The AGM for 2016 took place at the Village Hall on Tuesday 7th June.

The following is the collected reports of the various sections, beginning with the minutes of the meeting of 2015 and ending with an account of the AGM Forum 2016.

Chairman :: Treasurer :: Welborne :: Flooding update :: OIAW/Website :: Entertainment :: Communications :: Open Forum

WVCA AGM 2015

Wallington Village Community Association

Minutes Of The 23rd Annual General Meeting

Tuesday 9th June 2015

Present: J Clark (Chair); A Bloxham (Secretary); C Weeks (Treasurer);  C Scott (Environment); E Burley (Planning); S Morse (Entertainment) A Hackney (OIAW & Web Site); D Walton (Projects), D Kett (Press Officer & Asst Treasurer), S Pankhania (Hall & Entertainments), J Sullivan (Communications), C Morgan (Hall), N Getty( Entertainments & Communications), Cllr K Trott and 45 members.

The Chairman opened the meeting at 7.30pm.

Apologies: T Reeve, Cllr P Whittle, M Tait, B Wilcox.

Minutes of 2014 AGM: Proposed K Trott and seconded J Hall that the minutes should be adopted. Carried.

There were no matters arising from those minutes.

Summary of Reports: Written reports from Chairman, Treasurer, Planning (including Welborne), OIAW Editorial Board, Hall, Entertainment and Environment and Communications had been submitted to the meeting and were summarised for the benefit of members present.

The meeting recorded its thanks to Lindsey Elliott, the Independent Examiner, for her work on the WVCA accounts.

Tributes were paid to Clare Weeks, the retiring Treasurer, who had provided such excellent service to the Association for the past six years.

There were no other matters arising from the reports and it was proposed by A Humphrey and seconded by J Haynes that the reports should be adopted. Carried.

Election of Officers and Committee Members: It was proposed by J Hall and seconded by M Reeve and unanimously agreed by members that the following should be elected as Officers and members of the Executive Committee for the year 2015/2016:-

OFFICERS NAME PROPOSED SECONDED
Chairman James Clark V Hawkes D Moorman
Secretary Alan Bloxham R Cox M Blyth
Treasurer Peter Trott K Trott A Bloxham

COMMITTEE

Eve Burley J Favill J Baines David Kett S Hodnett P Wilson
Sue Morse H Jackson S Jackson Sophia Pankhania N Getty S Morse
Nikki Getty P Wilson S Kett Clare Weeks M Weeks D Walton
D Walton J Banks W Banks Margaret Tait A Corfield A Bloxham

Jon Sullivan had decided not to stand for re-election and the Chairman thanked him for his contribution to the work of the WVCA over the past year.

Annual General Meeting 2016: The meeting will be held on Tuesday 7 June 2016 at 7.30pm.

There being no other business the Chairman closed the meeting at 8.15pm.



CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Welcome to the 2016 AGM.

Much of the detail of work the WVCA has carried out on your behalf this year is contained in the reports within this pamphlet. Also included are the accounts for the year to 31st March 2016. My thanks go to Peter Trott for these and all the work that goes in to producing them, and on completing his first year as the Treasurer, here’s to many more.

The accounts also show that we are in an enviable position financially with reserves in excess of £200,000. However, in these time of austerity the same cannot be said of some of the agencies we work alongside including FBC, Hampshire Highways and the Environment Agency. It is becoming harder and harder to achieve any kind of meaningful results to areas we identify for attention through the annual Village walk round, simply because of the lack of funds that are available. It may well be that in the future more modest works might be identified that require less funding, and indeed we may be able to help in some way financially. I’m sure Sue Morse will endeavour to work with these partners to achieve the best outcomes possible.

The reason the WVCA exists are many and varied but primarily it is to enhance the quality of life for those living or associated with the Village. In order for this to happen we very much rely on volunteers coming forward to assist in our activities, whether that be on one of the sub committees or as a trustee serving on the Executive Committee. If you feel you have the time, and something to offer please get in touch. A number of events are taking place this year including the ever popular fete and the return of the pantomime, and for those holding street parties to celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday, have fun and I hope the weather holds for you. These sort of activities are why we choose to live in Wallington.

Finally, I’m looking forward to working with the Trustees on the Executive committee again this year with the majority of the members standing again for another term.

