The AGM for 2017 took place at the Village Hall on Tuesday 6th June.

The following is the collected reports of the various sections, beginning with the minutes of the meeting of 2016 and ending with an account of the AGM Forum 2017.

Chairman : Treasurer : OIAW/Website : Hall : Entertainment : Environment
Communications : Planning update : Welborne Update : Flood mitigation update : Open Forum


WALLINGTON VILLAGE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

MINUTES OF THE 24th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

TUESDAY 7th JUNE 2016


Present: J Clark (Chair); A Bloxham (Secretary); P Trott (Treasurer);  E Burley (Planning); S Morse (Entertainment); D Walton (Projects), D Kett (Press Officer & Asst Treasurer), S Pankhania (Hall & Entertainments), C Morgan (Hall), N Getty( Entertainments & Communications), Cllr K Trott and 53 members.

The Chairman opened the meeting at 7.30pm.

Apologies: A Hackney, C Scott, C Weeks, M Weeks, M Brady, T Reeve, M Downing, B Cooper, P Leece.

Minutes of 2013 AGM: Proposed K Trott and seconded J Haynes that the minutes should be adopted. Carried.

There were no matters arising from those minutes.

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

Clare Weeks was thanked for her support for the new Treasurer.

There were no other matters arising from the reports and it was proposed by R Cox and seconded by M Blyth that the reports should be adopted. Carried.

Election of Officers and Committee Members: It was noted that some officers and committee members had been in post for a long time and that ideally a change of personnel would bring a fresh perspective to the affairs of the Association. Unfortunately no new nominations had been received this year and it was one committee member short of the maximum allowed. Attempts would be made to co-opt new blood during the course of the coming year. It was proposed by B Wilkins and  seconded by J Judge and  agreed by members that the following should be elected as Officers and members of the Executive Committee for the year 2016/2017:-

OFFICERS NAME PROPOSED SECONDED
Chairman James Clark C Weeks M V der Heijden
Secretary Alan Bloxham J Clark P Trott
Treasurer Peter Trott C Weeks A Bloxham

Committee

Charlie Scott T Reeve M Reeve
Chris Morgan J Phelan B Millerchip
Eve Burley J Favill J Clark
David Kett R Hooper O Ellis
Sue Morse H Jackson S Jackson
Sophia Pankhania J Doherty J Kearns
Nikki Getty P Wilson S Kett
Clare Weeks M Weeks M Blyth
D Walton J Banks W Banks

Annual General Meeting 2017: The meeting will be held on Tuesday 6th June 2017 at 7.30pm.

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


Chairman’s AGM Report 2017

The WVCA Executive Committee and its various sub Committees continue to work on behalf of the residents of Wallington to ensure that it remains an interesting and pleasant place to live. As always, my thanks go to all those who volunteer their time to undertake this work.

At the first executive meeting after the AGM one of the first tasks is to organise the members into their various responsibilities and sub committees. Their first task is to then review the aims and terms of reference for these committees to guide them in their work for the coming year. I don’t want to go into any detail about the aims but they are available to those that are interested. Whilst we try and do as much work towards these as we can, as I have mentioned in a previous article for the OIAW Magazine we are limited by the manpower we have available as to what can be achieved, (after all the work is done on a voluntary basis). We will continue to concentrate on the areas that are most important to the organisation but regrettably some of the other tasks may be limited in scope. Please read the other reports by the various leads for a summary of the activities that have been undertaken this year, some of the work will be apparent but, as ever, a lot will have gone unnoticed.

Our finances continue to remain healthy largely due to the income we derive from the Village Hall. This year we have a number of plans to spend some of this income, the Hall kitchen is being replaced and the Hall lighting is being changed to more modern and fuel efficient LEDs. This will not only save money on our electricity bill but is also kinder to the environment, something we are always minded of in the work we do. We are also wholly or partly funding a number of projects around the village and more on this work is contained in other reports to this AGM.

Our communications committee is seeking to further improve the way we communicate with our members which has improved over the last year and hopefully will continue to do so, if you are not on our email database please let us know and we will add you in to the mailings.

Finally, I look forward to the coming year as Chairman and working again with the Executive Committee, sadly this will be without the wise counsel of Alan Bloxham as Secretary. Alan has decided to relinquish this role after many years and my thanks go to him, both on behalf of the WVCA and from me personally. The role of Secretary is probably the most important one within our organisation, it requires a great deal of local knowledge as well as a thorough understanding of the necessary procedures and timetables within which we have to work, especially in regard to our charitable status. I wish whoever takes over in this role the best of luck, although Alan will still be serving and I’m sure will be able to offer suitable guidance as and when required.

