded Cllr Power’s report prior to the meeting.

Cllr Porter gave the Council an update on Hampshire County Council, this included:

• Development of the new Council Plan, the existing plan runs from 2020 to 2025 and the new plan will be ready to be adopted in the Autumn. The plan will cover themes as opposed to places. The Local Plan is also being developed and should go to full council in September followed by public consultation which will be completed by November. There were concerns about how the new Government would affect the plan, but this appears to be limited.
• The Pride in Place project has completed the upgrade of three sets of public toilets as a cost of approximately £400,000 each. These have now been handed back to the town Councils to manage going forward. The project will continue with the most used convenience at the top of the list.
• There is a new MP, Steve Brine, Cllr Porter asked if his contact details could be placed on the noticeboards.
• The high rainfall is causing concerns and Cllr Porter has drainage engineers on standby the support with flooding.
• Cllr Porter asked if the Parish were still experiencing issues with the electricity supply. The Councillors informed her that there are still mini blackouts, and the last one was 25^th The Chairman suggested that tree maintenance was a contributing factor as it was on a 5-year cycle and when it was due there were often trees fall taking power lines down. Cllr Porter agreed to take to an Infrastructure meeting as part of planning.
• Broadband is now being reviewed by Central Government; Cllr Porter is suggesting that those communities like Northington which have been fighting to get faster speeds for years should be high priority.
• A poster for one of the CAMs mental health events in November was presented for the noticeboards.
• The Cycling and Walking whip are looking for major changes to the infrastructure in Alresford which has caused concerns. This will go out for consultation and Cllr Porter agreed to alert the Parish Council of dates.
• Cllr Porter suggested the weekend of 15^th March 2025 for the next litter pick.

Financial Update

The Clerk confirmed that the grants had been paid to the Village Hall and Church. The insurance is due at the end of July and a payment is scheduled to go out of the account.

The CIL funding was paid to the Parish Council in September 2021 and should be spent within 5 years. The Councillors agreed to make it an agenda item for the next meeting to allow time to discuss options.

Action: Clerk to make CIL funding an agenda item for the next meeting.

Village Plan Review

The data is to be reviewed and the results presented at the next Parish Council meeting. The Chairman informed the Council that speeding remains the area most of the residents were concerned about.

Cllr Porter suggested that the CIL funding could be used to buy a Speed Indication Device (SID) for the village as there was clearly a desire to slow drivers.

The Clerk has recently had a quote for two SIDs including solar panels to charge the batteries from Elan (which is the company Alresford purchased from), the total cost was £4,197.92 plus VAT. The Clerk also informed the Councillors that there is an automated Speed Watch system which measures average speed over a set distance and records number plate data which can be passed to the police for the habitual offender. The system costs £589 for each of the units, £93.25 for each solar panel, £148 for the annual data collection, and £53.50 for signage, this totals £1,619.50. The product is called Auto Speed Watch and full details can be found at www.autospeedwatch.org.

Village Hall Update

Cllr Hatchley has had the following update from the Village Hall Committee:

The main thing in the pipeline is the exterior paintwork of the hall, which is set to commence in early August.

We are experiencing some odd electrical gremlins currently which are proving hard to pinpoint despite professional attention. I hope it is all working properly for your meeting. The lights, Internet and defib were affected initially. So far as I know they should be okay now, but something continues to trip out. Philippa and her tame electricians are on the case. The defib was put smartly onto a different circuit to ensure it was functioning.

The BBQ went ahead with a lovely family feel to it. We got everything cooked before the heavens opened! It was very funny really and we huddled en mass under a gazebo before giving up and decamping to the hall! Numbers came out at around 22 adults and 9 children if memory serves me right.

Our next big function will be a lunch in October for harvest festival. (Sunday 6th)

Unfortunately, the Hampshire Constabulary saw fit to cancel their regular bookings with us in June (we rejoiced too soon it seems!) – which has left a hole in our finances. It happened rather suddenly, so I suspect their funding was pulled.

On the plus side, the Little Learners playgroup are extending their bookings to 3 days per week from Sept.

I think that is all the news from our side. We’ll look forward to seeing the results of the survey in due course and will consider doing something similar for the VH in due course if we/you feel it would be worthwhile.

Planning applications & related matters

There has been one planning application since the last meeting.

