News: Chilbolton Parish Assembly

The last two open meetings the Parish Council held were widely praised for their openness and free-flowing nature. Last night, surprisingly, a return to a presentation-style format with a solid agenda proved even more successful and productive.

A meeting at 8pm on the first day back after the Easter holiday was never likely to fill the Village Hall, however almost all Parish Councillors were in attendance along with eleven residents. And the Council had come well-prepared to present on the major infrastructure issues facing the Village.

Cllr Tony Ewer welcomed everybody and said the agenda was to cover sewerage, water management, power supply and communication, with some information later on village gateways and speed indicators. He warned, however, that no council whether at parish level, town or county level has direct control over utility companies.

Cllr Julian Hudson then proceeded to give a presentation on all these topics. [slides are available here].

Sewerage and wastewater

He began by describing how Chilbolton’s sewerage system operates with the help of three maps. Sewage comes from Wherwell to a point near the Old School at the edge of the Village. This, along with sewage from properties in Village Street and Drove Road (below Branksome Avenue) runs to the pumping station next to the Abbots Mitre, from where it is pumped up to the end of Branksome Avenue.

At this point it is met by sewage gravity-fed from Drove Hill, Eastman’s Field, Durnford Close and Drove Road (above Branksome Avenue). This all flows through two pipes along Branksome Avenue. Some sewage is also pumped up from Branksome Close and Garston Mead. At the end of Branksome Avenue there is a gravity feed from the top of Station Road. The two pipes then lead a short way down Station Road, then across to the water treatment plant on West Down.

Cllr Hudson said that the maps originated from 2014, but were not complete. Specifically they did not provide details for Paddock Field or Joys Lane. He added that properties with private sewerage, such as septic tanks, did not appear on the maps. A resident briefly outlined sewerage in Paddock Field.

Explaining the problems with the system, Cllr George Marits said that ground water was leaking into the laterals, which are the pipes on private property which connect to the water company’s sewerage. This causes overflow in the system. These leaking laterals are often old and sometimes have bonded asbestos.

Cllr Marits said that although technically the laterals are the responsibility of the householder, because of the scale of the problem, Southern Water are seeking funds from the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) to fix them.

Southern Water are the first in the UK to use a novel technology- TuboGel - to address leaking laterals. It involves using two separate liquids which when poured into a pipe together, harden when they combine, solidifying to make an enduring stone seal around the leak. Most recently they used it for 400 metres of sewer pipes in St Mary Bourne which enabled a reduction of 75% in the number of tanker trips.

In Chilbolton so far, Cllr Marits reported, only the distance from the Manor House to the Church had been treated with TuboGel. This seemed to have helped the situation in the Village.

Brian McMenemy, a resident who lives at Abbots Rest on Village Street told of the problems his family had suffered. So far this year his property had been flooded 15 times. Last year it had been flooded 25 times. He has had more than 20 engineer visits this year in attempts to sort out the problems.

He said that the sewerage pump-house, which is on the opposite side of the street, continues to fail. He pointed out though that it would apparently be difficult to upgrade the pump-house without upgrading the pipework.

Some of this pipework is pitch fibre. This was introduced during the Second World War and is made from wood cellulose and coal tar. Over time it became clear that pitch fibre drains had structural weaknesses, suffering from delamination or collapse under external pressure. They were phased out from new installations in the 1970s but are still in use in older properties. Mr McMenemy said that if the pump-house were upgraded, these pipes would be likely to fail.

Cllr Hudson then addressed the Parish Council’s proposed housing developments. He said that it should be possible to devise a sewerage solution that would not involve drainage down to the pump-house in Village Street, thereby avoiding an increase in the problems there.

He then outlined the proposed way forward for sewerage infrastructure:

1. Pursue with Southern Water the installation of further TuboGel pipe lining
2. Investigate alternatives to routing sewage from Wherwell through Chilbolton, or at least take account of what extra capacity is needed in Chilbolton to deal with increases in total waste
3. Upgrade the pump-house on Village Street

These matters will be taken up with Southern Water. Cllr David Hall said that he knew Lawrence Gosden, Chief Executive Officer of Southern Water, and was in contact with him. Mr McMenemy said he had also had contacted Mr Gosden, whom he had found helpful.

