The Annual Hook Schools Parents Association Fire Show and Fireworks will take place on Saturday 3rd November. Hartletts Park will be closed for 24 hours from 8am on Saturday for both legal and safety reasons as the Parish Council Car Park in Ravenscroft is the fall-out area. Please remove all vehicles from the car park by 4pm on Saturday when it will be locked.
The Hart Draft Local Plan has been published on Hart District Council’s website. Following approval by Council, it will be formally published for consultation during November. We understand that the consultation will last until January. The Parish Council will make a formal response before the closing date. We would welcome comments from residents to the consultation, to assist the Parish Council in formulating a response.
A consultation is being held at the Community Centre on Friday 16th November (2pm to 7pm) and Saturday 17th (10am to 3pm) by David Wilson Homes and Croudace, who propose to develop on land at NE Hook. The Draft Local Plan shows a site for a foodstore. The consultation event will include a display of the proposals for the new foodstore. Representatives of the Parish Council will be attending and will be available to speak to residents.
At the Parish Council meeting on 3rd October, three Highways related projects were discussed.
- Crossing on Station Road – Due to personnel changes at County, the request for a crossing on the section between Berry Court and Tesco has made little progress. Support is being sought from County Councillor Glen to get options to create a safe crossing point looked at in detail.
- Junction of Newnham Road and Old School Road – Following safety concerns about visibility at the bridge, traffic speed and risk to pedestrians at the junction, a review meeting was held with representative from Highways and Newnham Parish Council. At that meeting it was agreed that a bid would be made to fund alterations at the junction.
- Crossing on the B3349 adjacent to Hook Garden Centre – A proposal to extend the footpath further along the B3349 toward Rotherwick is being considered. The current crossing point is close to a blind corner, with high speed traffic and no footpath on the other side. This have given rise to safety concerns by the large number of allotment holders using this route.
There are 21 schemes (across 5 County Councillors) to be considered under the Highways Minor Capital Works Scheme (projects under £50,000) in Hampshire and both the Newnham Road and B3349 schemes have been put forward funding. It will be Spring 2012 before the outcome of the bid is known.
Community Centre Refurbishment – Following further enhancements to the design, as a result of consultation earlier in the year, the specification for the building is complete. The revised cost estimates will be discussed at the November Parish Council meeting. It is expected that the project will be given the green light to proceed to tender.
Before committing to a contract for the build, the Parish Council will consult residents on the funding arrangements for the project. The refurbishment will be funded by a mix of reserves, already held by the Parish Council and borrowing, at very advantageous rates, from the Public Works Loan Board. There will be no increase on the Council Tax to fund this project.
As reported in the October Focus, the Parish Council participated in a streetlighting meeting with the County Council. Although some Hook roads have had their streetlights upgraded the main change is expected to occur from August 2013. Residents will receive a consultation document and questionnaire about 6-12 weeks before work is due to begin. Scottish and Southern Energy (the PFI contractor) will also have a Roadshow event when residents will be able to ask questions and discuss individual locations. We will publish more information about this and details of the Hampshire streetlighting website, where updates will be available, in the new year.
Anne Atkins – Clerk