The Chairman began by welcoming everyone, and thanking them for attending in such inclement weather. It was unseasonably cold and had started to snow

The minutes of the last meeting, having been circulated were taken as read, agreed, and signed by the Chairman.

Three new Councillors were co-opted and one new Chairperson elected over the last few weeks.

We were delighted to have three parishioners who put their names forward for one single vacancy following the resignation of Chairman Councillor Colin Edwards. Ian Worth was at that time elected.

Councillors Bob Gibbons and Mike Harwood were both coming under increasing pressure at work preventing them from fulfilling their role as Parish Councillors, therefore with two eager volunteers waiting in the wings, they felt that this was time to also stand down. Jim Pearson and lan Davidson were subsequently co-opted.

Mid-way through last year. Mary MacQuIlien. clerk to the Council tendered her resignation after 17 years in the post. Again we had three applications, and finally Pat Clarke was selected.

During the last year we dealt with approximately 35 planning applications. Byways and Westfield House were particularly contentious. At Westfield an important milestone was reached. The developer had to enter in to legal agreements with the Borough council to retain the hedgerow. A planning application for storage depot at Wash Water was eventually withdrawn, but as the review of the structure plan evolves, this and other areas will again come under pressure. It s important that we take an active part in the setting of the new Local Plan, working with Basingstoke and Dean Borough Council, as once it is submitted for approval, we can no longer be part of the process. However, there can be objections to the plan (mainly from developers)

The Council also made comments regarding the Sandleford Development which the Inspector has recently recommended to refuse. The development of 1800 houses would have had an impact on the Parish as a whole, and particularly for Parishioners living at Wash Water. We also supported the objection to the application for a distribution warehouse at Burghclere. It is important to recognise that what happens in adjacent areas will have a knock on effect and these effects have to be assessed.

The future of Highclere Village Hall has featured prominently through out the year. At our last Annual Assembly, Ron Snipp gave an update on a potential plan to relocate the village hall to the previous site of Fawcettes Garage. At a separate public meeting, Madeleine Winter of the Planning and Transportation department highlighted issues that would need to be addressed and urged caution. This was then followed by a letter from Tony Curtis, the director of Planning and Transportation which raised important questions. Meetings have now taken place both with Community Services and Tony Curtis, and as a result, a new steering committee has been set up. This is lead by lan Sampson with Ron Snipp and lan Briggs representing the Village Hall Committee, Guy Appleby (representing Highclere Parish Society) and Bob Gibbons the Parish Council. It will be a lengthy process but the Parish will be kept informed of its progress.

Communication was high on the agenda following the publication of the results of the Parish Appraisal. As a council we are continuing to improve our communications and have placed a further additional notice board at Penwood, near to the old police house. The Highclere Web site, is an exciting initiative begun by Rod Chamberlain, and we will be placing minutes of meetings etc on the Website

At the last Parish council meeting a presentation was made by officers in connection with Village Design Statements. A village design statement allows the community to highlight the key features it feels are important. This may be the style of housing, its green spaces, hedgerows and so on. If adopted by the Council then it becomes an additional planning guideline for decisions on planning applications. It allows Councillors on the Borough's planning committee to put an application into a context. This is a document that will be produced by residents and will take a certain degree of effort. We hope that we may be considered as a pilot scheme whereby we will be given a grant of £1500. However, if we are not chosen as one of the schemes then it does not stop us from following through with it. Volunteers were asked to list their names.

Concern about highways continued to be a constant thorn in our side and the speakers for the evening - Tracey Webb and Graham Carter were welcomed. A site meeting took place last year with Tracey and another other colleague who saw at first hand the issues along the A3 43 and roads leading to it. For a "Traffic Calming" project to be possible, the Parish council has had to increase the precept to allow for part funding. Again residents will play an active role.

The PCC has requested that the Parish Council take on some of the financial costs associated with the maintenance of the cemetery. At the last parish council meeting a resolution was passed to enable this to happen and the PCC will submit figures each autumn to allow for costs to be accommodated in the precept.

