a.      Bramley Youth Club report – Ed Ives-Wara was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting.  His report is available at appendix I.

Last year we reduced the precept tax on households, and in the coming year have yet again not increased the tax burden on the community.  We have supported many groups:

In addition, though Infrastructure funding, we have supported larger capital projects at Clift Meadow and the Village hall.  Cross House, remember we are here to when you need us.

WE have also continued our work with the Bramley Wilding Group across the Parish and will shortly begin work at the burial ground to wild the derelict area to the left of the path.

Allotments – some of us aged considerably dealing with Persimmon Homes, but we finally delivered the St James Park allotments to the correct standard.  Cllr Clin Shimell has delivered outstanding work to get up and running, and our thanks go to him.

We have responded to every planning application put before us; responses are on the Borough Council Planning Portal.  My thanks to all Councillors, especially those on the Planning Committee chaired by Cllr Chris Flooks.

Rework of the Neighbourhood Development Plan will begin soon under the Chairmanship of Cllr Alan Munday.

Councillors are unpaid volunteers and we are generally working every day alongside the Parish Clerk.

The Clerk, Maxta Thomas, is a vital part of our organisation.  The role keeps us lawfully on track and is responsible for recording our activities, keeping contact with other authorities, and managing our finances.  Another year with a clear audit stand testimony to our adherence to the fiscal rules that govern us.

Other Council roles are filled by the following:

·         Planning Committee Chair – Cllr Flooks

·         Neighbourhood Plan Chair – Cllr Munday

·         Allotments & Burial Ground – Cllr Shimell

·         Clift Meadow Trustees representative – Cllr Capel

·         Village Hall Trustees representative – Cllr Oborn

·         Wilding Group liaison – Cllr James

·         BDBC Ward Councillor and Environment Cabinet member – Cllr Tomblin

·         Events and Planning – Cllr Bell

·         PC Chairman, BDBC Ward Councill, and jack of all trades – Cllr Durrant

We receive funding from 3 key sources:

·         The precept, collected via the Council Tax from householders

·         Borough and County Council grants

·         Community Infrastructure Levies on developers in the Parish

The latter two come with strict rules on their use, and the precept, whilst regulated, is used to support volunteer organisations within the community via the grant process.

Parish Councillors work hard for the community and our current happy band of Councillors are exceptional, and we should all be grateful for their efforts.  We are often accused o not doing things that we are not responsible for.  We do try to educate and point residents at the correct authority, be it County, Borough, Parish of even Government via our MP.  We do not respond to abusive and antagonistic comments on social media.  We thank those residents who leap to our defence when the occasion arises.  We are and will remain transparent in our dealing with and on behalf of the community.  If you want to know something, please just ask us.

I know your councillors want and look forward to serving our community in the years to come

Income – all income other than CIL income continues at a steady rate.  The precept to households was not increased in 2023-24, and this will continue into 2024-25.  We saw a slight increase in the Litter Warden and grass cutting grants from the Borough Council, and we expect this to continue into the new financial year.  Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding has provided the Parish with another £65k to spend on infrastructure projects in the parish.  As stated last year, Bramley PC has a running ‘wish list’ of projects for CIL funding, and we have seen CIL expenditure on new air heat pumps at Clift Meadow, new chairs and tables for both the Clift Meadow Pavilion and Bramley Village Hall, and the new goalposts at Clift Meadow.

Expenditure – this is up by around £20k on last year, primarily due to the set up costs of the St James Park allotments, and the installation of a new noticeboard at Vyne Park.  We’ve seen an inevitable increase in expenditure on grounds maintenance as our contractors have put up their fees, and we expect another increase in the next year.  We continue to make full use of the £1000 Parish Lengthsman funding from Hampshire County Council, and have again spent Parish Council funds in topping this up as necessary.