James Clark
Chairman


Treasurer’s Report 2016/17

1. Gross expenditure

The financial statements for this year show a gross expenditure for the year of £9,028 compared to gross income of £21,951 last year.  Whilst income from hall receipts has continued at last year’s level the high value items noted in lat year’s report have now occurred. These included new chairs and flooring for the hall and work on the external woodwork of the hall

2. Income

Overall income for the year was £64,133, a slight decrease of £3,218 compared to the 2016 figure.

  • The hall continues to be our main source of income, generating £41,272.
  • The fete income, at £8166, was also slightly down on the previous year.
  • Interest and dividends received are again similar to last year at £5,136.  Both Scottish Widows accounts have matured during the year and the funds have been reinvested in a United Trust Bank account and a 1 year Bond.  Neither of these investments will match the return on previous years as available interest rates have fallen dramatically from around 4% to only 1.3%.
  • During the year, the Executive Committee was asked to consider the closure of the two Charities Aid Foundation accounts and to concentrate the released funds into the Ecology Building Society account.  As a result, the total currently invested in this account now stands at £20,381.

3. Payments

Overall payments for the year have increased by £27,761 over the 2016 figure to a total of £73,161.

  • A large part of this increased expenditure, £25,139, was due to the planned high-value items that have now been completed and detailed at paragraph 1 on page 3.
  • The other costs have stayed relatively consistent over the previous year.

4. Cash reserves

  • At 31 March 2017, monies held in bank accounts, fixed interest accounts and cash amounted to £103,873.
  • A further £122,452 is held in investments.  This figure has increased from £107,079 due to the change in the value of the shares held within the portfolio.
  • Overall total monetary assets available to the Association have increased, due to the healthy state of the current account and the rise in the value of shares held, and now stand at £226.325, an increase of £6,344 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 £105,000, 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. During the forthcoming financial year it is expected that funds will be expended on two major improvements to the hall:
    - Renewal of the entire kitchen.
    - Conversion of all the hall lighting to LEDs.
    Taken together these will represent almost £31,000. See note 3 on page 3.

Water Meadow fund:

  • The water meadow reserve has again been increased by £1,200 this year in line with the Reserves Policy to £26,202. 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 £218,830 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
WVCA Treasurer

To download the accounts click here


Once In a While and Website Report

The cost of the three issues of the magazine in 2016 was £3122. This was less than last year when the figure was £3528. Usually about 430 magazines are distributed with each issue so this equates to an annual figure close to 1,300 and an average cost of £2.42 per copy. Colour pages bump up the production cost, of course, but they do add to the visual appeal of the magazine.

Two changes have taken place in the last year, one fairly recent. The first concerns our small production team, which has been boosted by the welcome addition of Richard Yorke of Wallington Shore Road last autumn. Richard is a graphic designer by profession and he has taken over the pre-printing layout preparation of the magazine, which has relieved me of that particular IT task and thereby spared you my pedestrian efforts! The new style of the magazine, which we hope you approve of, graced the pages of the Christmas issue and the recent spring one. Richard’s input has also had a knock-on effect in that the colour graphics, in particular, are submitted to the printers ‘ready to go’ whereas, previously, I used to spend some time at the printers discussing with the ever-patient Colin at Farleys what was wanted in the layout, captions etc. That has already produced an apparent cost saving. For example, based on the figures for the last two issues the notional cost per copy dropped to an average £1.90. This is helpful, also, because the downward trend in advertising revenue continues.

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 renew. The rates we charge advertisers are modest but the figures are looked at each year to make sure that they are reasonably commercial and they were increased very slightly from spring last year. 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.

The second change happened as recently as 1 st March when our long-serving printers Farleys merged with Stanbury Chameleon to form one large company. It is very much the end of an era because Ian Farley, and his father before him, have been with us since the earliest times of WVC. All Farleys staff have been transferred to the Stanbury industrial unit at the Heritage Business Park in Gosport and we wish them good luck – also to Ian Farley on his semi-retirement.

The Website:

The general welfare of the website continues in the care of Mark Hobbs; he is a constant source of support and advice, dealing speedily with updates and problems. The four user portals News, Social, Environment News and Fete are still not used to their full potential but some fresh eyes may be waiting in the wings hopefully. Progress on developing a local historical resource remains patchy but, again, help may be forthcoming. Please do check the website periodically for news and information.