We are lobbying the Borough Council to allow us to increase the number of members on the Council. To do this we have to be able to show that there is demonstrable support, and having had three people put forward for co-option is a start.

The council must consider other ways in which we can broaden our coverage. This may be, for example, having separate committees to consider specific issues such as planning applications, perhaps another group helping with communication through a newsletter. These committees would be a combination of councillors and non-councillors. Volunteers were asked to give their names to the Clerk.

Parish councillors both past and new were thanked for their hard work. Thanks went also to Borough Councillor Hedgeland who tries to attend as many of the Parish Council Meetings as possible.

Mike .Jenkins, the tree warden and litter wardens Mr Bill Bendle and Mr Colin Corral were also thanked for their hard work. Evelyn and Colin Edwards were thanked for providing the refreshments for the evening.

The Parish Council meetings take place on the second Tuesday of every month, and thanks were given to the growing band of people who have become regular attenders,.

Councillor John Wall began by expressing concern on the proposed government modernisation of Local Authorities. He felt it was an attempt at central control ignoring local opinion. The best way for a County Council to defeat these changes was to show how well it performed. Indeed H.C.C. had been awarded Beacon status regarding waste management, and applied the principles of "Best Value" to maximum effect. He commented that "Best Value" considerations although excellent in principle meant increased red tape and extra work without extra resources.

This year although the council had extra funds available for education, the increased numbers of pupils had swallowed this. Hampshire County Council was now finalising a launch of a new initiative for "Early years and the development of children".

Councillor Patrick Hedgeland said how pleased he was that councillor Mrs Sue Roberts had taken on the role of Parish Chairman and wished her and the new council members every success. He also thanked the Clerk, Mary McQuillen for all her help over the last two years

When elected just two years ago as a new politician Councillor Hedgeland had a very small manifesto. It contained only two pledges: -A commitment to defending the "Green Belt", and to make village views heard in Basingstoke. He joined the Planning and Transportation (P&T) Committee that tackles strategic issues rather than day to day planning applications, where work to produce a Rural Strategy plan was at a very early stage. The final plan has just been published after much public consultation The council staff worked hard as did the Councillors on the P&T committee. Basingstoke and Deane are the first district in the UK to complete a comprehensive plan and it has already won an award for its content and clarity.

His concern last year was "will the Rural Strategy have teeth?" -it does! There have been created a few real action plans with funding in place this financial year.

Highclere is to be considered as one of the three pilots for a Village Design Statement

We are also to be a pilot for a Tree Survey later this year

St Mary Bourne will be the location of the first Community Shop part funded by Basingstoke

Councillor Hedgeland then addressed the need for new housing in the area: About 1900 houses per annum for Basingstoke district would be provided mostly around Basingstoke itself and the other small towns with existing infrastructures. About 60% should be on brown fields, a bit of a problem in Basingstoke which has little old brown field sites. Also higher density social (and possibly private) housing would be built in some areas to reduce use of Green fields.

The next Local Plan covers a ten year period 2001 -2011 The last plan took nine years to finalise due to the massive consultation process! Recently Newbury's Local Plan failed to get Government approval for the 1800 houses on a green site on our border so they must go elsewhere. A good omen for conservation Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council will review the existing plan and consider but not necessarily make small adjustments. For parishes like Highclere these might include but are not limited to for example:

Only very rarely are a small number of new housing sites earmarked in villages because most growth comes from "windfall development usually in gardens within a village that the national planning law permits whether the council or its residents like it or not.

In summary He did not think that Highclere was likely to see much change from the Local Plan Review

Many other things going on included a bus study in St Mary Bourne

As John Wall said there is a new approach to evaluating each service provided called Best value. For example Basingstoke has a waste collection service with many extras that is held up as a national beacon, best in class, but it is more expensive than many. Does that represent the best value or would parishioners prefer basic and cheap? Best Value questionnaires are being distributed now.