As the Chair has outlined, the PC has given just over £18,000 of grants to village organisations and those supporting Bramley residents – this is by far the biggest expenditure after administration and maintenance costs.  Of particular note is the hugely successful PPG Friendship Walks – these are aimed at bringing people together who might otherwise have issues with loneliness and isolation.  They meet every week to walk and then have refreshments in the Clift Meadow Pavilion, which is funded by Bramley PC.  We also continue to provide funding assistance to various Bramley events such as the Village Fete and the Fireworks.

For the coming year, the Council’s focus will remain on supporting the local community wherever possible.  There will be a focus on infrastructure projects due to further CIL funding.  The Council finances will be monitored closely, as ever, so that we may use our funds in the most cost-effective way possible to ensure value for money for the community.

I thought I would share my busy year with you from not only a local position but from the work across the whole borough.

My Portfolio covers:-

• Climate emergency and carbon net zero for council and borough
• Biodiversity, habitat and ecological emergency
• Rewilding and nature recovery
• New open space and parks strategy
• Reuse and recycling
• Clean air
• Sustainable travel

My work in Bramley – I work as a team with your 3 ward Councillors. Councillors Tony Durrant and Nick Robinson.

I serve on Bramley Parish Council and I have been busy with:-

Stocks Farm – reserved matters which are still within the planning department and having attended a meeting with the developer there were several issues and changes that I raised, both with them and our planners. We are waiting to see whether they have taken these requests on board..

Planning applications – throughout Bramley are a daily watching game with the continuation of speculative developers targeting our parish and those that are granted then become a case of monitoring the build out and the effects on Bramley’s daily life. I have raised several enforcement issues which thankfully have been resolved but would unfortunately not have been should we just stand back.

Battery Farms have been in vogue this year with a total of 5 (including the solar farm) located around the Frith. I am challenging the process as inadequate fire prevention and pollution controls are being offered. Then there is the choice of isolated places which will see large construction and delivery vehicles thrust upon totally inadequate country lanes.

Differences in resident’s views of developer / council buffer planting unfortunately continue with each party seeing things differently, causing disputes.

There are also cases of Land Grabbing that occur from time to time which are unfair, not lawful that have to be dealt with.

Bramley SINC – I am working with our council officers to finally sort who should be responsible for the SINC alongside the cinder track. Currently the MOD and Taylor Wimpy deny any responsibility. We are working on plans to resolve this

Sewage issues / Thames – I continue to work with the PC and take part in regular meetings with Thames to keep the pressure on delivery of solutions for the sewage flooding and capacity of the village.

Councillor Grants – Ward councillors gave a combined total of £4,000 across the ward but an additional £1000 for Bramley Speedwatch was held up by licence issues at HCC and was not allocated.

So this all keeps me busy in addition to the work of the council for our borough as a whole.

I’ll take you through a whistle stop tour of those activities…

Climate Change

2025 Council targets – We are projecting that we will have reduced our operational footprint by 80% (from 3500 tonnes to 700) by the end of 2025. Our carbon sequestration figures we estimated have been reduced by government recalculation methods as we all understand the science better which along with the delays in replacing the energy greedy council run aquadrome (responsible for 900 tonnes ) sees us project this potential shortfall but the end goal of net 0 delayed for the 4 years build out program.  However we are looking at many other options to make further reductions to reach our declared goal.

2030 targets – We, as all members of the council have pledged to get the whole borough to net zero by 2030. We need the help of each and every one of our borough residents if we are to achieve this target.

Electric Taxis – A scheme to provide grants to encourage local Hackney cab drivers to switch to electric “London cabs” has been approved which will reduce carbon and air pollution

HVO waste trucks rollout in April – This work includes the adoption of HVO fuel for refuse vehicles which reduces by 1200 tonnes. We are also taking part in electric waste truck trials for around town journeys.

Green Team – We have launched the Green Team who will help residents understand how they can contribute to carbon neutrality through better home energy use and also help biodiversity gains by what they can do in their gardens to assist. The team will make appointments to visit homes and make recommendations all as a free service.