James Clark

Chairman



Treasurer's Report 2015/16

1. Gross expenditure

The financial statements for this year show gross receipts for the year of £21,951 compared to gross expenditure of £663 last year. This is primarily due to a much improved income from hall receipts and a reduced in-year expenditure on hall maintenance. A number of high value items are in train but will not be reflected in the accounts until the next financial year, e.g. new chairs and flooring.

2. Income

Overall income for the year was £67,352, increasing by £7,736 compared to the 2015 figure.

  • The hall continues to be our main source of income, generating £43,672.
  • The fete income, at £9533, was very similar to the previous year.
  • Interest and dividends received have increased compared to last year due to dividends being received. The interest amounts are quite consistent as £65,000 of our investments are held in two long term fixed rate investment accounts. Both these accounts will close during the next financial year.

3. Payments

Overall payments for the year have decreased by £14,879 over the 2015 figure to a total of £45,399.

  • Hall costs have decreased during the year but, as noted above, a number of high value items to keep the hall in an "as new" condition will occur next year. Hence the nil figure shown at paragraph 1 on page 3.
  • The other costs have stayed relatively consistent over the previous year, though it is of note that expenditure on environmental projects has reduced by about one-half from £1,285 to £631

4. Cash reserves

  • At 31 March 2016, monies held in bank accounts, fixed interest accounts and cash amounted to £112,902.
  • A further £107,079 is held in investments. This figure has reduced from £112,369 due to the change in the value of the shares held within the portfolio.
  • Overall total monetary assets available to the Association have increased, primarily due to the healthy state of the current account, and now stand at £219,981, an increase of £16,661 on last year.

5. Treasurer's summary - allocation of reserves

Hall rebuild fund:

  • Income from hall receipts is large percentage of total income, hence the reserves held to cover any lost revenue currently stand at £100,000, having been increased by £5,000 this year in line with the Reserves Policy. This has been set aside to help with rebuild costs of a new hall including covering the costs of any improvements the association can make to a new hall in light of technological advances. It will also be sufficient to enable the Association to continue with its other activities for more than two years without having the income from hiring the hall.

Hall maintenance fund:

  • The hall maintenance reserves have been set aside in order to cover any larger items of expenditure that would be required to keep the existing hall in an "as new" condition. This will include expenditure on a new floor for the main hall amongst other planned items.

Water Meadow fund:

  • The water meadow reserve has again been increased by £1,200 this year in line with the Reserves Policy to £25,002. These funds are set aside by the trustees to ensure funds are available to cover any costs that might be incurred in protecting the meadow. This could include legal costs incurred in fighting a potential development of the meadow.
  • Although much of the funds have been designated for particular purposes by the trustees, most of the funds available to the Association are unrestricted reserves so a total of £212,486 is available to be re-designated at the agreement of the trustees to cover any requirement the WVCA may have.
  • The WVCA continues to be in an enviable position with regard to the level of reserves it holds and is, due to a conservative and careful approach over many years, well placed to cope with any unforeseen costs or loss of income.

Peter Trott

To view the accounts click here


WELBORNE UPDATE (Feb 2016)

At a meeting of the much deferred "Welborne Standing Conference" in mid Feb, FBC made a surprise announcement regarding a "New Development Strategy for Welborne"; theoretically, in order to provide "certainty" that Welborne will deliver its housing targets.

This new approach was subsequently endorsed by the FBC Executive, on 22 Feb 2016; whether such a fundamentally important decision (involving as it does very significant financial risk to FBC), ought to have been discussed "In Full Council" is a quite separate matter!.

In essence, this new approach "potentially" involves land acquisition using Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO's) and the appointment of a "Preferred Development Partner" - rather than allowing the existing Welborne Landowners to develop the site.

The "New Development Strategy for Welborne" (regardless of whether the CPO process is embarked upon) is likely to delay Welborne by at least 2 years if not longer and will cost some £1 - £2M of Taxpayers money (excluding the huge cost of the CPO itself) It is I believe, fraught with risk and has the potential, to be subject to hugely expensive and time consuming legal challenges. (By the existing Landowners)

Having been involved with Welborne for over 10 years now, I fully appreciate that it is a hugely complicated, multi-agency project that has massive infrastructure requirements, of which the design and funding of M27 J10 (Still yet to be agreed, let alone funded) is but a small part. I despair however on hearing, yet again last night, that: "We need Welborne in order to address the FBC Housing Waiting List" - refer back if you would, to the Planning Inspector's comments @ the Public Enquiry into FBC'S Core Strategy circa 2012 "The Affordable Housing @ Welborne cannot be "Ring-Fenced" for Fareham Residents" - it is a Strategic/SE Regional requirement".

