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County Council Newsletter - Ferris Cowper (30th Jul 2013 - 11:40:03) Dear villagers, This is my first divisional newsletter since the county council election. In this edition, I will be covering the two very large road schemes in my division; The Square in Liphook and Crossways Road in Grayshott. If you’re new to these newsletters, I write one newsletter for the area I am responsible for, (a “division”), but I adjust the amount of content for each of the three parishes. Also, I attend every other parish council Full Council meeting for all three parishes and I write a short resume of my work for each of the three parishes every month. In the case of Grayshott, all of these updates are posted on Grayshott.com and for Headley and Bramshott and Liphook, it is posted on the parish council websites. I expect to publish the next newsletter of this type on or about the 29th October. County Councillor News for Bramshott and Liphook Parking at Liphook Junior and Infant School A project to investigate possible solutions to this parking and congestion project has been approved and is funded.Measurements and observations of driver behaviour have been completed. After the summer I expect that highway engineers will begin devising various alternative solutions and then those will go out to public consultation. The Square Liphook This is my third consecutive report on this project. I have been trying my best to use this webpage to keep people up to date. Concerning these road works, I am often asked “why is this necessary?” I’ve asked the same question myself. First of all, this project is part of a county wide scheme called Project Resilience. It’s a major Hampshire County Council, (HCC), initiative signed onto by all the council’s political leaders and the top management as well. The idea is to fix the roads before they are broken. All road surfaces have a finite working life. In the past we have waited until that life ended, in other words, the road surface became dangerous and unusable. Then we would carry out urgent repairs as fast as possible, often there would be little or no advance warning and other work that maybe could have been done at the same time has to be left until another occasion. If budgets were tight, there might even have been compromises in the quality of work done so that the problem might even recur a few years later. Operation Resilience, (OR), assessed all of the county’s main roads and worked out their remaining useful life. Then, those that were close to needing a major repair were selected for inclusion in the OR programme. In these cases HCC would not wait until the road was dangerous or badly damaged, but the repair work would be proactive instead. By being proactive the council could choose the best time for the work, ensure an adequate budget to carry out a long lasting repair and offer reasonable warning to all those affected. In the case of The Square, I am told that the pavure, textured surface is close to breaking up quite badly, although to the casual observer it looks adequate at the moment. Because of the narrow road widths here, whenever the repair was carried out, it would be terribly disruptive. However, we have to accept it would have to be carried out one day; we can’t just bury our heads in the sand. So, if the work has to be done one day, is it better to try and plan it for fine weather, (road works hate rain and snow), do it during the long school holiday break to minimise traffic disruption and have a planned budget so that the work that is done is carried out to a high standard so it won’t need doing again for a long time. It’s hard to resist that argument. The project has been “on the books” for three years, I am advised and has always been supported by your Parish Council. The fact remains that even as a planned project it is still disruptive. There are practical .limits to what can be done. Over 3,000 leaflets explaining the work, have been delivered to properties in Liphook in the past week. Local businesses are being contacted directly by HCC engineers to try and work out ways in which the impact on their business can be minimised. I’m aware of at least two meetings so far between HCC and local businesses and the work is still about a week away. I know that the engineers will do all they can to make temporary arrangements to accommodate deliveries and collections for all our local businesses to ensure they can continue trading. Although the work is indicated for 8 weeks, the closure of The Square will be for a far shorter time than that. The 8 weeksincludes other aspects of the work which are expected to be carried out under traffic light control. This afternoon, (29th July), I walked into The Square and met the local supervisor and clerk of works as well some of the team who will be doing the work. Of course, as you know now, it hadn’t actually started!!! However I took the time to emphasise the local worries about the project to the contract team themselves. I also looked in on Mr. Haines at Anchor Garage as he has been co-ordinating the concerns of the business community and we had a constructive conversation. That doesn’t mean that anyone underestimates the possible damaging effects on local business and I will be keeping a close watch on this situation. I need to be clear about my own position here. I challenged the necessity for all of this very hard. It’s obviously a terrible nuisance. I’ve already had it postponed from the winter/spring because I thought that was just asking for trouble. I’ve examined the diversion plans in great detail and have suggested additional diversion signage from the A3 to stop traffic partially entering the village before it has to turn round back on to the A3. I’ve made the project manager and his boss jump through all kinds of hoops as I’ve challenged them on all aspects of the scheme. I’m assured everything is being done to make the scheme as successful as it can be. I hope it will be! Bohunt Manor Frontage Land, (BMFL) This is only peripherally a county council matter. Primarily it’s a planning decision to be taken by the South Downs National Park Authority, (SDNPA). HCC is involved with the issue of education provision. I’m making a few notes here because I was invited to Chair the public debate held in the Millennium Centre and organised by Bramshott and Liphook Parish Council and televised on BBC South. Like any sized plot of land, the landowner wants to submit a planning application for houses. In this case, there are proposed to be a large number of houses, which is controversial. However, the