I acknowledge, with gratitude, the editing assistance provided by David Kett during the year and special thanks are due to Cherry Harnott for providing outstanding photographs of social happenings and portraits of our cherished village. Thanks are also due to the Street Reps for their faithful service. More recently I am grateful to Richard Yorke for his technical support and fresh ideas.

Finally - in my report last year I indicated my intention to take more of a back seat with the magazine. As you may realise it did not happen but I am more hopeful, now, that ideas to make the publication more future-proof may be better founded. Using the wording of last year - 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, Peter Buckley and Richard Yorke)


WVCA Hall Sub-Committee

Our Aim is to maintain the Hall in “as new” condition.

Improvements in 2016.

  • April Main Hall Flooring replaced.
  • Entrance Porch Supporting Beams replaced.
  • All chairs replaced with 175 new.

Improvements this year 2017

  • February, Main Hall Curtains replaced.

Plans for this year 2017

  • Our biggest project to date - replacing the kitchen, work is planned to start on 27th July this year and will involve closing the Kitchen for about two weeks.
  • Another project is to change all our lighting to energy efficient L.E.D.

Plans for next year 2018

  • To refurbish the Toilets.

We are very fortunate to have Geoff Knipe as our Hall Manager taking care of all the day to day challenges that occur and often responding at short notice to any issues that arise day and night. He is ably supported by his partner Pauline who manages the Hallmaster booking and invoicing system.

The Hall continues to be very well used by WVCA members and many others. More details are available on the WVCA site where you can view the various groups and individuals using the Hall and view bookings made. Don’t forget booking requests for the Hall go through the Hallmaster system which can also be found on the WVCA site.

Jenny Jervis and her willing team of volunteers continue to keep the flower borders outside the Hall looking attractive and we thank them all for all their time which is so generously given.

Chris Morgan (Chair)
James Clark


Entertainments report for WVCA AGM 2017

2016/2017 saw a variety of events in the village culminating in the pantomime at Christmas which was very well received – such talent in the village, who knew!

Fareham Wine Cellar and WVCA hosted another enjoyable evening which will be repeated in October this year, Simon Tooley tested the best brains in the village with his Quiz with a difference, back by demand in November.

Forest Forge again produced a great production for us in January. A new company called the Black Box Theatre company will visit the village hall on 4th November to present a one off performance of Bouncers and it is planned to have a Wallington Arts, Craft and Drama evening at the end of September.

As it seems a long time until panto December 2018, a new group has been started, called Wallington Village Players which will visit theatres, take part in workshops and other events.

As always, the WVCA welcome any suggestions from villagers for proposed events.


Environment report of activities during the period 2016 /2017

Work completed:

At the request of Fareham Borough Council work on clearing the overgrown obstructed river side footpaths and work on the riverbank was done. The Hampshire footpath is on land not owned by FBC, and at their suggestion, it will now be continued for as long as possible to be kept clear by the WVCA. Work was also done on the bank.

Several dead/fallen trees that were could have caused obstruction in the river have been removed.

The annual river clearance took place earlier than normal in the year, and the event was well attended. A fair amount of rubbish was removed but the quantity collected was noticeably less than normal suggesting less people are diching waste in the river. That has to be a good sign. Clearing of Himalayan Balsam was done twice in the year but again the quantity needing removing was down on previous years.

Due to earlier flailing on the roadside of the river, there is less coppicing needed on the roadside riverbank but work may be needed next season as it starts to recover. We have approached the Environment agency for permission to work on the river bank for an extended period. We are waiting for their response.

Most of this work was carried out with small groups with some work being carried out on week days.

Litter picking took place on more than one occasion. The best event by far in both attendance and what was achieved was a national litter picking event “the Great British spring clean” this was organised by the WVCA with combined supported of the Portchester Sea Scouts.

The event was promoted nationally by the government. We benefited from the supported of Fareham Borough Council street cleanse department who supplied litter picking equipment and helped with disposing of the collected waste.

Help from local ward councillor Katrina Trott who assisted with FBC arrangements and also turned up on the day to help was much appreciated.

Forth coming new project starting soon.

Approval from Hampshire Footpaths has been given to repair the riverside footpath where it enters the water meadow.

The start date will be well publicised so please join in and help.

WVCA Environmental group


Annual report of the Wallington Village Communications Sub Committee

The Communications group continues to look into various communication matters for the Executive Committee.

