Dear villagers,

This is my latest two monthly newsletter, posted week commencing 12th. March. The next one will be posted during the week commencing 23rd. April 2007 and may, of course, be my last one!

District and Parish Council Elections May 3rd. 2007

Just a reminder that if anyone wants to be nominated as a candidate for either District Council or Parish Council elections they should contact the District Council's Electoral Services department on 01730-266551. They will tell you the procedure you have to go through to get nominated. Nominations close at noon on Wednesday 4th. April. You will need 10 people to sign your nomination papers, so as there is a bit of work involved don't leave it too late.

It is not necessary to be a member of a political party to seek election to the District Council. The Parish Council is not organised along political lines at all. There is, therefore, plenty of scope for those who prefer to be independent.

The District Council organises briefings for those who want to know what is involved and the next one will be held on the evening of Thursday 22nd. March. These are excellent events. Venue to be confirmed, just ask Electoral Services.

Philips House

Significant design changes have been incorporated into the new building to reflect concerns from residents, the Parish Council, the Grayshott Society and myself. I think it's a huge improvement and I'm satisfied that the result is an acceptable compromise.

Highway Matters

The hole at the junction of Headley Road and the A3 has mysteriously opened up again having been repaired by Surrey C. C. The entire repair has been swallowed up into a hole that looks even bigger than the previous one and I suspect there is a nasty structural failure below the road surface. I am in contact with Surrey C. C. to look at this again.

Grayshott Primary School

During the week commencing 12th. February, Grayshott Primary School held their Book Week and some local residents were asked to read to some of the classes. I was privileged to read to Purple and Green classes on Friday 16th. What struck me was how attentive and well read they were. Each class had the chance to ask questions after the reading and the children were thoughtful and articulate.

On the same day we had a presentation of recycled puppets. All the children were asked to make puppets out of recyclable materials to improve awareness of this important environmental issue. The puppets were fantastic and showed immense skill and creativity by the children and possibly the parents as well!

What a huge credit the schoolchildren were to Mr. Hills and all of the teaching staff. The school is something for us all to be proud of.

Grayshott Cricket Club

I met with the Chairman of the Club and the Youth Team manager on 26th. February. The club is thriving and particularly impressive is the rapid growth in women's and girl's cricket in Grayshott. I'm pleased that most of the players from all of the squads do come from the village or nearby so it is still a local village team with a focus on the local community and the club management intend to keep it that way The club is also improving its equipment with nets, bowling machines and so on and is also trying to improve the ratio of coaches to players.

This is another village institution that deserves our support. In their case, their success is proving to be a challenge and they are beginning to outgrow the current cricket pitch. I am helping as best I can to locate an additional pitch and if anyone can help out with land or suggestions, please let me know and I will pass on the information.

Police

I must say that in our part of the world I find that the Police are making all of the right decisions. On 1st. March I visited "East Hampshire's Top Cop", Chief Inspector Phil Kedge who is based at Alton Police Station. Hampshire Constabulary have reorganised themselves along local authority boundaries. This is a great move for two reasons.

First it means we can get crime data for our administrative area so that local Councillors and residents can see what is going on in their neighbourhood. Second, it means that you and I have someone to go to for our complaints and suggestions. In my case, specifically, as Leader of East Hampshire District Council, I now have a senior officer responsible for policing an area that corresponds to the area I manage in local government. This provides an improved democratic input to the Police and of course makes them a little more democratically accountable than they were.

On top of that, I found Chief Inspector Kedge to be a very creative officer with some radical ideas for improving his accountability to local people. He has established a Safer Neighbourhood Team structure at EHDC's office at Penns Place which includes, for the first time, uniformed officers. This team are there to listen to problems put by you directly, or via your local Councillor and they will work with the rest of the force to provide answers. Ch. Insp. Kedge has promised that progress on complex queries will be updated every two weeks.

I have also been assured that the vacant positions for our local Beat Manager, (a Police Constable) and our Sector Sergeant will be filled shortly. The bad news is that Hampshire Constabulary were caught by surprise by the funding cut back for PCSOs, having recruited up to the target they were given previously and now find themselves over strength. I made it clear to Ch. Insp. Kedge that he can keep his hands off our Jim Leggatt! I'm sure he will.

Arthritis Care Grayshott

Arthritis Care celebrate their Diamond Jubilee this year, in June and the Grayshott Branch will be part of the celebrations. I was pleased to attend the AGM of the Grayshott Branch on 6th. March and found it to be extremely well attended, around 30 to 40 I would say.

Arthritis is a terrible disease, affecting 9m people in this country and yet the cause is unknown and there is no cure. It affects people of all ages, including children. The organisation both nationally and locally does wonderful work helping people come to terms with the disease, teaching them pain management techniques and offering companionship when mobility becomes difficult.

This is another Grayshott organisation that is doing wonderfully well and has earned our support for its fantastic contribution to our community.

Grayshott Village Website

I'm sure you've seen that this has been nominated for best website in Hampshire. You can help Peter Hatch and the whole village win this prize by logging on to the link on the front page of the website and recording your supportive comments.

and finally...

I was very sorry to see in Parish Scene that Dr. David Barrett is standing down from the Village Hall Management Committee. David has been associated with running the Village Hall for as long as I can remember and we all owe him a huge debt for his tireless effort. His legacy to Grayshott is one of the most successful Village Halls in Hampshire. Thank you David.

It looks like I have a gig at the Grayshott Social Club with my band "Undercover". Although final arrangements are still being made this is something I'm really looking forward to. We'll be playing ten good old rock 'n roll numbers! It will be Tuesday evening, 24th. April and I hope to see you there.

A little earlier, on Easter Monday, I'll be car racing at Goodwood in the members' sprint with my race car, a Global GT Light. In unofficial practice I have broken the members' lap record so I'm hoping for an interesting day. Last year 3000 people turned up and if you can make it I'll show you around the car and offer some photo opportunities for your children. Or you!

As usual, if you have comments, agree or disagree with me, please contact me on 01428-609858 or on Fcowper@aol.com

Best wishes,

Cllr. Ferris Cowper
EHDC Councillor for the ward of Grayshott and Leader of the Council