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Yay! The willows is staying! - Nicky Brown (11th Nov 2014 - 12:39:58) I heard the good news this morning when I dropped my daughter off at the nursery. The Parish Council have granted The Willows an extension until Easter when The Willows will be taking over the building - Yay! I\'m so glad common sense prevailed. The PC can get rid of a building they don\'t want to maintain without the cost of demolishing it, The Willows get to take over the building and continue to provide an essential community service, and nursery provision in Liphook is maintained for all the children and parents that require it :-)

Re: Yay! The willows is staying! - shauna (11th Nov 2014 - 13:11:16) So pleased to hear this. Let us know through this forum if you need any help with fundraising, gardening (my forte) painting etc.

Re: Yay! The willows is staying! - Peter R (11th Nov 2014 - 13:20:11) That is very very good news. It has made my day - but what a pity that the PC did not contact the owners of The Willows and go down that route in the first place. What a lot of time, energy and unpleasantness would have been avoided. As Churchill once said "Jaw Jaw is better than War War." Let us hope that the members of the PC have learnt something!!

Re: Yay! The willows is staying! - Kat (11th Nov 2014 - 14:54:31) Pleased to hear the good news. I don't think this Council have learnt anything or ever will. We have all seen the underhand and secret way they go about their business and they cannot be trusted. When was all this decided, at what meeting? The Council made a pigs ear out of all of this and caused upset and stress which could have been avoided. Who provided the advice and information to the council to evict the Willows based on a surveyors report that didn't condemn the building. More questions raised than answered and it should all be investigated. We will all be chipping in to the fund raising for the Willows to continue their good work on behalf of the community.

Re: Yay! The willows is staying! - Sean (11th Nov 2014 - 16:13:21) Great news .........

Re: Yay! The willows is staying! - Sam (12th Nov 2014 - 00:05:05) _________FINAL SCORE__________ TALKBACK 1 v PARISH COUNCIL 0 Next fixture is the election of members of the PC, make sure you attend that game please.

Re: Yay! The willows is staying! - l (17th Nov 2014 - 20:02:46) Really.......Do you really want your child going to a nursery where the building isn't fit for purpose and beyond economical repair....I know I wouldn't! If the Willows are going to be taking over the building how are they going to afford to make the repairs needed.....just asking as in previous threads a number of people did not like it to be called a profit making business!! Also I do not think the statement you have been given is quite true. I personally would be very annoyed if I was given information which was not totally correct: Press Statement concerning the Willows Nursery School The council decided at a meeting of the Recreation Committee on 6th October 2014 that the building currently occupied by the Willows Nursery was likely to be beyond economic repair and would not be suitable for hire in the future. This followed consideration by the committee members of a full structural survey commissioned at an earlier meeting. Following that decision the council have been engaged in discussion with the management of the Willows Nursery to look at possible options for the nursery in the future. The council are aware of the commitment by local people to keep the Willows Nursery open and share that view. One of the requests made by the Willows management and local people is an extension of the building closure date. The possibility of an extension until the end of the Easter Term would give more time to find a long term solution for the Willows Nursery. As this is a change to a previous council decision it would require a special motion to be considered under the councils Standing Orders. Negotiations are still taking place to explore all possible options and the Council will consider these at its next monthly meeting on 24th November at 7.30 pm at the Peak Centre. Members of the public are welcome to attend this meeting.

Re: Yay! The willows is staying! - Don Jerrard (23rd Nov 2014 - 16:44:34) Please can as many people as are interested in knowing the truth about the operation of the Parish Council come to tomorrow's PC meeting and express their support for this motion which is Agenda Item No 16:- PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS REGARDING TRANSPARENCY AND THE PUBICATION OF COUNCIL DOCUMENTS Proposed by Cllr Don Jerrard, seconded by Cllr Dawn Hoskins 1. That the Council should immediately publish on its website the Report provided by Messrs Jacob & Hunt into the condition of the premises currently occupied and used by the Willows Nursery. 2. That the Council should publish on its website fully redacted and anonymised copies of any other reports prepared for Bramshott and Liphook Parish Council and paid for by the tax payers of this parish. 3. That the Council should publish on its website fully redacted and anonymised copies of any other reports prepared by Bramshott and Liphook Parish Council which have been collated in order to be presented to third parties. The Parish Council did indeed make a pig's ear of the Willows debate. This was not a conspiracy - the Councillors involved were doing their best for the parish and the users of the nursery, and a number of them, especially Paul Robinson and Jane Ives were putting in effort well beyond the call of duty, with absolutely nothing to gain for themselves. The problem was that the Parish Council has seemingly got frightened into a siege mentality that if it discloses anything to the public someone will sue the Council, or worse. In fact it is lack of transparency which causes the misunderstandings, and people have a right to know what is going on, especially when they are paying for it. The Jacobs & Hunt Report followed an inspection of the building known as Willows Nursery on Tuesday 19th August 2014. It was considered by the Recreation Committee, but at the PC meeting on 27th October several Councillors including myself had not seen the Report and did not even know of its existence. What should have happened was that the Report should have been kept confidential for only the period it needed to be, which should have included informing those running the Nursery School. The Report should then have been published on the Council's website and a debate as to what to do conducted in public at the next available PC meeting. This could have been at the Recreation Committee if that was the next meeting but at least all the Councillors and the public could have attended if they wanted to and made a decision based on the facts. If that had happened I suspect the decision would have been very different, and a lot of anxiety could have been avoided. But please don't shoot the pianist - he (or she) is doing his best! Don Jerrard

Re: Yay! The willows is staying! - Val (24th Nov 2014 - 14:12:11) Well, now we are getting somewhere, but what a lot of effort has been put in my some people (and I don't mean parish councillors) to reach this stage – a stage I might add in which the parish council should have always been. Perhaps they really have learnt something from their past mistakes, secretiveness and bungling. Let us now give them our support and a chance to behave like a responsible and transparent parish council worthy of Bramshott and Liphook.

Re: Yay! The willows is staying! - jo (25th Nov 2014 - 00:00:35) support val are you having a joke no val this council needs to go lets hope may 2015 will get them out and get some good people who want to do good for the parish

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