Also there is a root and branch re-organisation of local government that is causing much concern to all Councillors as it appears to be likely to result in more central government control as County Councillor John Wall had mentioned. Parishioners will be asked over the next year or so to contribute to the debate on which sort of council structure we should adopt in Basingstoke. This could be an executive mayor as in London or a leader with a cabinet and no committees.

With the arrival of the photographer from the Newbury Weekly News a surprise presentation was made to the retiring Parish clerk, Mary McQuillen. The meeting was her last function as Parish Clerk after more than 17 years in that office. She was presented with a bouquet of flowers and gardening gift tokens for her retirement, together with an album of "well wishes" from past and present councillors and friends. Mr David Evans paid tribute to Mary and gave her a miniature gavel and block made from Village Hall floorboards.

Mary thanked all present and said how much she had enjoyed her role as Clerk. She wished Mrs Pat Clarke, the new Clerk well for the future.

Parish Council accounts for the year ending 31 March 1999 were presented and accepted. Copies of the accounts had been distributed.

Highclere Charity Accounts were presented and accepted. Copies af accounts had been distributed. As in previous years the interest on the accounts had been used to donate tins of biscuits and Christmas Gifts to discretionary recipients, and an annual educational payment to Woolton Hill Infants and Junior schools.

Mr Chris Buckingham on behalf of the Parochial Church Council gave a short presentation. Records show that 160 years ago the cemetery was referred to as "Gods Acre". A further acre was granted by the Earl of Carnarvon approximately 80 years ago. The cemetery is now virtually full and more land has been offered by the Earl of Carnarvon. This land unfortunately is waterlogged and will cost a considerable amount to make it into a fit condition for use. He stated that although the Cemetery not being adjacent to the Church was a burden cost-wise it was indeed a very tranquil spot. An increase in size would also mean an increase in maintenance costs. With an electorate of 1200, just £1.00 per head would fully support the Cemetery maintenance.

Mr Ian Briggs distributed copies of the first draft of information which was presently available on the website. He explained how it will be compiled and developed. He asked how many parishioners had Email addresses and it was interesting to note approximately 25% of those present already did so, and they were encouraged to contribute to the website, and supply their addresses to Ian.

Mr Mike Jenkins outlined the need for a tree survey to identify those trees within the parish which were considered important enough to be protected.

He explained that tree preservation orders were expensive but that a list produced from a survey could prove just as effective. Mr Peter Bigby, the forest warden supported this, and appealed for volunteers.

Mr Ron Snipp asked parishioners if they could add to the "Project 2000" which the Highclere Parish Society had undertaken. The Society had arranged an excellent display for this evenings meeting and their history section which has regular meetings was always looking for more input. Their records were now being kept on computer.

A parishioner commented that the Parish would have more costs maintaining the existing cemetery if closed, together with providing a new cemetery; rather than maintain the existing cemetery with an extension.

Mr Graham Carter, Group Engineer for Traffic Management introduced himself and Miss Tracey Webb. He explained to those present that the Local Government Act of 1997 had given Parish Councils the power to investigate the management and control of traffic in their area, and that Hampshire County Council have spent a great deal of money already in assisting Parish Councils with Traffic Calming. Hampshire County Council had put aside £2000 to match £2000 collected by Highclere Parish Council through the precept, and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council was also expected to provide a further £2000. He also emphasised the need for the right schemes in the right place. A village could also be spoilt with ugly signs.

His colleague, together with Tracey Webb had already done a walk-about and Miss Webb reported their findings to the assembly:

A parishioner asked the question why Hampshire did not use fixed police cameras and was told that they believed a mobile speed detection unit caught more offenders. The meeting was amused when the parishioner conceded that indeed his own daughter had been caught speeding in such a way. PC Axtell said that he was always amused when the same locals who petitioned for lower speeds were themselves caught speeding.

Another parishioner asked if rumble strips could be used, but others present strongly objected to that idea.

It was then recommended by a parishioner that we accept all the recommendations put forward by Miss Webb and move forward as soon as possible.

Mr Rod Chamberlain addressed the meeting and congratulated all who voluntarily worked hard on behalf of the parish.