The application for Appletree Cottage (24/01272/HOU) was received on 5^th July and is to replace the garage with a wood store.  The Councillors agreed that they had no objections to this application.

Action: Clerk to forward comment to Winchester City Council

Lengthsman

The Lengthsman Scheme is continuing in 2024/25, dates are as follows:

• 6^th September
• 10^th December
• 13^th March

At the last visit the areas around road signs was strimmed and the signs cleaned. The Councillors agreed that a length of one of the Rights of Way could be cut in September if there are no other suggestions.

Cllr Porter explained that Itchen Stoke have purchased a second-hand brush cutter for £100 which is the right width to cut a Right of Way and is much quicker then using a strimmer. The Parish are being encouraged to share the piece of equipment with neighbouring parishes.

General Correspondence

None.

Any other business

Cllr Hatchley asked if the most recent minutes can be uploaded to the website. The Chairman confirmed that he had the files and would put them on as a matter of urgency.

The Chairman has now got access to the Community email function, there have been requests to promote businesses which have not been sent but the Chairman has circulated local events. It was agreed that this was correct, but Cllr Hatchley suggested that if there were any requests that the Chairman wanted to get Councillors opinion on that the Councillor WhatsApp group worked well.

Cllr Porter asked if the Parish Council had been offered the Cyber Security Training from the Local Police, as the defib training had been such a success this would be a similar public service.

Action: Clerk to ask if a session could be arranged for Northington Village Hall.

Date of the next meeting

The next Parish Council meeting is Thursday 19^th September at 6:30pm in the Village Hall.

The meeting ended at 7:18pm

MINUTES OF NORTHINGTON COUNCIL ANNUAL MEETING

St John’s Church, Northington

7.20 pm on Tuesday, 14^th May 2024

Present:               Dennis Nye (DN, Chairman)

Juliet Blanshard (JB)

Andrew Bason (AB)

Simon Walker (SW)

Wendy Simson (WS, Clerk)

14 residents

Apologies:           Margot Power (District Councillor)

Fiona Issac (District Councillor)

Jackie Porter (County Councillor)

Russel Gordon Smith (District Councillor)

Rhona Hatchley (RH)

Gail Taylor

Harry & Felicity Buchanan

Matthew Pellereau

Belinda Mitchell

Jane Bryant

Carly-Sue Ray

Zoey LeBrocq

Steph Savil

Rosie Warner

Val Brodrick

Sharon Swithinbank

Nancy Brooke

The Chairman welcomed all present.

1. MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

Minutes of last year’s annual meeting held on the 23^rd May 2023 were adopted as a true record. The minutes were proposed by Mark Ashburton and seconded by Peter Lamb. The Chairman signed the minutes.

2. MATTERS ARISING

None

3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Annual Village Meeting.  This is not the Parish Council AGM, which is a separate meeting to follow, but a public meeting to review the past year and discuss local matters of concern.

For newcomers, there is sometimes confusion between the Church Parochial Council and the secular Northington Parish Council.  This meeting is hosted by the latter.

We have just had the Village Hall AGM.  While the Village Hall committee and Parish Council closely cooperate, they are separately constituted groups.

4. PLANNING CONSULTATIONS

The Parish Council is not a planning authority, but like all in the Parish we have a voice that is listened to by the City and/or County planning authorities.  We believe that the collective Parish Council input is a significant influencing factor when made in accordance with ‘material’ planning considerations.  Material considerations include such items as adherence to our published Village / Community plan, highway safety, loss of collective visual amenity, noise and disturbance, ecological impact and more.

We previously implemented a process to strive for better consistency in our reviews and to minimise the subjectivity from our recommendations.

After a careful review process, the Parish Council will typically lodge a Neutral /’No Objections’ comment.  If we see a problem, then we lodge an ‘Objection’ with relevant reasons to the planning authority.  The Parish Council rarely lends its support to any application.

In the past year, there were just five domestic planning applications that required Parish Council review.  None of these five applications caused concern.

5. CANDOVER DROUGHT RELIEF SCHEME

The Candover Drought Relief / Augmentation Scheme planning application HCC/2023/0083 was made in the previous year with understandable widespread Parishioner concern.  Following Southern Water’s planning submittal, we held a second village meeting on this topic on 10 May 2023, with representatives from Southern Water.  This meeting was just prior to our last Annual Village Meeting.