Survey Monkey - Currently we are hoping to utilise the services of Survey Monkey to gauge opinions from villagers and receive feedback on relevant issues that may or may not affect village life. Mailchimp emails continue to be the most immediate and effective way of sharing relevant information around Wallington however this is still only reaching an average of 50% of the village. As from this year all subscription members voluntary given e-mail addresses will be added onto Mail Chimp which should help reach a wider audience.

Memory Lane – there is a possibility of one of our members being able to access Fareham Nostalgia and creating displays of old photos/montage of Wallington. If any resident has relevant photographs that they would be willing to share please let us know!

Stained glass window competition – we had a very small response with only 6 children entering the Stained Glass window competition.  These 6 children will be given a gift voucher and will have certain parts of their designs amalgamated together and translated into coloured acetates to replace the round window at the top of the village hall.

WVCA archives development – Farley’s printers are being taken over by a new company who currently will continue to print the Once In A While magazine. Everything given to the printers is converted to a PDF file so WVCA would like to collect all the past PDF files to keep an accurate record of the history of WVCA and Wallington village. No response, as yet, to a voluntary archivist to catalogue and however a team of people may develop over the next year so watch this space…

The new format of the OIAW magazine was received with good feedback from many villagers.  “Eye catching and fresh.”  WVCA would like to pass on their thanks to Richard York who has been instrumental in the development of the new format.

Safeguarding – any published photographs of village life/events that include children under the age of 18 are always asked for permission by parents beforehand.

Finally, thank you to the small group of members who work quietly behind the scenes to ensure that avenues of communication around the village are accurate, relevant and purposeful.  If you have any further ideas about development of similar matters, please speak to any member of the Exec.


AGM 2017 Planning Report

WVCA has continued to monitor all relevant planning applications and oppose any which threaten the well –being and character of the village and surrounding environment.

Only two applications, apart from the major development at Welborne which is dealt with in another report, fell into that category.

The first was the planned extension to the SUEZ recycling and recovery site at Standard Way/Military Road. WVCA met company representatives and sought and obtained assurances about noise and traffic movements and as a result raised no objections to the application. Hants CC eventually granted permission for the development of a logistic depot on land adjacent to the SUEZ site in Military Road.

Secondly, a major tree and vegetation clearance operation in the Waterside/Greenbanks Gardens area of the village raised fears about the possible development of this piece of land which is designated as “open space”. Subsequently a planning application for the building of 5 houses on the land between Waterside Gardens and the industrial site was submitted. The application was vigorously opposed by local residents and WVCA supported the objection. In the face of this opposition and that from council planning officers the application was withdrawn. The situation will be monitored to deal with any renewed application.

EVE BURLEY


Welborne Update

The following comments were forwarded to FBC, copy to Buckland Development Ltd (BDL) in April of this year in response to the Outline Planning Application for Welborne:

A)  TRAFFIC IMPACT – The OPA submission, confirms our earlier fears over the level of Welborne derived traffic that will come South on the A32 into Fareham and onto already heavily congested roads. It is particularly disappointing to reflect, that the limited measures that are being proposed in order to mitigate this impact on existing residents, are highly unlikely to have any real impact. Were the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system to be found financially viable and regardless of the BRT route ultimately chosen, the system will inevitably have to run on roads that are already congested. There is little if indeed any confidence in the output of the HCC Transport model and indeed, the “assumptions” on which it is based, remain both unclear and are considered potentially flawed. (ie: the assumption that only 2% of Welborne traffic will go North on the A32 towards Wickham!)

B)  AIR QUALITY – The importance of Air Quality as an issue, is now increasingly recognised and the further congestion on both the M27 and local road networks, caused by Welborne (and also the 6,000 additional houses that FBC are planning elsewhere across the Borough), will only serve to exacerbate this problem.

C)  FLOOD RISK – The fact that a Flood Risk Assessment has at long last, been conducted for Welborne is welcomed. In the absence however of any real detail as to the design of the SUDS system(s) and equally importantly, the responsibility for their maintenance in the long term, then it is difficult to have any real confidence in the assurances that “Surface Water Run Off” to the Rivers Wallington & Meon will not increase beyond current levels.

D)  M27/JUNCTION 10 – Clearly this is a key element of Welborne infrastructure. It remains unclear however, as to whether making this Junction “All Moves” is fully funded, whether the design has been approved by Highways England and indeed whether the recent Southern Gas Network (SGN) concerns regarding the encroachment of the proposed “Meadows Roundabout” on the Gas Pipeline can be adequately addressed.