Provide Photovoltaic panels – To our council owned community centres (approx. 14 would be possible out of 21 due to roof construction etc. – surveys are in progress)

Electric car charger points – We have rolled out installations to some 11 council owned sites this last year with another 5 sites this year. For on- street installations we working partnership with HCC. Non-appearance of Government grants has delayed this rollout but with funding from the council’s climate budget we should see phase 1 with 5 installations in Popley, Brighton Hill and Brookvale

This is not enough as whilst there is a steady reduction as houses are built better, industry has relocated and we are seeing a more decarbonized electricity supply we have to reduce at a faster rate as we could be nearly 900,000 tonnes off-target by 2030 and that is assuming that every new home built is zero carbon..

Biodiversity

Delivery of a Biodiversity strategy – March 2024 – In 2021, this council declared an ecological emergency which is important to the future wellbeing of our borough. We must ensure that biodiversity is protected and enhanced and that its decline is reversed. A key element is the production of this Biodiversity Strategy that sets out our vision, priorities and actions.

Biodiversity is essential for our existence and we are losing it an alarming rate. This year’s state of nature reported that the UK is a country that is massively depleted in nature and rapidly declining, even faster than scientists predicted.

We aim to provide the necessary leadership in helping arrest the decline of biodiversity and start the long hard climb toward recovery within the borough. The strategy sets out a number of objectives and priorities that will help us move forward with purpose and make a difference responding to requirements of the Environment Act 2021.

This Strategy sets out principles that provide commitments in our approach to biodiversity work moving forward. It also sets out a number of actions that will be developed as stand-alone projects to achieve our aims. This will mean that the strategy will be a living document that will evolve, based on emerging practices and regular monitoring.

BNG – Biodiversity Net gain – This is a statutory piece of work to encompass DEFRA’s requirement for all development to deliver at least a 10% Biodiversity Net Gain over what was on the development site prior to its construction. A clear document and councillor training program will take place

Funding for river Loddon pollution surveys – I have funded the study of sources of pollution of the   of our river Loddon

Community groups engagement – Greener Basingstoke and Natural Basingstoke (18 or so affiliated community groups – BDBC team coordinate their activities using our Ranger Team, and working with the Basingstoke Canal group to preserve what is left of the route of the old canal.

New open space and parks strategy –

• Land to east of Basingstoke development plan – Eastrop Park to Basing linking all of the areas into easy access green corridors whilst enhancing biodiversity. Currently applying for National Lottery Funding. This starts with an overhaul of Eastrop Park.
• Old Down Hatch warren – S106 monies to be used to preserve and enhance the site.

Clean air – No violations of limits currently – so we continue to monitor.

Greener town centre strategy will incorporate the use of green roofs and walls to enhance the air quality.

Reuse and recycling – The government department DEFRA has developed a simpler recycling strategy. This basically means we should be able to recycle as now but add plastic pots, tubs and trays. Food waste will be required to be collected by March 2026.

HCC are the waste disposal authority with BDBC responsible for collection. There are 2 main possibilities resulting from the simpler recycling – Co-mingled (all recycle materials together in 1 bin) vs Twin steam (all recyclables in 1 bin with 1 separate recyclable which currently is glass but likely to be cardboard due to its commercial value) – HCC are going to have to invest in a new materials sorting facility to separate all these recyclables as the existing old facility does not have the technology or space. Until it is clear which route is chosen and HCC build the facility, we do not know when this can be implemented.

However it has been demonstrated across other authorities that recycling rates are much higher (BDBC is in the high 20 % range with others around the 40% figure) and rates should increase with such a system. With food waste collected separately (as it can go for bio-fuel) then the contents of the residual bin are much reduced thus greater percentage of waste tonnage is recycled.

Local Plan – At Regulation 18 stage – consultation finished with nearly 5000 responses being analysed

The Standard Method must be used to calculate housing numbers but we developed a phased approach with 700 homes / year for first 5 years then the 850 figure.

