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Parish Council Statement

Hambledon Parish Council has been approached by a concerned resident wanting to know if it is responsible for an anonymous document that has been delivered to some households in the village expressing opinions about the new planning application for affordable homes at Orchard Farm.

The parish council is NOT responsible for this document, which is headed “Briefing Note to Local Residents”.

The resident has contacted the parish clerk to express concern that the document appears to be biased, is not on headed notepaper, and is unsigned and unsolicited. The resident adds that whoever is behind the document should have the courtesy to sign it.

In response the clerk has reassured the resident that the document has nothing to do with the parish council. The council is currently considering the application and has informed Waverley Borough Council that it will comment on it once it has the opportunity to discuss it at its next monthly meeting in early April.

Details of the application have already been posted on this website and can be found here

http://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?p=10886

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Local Council Elections on May 2nd. Do you want to be a councillor?

Local council elections will be held on Thursday May 2nd, and anyone who wishes to stand as a councillor must register to do so with Waverley Borough Council.

The elections are for borough, town and parish councils and potential candidates can register from this Friday March 22nd until 4pm on Wednesday April 3rd.

Nomination papers are available from Waverley Borough Council and, when completed, must be returned to the council by hand at a booked appointment time.

Full details can be found at https://www.waverley.gov.uk/elections2019 By following the links you can download a registration document and read more about what is involved.

A news item can be found here https://www.waverley.gov.uk/news/article/474/nominations_open_for_2_may_council_elections

 

 

 

 

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HAMBLEDON CHURCH – CAN YOU HELP SECURE ITS FUTURE?

If Hambledon is to have a new vicar and secure a future for its village church then money must be raised with the help of the local community and its residents.

The challenges facing St Peter’s Church and its continued ministry to the village were outlined by Simon Taylor, rector of the joint benefice of Busbridge and Hambledon, and Andy Dunn, treasurer of Hambledon church, at a packed meeting at the village hall on Thursday evening (March 7th, 2019).

In a rallying call for financial support, Andy said: “We are appealing not just to members of the congregation but to those who value the presence of a church in our village, but who may not wish to attend there regularly.”

Hambledon has not had a vicar since Catherine McBride moved to a new parish in October 2017. Although it was intended that she would be replaced, several obstacles stalled the process.

Mervil Bottom, the church house in the village, suffered severe water leaks when empty during the following cold winter and required major repairs and renovation. And the parlous state of the church’s finances meant that the Diocese of Guildford questioned whether it was feasible to appoint a new minister.

It costs £120,000 a year to fund St Peter’s with a vicar, but the income is currently just over £80,000.

The biggest single outgoing is £30,000 that St Peter’s has to pay to the Diocese. Second is the £28,000 salary to the vicar, which rises when tax and pensions are added. Then comes maintenance of the church, churchyard, Mervil Bottom and insurances.

Money raised from events such as weddings goes directly to the Church of England and not to the parish church.

The only money that comes to the church is from the Sunday collection plate, Gift Aid, standing orders and donations from generous benefactors and a small grant from Hambledon Parish Council.

In asking for people to consider making financial pledges, Andy said: “If we want to recruit a vicar, we must find £120,000 a year which is significantly more than our current income. The Diocese will only appoint a new minister if we can demonstrate that we can afford it now and for the next five years.”

Continue reading →

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NEW APPLICATION TO BUILD AFFORDABLE HOMES AT ORCHARD FARM

A revised planning application to build affordable and market price homes at Orchard Farm has been submitted to Waverley Borough Council by the English Rural Housing Association.

The new application is seeking approval for a scaled-down development of seven affordable homes together with two bungalows to be sold on the open market.

The previous ERHA application, submitted in 2016, was for 17 homes – 12 affordable and five open market. This was rejected by Waverley councillors in May 2017.

The ERHA went to appeal but this was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate in June 2018.

The new application was made public on the Waverley Borough Council website on Monday (March 4th, 2019). A deadline of March 29th has been set for comments.

The new development, if approved, would occupy the area of previously developed land at Orchard Farm, Wormley Lane, where various outbuildings currently stand. Five of the new properties would be for affordable rent and two for shared ownership.

Under the revised scheme the original farmhouse, which was to have been demolished, will be retained, renovated and sold on the open market. This does not form a part of the new application.

Paddock land, which was to have been gifted to the village as open space under the previous scheme, is now excluded from the application and is not a part of the latest proposal.

Orchard Farm is within the Green Belt and the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the ERHA application will need to demonstrate that the land may be considered as a rural exception site.