Clearly there has been a complete breakdown in both communication and perhaps more importantly trust, between FBC and the Landowners. Were FBC to pursue the CPO option, then I fear that a lengthy legal battle, at our expense is the almost inevitable outcome. It would appear, that what lies behind FBC's latest and frankly ill-conceived approach to Welborne, is a desperate attempt to try and salvage their Housing development strategy - in order to try and prevent development elsewhere across the Borough, i.e. Newlands etc.

Accordingly and as a direct consequence of FBC's approach (which many of us believe will NOT deliver the "certainty" they are seeking, quite the opposite in fact) the plethora of unanswered questions regarding key Welborne issues such as, Traffic impact, SUDS Design & Flood Risk Assessment remain unanswered and are likely to remain so for a considerable period of time.

The situation is of course compounded by the fact that the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) have recently required FBC to deliver an additional 2,000 new homes between now and 2036, the location of which has yet to be decided.

David Walton


FLOOD DEFENCE IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT

Further to the Environment Agency (EA) Update that was recently published in the Spring OIAW, I thought it would be useful to provide a summary of what has been done thus far and the current status of the work. The EA led project began some 2 years ago, with Richard Boswell and I as the WVCA Stakeholders on the Project Board (the first time anywhere in the Country, that "Local people" have been involved at an EA Project Board level). The initial scope of how best to reduce the Flood Risk @ village (which has addressed both fluvial/river and tidal issues), was intentionally very broad and a wide range of potential options were investigated. These included:

 

  • Restoring the Mill Pond.
  • A Tidal Barrier @ the Delme Roundabout and/or increasing the discharge capacity of the culvert (same location).
  • Dredging of selected parts of the River.
  • Increasing the height of and strengthening existing Flood Defence Walls and raising them to a consistent level throughout the village.
  • Increasing the flow capacity at various points where currently it is constricted (i.e. the 5 Arch Bridge and by the slipway @ Clifton Mews).
  • Measures in the "Upstream Catchment Are" (i.e. North of the M27) that would reduce the rate at which rainwater enters the river itself after heavy rainfall - which potentially have huge benefit to Wallington. This particular issue has been complicated, by the complete lack of clarity over the design of the Welborne SUDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage System); accordingly the potential flooding impact of Welborne, has yet to be determined.
  • The fitting of Non-Return valves to a number of Highways drains, such that when the river is in spate, water cannot flow back up the drains.
  • Measures to address Tidal flooding (of which the Flood Defence Hump on the S Bend @ Lowlands is an example).
  • Measures to stop water leaking both through and underneath, the riverbank wall(s) of the properties in Wallington Shore Rd (downstream of the 5 Arch Bridge).
  • Storage ponds in various locations (ie: Broadcut and North of the M27) that hold water back, rather allowing it to discharge straight into the river.
  • Measures that improve the flood resilience of individual properties that are most at risk (Property level measures)

Having investigated all of the potential options, a number were subsequently discarded; largely because they were either simply not viable or did not provide sufficient value for money and a "short list" of options was drawn up. Each option on the short list was then designed, costed and run through computer modelling to determine its operational effectiveness and assess whether it was cost effective.

Clearly funding is a major issue and whilst the Study itself is fully funded, the resultant recommendations have to meet strict, nationwide criteria when determining how much Central Government funding can be made available, one of the key drivers being the number of properties that will benefit from the work - and therein lies our particular difficulty. In Wallington (as compared to a more densely populated area), a relatively small number of households will directly benefit from this work. Given that Central Govt. will never fund 100%, the shortfall needs to be addressed using what is called a "Partnership Funding" approach. HCC and FBC are "the Riparian Owners" of much of the riverbank throughout the village and so clearly they will both be asked by the EA, to make significant contributions to the Project, as WVCA will also be doing albeit currently on a fairly modest scale. The final short list of Options is currently being scrutinized within the EA and the results will be made available at a Public Exhibition @ the Village Hall on Thursday 7 July (3 - 7pm)

David Walton


ONCE IN A WHILE AND WEBSITE REPORT

The cost of the three issues of the magazine in 2015 was £3528, an increase on last year when the figure was £3150. With something of the order of 430 magazines distributed with each issue this equates to an annual figure close to 1,300 and an average cost of £2.73 per copy. Colour pages do add significantly to the production cost, of course, but they also go some way to making the magazine an attractive and (hopefully) valued community asset.

