News: Cllr David Hall elected Chair of Parish Council

Cllr David Hall chaired his first meeting of Chilbolton Parish Council last night. The topics discussed included redrafting the Neighbourhood Development Plan, news about the former Locum Clerk and another twist in the ongoing story of declarations of interest.

On this page:

Election of Chair

Cllr David Hall was elected, unopposed, as Chair of the Parish Council.

Cllr Hall said “It’s been a turbulent year for the Parish Council. Let’s hope that this will be less turbulent and we can get on and achieve what we want to.”

He thanked the team that had put together CPC’s objection to the planned 75-home development.

Declarations of interest

Cllr Tony Ewer declared a personal interest in the new homes, rather than the financial interest he had declared at previous meetings. He said that there was “no benefit in having my name on the list.” He said that he had contacted Test Valley Borough Council and confirmed that that there was no benefit.

Having only a personal interest, under section 5.5 of the Code of Conduct, he would not be recusing himself, but he would not participate or vote.

Cllr Hall said the request to recuse was due to Cllr Ewer’s involvement with the landowner. He asked Cllr Ewer to put it in writing and they would see what the Monitoring Officer at TVBC thought.

Contact with James Painter

Cllr Neil Connor asked the same question as he had at previous meetings: “Has anybody on the Parish Council had any contact with James Painter?”

Cllrs shook their heads.

Cllr Debbie Collis then said to Cllr Ewer “did you not have a conversation with James at the end of October? I saw the email in correspondence.” Cllr Ewer replied “I don’t remember, but I can check that.”

Cllr Hall said “It was an email from James Painter to you, it was about a meeting on the 30th of October between James Painter, Cllr Julian Hudson, Cllr Tony Ewer and a member of the public.”

Cllr Ewer said that he did not recall that.

Chilbolton Neighbourhood Development Plan

Cllr Hall said that work was to be restarted on the Neighbourhood Development Plan. Cllr Martin Watson and Cllr Sue Larcombe would be leading the work.

Cllr Watson said it would be conducted in two phases. The first phase would provide a refresh of the existing plan to extend it beyond May 2026. Cllr Hall added “after five years, the NDP starts to ’lose its teeth’.”

Cllr Watson said that phase 2 would cover items which weren’t included in the current plan. For example, not just the number of bedrooms, but the total size of the houses.

He added that there would probably need to be a referendum to confirm the content of the new plan.

Cllrs approved the Terms of Reference and agreed the membership of the working group. The members are Cllr Watson (Chair), Cllr Larcombe, Fiona Barrie, Alex Gerrish-Ives and Duncan Revolta.

Questions from the public

CPC traffic data

A member of the public, who was formerly a member of the SWG, said that he wanted access to the traffic surveys conducted in December. He wanted to make his own mind up about the information rather than rely on CPC’s report on it.

Cllr Neil Connor said that there wasn’t a report as such. There was a collection of 20,000 pieces of data.

When the member of the public asked for a copy of the data, Cllr Debbie Collis said the CPC had signed a contract and that there were possible confidentiality issues.

Cllr Hall added that the Parish Council had not yet seen the data. Cllr Watson said that CPC might be able to release the information under a non-disclosure agreement.

Fiona Barrie pointed out that TVBC may want access to the data as part of their consideration of the outline planning application.

Test Valley Farm passing places

Two residents brought up the issue of the Test Valley Farm development. They said that Hampshire County Council Highway Authority might be starting work on the passing places in Little Drove Road.

Cllrs confirmed that they hadn’t been notified of this, but that they would look into it.

Parking on Branksome Close

A member of the public referred to parking congestion on Branksome Close. They had sent photographs to the Parish Council showing parked cars lining both sides of the road, blocking the pavements.

Cllrs said that this would be discussed at the next meeting and invited the member of the public to join the Highways Safety Group.

Locum Clerk

Under the finance agenda item, Cllr Hall revealed that the Locum Clerk, Tom Brindley, had paid two invoices to his own company, Todeka Limited, without approval from the Parish Council.

CPC had contacted Hampshire Association of Local Councils for advice. Their view was these payments represented a “breach of financial regulations”. They also said they would support CPC in their efforts to retrieve these payments.

Cllr Hall also revealed that Mr Brindley had put a passcode on CPC’s phone which now prevented them from setting up any new payees.

Highways

Following Cllr Julian Hudson’s resignation, the Highways working group was re-established under the leadership of Cllr Martin Watson. The issues they will be tackling are:

  • Village gateways
  • Speed indicator devices
  • Parking on Branksome Close
  • The Mayfly junction
  • Gravel Hill/Martins Lane junction