The Parish Council, Parishioners and others lodged ~60 objections to the revised planning application that Southern Water submitted in February 2023.

A planning decision was originally anticipated by Autumn 2023.

A regulation 25 request (environmental impact) was made by the planning authorities, requiring Southern Water to provide more details.  The action is now back with Southern Water to supply this information and so the planning decision is on hold awaiting this further submittal.  Once all of the required data has been delivered, the authorities will inform the Parish Council, neighbours and consultees in case of further comments.

A resident suggested that as the pipeline needed to decommissioned by 2030 tht the project may not progress.

6. SCOTTISH & SOUTHERN ELECTRIC NETWORK (SSEN) POWER OUTAGES

The village has been severely disrupted by at least 14 power cuts in the last 4 months.

The Parish Council lodged complaints with SSEN in February 2024, urging supply network improvements and asking for three key issues to be addressed.

1. You urgently add secondary supply cabling to those areas of the village with a single cable and who have suffered the most.
2. You repeat the program of tree clearance/pruning around power cable runs.
3. You make an ex-gratia compensation payment to all consumers in our village. I do recognise that hot meal reimbursement was already offered.

The matter has already been escalated to include City Councillors, County Councillors and our MP, Steve Brine.

No adequate response has been received to the request for cable doubling.  All that SSEN could offer was the possibility of network enhancements in as yet unplanned 2029-2030 works.

Some continued tree clearance work has been conducted, but power-cuts continue.

With regards to compensation, they have only offered SSEN’s standard compensation package.  The standard compensation procedure is applicable for individual customers who have experienced four or more instances of power loss of over 3 hours on each occasion within the financial year.  Customers need to contact SSEN directly to check if they are eligible for this.

As no adequate plan has been forthcoming from SSEN, we will probably now need to direct our complaints to the Scottish and Southern Electric (SSE) board members.  This will be combined with the threat or maybe promise of a follow-on media campaign highlighting SSEN’s appalling supply performance.

Action: it was agreed that a meeting be convened by the Parish Council to look at how to lobby and get work carried out to improve the reliability of the supply.

7. BROADBAND PROVISION – FIBRE TO THE PREMISES

We continue to try to progress access to Fibre to the premises (FTTP) throughout the Parish to achieve Gigabit internet speeds.

Little progress has been made on this project largely due to the barriers presented by Open Reach at every step along the way.

Our hope to be included in an early Government sponsored deployment has as yet come to nothing, possibly as it went out to commercial tender.  Northington does not present the prospect of an easy and profitably deployment for bidders.

We may just have to wait for the wider national deployment.

8. VILLAGE EMAIL DISTRIBUTION

Our village email list is governed by GDPR regulations, so access to the list is funnelled through the Parish Council.

There have been about 70 village-wide emails sent in the year since our last village annual meeting.

We try to restrict emails to non-commercial matters that directly affect our village, although we do allow very local businesses to have limited access.

These emails range from missing dogs (very important to the families involved) to village hall social events, to matters concerning us all, such as the drought relief scheme.

We hope you do not feel inundated with the volume of messages.

There is another, possibly more immediate village communication mechanism provided by Lou Walker’s facilitated WhatsApp group.  Thanks again to Lou for setting this up.

9. DEFIBRILLATOR TRAINING

Some years ago, Andy Fannon led efforts to get a defib unit installed at the village hall.  Village-wide training was made available concurrent with the installation.  As time has progressed it became apparent that renewed training was necessary.

Our Clerk, Wendy Simson, arranged for training sessions throughout the Candover Valley.  A well-attended session was held in Northington on 24 Feb 2024, conducted by Community Heartbeat.

10. VILLAGE HALL LIAISON

The Parish Council and the Village Hall Committee enjoy a two-way communication process where the Council feeds back any matters arising in their meetings of interest to the Village Hall Committee and vice versa.  This process has been strengthened since July 2023, with Rhona Hatchley acting as the Council’s Village Hall liaison person.  Rhona contacts Beth Lamb, the Village Hall Chair, prior to each council meeting to ensure we are regularly updated on such matters as:

1. Key issues affecting the Village Hall.
2. Use of the grant received from the Parish Council.
3. Hall Bookings.
4. Other Village Hall income and expenditure.

As always, Village Hall and Church events are published by the Parish Council via the Village email.

11. UPDATED VILLAGE / COMMUNITY PLAN

Simon Walker and Rhona Hatchley are working to refresh our community plan.

