The Annual Village Meeting with be on Tuesday 27th April at the Elizabeth Hall from 8pm. The evening will start with exhibits provided by some of the many organisations which work with us during the year. Exhibitors will include Hampshire Highways, Hart Community Safety, Hook Allotment Association, Odiham Cottage Hospital Charitable Trust and The Base. This is an opportunity to walk round and talk informally with the various organisations. The formal meeting itself will start around 8.30 with answers to your questions. Please submit questions in advance to or by letter to the Parish Council office. The number of residents attending has grown every year since we introduced this format to the event so do put a note in your diary. Further details will be in April Focus.
Our free one hour parking trial got off to a slow start due to snow with the result that residents did not really start to make use of the scheme until the third week in January. The original concept was for a two month trial covering January and February and for the decision to be made on making the trial permanent, or abandoning the scheme, at the Parish Council Meeting on 3rd March. Use of the scheme has grown in the last few weeks but it is noticeable that at peak times a significant number of people are still queuing in Station Road for a space in the Grand Parade car park rather than parking in the Reading Road car park. Despite the delay in the scheme getting underway, because of the weather, we still need to make a decision on 3rd March so that if we want to make the scheme permanent Hart can incorporate this change in the legal process that is about to take place for parking in the rest of the District. Our decision on the future of the scheme will be posted on our notice boards and in the retailers that are handling reimbursement for us under the trial. In the meantime we are extending the scheme for both eligibility and reimbursement until Friday 14th March.
Hart will be holding a further Graffiti Busting week from Monday 29th March to Monday 5th April. The team will clean Graffiti from private property as well as from publicly owned buildings so do report instances to Hart on 01252 774229 as soon as possible to help them to plan their schedule.
A licence to sell alcohol was granted to Texaco almost a year ago despite objections by a number of residents. Licensing laws are more liberal these days provided the outlet concerned obeys the law. Texaco recently failed on two test purchases and their licence was suspended pending the introduction of improved staff training and supervision. However Texaco have now decided to surrender the licence completely with effect from the end of February.
We understand that Central Government are in the process of distributing a leaflet to every home as part of their drive to curb antisocial behaviour. The leaflet mentions the introduction of local procedures for reporting instances in a non emergency situation. Within Hart such cases can be reported via a link on the front page of Hart’s web site at www.hart.gov.uk or to 01252 774476.
Residents at Holt Park have understandably wanted a post box to be installed for some four years but until recently Royal Mail was not willing to install one because the roads have not been adopted by Hampshire Highways. Adoption of the roads is still some months away but Royal Mail have now installed a post box on land that is and will continue to be owned by the Parish Council. The box is in the centre of the estate and close to Sedges.
Antony Hunter – Parish Councillor