The application can be found here:

http://planning360.waverley.gov.uk/planning/search-applications?civica.query.FullTextSearch=Orchard%20Farm%20Hambledon#VIEW?RefType=GFPlanning&KeyNo=332587&KeyText=Subject

Hambledon Parish Council, which held its monthly meeting the day after the application was published, had no opportunity to consider the application in detail. Its next meeting is April 2nd, after the comment deadline.

Therefore, the parish council resolved to request an extension to the comment period in order to examine the proposal in detail and to hear any comments from villagers before responding to Waverley Borough Council.

People with connections to Hambledon and who fulfill ERHA criteria will have the opportunity to apply to be considered for the affordable homes if approval is given to the development. The parish council can comment on the application, but it is for Waverley Borough Council to approve or reject the proposal.

The ERHA website can be found here:https://englishrural.org.uk/

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Hambledon Midsummer Festival 2020 – Save the Dates

It’s only 15 months until the 2020 Hambledon Midsummer Festival. It was big enough last year to be seen from outer space and someone arranged for the Google Maps satellite to pass overhead on fete day to prove it. Click on the image below for a larger view of The Cricket Green on fete day 2018.

Plans are afoot for 2020 and the dates have been set, the Festival will take place on the weekend of Friday 19th to Sunday 21st of June 2020. Get it in your diary.

While you’re doing that here are some other dates for your diary:

  • Poetry, Music and Comedy with Ian McMillan & Luke Carver Goss at Hambledon Village Hall – Friday April 5th 2019
  • Hambledon Shop End of Summer BBQ – Saturday 31st August 2019
  • Hambledon Christmas Dance – Saturday 7th December 2019

The Calendar on the Village web site attempts to provide the dates of all the events going on in the village, if you know of an event that is missing from the Calendar then please send details to the web team.

 

Fete Day 2018

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St Peter’s Hambledon Electoral Roll

The electoral roll of people who wish to identify with St Peter’s Hambledon is currently being revised. The old one is dead and buried, according to church rules we have to start anew!

The roll is open to anyone interested, not just church goers, so please do apply. Spare copies of forms are available in the back of the church, open during the day. They will also be available in the Hall on Thursday evening, 7th March, at the public meeting. Please leave completed copies at the back of the church, or hand them to Mary Parker.

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2700 vehicles a day using Salt Lane – sign the Petition

New traffic data has shown that 2700 vehicles a day use the East-West route of Salt Lane and Markwick Lane.  At peak time that is 337 vehicles an hour.  Commercial vehicles make up an average of 28% of those vehicles. At peak times 45% of all vehicles are vans, lorries or HGVs. That is 28% higher than a year ago.  This 7 mile rural route is unsuitable for such a volume of traffic and is increasingly dangerous for road users.  The environmental impact is not to be underestimated either.

Sign the petition!

A petition has been created to get Surrey County Council to take this issue seriously and consider measures to combat the environmental and safety factors.  If more than 30 signatories can be noted within the next week (by 8th March) then the Councillors will consider this issue at the next Surrey County Council’s Local Committee meeting on 22nd March.

Please do sign up here:

https://petitions.surreycc.gov.uk/Ratruns/

You can also find out more information, photographs and the traffic data for Salt Lane /Markwick Lane here.

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Parish Council Holds Talks Over Village Speeding Concerns

Hambledon Parish Council has held talks with Surrey County Council highways engineers and Surrey Police road safety officers in order to press home its case for measures to reduce the speed of traffic through the village.

At the same time, it also raised concerns about road safety at the Hydestile Crossroads and along the narrow Salt Lane and Marwick Lane, already a rat-run and likely to become even more of a danger if and when the approved new homes are built at Dunsfold Aerodrome.

It emerged that Hambledon is unlikely to get a 20mph speed limit through its centre – which some villagers have been asking for – as neither Surrey County Council or Surrey Police have any evidence that speeding is a problem. And they do not have data to indicate injury accidents have occurred with any frequency.

Nevertheless, the parish council stated that there was anecdotal evidence to indicate speeding was an issue. The outcome of the meeting was that speed data recorders will be temporarily installed at key locations along Hambledon Road to measure traffic speed.

However, the council was warned that this exercise may demonstrate that there is no significant speeding in the village, despite perceptions. And severe budget restraints may limit or exclude any steps that could be taken to implement traffic calming.

It was also suggested that Hambledon could consider implementing its own community speed watch. Police would provide villagers with approved speed detection devices. Drivers of vehicles caught speeding are sent warning letters.

