I’m pleased to report that the momentum is growing behind many of the action priorities identified in the Community Plan and some of the highlights are as follows:

Flood defences at Admiralty Quay

We ended up with a good spirit of co-operation between the District Council, Parish Council and Marchwood Yacht Club who were all committed to resolving this long running issue. The flood defence proposal was approved by the District Council cabinet on 2nd April and contracts/leases have been finalised and agreed. Work is expected to commence in June.

Waterside access

Funding in support of this project has been gratefully received from the National Grid and Marchwood Power to support an upgrade of the pathway to the west of Admiralty Quay and to address the need for robust litter bins, dog bins, benches, signage and planting improvements to improve the visual quality of this attractive part of Marchwood.

Following a number of unfortunate incidents, this initiative will incorporate notices to remind fisherman of their responsibility to dispose of excess equipment safely. Implementation is planned to link in with flood defence work so that the project is completed in June.

Improved air quality.

Plant visits last year to the waste water treatment plant followed up by Junior School letters to Southern Water suggesting that they needed to improve performance met with a positive response. As the warmer months are approaching, please keep a watchful nose on the waste water treatment works and report any increase in unacceptable odour levels to the Parish Council office.

Youth development project.

This was the number one priority raised through the Community Plan, so we have now re-established the Youth development project steering group under the chairmanship of Alan Shotter. The group includes young people representatives and firmly intends this time around to bring this important project to a successful conclusion.

The proposal to replace the dilapidated scout hut on Lloyds Recreation Ground has been approved by the Charity Commission. An initial outline design has been developed with kind support from the Oceanic Estates architect to help us decide what we actually wanted and has provided a base for the design brief.

That brief has been circulated to a number of potential architect partners and meetings are currently under way to determine the preferred partner. The next steps are to develop funding proposals.

Transport projects.

Lorry ban consultation project

Following extensive lobbying, this key priority has been confirmed as the second action priority in this years County Council work plan for our area.The consultation process for the options identified will take place in September.

Safe access to Marchwood Infant school

Following on from strong campaigning by Alison Hoare, as an interim measure, installation of new bollards on the A326 crossing at Twiggs Lane have been included in this years County Council work plan.

Speed of traffic

Speed Indicator Devices (SID’s) have recently been positioned in Hythe Road and have confirmed that the pattern of speeding traffic was unacceptable. As a result, more frequent police speed checks will take place in the coming months.

Melanie Wathen is leading on this project to further develop locations of additional SIDs. We intend to use the results to inform considerations for number/placing of speed limit signs and other actions as appropriate.

Transport strategy implementation group

The big problem with transport issues is that they often cost a lot of money and are very time consuming to bring to a conclusion. For example, the lack of any footpath cycle way connections between Marchwood and surrounding communities could take 3-5 years to complete.

In addition footpaths within the village, particularly from the village centre to Twiggs Lane are also considered inadequate. To give us some support over the longer term, we have identified and agreed that the Hampshire expert from the national footpath and cycleway organisation SUSTRANS will work with us to help achieve these important changes.

A transport strategy implementation group made up of the representative from community organisations in Marchwood met for the first time on 24th April at the Infant school and key priorities for action were identified. Anybody interested in becoming involved in this group should contact the Parish Council office.

Waste management projects.

Responsible dog ownership
See the report from Colette Cockeram elsewhere in this publication

Household waste recycling

The NFDC recycling road show display unit has been booked to appear at the fete on 12th July. There are a range of materials and support services available from NFDC and will be used to support an activity program for the project for the summer.

Business waste recycling and energy cost management

Hampshire does very well in household waste recycling, but gives little attention to the subject of business waste recycling, where in fact the majority of recycling materials are generated. Marchwood has an opportunity to build relationships with businesses on the Industrial Park to take a lead on this subject.

The Sustainable Business Partnership for Hampshire has constructed a research paper for us to use in the project. The District Council are encouraging and have some support services available that could be made available to us. To further support this initiative, the Environment Centre has included Marchwood in an EU bid for funding to support free business energy audits for businesses on the Industrial Park

Litter
See the report from Colette Cockeram elsewhere in this publication

Crime and disorder and night time safety.

Both of these action priorities raised in the plan have gone a long way towards being addressed by the appointment of additional police and PCSO resources in Marchwood.

So, there’s quite a lot going on towards implementing the action priorities arising from the Community Plan.

Hopefully this short summary has given you a snapshot of the project’s activities currently under way.

If you have any questions or would like to become involved in any of these action programmes then please let me know.

You can reach me on Phone: 07785 732336 or Email: alan_stevens@talk21.com

Alan Stevens.
Community Plan coordinator