In 2013, Northington Parish Council conducted a survey on several key local topics such as broadband, housing, land use, parish amenities, footpaths, roads etc. The results were collated and published in a Parish Plan, representing the views of residents of our three villages. The original document can be found on both the Parish and City Council Websites.

A decade has passed since the plan was written and the Parish Council is now undertaking a similar exercise to compare the results over time. Such documents are now called Community Plans.

Consultation is now underway in the form of an online survey which has been circulated to parishioners, seeking their current views.  This input will be distilled into a new community plan, which is to be published by the end of 2024.

This document is an important reference for planning consultations and is considered by the Parish Council and the planning authorities.

12. OUR ROADS

Juliet Blanshard is currently our Parish Council coordinator for Highway matters.

Neither the Parish nor City Council have any official responsibilities for local highways.  Highways are a county matter.

As much as the Parish Council would like to be able to lobby the County Highways department on behalf of the Parish, the only method of contact is as for individuals, via the Hampshire County Council website.

The issue raised most frequently is potholes and their repair.  On the Hampshire County Council website, it requests that we do not report the same issue more than once as this would put undue pressure on their system.  It further advises that a greater proportion of potholes reported are currently being treated with temporary repairs.  They are taking this approach because in the time taken to undertake a permanent repair between 4 and 7 temporary repairs can be completed.  They state, that ‘we understand that seeing temporary repairs can be frustrating, but this enables them to address any immediate safety risks. A permanent repair can then be considered at a later date.’  This may help to explain why the large potholes such as the one at the bottom of Kites Hill have returned so quickly.

The request for a reduction of the speed limit on the B3046 to extend beyond the Grange entrance is not being ignored by Northington Parish Council.  However, at this present time there has been no change of policy to allow speed limits to change unless there is a record of accidents occurring.  We are looking at other villages’ applications for a change in speed limit and will watch their result closely to see if they have any success.

13. LENGTHSMAN AND VILLAGE MAINTENANCE

Andy Bason has continued to coordinate our regular Lengthsmen visits for village maintenance tasks.
These visits have focussed on the areas of the village that usually require attention. Whether that is cleaning road signs or clearing grips, there always seems to be enough work to keep the Lengthsman busy every couple of months.

Andy again coordinated our annual village litter pick on 21 April, conducted by a team of volunteers.  About 20 bin bags of rubbish were collected, although collection was hampered due to the already long grass on the verges.  Thank you to the team of helpers.

Andy coordinated a meeting with the Winchester City officer responsible for fly tipping investigation.  This gave us more insight into what is happening to try to tackle fly-tipping and how they follow-up on reports.

It is worth commenting that the recent spate of fly-tipping towards the Lunways while of concern to us is outside of our Parish boundaries.

14. THE PARISH COUNCIL

2023-24 PARISH COUNCIL TEAM

My fellow councillors deserve thanks for giving up their time to work for the village good.

Our councillors were involved across the board, but as previously noted took on the following areas of focus.

• Andy Bason has continued to look after Lengthsman Matters and village maintenance, including the annual village litter pick. He has also liaised with the appropriate authorities on fly tipping incidences.
• Juliet Blanshard has maintained a watchful eye on our highways.
• Simon Walker was welcomed back to the Parish Council via co-option after a few years break. He is taking care of our website and related matters as well as driving the process to create an updated Village / Community Plan.
• Rhona Hatchley, who had earlier served as Parish Clerk, was co-opted onto the council and has been coordinating our efforts with the Village Hall Committee as well as working with Simon on the updated Community plan.
• Myself, Dennis Nye as the elected Chairman, continued with village email coordination, the FTTP project, working on the drought relief scheme response, SSEN power-Cuts, planning matters and whatever else needed doing.
• Wendy Simson is our highly professional Parish Clerk. She brings her experience of clerking for other local Parishes to her role with us.  She provides timely support and accurate guidance on what we as a Parish Council can and should do.

15. CHANGE OF COUNCILLORS

Having had the privilege to be a member of the Parish Council since 2018 and serving as Chairman for the past two years, I am stepping down from the Parish Council with immediate effect.  This has been prompted by a planned house move out of the Parish.

With my departure, there is a vacancy on the Parish Council that was previously notified to the village.  We have a new volunteer to bring the council back up to strength.

