Dear villagers,
Here is my latest newsletter for the week commencing 28th January. The next one will be published during the week beginning 24th March, just after Easter.
Grayshott Toilets and Police Office.
You will have read about the fantastic Gold Award in previous editions of this newsletter and on Grayshott.com and so it was no surprise that I was asked to meet up with a senior council officer and BBC Southern Counties Radio to do a story a couple of weeks ago. This project seems to have caught the imagination of the press which continues to keep Grayshott “on the map”, although I suspect in this case the motivation is to find the latest witty headline!
Grayshott Youth Club
As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, the Youth Club has been given a grant of £2,000 by EHDC to help relaunch it and that award was covered in the local press last week. I went down to the cricket pavilion with members of the youth club and Cllr. Philip Drury who is the chairman of the Community Forum for the north east of the district council’s area, for a photo call. It’s important to keep other councillors fully briefed on our programme in the village and the wide range of activities because the village receives a lot of grant money from the District Council and other agencies.
Grayshott Concerts
January has been a real media month for Grayshott, it seems. Peter Harrison in his Grayshott Concerts capacity gave a superb account of the achievements of this excellent organisation to the aforementioned Community Forum earlier this month. The substance of his presentation was very kindly reproduced by the Herald and Messenger newspapers in recent editions and can be viewed on grayshott.com. I encouraged Peter to give this presentation because too often councillors only hear from community groups when they want money! Offering up gratuitous briefings without the begging bowl goes down well with my colleagues because it gives them the chance to express genuine interest or concern without prejudicing the grant request. Best of all, when the grant request does come around the committee are well disposed to consider it.
I recommend this approach to other local community groups and I’m happy to advise and assist with such presentations.
Roads and Traffic Management in Grayshott
There are so many pending requests to the County Council for various alterations to the roads and traffic situation that I think the time has come to try and co-ordinate what the County are doing. Like most governmental bodies, in my opinion, they work best in projects rather than responding piecemeal to a large number of uncoordinated requests. Looking at what is on the list we have significant proposals such as a one way system around School Roadand Whitmore Vale put forward by the Parish Council right down to line of sight problems at junctions in Glen Roadfrom worried residents. Some of these requests have been around a very long time and seem to be going nowhere.
As a result I’m meeting with the County Council’s Area Director for highways to go through the list that I have in my possession to try and create a properly funded, properly prioritised improvement programme for the village. The meeting is at the end of February. I have already sent a private note to the Grayshott Society and the Parish Council to tell them what I am doing but if anyone else feels strongly about an important highways or traffic management matter that has not been raised before, please let me know and I will do my best to include it.
I visualise that there would then be village consultation on the proposals. I’ll keep you posted.
HGV Sign.
I know several people were upset at what has happened so I asked the County to provide the up to date situation. Here is the County Council officer’s short report; “Dear Ferris, Further to our recent conversation I've managed to identify the lamp post on which the sign is to be erected. It's no.1 and is located about 3m further along Whitmore Vale from the current position. Apparently this has the approval of the Grayshott Society but if you have any concerns please let me know. Alan.” I hope that is useful information.
Car Parks in Grayshott
In response to neighbour concerns I have arranged for the fencing to be replaced along part of the Glen Roadcar park.
Recently part of Crossways Roadcar park was occupied by contractors vehicles and other works associated with excavation at a neighbouring property. Unfortunately this type of activity is contrary to the bye laws and is illegal. However the District Council tries hard to work in a helpful way in these situations. Provided people ask for permission in advance, it is usually granted. So, if anyone else wants to occupy part of one of the car parks for other than normal parking purposes, please let me know in advance or contact the Parking Supervisor at Penns Placeand we’ll do our best to help.
….and finally
some of you were amused to see me popping up in The Times newspaper just before Christmas in my musical capacity. You can still see the online version here http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3085068.ece with the most bizarre photo of me yet taken!
As usual, if you disagree, agree or just want to get in touch over a local matter, please email me at fcowper@aol.com or call me on 609858.
Best wishes,
Cllr. Ferris Cowper
EHDC Councillor for the ward of Grayshott and Leader of the Council