Bramley takes 0 extra homes via neighbourhood plan as we have already over supplied to the plan requirement of 50 as we have had opportunistic developer sites given planning approval.

This year DEFRA have allowed a 4 year land supply now (4.2 years for us) for local plans at REG 18 stage. This means by us getting on with completing the local plan we can now benefit from protection against opportunistic applications and use our existing local plan policies on new applications or those that go to appeal.

We have worked hard on the many plan policies including requiring enhanced housing energy standards plus river policies to protect our 3 main rivers and we will require at least 10% BNG.

Sustainable travel – Work with HCC – awaiting results of consultation (July?) re potential cut backs in bus subsidies.

More cycle routes are planned – (just completed the Winklebury to town centre route ready for Manydown access)

And finally going forwards we have adopted the council plan

Council Plan – Enlarge the community care team to promote High Quality frontline services by 28 full time posts.

The Make A Difference team who will target borough council sites identified in need of tidying up/care.

Extra staff in our housing department to meet the increased challenges cause by the cost of living crisis.

Working with social housing partners on Winklebury regeneration (Buckskin and South Ham to follow) to revitalise homes and those communities

Deliver and develop out Manydown to the “Manydown standard”.

Focus on the continued and future success of Basing View along with our aspirations to introduce a university to Basingstoke and the links to a revitalised town centre.

Sports and leisure

Leisure Park refurbishment

·         Great Wolfe Resort bringing a £600K investment as a holiday resort hotel

·         A new Aquadrome that is better and more energy efficient.

Working with Basingstoke Football

Working on the future of Ice skating within the borough

A place where people can have pride in their communities and the borough

A borough where we protect, restore and enhance our natural environment

A council that delivers high-quality services for our residents

·         Cllr Vaughan continues in his role as the Chair of the Conservative Group for the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority.

·         HCC has allocated additional £14.2million funding to assist families in need with the cost of living through the connect4communites programme.

·         Future Services – HCC continue to look for ways of closing a possible £132million funding gap.  The Future Services consultation draws to a close at the end of March 2024, after which some difficult decisions will need to be made.

·         Household DIY waste charges have ended – From 1 January 2024, residents using Hampshire County Council Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) will no longer be charged for disposing of their DIY waste – in line with the Government policy changes.

Up to two 50-litre rubble bags, or one bulky item such as a sink or toilet pedestal, will be accepted            for free, at a maximum frequency of four visits over four weeks. Anything more than this amount            will be chargeable at current rates, as permitted by national legislation, to cover specialist disposal            costs. DIY waste can be accepted at all HWRCs in Hampshire except New Alresford due to its            restricted size. Customers must also be able to lift, carry and empty out their DIY waste.

·         County Councilor’s Grants – Cllr Vaughan has given financial support to the following in 2023/2024:

Sherborne St John- Social club revamp                   Silchester – Coronation celebrations

Bramley Clift meadow Trust- bench                        Hartley Wespall- Coronation celebs.

Pamber Memorial Hall- Rolls of Honour                 Sherfield – Reindeer Trail

Sherfield Church – café revamp                                Bramley magazine

Riding for the disabled.                                              Silchester Roman town fund

Ramsdell /Wootton St Lawrence speed indicator device.

Allotment and Burial Ground

Burial Ground – The Parish Council is responsible for the New Burial Ground whilst the Old (and closed) Burial Ground around the Church itself is the responsibility of the Church authorities.  For a number of years interments in the New Burial Ground have been limited to interments of ashes only, except those who have historic burial rights.  This is due to the high water table levels at the Burial Ground.

The area between the New Burial Ground and the Gray’s Meadow Allotments has been used as a collection area for rubbish from the burial ground but in recent years this has become a dumping ground for more and more rubbish including substantial tree branches, etc.  Clearance of this area has been undertaken by a contractor at significant cost.  Accordingly, we are looking at re-wilding a portion of this area whilst reserving an area for future burial needs since the current New Burial Ground is getting close to capacity.  Arrangements for rubbish from the burial grounds has now been written into the maintenance contract so the accumulation seen previously should not re-occur.