This Once in a While year has been the third one in which the 'open-source' package (Scribus) has been used in the pre-printing stage of the magazine. It is one of a number of Desk Top Publishing programs which are available but this one is particularly useful in that it is free to download, fairly straightforward to use at a simple level yet sufficiently advanced to make its output acceptable to professional printers. What it does, basically, is to enable pages to be constructed by taking in text, either from a word processor or typed in, and importing and manipulating graphics. Its final product is a collection of files that can be collated ready for printing (by Farleys, in our case). I mention it once again because I believe that its wider adoption will go some way to promote collaborative effort in producing the magazine and therefore help to secure its future. Several members of the Executive Committee received copies of the program together with some training in its use back in October 2014. Also it is hoped that some additional technical support in the pre-production stages may shortly become available from within the Village. This may save time - and costs - at the pre-printing stage.

Advertising helps to offset printing costs slightly and Peter Buckley looks after that part of the OIAW process by writing to existing advertisers every February inviting them to part with and send him their money. The rates we charge advertisers are modest but the figures are looked at each year to make sure that they are reasonably commercial. We had felt that the rates were in line this reporting year but suggested to the Exec that, after holding prices for seven years, an increase was not inappropriate. This was agreed and from spring 2016 the cost for a full-page advert for the three issues has risen to £90, half page is now £45 and less than half is £24. It has to be said that the number of regular advertisers has been tailing off but one or two new ones have started to take up slots, albeit small ones. Readers would probably not welcome too many adverts but most would accept that those offering genuine local service are a good thing.

I acknowledge, with gratitude, the editing assistance provided by David Kett during the year. Thanks are due to the regular contributors who faithfully submit their various reports and to those who send in interesting articles or outstanding photographs for publication - especially Cherry Harnott for the latter. Thanks are also due to the Street Reps for their service in delivering the magazines.

The Website:

The mainframe of the website is looked after by Mark Hobbs and he is a constant source of support and advice, dealing speedily with updates and sorting out any glitches. The four user portals News, Social, Environment News and Fete enable information to be uploaded quickly by authorised individuals but we do need to extend their use. More broadly there is plenty of scope for stretching the potential and appeal of the website. One direction to be explored is the already stated ambition to create a local historical archive. This is another area where fresh technical input may be forthcoming.

Returning to the matter of Posterity - or 'back to the Future', at least of the magazine - I need to report that I am stepping back from the OIAW Editor's chair and will be handing over that particular pen to David Kett. Although I will still be involved it is ten years since I inherited the post from Peter Buckley. Peter had been ably supported with its compilation by Fiona Reardon and his early guidance helped me (and Keith Barton for the first few years) to hit the ground running. David Kett can expect no less support from me. The precise arrangements of who will do what in the re-structured/extended team will be the subject of coming deliberations but the future of the OIAW will be secure with its central aim remaining to keep a good balance of entertainment and information within its pages.

Arthur Hackney and the Editorial Team (David Kett and Peter Buckley)


Annual Report of the Wallington Village Entertainments Sub Committee

It's been another successful year for the Entertainments Committee in Wallington Village who work hard to provide a variety of events to suit all ages and interests and providing good value for money.

The Quiz and Puzzle night was a huge success with villagers and friends partaking in a range of team activities to stimulate the old grey matter. A similar evening will be repeated later on 12th November this year.

Another favourite evening hosted by Dominic Lockyer from the Fareham Wine Cellar was the popular wine and cheese evening. A lot of thought goes into providing a range of wines and the accompanying cheese as well as providing a quiz for the more knowledgeable wine advocates amongst us so please join us again on October 1st.

Dave Culver provided the entertainment for our sold out tribute to Frank Sinatra Black Tie evening in November with villagers being greeted with a cocktail on arrival and then tucking into a delicious, professionally catered, silver service three course meal with a tuxedo cupcake to finish off the meal for those who still had room! For this event we secured the services of a local photography student to capture memories of the night. Providing one off special events like this is wonderful for having a good excuse to dress up for the night and dust off the bow tie and tiara!

