MINUTES OF NORTHINGTON COUNCIL ANNUAL MEETING
Northington Village Hall, Northington
7.20 pm on Tuesday, 14th 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 17th 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:
- 18th June
- 23rd September
- 15th December
- 10th 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 3rd June to Friday 14th 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