It was agreed that Southern Water representatives should address a future village meeting to outline the way forward.

Water management

Cllr Hudson displayed two maps - one showing areas of flood risk within Chilbolton the other showing surface water risk. Neither of these showed a particularly great risk to most of the Village.

Flood risk was limited to Cow Common, which reflected its function as a water meadow. Surface water risk was limited to Branksome Close, the bottom of Drove Road and Joys Lane.

Dealing with run-off water, which can be exacerbated by new development housing, Cllr Hudson covered a number of innovative solutions. These included reusing grey water - outflow from basins and washing machines - within the home for flushing toilets. Outside rainwater could be harvested and used for gardening.

He also showed how the flow of rainwater on streets could be slowed by “kerbside gardens” - planting in gulleys using existing verges. A “balancing pond” could also be used within a new development to collect rainwater that would otherwise run off into the wastewater system. This run-off is part of the problems that are seen at the bottom of the village.

Neil Connor, a resident from the upper part of Drove Road, said that they often suffer from low water pressure and sometimes no water at all. He suggested that this should be added to the issues for Southern Water.

Electrical power needs and supply

The meeting discussed how electrical power is delivered to the Village and how the infrastructure would cope with the growing need for power, for example charging electric vehicles.

Cllr Marits explained that there are a number of three-phase substations within the Village, however there was no map of the overall supply system or how power is delivered to individual homes.

It was agreed that contact should be made with the electrical infrastructure provider, with an invitation to present to villagers on how how the present system works and what plans should be made to meet future demand.

Internet and telephone communication

The meeting agreed that in general mobile phone signal in the village is patchy at best. Cllr Hudson alluded to the proposition that this was due to the presence of the observatory in Chilbolton. Specifically some people say that equipment there precludes having phone masts in the Village. It was agreed that this proposition should be investigated and if possible challenged.

Cllr Hudson displayed a mobile signal map for Chilbolton which showed mast positions and signal coverage. Cllr Ewer said that some years ago the Church had contacted British Telecom asking to be part of its “rural solution” which would have seen a phone mast installed inside the St Mary the Less’ church tower. There was no response to this enquiry.

Cllr Debbie Collis observed that the signal from telecoms provider EE worked well. Resident Tony Vincent explained that this was because EE had been selected to build the network which supports the emergency services.

Concerns about the copper cable telephone network were discussed and its impending disconnection in 2027.

There was general agreement that:

1. Mobile service is poor, therefore if possible, despite the presence of the Observatory, a mast in Chilbolton should be reinvestigated
2. Losing the copper telephone connection would pose a serious risk for some residents

Village gateways and speed indicator devices

Cllr Hudson provided an update on the cost of village gateways - signs saying “Welcome to Chilbolton” or “Please drive carefully through our village”. Three pairs of signs would cost £5,470 excluding installation.

On speed indication devices, he said that initial cost for two devices would be £2,000 with an annual £1,800 maintenance cost. We could share the devices with Wherwell, but this would mean reprogramming them from 30mph to 20mph.

A resident, Alistair Smith, who recently was a Parish Councillor in Somerset, said that he had been responsible for speed devices in his parish. The maintenance had been done by volunteers. He felt that many of the vehicles which continued to exceed their 30mph limit, despite the devices, were actually driven by residents.

As to funding the gateways and devices, Cllr Hall said that there would be grants available.

Conclusion

There were only a few residents at this meeting. Perhaps it was the lateness of the hour or that it was the first working day after the Easter holiday. However, this was a very positive meeting. The Parish Council and Cllr Hudson in particular had done a lot of work and presented a lot of new material.

With relatively few of us there, it proceeded more like a focus group than a presentation. Residents were able to contribute not only by asking questions but by providing information. The meeting, it seemed, was one of minds coming together and shaping the way forward.

For residents who weren’t there last night, but are interested in what was being discussed, future meetings like this are highly recommended.