E)  HEALTH CARE PROVISION – Despite the issue of Primary and Secondary Healthcare (GP and QA Hospital provision respectively) having been raised many times with FBC over recent years, there has been very little if indeed any, assurance from the local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG’s) and responsible Health Trusts, that they can accommodate the additional housing numbers that FBC alone, are proposing (let alone whether QA will be able to cope with the future demands being placed on its services, by the huge increase in houses being planned within the QA Catchment Area). This may not be a “Material Planning Issue”, but quite clearly these are issues of fundamental importance to existing Residents and ought be taken equally seriously by FBC. Please be in no doubt, that it is FBC who agreed to the PUSH derived Housing figures and it is FBC who will ultimately be held accountable for the subsequent consequences of having done so.

F)  VIABILITY/INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION – Much has been written on this subject in recent years and clearly the Welborne Phasing Plan needs to be written, not just in robust terms, but also in such a way as it clearly identifies who precisely is responsible for what. In particular, I am reminded of the unequivocal assurance given by the FBC Leader who is on Public record as having said: “Not a brick will be laid (@ Welborne) before the infrastructure requirements have been properly assessed, costed and the funding guaranteed” (“In Touch” - Summer 2011)

Clearly the viability of any major development proposal such as Welborne (Calling it a Garden City/Town/Village, is frankly both immaterial and totally irrelevant – it will, shamefully, destroy almost 1,000 acres of Open Countryside!) will be heavily impacted upon by the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) - which for Welborne, had previously been agreed as being “Zero Rated”. The very fact that BDL are now having to seek clarification as to this status, perhaps speaks volumes as to the absolute immaturity of FBC’s so called “Welborne Plan”.

David Walton


Flooding Mitigation Project

Having identified the preferred Option which is costed at £1.15M and established that Central Government would only provide £480K, the challenge set to the Environment Agency (EA) and ourselves is to address the funding shortfall, some £672K.

The EA are mandated to follow a “Partnership Funding” approach when addressing such funding shortfalls and have in recent months submitted funding applications to a wide range of different Organisations, the result(s) of which will be known in the next 6 months or so. As it is clearly to the benefit of our Members, WVCA have agreed to contribute £10K towards the project, which has the additional benefit of providing “leverage” and demonstrates to a wider audience that we are contributing ourselves.

HCC (Highways) have recently agreed to (but have yet to implement) the fitting of an additional Drain to the Flood Defence Hump on the S Bend@Lowlands, which will restore the integrity of the Hump and in late April, work began to repair the damaged riverbank wall immediately downstream of the 5 Arch Bridge.

David Walton


Open Forum

Post AGM Tuesday 6th June 2017

The Chairman invited questions from the floor:-

Lighting

The effectiveness of several lights in the village is being affected by overgrown foliage, notably at the footbridge over Wallington Way and at Hinckley Path. FBC are aware of the former and will deal whilst the latter will be brought to the attention of the property owner.

Cleanliness of footbridge

The steps on the footbridge are in need of a clean. It will be raised at the Walk Round. (ACTION: SM)

Refurbishment of Notice Board at Wallington Bridge

The board has still not been refurbished. Obtaining the correct Perspex has been a problem. It will be sorted as soon as possible. (ACTION: CS) The board at the hall also needs to be refurbished. This job will be put on the list of jobs to do at the hall. (ACTION: CM)

Cutting of Watermeadow for fete

Discussion about cutting just sufficient of the meadow to facilitate the fete and leave the rest to encourage the growth of wild flowers. Agreement with Standard Life about conditions for using the meadow and including once-a-year cutting makes any change in the situation unlikely.

Painted roundels on the roadway

Repainting of worn 20 mph roundels will be carried out later in the summer.

Poo bins at and around Wallington Bridge and the footbridge

It was agreed that three bins are necessary in that area i.e. one near the post box, one at the bottom of the steps over the footbridge and another (extra) on the Fareham side of the footbridge. Members were encouraged to e-mail FBC to ask for the extra bin. Councillors will also pursue the matter. (ACTION: KT)

Discarded gloves from the petrol station

Discarded gloves are blowing into Wallington. The manager at Sainsbury's has been approached and he says that staff have been told to pick up any loose gloves. This a matter for Sainsbury's and FBC.

The Hall Manager brought the meeting up to date with the plans for the refurbishment of the kitchen beginning at the end of July. He is aiming for the minimum of disruption.

The meeting closed at 9.00pm.