Chairman’s Annual Report for Year 2022/23
Sandleheath Parish Council AGM
Thursday 20th April 2023
Welcome to everyone. For those who do not know me, I am Cllr Caroline Kemp, and I am the current Chairman of Sandleheath Parish Council.
I would like to introduce the other Parish Councillors: Cllr Tom Ward, Cllr Gary McGowan, Cllr Abbey Simmons, Cllr Ken Andrews, and Cllr Brian Martin. I must thank them all for their continued support and work over the last year.
Lindsey Malcom joined us as our Clerk at the beginning of May 2022 and has been a huge asset to the Council. She has grasped the challenge of the position and has gained knowledge very fast. Most of you here tonight have probably had communication with her. I know that I am extremely grateful for the work she has taken from me so “Thank You Lindsey”. She has enjoyed the clerk position so much that not only has she taken on the task of gaining qualifications but has become Clerk to Damerham Parish Council too.
Cllr Melanie Wallis stepped down in June 2022 and Cllr Graham Lacey stepped down in October 2022. I must thank them both for their work on the Council and especially with the time and effort put into finding and recruiting our new Clerk.
Sadly, I understand that Ken, Brian and Gary have all decided not to continue as Councillors from the Election on 4th May 2023. I must thank Gary for his brief, but helpful time on the Council. Brian has been on the Council for many years and so has been a great help with historical knowledge when topics have cropped up; he will be greatly missed, but Lindsey lives a few doors away so I am sure she may call on him for info. Ken has also been on the Council for many years and we will miss his input at meetings as well as his banter……but more importantly his wife’s great baking skills, especially the Sausage Rolls after our December meeting!
Our local Hampshire County Councillor is Edward Heron, and our 2 New Forest District Councillors are Ann Sevier and Annie Bellows. We are fortunate to have them attending our meetings and giving us their valuable input and support. I would especially like to thank Edward for his valued input into our roads and speeding discussions tonight.
We hold our meetings on the second Thursday of every month, excluding August; and April’s AGM is a flexible date that we now try to coordinate with SCA. This second Thursday helps not only our Councillors to remember the date, but also the regular attending residents who have been giving us valued feedback and opinions at our meetings.
I am aware that many people do not know about the Parish Council. The Councillors are all Sandleheath residents, like yourselves, who give up their time for free to carry out the tasks for the Parish. The clerk is an employee and is on our payroll; she is responsible for ensuring that all Government legislation is followed for admin, finances and conduct etc. We must be totally transparent so all meetings, where decisions are made, have to be held in a public place giving at least 5 days’ notice of the meeting (website and noticeboard agendas). The clerk must ensure that all decisions have been supported by the majority of councillors and that the decisions are clearly Minuted.
Website: Hopefully most of you have seen our website. Lindsey puts a lot of time into ensuring it is up to date. She has also added extra pages for reference on local issues such as those in Fordingbridge; she is also in the process of creating some History pages……so if anyone has information that they know would be useful then please send it to her.
Reviewing and commenting on Planning Applications are an important role of a Parish Council: Please note we are not in any way responsible for the decisions made on Planning Applications, that is down to the NFDC planning officers themselves.
We are asked to comment on the planning applications, and we always try to file a comment on every application. We provide very useful information on local concerns; we are familiar with the village, traffic, residents, and everyday life, and we can often bring valid points to the planning officers that they may not see during their desktop, and site visit, review of the application.
We appreciate residents attending our meetings because they can often bring information or thoughts that we have not considered.
It has been a quiet year on the planning front with only 3 new planning applications requiring our input. But we do have 2 new ones just in that we will need to hold a special meeting for ASAP……one down Alderholt Road and also the Ashford development next to the Railway Hotel. We try to review all planning applications in as much detail as we can. We are by no means planning experts, but we do give them a lot of thought and provide carefully thought-out responses.
TENS are Temporary Event Notices and we have had several TENS during the year, mostly for SCA and Village Hall events where alcohol has been sold.
“Fordingbridge Strategic Sites” there are many new houses being built and more planned for Fordingbridge. The Government has insisted that all local councils must find areas to build houses. Due to the vast area of The New Forest National Park being protected, the surrounding towns and villages are having to take up the slack, Fordingbridge being a prime example.
We cannot stop the building, but we can have an input in highlighting any local issues to NFDC. We are concerned about the flooding potential, the protection of the local wildlife, and obviously the extra traffic flow through our village.
Roads and Speeding are a constant concern for most of the village: The speeding and roads issues have been covered by our meeting earlier.
