The minutes of   the Annual General Meeting of Stratfield Turgis Parish Meeting held on Friday 4th July 2008 at 7.30pm in the cricket pavilion, Turgis Green

Present: Dr D Bruce, Mr Bruce, Mr R Campbell, Mr M Lomas, Mr S Boase, Ms N Rimmer, Mr J Coyle, Mrs C Coyle, Professor R Walker, Dr M Walker, Mrs L Syckelmoore, Mr D Macnamara, Mrs S Campbell.

Apologies for absence: Dr J Williams, Dr G Williams, Mrs E Macnamara, Mr C Campbell.

AGM08.1         Election of Officers: Mrs S Campbell was re-elected as chairman and the committee was re-elected en bloc.  Mr J Coyle was elected to the committee.

AGM08.2         As the minutes had been circulated in advance a motion to take them as read and approve them was proposed, seconded and passed.

AGM08.3         Matters arising from the minutes:

a. All Saints Church; The proposals from the Estate to turn it in to office accommodation do not seem to have progressed any further.

b. Quieter road surfacing: After writing last year we received a reply from Hampshire Highways stating that surfacing material SMA is generally used for motorways and is considered quieter but that for winding roads, such as the A33, HRA is more durable and therefore better for their budget. Re-surfacing is not planned at present but when it is they will have to weigh all the factors. Mr Coyle offered to research road noise. Mr Boase felt the matter of the quieter road surface should be pursued. Mr Boase felt that the road would need re-surfacing soon as it was showing signs of wear. It was suggested that the speed limit be reduced to 40mph which would reduce noise and prevent accidents. The chairman will write and suggest this.

AGM08.4         Chairman’s Report: Firstly the chairman apologised for the lack of a speaker; a proposed presentation on rural policing had fallen through and all the Borough Councillors were at a conference in Winchester.  We will try and get a councillor next year. The chairman then expressed her profound thanks to the committee for their hard work and all the support they provide.
During the past year the committee have been busy on various initiatives. We have been successful in applying for grants and this has allowed us to install a no-maintenance disabled access picnic bench on the recreation ground and to replace the young hornbeam tree, which fell victim to drought, by a more mature specimen more suited to the location.   We had also planned to start a programme of beautifying the entrance to the Recreation Ground by lining the edges of the drive, clearing undergrowth and planting bushes. Unfortunately we had to abandon this scheme when the Electricity Alliance installed the scaffolding to allow them to replace wires on the pylons.  We hope to proceed with this in the autumn and also hope for some compensation for the loss of the contract we had taken out for the work.
We applied to a Basingstoke  and Deane scheme for putting in footways, hoping to extend the footway on the east side of the A33 as far as the Wellington Arms crossroads. Unfortunately it was too expensive to be considered, but we have now written to Hampshire Highways and await a reply.  This is unlikely to be instantly favourable but with persistence we may get there eventually.
Mr Boase has attended 2 evening sesssions of planning training for councillors with Basingstoke and Deane.
Although we knew ward boundary changes were in the offing and had commented on them, we were surprised to find that Calleva no longer exists and that we are now in Pamber and Silchester ward, as are Stratfield Saye and Hartley Wespall.
The polling station remains in Sherfield Village Hall, although they are now in a different ward.  Our Borough Councillors are Keith Chapman and Marilyn Tucker.
We have had several planning application in the parish.   The Chairman always gets a copy of the plans and the committee can comment on them to the planning officers. She is always happy to show the plans to anyone who feels affected and hear their point of view. The plans are also available online.

AGM08.5        Websites and walks:  Mr Boase reported that the website, which he administers, (address is www.stratfieldturgis.org.uk) continues to receive ’hits’ (5,500 this year) mostly from the UK but also from around the world.  The most popular pages are the pubs/restaurant links, schools and also our walks and footpaths. There are links to many official sites. He asked again for any photographs, old or new, of the area which people would be willing to share. Details of local churches would be welcome. He would welcome feedback on the content of the site.
The walks have been hampered by the Electricity Alliance closing all the local footpaths and it has not been possible to organise a parish walk this year so far but we should manage to do so in the autumn. The last walk was last October around New House Farm and was guided by Chris and Linda Syckelmoore who explained about the programme of higher level environmental stewardship they are running in association with DEFRA. It was well attended and most informative. Mr Boase thanked them for their help.

AGM08.6         Social Event: Mr Macnamara reported that this event, held at the ‘Cricketers’ in early February, had been a very pleasant and successful evening and was attended by about 18 people (a few were from Hartley Wespall, but we aim to be inclusive!) The pub provided a small but high quality buffet and were thanked for their help in running this event. Despite the expense it was felt that this is worthwhile and a good way of bringing people together and it was decided to run another event next year.

AGM08.7         Financial Report: The chairman circulated copies of the accounts and explained the entries. Our receipts this year (including grants) were ₤1836.68 and our payments ₤1461.88. Having to abandon the contract for the recreation ground entrance had led to a surplus of about ₤500.00 in our accounts but we expect to use it up later in the year when work resumes.
Our larger items of regular expenditure continue to be the Social and stamps, stationery and printing costs. We also have to spend ₤158.00 on internal and external auditors. Section 137 is the ‘free’ amount we can spend at our discretion and use to make charitable donations and join environmental organisations. It was decided to make ‘Living Books’, which re-makes children’s books with illustrations in relief for blind children, our charity for this year and to donate ₤100.00.  Permission was sought and agreed for us to re-join Countrywatch (dedicated to fighting development between the A33 and the A30 to the north of Old Basing) and CPRE. In the coming year we hope to finish the recreation ground entrance, help the cricket club buy a bench and to look for grants for repairing the pavilion roof.  Any surplus will be used for small improvements such as providing a map board showing the footpaths.

AGM08.8         Cricket Club: As can be seen from the re-vamped interior of the pavilion and the landscaping outside, the cricket club is very keen to make itself more family friendly with a view to attracting new players.  We would like to support them in this.  The Parish committee are seeking a meeting with the cricket club committee to discuss roof repairs and re-newing their lease.
Village Cricket Match, Stratfield Turgis v Hartley Wespall.  This was won last year by Hartley Wespall.  The date this year is Sunday 31 August.

AGM08.9         Mr Lomas reported that there had been flooding several times at Spanish Green and although the only house flooded had been the thatched cottage, the green itself and the back gardens of the other houses had been under water on those occasions. He felt this was a health hazard as cess pits and ‘Klagesters’ were giving up their contents. Mrs Syckelmoore suggested that it was previous residents who had piped the ditch at the back of the houses and that this meant it could not cope with heavy rainfall. The chairman stated that Basingstoke and Deane had published a new draft flooding policy  but she thought that this excluded taking responsibility for ditches on private land. I t was decided the chairman should write to Stratfield Saye Estate and ask if they had any plans for dealing with this problem.

AGM08.10       Mr Coyle raised the question of the Daneshill school traffic coming down through Turgis Green and sweeping all before it. This is an old problem re-surfacing and it was felt that perhaps a new generation of parents no longer appreciated that the road is two way for all traffic and it is only the school who, in a laudable attempt to alleviate the traffic problem, impose a one-way system on them. It was suggested there should be a sign saying ‘single track road’. The chairman will try writing to the school headmaster about this matter.

The chairman was thanked for her work throughout the year.

There being no other business the meeting was declared closed at 9.20pm.