16. PARISH COUNCIL NEXT STEPS

The Parish Council will meet shortly to formally vote on co-opting this new member, electing their new Chairperson and deciding upon their respective responsibilities.

Please wish the Parish Council well as they continue to serve our community.

17. CLERK’S FINANCIAL REPORT

WS gave the meeting an overview of the accounts.

The Parish Council made a small increase to the precept in 2023/24 taking it from £4,500 to £4,950 (10%), a similar increase to £5,346 (8%) has been agreed for 2024/25. The Councillors agreed that the increasing prices of insurance, training, and supplies for items such as the defibrillator necessitated an uplift in line with inflation.

Councillor spent a total of £4,216.57 which included grants of £2,100. Other costs included insurance, membership to Hampshire Association of Local Councils (HALC), hall hire for the meetings and the Parish Council website.

The Chairman has already mentioned the defibrillator training which many of you will know was repeated in Brown Candover and Preston Candover Village Halls to ensure a range of dates.

The Councillors approved an increase in the Clerk’s salary from £1,100 to £1,200 in 2023 for which I am very grateful.

The closing balance on the account is £9,838 this includes £3,565.57 of Community Infrastructure Levy funding.

18. Any other business

A resident asked that the communities thanks be recorded to the Parish Council and in particular to Dennis Nye for his work as a Councillor and Chairman.

The meeting ended at 8:10pm.

 

 

WS 14/5/2024

NORTHINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL

Date:                     Tuesday 14^th May 2024                                                  Time:    8:45 pm

Venue:                 St John’s Church, Northington

Present:               Simon Walker                                                                                  Chairman

Juliet Blanshard

Andrew Bason

Wendy Simson                                                                                  Clerk

Apologies:          Rhona Hatchley

Gail Taylor

Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith                                                            District Councillor

Cllr Jackie Porter                                                                              County Councillor

Cllr Fiona Issacs                                                                                 District Councillor

Cllr Margot Power                                                                           District Councillor

Welcome and apologies.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Cllrs Hatchley, Taylor, Issacs, Power, Porter, and Gordon-Smith sent apologies.

Declaration of Pecuniary & Personal Interests to note any conflict with any item on the agenda.

None were declared.

Minutes of the last meeting

The Councillors reviewed minutes for the meeting on 14^th March 2024 and agreed the minutes as a true representation of the meeting.

Matters arising.

Annual Litter pick – Cllr Bason arranged, and 20 bags of rubbish were collected. It was agreed that it needed to be booked for earlier in the year in 2025 as the long grass made finding the litter tricky.

Action: Date to be agreed for 2025.

Action: Clerk to add to list of dates for approval at the next meeting.

School Bus Update – Cllr Bason looked to speak to the company collecting children from the village to go to school about the speed and taking over the road on Northington Hill. The comments have been noted.

District and County Councillor updates

The Clerk had forwarded the reports prior to the meeting.

There were no questions.

Financial Update

The first 50% of the precept has been received at £2,673.

The Clerk confirmed the subscription cost for HALC membership was £196, this was approved by Councillors.

The Village Hall Committee had completed an application for £500 from the one off grant fund towards the exterior decorations work being carried out, this was approved by Councillors.

Action: Clerk to pay HALC invoice and grants.

Planning applications & related matters

There has been one planning application since the last meeting.

The application for Brookside (24/00633/HOU) was received on 17^th May and was a retrospective application for an Air Source Heat Pump.  The Councillors agreed that they had no objections to this application.

Action: Clerk to forward comment to Winchester City Council

Lengthsman

The Lengthsman Scheme is continuing in 2024/25, dates are as follows:

• 18^th July
• 19^th September
• 21^st November
• 16^th January
• 13^th March

Action: Cllr Bason to forward a message to the community about work to be carried out 2 weeks before each visit.

Cllr Blanchard raised the issue of flooding at the Northington crossroads and asked that if there was standing water on the road that a photograph be taken and forward to her to flag with Hampshire Highways.

General Correspondence

None.

Date of the next meetings

Proposed dates for the meetings in 2024 and 2025 are as follows:

• Thursday 18^th July
• Thursday 19^th September
• Thursday 21^st November
• Thursday 23^rd January
• Thursday 20^th March

Meetings to start at 6:30pn in the Village Hall.

Action: These are to be agreed at the next meeting.

The meeting ended at 9:10pm