The Common: The Common belongs to Sandleheath and we are the Trustees. Properties adjacent to the Common. We have been approached by residents who are unhappy with the state of the tracks that provide access across the common to their properties. We are currently obtaining all copies of Land Registry documents for all properties that border with any part of the common to see what clauses they have. Basically we have provided rights of access across the Common either by purchase or by use; we are not obligated to maintain the track condition (especially as we do not have the funding to do so without increasing Council tax significantly …..which would cause an issue for the majority of properties in Sandleheath who do not use any of the tracks). Once we have more information, then we can help to advise residents.
The Meadow Plan: is still very much in the initial stages. We have struggled to arrange the NFDC grass cutting team to do the cuts required. Lindsey is on to this. Hopefully the grass will be cut before the Coronation picnic.
Murray Walker bench: I hope you have all been on the top common and seen the lovely bench? It is a lovely addition to the Common and provides a great place to sit and ponder. Thank you to Keith Bennett for sourcing the bench and arranging the contractor, Dean Burt to install it.
Queen’s Jubilee Tree: We planted an Oak on the common in front of the allotments. It was “Plant a Tree for the Queen’s Jubilee”. It currently has a wooden surround to protect it; but we do plan to have a nice substantial wooden circular bench built around it soon.
New Trees: We lost 2 trees from the area between the top and lower top common in the storms during February 2022. These trees had been planted by Carol Butt’s Father so we gave her the choice of 2 new trees which we purchased and planted at the end of last year.
Sandleheath Community Association: Abbey Simmons, the Chair of the SCA, joined us on the Parish Council this year and both the Parish Council and the SCA have worked together on community events and projects during the year. The Parish Council has provided financial support by paying for costs such as:
Bunting, badges and Band for the Jubilee Picnic
Fireworks
New Gazebos to replace all old event ones (you will see them at the Fete on June 17th)
We will be supporting the Coronation Picnic event too.
There is also a “Volunteer Day” working party organised for Monday 8th May where we will be clearing all non-native species of trees and plants in the Woodland above the Top Common. This is mostly Laurel with a few Holly trees being heavily pruned or removed. We were lucky to have an informal visit from Albert Knott who is the Reserve Manager for Natural England (responsible for various National Nature Reserves and ancient woodlands on Dartmoor). By clearing the laurel and other evergreen trees/plants it will open up the woodland to more natural light which will encourage more trees and natural fauna to grow through.
You are all welcome, the more the merrier.
Footpaths and Bridleways: We have been keen to improve the link between Sandleheath and Damerham. Annie Bellows contacted the local landowners and some hardcore has been put down in the wetter areas. We would like to improve the Bridleway further and hope to work with Damerham more on this during the coming year. Annie has said that Hampshire County Council are happy to improve it in stages, but not until after the electricity board have completed their pylon works in the local area.
I think you will all agree that the cyclepath to Fordingbridge and footpath to Rockbourne road have been a great success and are well used.
Dark Skies: The parish council is very keen for Sandleheath to potentially be accredited with being a “dark skies” village. We have done an initial walkaround with the local adviser Steve Tonkin to gain knowledge and insight into what is involved. As you know we do not have, or want, street lights. Residential and Business lights are allowed on at night……but must have overhead covers or be angled down so that light does not stray upwards at all (the light shining up causes light pollution).
Finances: Our Precept, the money we receive from everyone’s Council Tax bills, is £8,316 for the year. Not a significant amount when there are clerk’s wages and expenses, insurance, Audit Fees, local authority memberships and maintenance of the village to cover. But we have been fortunate to have received £39k of CIL monies from the Development that is being built at Sandle Manor.
We have spent £20k in the Village to date on projects such as the SCA costs already listed, Murray Walker Bench, paving in border infront of the shop and the Flagpole and new path and gates at the Village Hall.
Our cash held at the end of March 2023 was £37k.
The CIL monies must be spent on community projects, and we have restrictions and must report to the NFDC on what we have spent the CIL monies on. We have to spend it all within 5 years. Funding for the Speedwatch and any smaller traffic calming measures or villagisation will be funded from the CIL monies.
Section 137 Payments: Parish Councils are encouraged to spend a small proportion of their Council Tax funding on local causes. We have paid £500 to Sandleheath Tennis Club to assist with treatment of moss and algae on their courts and also £200 to the Fordingbridge Flower Club who meet at the village hall and provided the Christmas Wreath that was displayed on the Jubilee Tree surround.