Allotments – The last 12 months has seen the site at St James Park coming into operation.  Whilst allotment holders were slightly later getting onto these plots than originally intending and thus missing the start of the growing season, most of them appear to have had a very successful first year.  During the year the material used for paths within the site by the developer proved unsatisfactory with a large percentage of the material being soil which quickly turned to mud in wet weather and allowed the growth of weeds on the paths.  To combat this and provide a reasonable surface which would not require chemical spraying to control the weed growth, the developer-provided path material was removed and replaced with limestone scalpings laid on weed-proof membrane.  So far this has been a superior surface for the pathways.

The allotments at St James Park coming into operation has vastly improved the waiting list situation.  Before they came into use the waiting list had over 40 applicants on it with some waiting since the early part of 2019.  At the date of writing this report (13 Mar 24) there are 11 applicants on the waiting list and the earliest of those yet to be offered a plot dates from Jun 23.

The outer meadow area has been looking better than ever this year thanks to the efforts of a large number of diverse volunteers.  Much of the outdoor space is kept tidy and trim by the Meadow Men, a small group lead by Trustees Nigel Alderman and Alan Matthews.  Grants from various sources have assisted in the supply of equipment that allows our volunteers to look after an ever wider area which this year includes regular trimming of the long hedge adjacent to The Street – usually a very expensive annual haircut.  The WI Garden, Bee Garden and Community Gardens continue to be looked after and developed bringing a splash of colour and interest to the area near the buildings – again our thanks go to the volunteers tending these spaces.

With things looking up the committee has started to look at planning for the future and to that end has drafted a multi-year plan setting out our strategy for improving our delivery of an environment for leisure activities.  We look forward to discussing this with the Parish Council this coming year and helping identify valuable projects that could be delivered using the Community Infrastructure Levy.

Although bookings are up this year, the income is still insufficient to cover our outgoings.  The Trustees have, as we do every year, worked on planning and running several fundraising events to balance the books.  Specific mentions are warranted for Trustee Jo Kemp-Williams who along with Christine Delve planned another excellent fireworks jointly hosted by Clift Meadow Trust and the Bramley School Association.  Our thanks also go to the dozens of volunteers who helped on the night!  The Fete Committee lead by Simon Gill are currently hard at work preparing for the 2024 event, we look forward to seeing everyone there on the 18^th of May.

Finally my thanks to all our Trustees for their dedication over the last year in furthering the aims of Clift Meadow Trust.

The Bramley Youth Team  have spent the year ensuring we are providing a safe place for the young people to participate in.  this can be from arts and crafts to quizzes, karaoke, bingo, laser tag, and more.

Over the year we have managed to purchase additional resources such as a bouncy castle, sports equipment, laser tag system and more.  This is thanks to the funding from Bramley Parish Council and from the donations of the parents throughout the year.

Each week the young people are so excited to see what new activities we have available.  We are so grateful for the support we receive from Bramley parish Council and the Clift Meadow Trust.

·         The new Village Hall sign was installed;

·         The floor in the main hall was refurbished in late July, funded by a National Lottery grant, and we now have a 15-year maintenance plan in place;

·         Solar panels are performing well and have achieved a significant reduction in electricity costs but gas consumption remains a concern;

·         Furniture in the Bramley Room was replaced, funded by a grant from the Parish Council;

·         Gardening and external maintenance was brought in-house and provided by a team of volunteers with the original name of the ‘Ground Force’, saving us several hundred pounds in costs;

·         We have established a closer relationship with Wilder Bramley with whom we are working to re-wild parts of the front grounds of the Hall;

·         Footfall by regular users and private hirers has increased during the year but there have been issues around late payments and some private hirers cancelling at short notice required a tightening up of payment procedures;

·         We have contributed to the consultation on the draft Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill aka ‘Martyn’s Law’ and conducted an early study of how this might work in practice for the Hall and its users.