landowner is also offering [land to enable] substantial community facilities at no extra cost to the local community. Included in these facilities is a proposal for additional primary school capacity. The planning application will be decided by the SDNPA. It will not be decided by East Hampshire District Council, (EHDC). That is because the land is in the park and the SDNPA make decisions about land that is in the park. Sometimes SDNPA “delegate” small planning applications to EHDC, but they are not delegating this one. Usually, if you have concerns about a planning application, you go to your local District Councillor. In this case you can’t because you don’t elect anyone to the SDNPA. The SDNPA is run by people appointed by the Government and there is no concept of a “local councillor” for the SDNPA. It is an unelected body. I do know that your local District Councillors are doing their best under the circumstances. The decision about education provision does rest with HCC, however as they are the local education authority. Over 600 homes are approved for building or are being built at the moment and HCC calculate that assuming a normal level of family occupancy, primary school capacity in Liphook will be exceeded significantly. There is little doubt that new capacity is needed. The debate is; where does the capacity go? Prime contenders are Bohunt School, (with a scheme integrated into the BMFL proposals) and Liphook Federated Junior and Infants School. I’m assuming the planning application will be submitted third quarter of this year and if so, that is when HCC will start up the investigation into the most suitable location for the school capacity. In the interim, many meetings are taking place to gather facts and understand views and I am involved in quite a few of those to do with education. More to come on this later this year. Other Highway Issues Traffic calming Bramshott Lanes I’m hoping that the work is going to commence imminently. Upper Hammer Lane Bramshott Footpath This long running problem now has a solution!!! Discussions between HCC and the Ministry of Defence have resulted in agreement from the MoD that their land can be used to build the footpath. As a result a project is being developed now to lay a footpath on the open land side of the road. This will enable pupils at Woolmer Hill School to walk all the way to school from Grayshott, Bramshott and Hindhead on a safe footpath without having to walk in the road. I’m awaiting a start date now we have agreed the location. Parking Review We all know that parking is a huge problem in the centre of Liphook. I have requested a review of the whole situation to be completed before we do any more short term alterations. This project should commence later this year. Liphook in Bloom I was really pleased to be asked to be a judge of the “The Best of the Best” in Liphook in Bloom. It was a lovely sunny day and the entries were just amazing. What a tough job! However it was made much easier by the fantastic hospitality from Terry Burns and his wife Carol, not to mention the vintage Austin 10. The results will be announced in October when I have to explain our decisions!!!! My General Activities Covering all Three Parishes County Councillor Devolved Grant Each year £8,000 is made available to me by HCC so that I can make local grants to local organisations with a very high degree of freedom. I can make grants of up to £1,000 with very little bureaucracy and up to £2,000 with a more complex set of forms and other requirements. The idea is to make it as easy as possible. Most grants I make are in the region of £400 to £1,000. The grant money is available to me from 1st June each year until 28th February the following year. To help eke it out as far as it will go, each year I choose a theme. This year the theme is “small community groups”. It’s not a rigid definition, but it’s meant to give you the idea that it’s more to do with play groups or lunch clubs for the elderly than it is for Oxfam. Applying is easy. Write to me first and explain the general idea and I will then send you the web link so that you can apply online. Rural Broadband I’m sorry to say that the new Leader of Hampshire County Council has not renewed my role as Lead Councillor for Broadband and the job has been subsumed into a Cabinet post. I can update you on public information but sadly I can no longer brief you on the inside track. However, the roll out is about to start and some communities are getting much faster speeds already because the commercial part of the roll out has begun, (as opposed to the subsidised part of the roll out). More good news is that the Leader of HCC is considering setting aside a very substantial sum of money to enable the most remote 10% of the county to participate in superfast broadband. I’m not privy to the technical solution but I’m sure that can’t be satellite or 4G ‘phone, so it must be digging trenches, laying cables and erecting little green boxes. If this comes off, then 100% of the county will get superfast broadband, (up to24mbps). My MainNews from the other Two Parishes Grayshott Grayshott Primary School Footpath All the agencies, (School, County Council, Grayshott Pottery and the Diocese) are now in agreement over a solution first proposed back in 1996 and a landscape architect has been assigned to develop the solution. Crossways Road This major traffic calming scheme has commenced today, (29th July) and will continue for about 50 days. Although almost all of the road will be open all of the time, it will not be possible to use the road as a through road end to end. This will affect through traffic much more than local traffic. The works are starting at the A333 end, progressively working towards the village centre. Headley Highway Issues There is concern about rat running through Eddey’s Lane, often at high speed to try and “overtake” traffic using the main road. An engineer has now been assigned to assess possible solutions and put them to public consultation. Consultation is likely towards the end of this year. And finally…….. I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather! Thanks to all of you who came and watched my rock band “Good Times Roll” play at the Deer’s Hut. We have a very important charity gig on 9th November at Headley Park Hotel. It’s in aid of the Sue Ryder charity 60th anniversary and tickets are £35. Absolutely everyone you know will be there and you can get tickets from the charity shop in Grayshott or info@suerydercare.org Cllr. Ferris Cowper, Hampshire County Councillor for Grayshott, Headley and Bramshott and Liphook.