The council has been investigating whether a 20mph speed limit could be introduced in the centre of the village, and in particular in the narrow section outside the Merry Harriers pub and the village nursery school, both of which have expressed support for traffic calming measures.

Parish councillors Mary Grove and Stewart Payne secured a meeting with Surrey County Council and Surrey Police.  Only SCC has the authority to approve road changes and reduce speed limits, and only Surrey Police can enforce the limits.

The meeting took place on Tuesday (February 26th) and was attended by Adrian Selby, senior SCC highways engineer, Graham Cannon from Surrey Police road safety traffic management office and PC Steve Milford, casualty reduction officer. Councillors Grove and Payne and Julie Fleney, parish clerk, showed them around the village and highlighted areas of specific concern.

Mr Selby had previously written to the parish council stating it was “extremely unlikely” that Hambledon would meet the criteria for lowering the current 30mph limit in the village centre. He also stated that SCC data did not indicate that any “particular safety problem exists” and that he was not able to recommend any engineering measures such as changes to road surfacing or road narrowing.

Despite this, Hambledon Parish Council has persisted and the meeting provided an opportunity to show SCC officers around the village and to discuss its concerns face-to-face. Continue reading →

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Scam phone calls

A few Hambledon residents have recently reported scam phone calls and suspicious emails.

Here are a few common ones and what to be wary of:

Suspicious phone calls:

1 “Your internet is about to be cut off” – you receive a call with an automated voice saying it is BT or your ISP (Internet Service Provider ) and that your connection has been compromised and they will be cutting you off.    They invite you to press a key on your phone to stop the action… which will then put a significant charge on your phone bill.

Solution: put the phone down and ignore.   UK ISPs do not act like this – it is a scam.

2 “Your computer is behaving badly and has malware or a virus” – this is known as the Indian Call Centre Scam and has been happening for 10 or so years.  A person with an Indian accent with a name like Mike or Sharon will say they are calling from Microsoft, Windows or BT and state they have evidence your computer is infected and behaving strangely (not an unusual observation).   They will then try to demonstrate how they know by directing you to a file on your Windows PC that looks strange.  So far everything they will have said is a lie but they are playing on fears that Windows PCs are vulnerable ( which they are ).   To remove this “dangerous” file they suggest one of two solutions (the scams).    Continue reading →

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Hambledon Village Hall Management Committee presents an hilarious evening of comedy, poetry and the creation of a mini-musical all about Hambledon!

Performed by poet, comedian and broadcaster Ian McMillan and composer and musician Luke Carver Goss.

For a fantastic evening and to create the musical, we need you there! Don’t worry, though, any audience participation will be entirely voluntary!

Friday, April 5th  7pm for 7.30,  Hambledon Village Hall

Ian McMillan ‘the Bard of Barnsley’ has his own show, The Verb, every Friday night on Radio 3, celebrating the spoken and written word. His many television and radio appearances include:

* Being a castaway on Desert Island Discs   

* Have I Got News for You     * Countryfile

* Pointless Celebrities            * Pick of the Week   

* Regular appearances on many other Radio 4 programmes and BBC breakfast.

Luke Carver Goss is an accordionist and composer. His music includes commissions for symphony orchestras, rock bands, musicals and theatres.

Tickets will go quickly as they have a big following but as the show will be largely about Hambledon we’re hoping to fill the hall with as many Hambledonians as possible.

Tickets £12.50 available at the village shop or online through Eventbrite. Simply Google ‘Hambledon, Ian McMillan’. Online tickets incur a £1.50 booking fee per ticket.

The performance begins at 7.30. Doors and bar open from 7pm

 

 

 

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Hambledon Village Shop needs you!

Hambledon Village Shop (http://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?page_id=5225) is a busy, community owned village store, café and delicatessen run and staffed by an enthusiastic team of professionals and volunteers. The Management Committee are looking for one or more individuals to take on the full-time job of managing the shop, possibly as a job share. Ideally you will have retail and/or voluntary sector experience. You will take responsibility -supported by the assistant manager – for staffing, managing staff and volunteers, stock purchase and control, health and safety generally and particularly food safety. All within a tight budget. You will be a computer literate, hands-on person with good communication skills and attention to detail. You will also be able to delegate, to contribute ideas and to engage with the Management Committee and village community. You will be willing to work some weekends. Salary negotiable depending on skills and experience. Start date as soon as possible.  Enquiries to the Management Committee Chair; nicholasmassey@hotmail.com