Financial Position:

·         Although not yet at end of FY we anticipate turnover will exceed £50,000 and, depending on late payments and maintenance/utility bills, will leave us with a net balance of £3,000 to the good. At this stage, we estimate that our surplus will be on a par with our outturn in 2023. (This sum does not include grant funding for specific projects).

·         Our hourly hire rates were increased by 10% at the beginning of 2023; at present we have no plans to increase our rates in 2024 but will keep the policy under review.

The year ahead:

·         We anticipate continuing growth in footfall and a recent review has identified that we have sufficient capacity available across all spaces at the Hall;

·         The kitchen will be replaced in July/August this year and a new fire alarm system will be installed around the same time – we are very grateful to the Parish Council for the grant support for these two major projects;

·         We will continue to develop the role of volunteers in managing external garden maintenance and will continue to work closely with Wilder Bramley;

·         Replacement heating and air-con control panels will be installed in the next few months;

·         We will replace our external storage (the garden sheds) with a larger and more secure facility and upgrade the side access footpath at the same time.

For those seeking more, our Sunday services offer something for everyone, from the Book of Common Prayer (1662 edition) service to the contemporary Sunday@nine service which starts with coffee and pastries and has groups for children each week. Seasonal services attract many people who don’t usually attend church – we had 150 at our nativity service. The Christmas carol service and midnight service are part of many people’s traditional Christmas. The church is there for the parish community to use in times of joy (e.g. baptisms, marriages and school services) and also in times of sadness such as funerals.

St James Church holds the history of the village, as every generation for at least 700 years helps to maintain the church and help it to grow. We are grateful to many volunteers who help keep the churchyard tidy, the building well maintained and who contribute financially. No funds are received from the Church of England nor elsewhere to help pay for it all; we rely on the generosity of local people. In 2024 we will repair some of the external stonework and internal woodwork to the Grade 1 listed building. We are grateful to work with Wilder Bramley who have prepared a quiet area in the west end of churchyard. This has been constructed in a way to attract and support wildlife. The ‘Tree of Hope’ by the main door has been renewed this year with white ribbons available to remember (and pray) for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere.

The church continues to have a committed band of bell ringers. Some villagers will hear them practise on Tuesday nights and we have welcomed new ringers who are learning how to ring. The church hosted the District Guild’s annual service and meeting earlier in 2024. We are hoping to raise in the region of £50,000 to make the 8 bells secure for many years to come.

Cross House (the church hall adjacent to the church) is used by community groups as well as the church for events such as men’s and women’s breakfasts, with speakers on Roman Silchester and being creative with music. We have pancake races on Shrove Tuesday, Easter crafts, Harvest lunches and a Caribbean evening to name a few. There are plans to refurbishment Cross House, including a new kitchen. We have recently made the building available as a sanctuary: a place for pilgrims on the St James Way to stay overnight.

St James Church is very much part of the village community. We are involved with the village fete, open air songs of praise services and the vicar has even been a town crier giving the proclamations at Parish Council events. We are committed to maintain the production of the Bramley Magazine, which is produced and distributed by volunteers, many of whom are from St James Church. We are very grateful to the Parish Council for their support (including financial grants) of the magazine to help keep the village informed about all the exciting and interesting people and activities in Bramley.

We support our village Church of England school in many ways. Church members contribute as governors, with school assemblies, collective worship, RE lessons, staff training, church visits and school services in the church. Bramley School places the Christian values of compassion, friendship and respect at the heart of school life. The school passed its SIAMS (church school) inspection earlier in 2024.

We are planning a St James Festival in late July. The new Bishop of Winchester will join us for the Sunday services and the church will host a flower display and will be full of colour with decorative panels made by local people. Our dedicated team of flower arrangers keep the church looking bright and beautiful all year round. The church is there for the village, is open every day and welcomes all.