Even the children had a special Nature Detectives event planned for them in the early Autumn. On a truly glorious Sunday morning they took part, with their parents, in a range of carefully planned activities to get to know their village environment a bit better culminating in a worm charming competition at the end of the 2 hour session. This was so successful that some parents requested a similar session just for them so there will BEE something coming up very soon......... Bee House making and honey cake baking on June 19th.

The long forgotten about Christmas Day dog walk was tentatively resurrected this year and with such a good turnout we are hoping to reinstate the tradition. 20 dog walkers and 10 dogs came along for a share of a flask of mulled wine and a pre-Christmas Dinner morning stroll around the water meadow before returning to cooking duties albeit with a worn out pooch!

As with any event the entertainments committee would appreciate your feedback, likes and dislikes in order to help pave the way for up and coming activities in the year. Please do talk to your entertainments team and if you do have a couple of hours spare a month why not join our friendly committee who always find time to meet in the pub! I would like to thank the continued and enthusiastic support of Sue, Nikki, Sophia, Phil, Moira and Eve, as well as support from family members, friends and neighbours.

Finally... our "Wallington Players" are once again auditioning and putting together this year's twist on a traditional "genial" tale to perform "A-Ladd-In -Wallington" over the Christmas period. As you can appreciate putting on a village pantomime involves a lot of effort and time for the producers, cast and crew so any help with prop making, costume making, providing refreshments etc. would be once again most helpful leading up to and during the event beginning Sunday 11th December through to Saturday 17th December.

Why not visit the WVCA website to see what's coming up next and how you can support your village community.

www.WVCA.co.uk


Annual Report of the Wallington Village Communications Sub Committee

The Communications group is now up and running, continually looking into the various communications matters for the Executive Committee.

We have decided to summarise our Executive meetings in the Once in a While magazine to strengthen lines of communication as some villagers have made it clear that they prefer to read hard copies of articles rather than receiving Mailchimp email communications.

Mailchimp emails continue to prove to be the best and most immediate way to share relevant information within our village and we are pleased to be able to reach 258 subscribers. Please let a committee member know if you wish to be included on the mailing list. We are now looking into the possibility of expanding our knowledge of the Mailchimp facility to include surveys/questionnaires to support our work at targeting particular demographic groups.

We continue to update the WVCA website to the best of our ability and have recently refreshed the website email addresses to make it easier for villagers to contact the relevant person with a particular query.

The Street Reps have redistributed the Welcome to Wallington leaflets: as well as a good way to welcome new residents, it doesn't hurt to have a refresher to jog everyone's memories about matters the WVCA has worked on for the benefit of, and commitment to, our village community.


OPEN FORUM

Post AGM Tuesday 7th June 2016

The Chairman invited questions from the floor:-

Water Main Renewal

Portsmouth Water Company is writing to all frontagers shortly, reporting on progress and the programme for lateral connections. It is aware that progress appears to have been slow but they have to complete and test the entire new main, which extends beyond Wallington village.

Individual water connections will be made in groups of about four. They will have narrow trenches and each group should be completed in a day.

Portsmouth Water Company have expressed their willingness to attend the Walk Round on 17th June to answer questions about mains renewal. (ACTION: SM)

Problems with telephone/broadband

A number of people are experiencing problems with telephone and broadband and Madeline Close is collecting information about how widespread the problem is. Members were asked to complete a survey and return to Madeline. She has a meeting planned with our MP and the matter will be taken up with Openreach.

Large lorries in Wallington

There is an increasing incidence of large lorries losing their way in Wallington and there seems to be an issue with the siting of signs for international drivers. Some of the lorries are making for the SITA site and this will be taken up with the company when we meet them at the end of the month. (ACTION: EXECUTIVE) The situation will also be taken up with FBC/Hants Highways. (ACTION: KT)

Dangerous parking on yellow lines in Standard Way

Yet again this issue was raised. Members were advised to contact FBC or the police as appropriate.

Obstruction of sight line by bushes in Wallington Shore Road

The bushes on the riverbank opposite East Hill Close are again obstructing driver's view of oncoming traffic and need to be trimmed. This will be raised at the Walk Round. (ACTION: SM)