Re: County Council Newsletter - bdavies (30th Jul 2013 - 12:14:42) Thanks Ferris fo rthe update. Are there any plans to monitor traffic speeds on the Headley road and Hill House Hill?

Re: County Council Newsletter - liz (30th Jul 2013 - 12:19:31) Cllr. Cowper. Thank you for your newsletter which was very interesting and informative. Can you (or someone else) let me know where I can find out what work is being planned for the Bramshott Lanes?

Re: County Council Newsletter - Keith Budden (30th Jul 2013 - 13:36:26) Ferris You are a little misleading when you say that SDNPA is not elected. While it is true that it is not directly elected, and does have a number of people appointed by DEFRA, the board does contain one representative from East Hampshire District Council (Jennifer Gray) and one representative from Hampshire County Council (Vaughan Clarke), chosen by their respective councils. In addition, the parishes of East Hampshire (including Liphook) are represented by Doug Jones from Buriton. I would also advise contacting Damian Hinds, who will be able to lobby DEFRA on your behalf. So if Liphook residents wish to lobby the SDNP about Bohunt or other matters, those are the people they should contact.

Re: County Council Newsletter - Alan Baker (30th Jul 2013 - 13:41:23) Hi Ferris I also think this comment is misleading "However, the landowner is also offering substantial community facilities at no extra cost to the local community. Included in these facilities is a proposal for additional primary school capacity." This is NOT true, as all they are offering is the land - not the cost of the planning application OR the cost to build or run the facilities. Can you please retract this comment across all the places this newsletter has been published.

Re: County Council Newsletter - liz (30th Jul 2013 - 14:47:52) Cllr Cowper's 'over-egging' of the offerings from GVI and comments about the SDNP being an unelected body does seem to imply that the County Council is in favour of the Bohunt Development. This is not the first time I've had that impression - (not from Cllr Cowper) which is a bit worrying.

Re: County Council Newsletter - Editor (31st Jul 2013 - 10:15:59) Councillor Ferris has updated his report (above) to add the words 'land to enable' into the following paragraph. However, the landowner is also offering land to enable some substantial community facilities at no extra cost to the local community. Included in these facilities is a proposal for additional primary school capacity. It is important to understand that it is only the land they might be giving. They will be charging for any costs relating to planning permissions and are NOT paying for any ground works or building works related to the land. For instance the LUFC will no doubt have to pay for drainage works and any roadways required as well as the construction of the clubhouse, fencing and lighting installations. Alan

Re: County Council Newsletter - Ferris Cowper (2nd Aug 2013 - 18:37:45) Hi everyone, thanks for the kind words and here are my comments on your replies; 1. No, there are no plans to monitor speeds and volumes in Headley Road or Hill House Hill. If there is a reasonable case for doing so I can arrange this. Please write to me with your reasoning at my county council email address which is ferris.cowper@hants.gov.uk 2. I can tell you what is planned for the Bramshott Lanes. Just write to me at the email address and I will get you the information. 3. SDNPA is most definitely an unlected body. You can't vote them in and you can't vote them out. In my book that means they're unelected. Like Quangos, some of their members might be elected and of course Cllr. Jenny Gray is my personal nominee on SDNPA so yes, I was aware of that!!!!! However the mere presence of a few people elected to do other jobs like District or Parish Council does not make a body an elected body. The SDNPA has no democratic accountability whatsoever and in our dealings with them, (in my capacity as Leader of EHDC), I have never known them claim to be. This is not new news. 4. Sorry about the "facilities" blunder. I write a newsletter like this for all three parishes I represent and each time I compose literally thousands of words. Sorry for the slip. I did get it right when I chaired that huge public meeting in the Millennium Centre!!! Ferris.

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