Here is my newsletter for the week commencing 13th April, on schedule. The next newsletter should be posted during the week commencing 8th June.
Annual Parish Assembly
This is always an excellent event and again congratulations to Grayshott Parish Council for organising it so well. As usual over 80 people attended making it consistently the best attended meeting of its type in East Hampshire. The main speaker is always well chosen and on this occasion JonHills, Head Teacher of Grayshott Primary School, was in sparkling form.
As ever there were some very good questions from the villagers present which makes the meeting an important part of our local democracy. Too often I hear from other areas that residents “never see” their parish or district councillors. However, in Grayshott I don’t think that is the case and the Annual Assembly is an important part of that continuing dialogue.
Planning Matters
The most recent controversial planning application was for a mobile ‘phone mast from O2 to be located just behind Grove House where Tesco is located. When I discussed this at the Parish Assembly I commented that it had generated more letters of objection than any other Grayshott planning application in my experience as your councillor.
These applications are hard to resist. I’ve written a short “Planning Primer 5” below to explain why. However in this case I had a brainwave when I learned that the mast was to be relocated from St. Edmund’s School because the school no longer wanted it there. One of the very few grounds for withholding consent is that the mobile ‘phone company have not considered all alternative locations. Immediately it occurred to me that the mast could have been repositioned just a few yards from St. Ed’s on the public highway of the A3. Officers confirmed that this location had not been considered by the applicant and so a decision was deferred while the officers discussed this with the applicant to se if that might be a less controversial location. As I write, this debate is still ongoing.
After a very long and thorough consultation period I was very pleased to see the Phillips House application approved by EHDC. It is expected that work will commence later this year. The delay is to allow the land that is to form part of the new building to be vacated by the existing tenant. Together with the Beech Hanger End development this will add housing for 13 people from Grayshott’s housing register and so I hope the size of the list will fall into the high 20s having been in the mid 40s this past year or two and getting larger.
Please note the planning application for housing at the rear of the Fox and Pelican, which is being assessed by the Council’s officers at the moment.
The Greening Campaign
I am so pleased to see that a group of villagers and the Parish Council have taken up this campaign. It began in East Meonat the Sustainability Centre, (worth a visit by the way), which is within East Hampshire District Council’s area. The initial start up of the project, which is led by the Sustainability Centre under the management of Terena Plowright, was partially financed by EHDC and much of the roll out across the District has also benefited from EHDC funding and officer support.
The reason we are so supportive is that the campaign offers a practical way in which everyone can make a personal contribution to improving the environment and mitigating climate change. It doesn’t require anything that is too onerous or inconvenient and in my opinion one of the key advantages is that its common sense approach means we can all, quite easily, introduce these measures into our daily routines as a habit.
Please give the Greening campaign your maximum support.
Planning Primer 5
This one is on mobile ‘phone masts. There are two types of technology, conventional masts where the alleged health risk is magnetic radiation and “airwave” masts where the alleged heath risk is the low frequency of the signal pulse.
At present Airwave masts, supplied exclusively by O2, are only used by the emergency services. Their objective is to provide members of these services with the widest possible coverage to improve emergency response times. The health objections to Airwave concern the low frequency pulse which is alleged to cause cancer to those exposed to these pulses more or less continuously within 800 yards of the mast. Occasional or passing exposure has little or no known health issue. It is possible for a planning authority like EHDC to refuse permission for these masts if there are residential premises sufficiently close. However, legal opinion is that such a refusal is of questionable legality. To date the problem has not arisen in Grayshott, although I did mount a campaign against an Airwave mast elsewhere in the District and the Council was swayed by a barrister’s opinion that refusal would have been illegal. To this day I am certain the barrister was wrong.
Conventional mobile ‘phone masts are much harder to refuse. The Government requires that all such masts are covered by a certificate of safety called the ICNIRP certificate, (International Commission of Non Ionising Radiation Protection). If a mast is covered then the Council may not refuse permission on health grounds. It is often said that having such a mast nearby has positive health benefits to users of mobile ‘phones because the radiation from the ‘phone itself is highest when masts are distant and the signal is weak and lower when the mast is near and the signal is strong. Despite this there remains controversy over these masts and the view of the British Government is not shared by several other European governments.
Any mast may be refused on aesthetic grounds and so appearance and location are relevant. The proposal for Grove House, however, could not be refused on these grounds because a pole was proposed which was slim and short, about the same size as a flagpole. As flagpoles do not require planning consent, EHDC could not have sustained refusal on grounds of appearance.
Lastly a decision can be deferred and ultimately can become a refusal if the statutory procedures for applying for a mast have not been complied with. The applicant must consult with the community and must demonstrate that they have considered all possible locations for the mast and that the one proposed is the least offensive. It was on these grounds that I secured a deferral for the Grove House mast.
This is a complex area so I hope this primer has helped with the general principles. The detail of all this is mind numbing I assure you!!
Grayshott Social Club, Tuesday 5th. May 8.30pm
This is a big day for me. For the first time ever, I am bringing both of my bands to Grayshott to perform a two hour “spectacular” at the Social Club. Undercover play driving rock and roll and 12 bar R&B, but intersperse it with the occasional complex slow number like Black Magic Woman, (Santana). The Beagles play a more relaxed “country” rock in the style of bands like The Eagles and Credence Clearwater Revival with Hotel California being one of our most popular numbers. The standard of music is good with several semi pro musicians in the two bands, the only drawback being the drummer of course!
The local connections are strong. Undercover feature me and Paul Barnett from Grayshott , lead singer Kevan Pegley from only just over the border in Haslemere and my daughter Laura on Alto Sax. My attempt to get Moray Thomas to sing with us failed on this occasion due to his commitments with the Diocese, however he has promised to perform with us next time!
It’ll be a fun night and we’d love to see you all there.
Recent Events
I thought the public consultation on ideas for The Square was very well managed by the Parish Council and volunteers from the village. This is obviously one of the most important projects in Grayshott’s recent history and we all need to let the organisers know our views on the proposed design.
EHDC will, I’m sure, be pleased to provide a good slice of funding assistance and I’ve been nudging the Leader of the County Council to try and ensure they come up with the large grant they have intimated may be forthcoming!
Like many of you I was entranced by Karl Jenkins’ Stabat Mater put on by Grayshott Concerts on 14th. March. It was another fabulous evening and it’s clear that Grayshott is establishing an important place for itself on the musical map of the South East.
I was pleased to visit Noel in the new café at the Post Office just recently and carry out a photoshoot with him for the local newspapers and EHDC’s community website. EHDC contributed cash to the venture and, of course the grant of planning permission, so I hope the extra publicity helps to build business for this exciting new village venture. Noel told me they might be doing cream teas in the Summer and I know many people who will travel long distances for a good cream tea; luckily I’ll be able to walk there and waddle back.
Recently I have met with the Bishop of Guildford, Bishop Christopher and also the Chief Constable of Hampshire, Alex Marshall and I took the opportunity,(as I always do in these situations) to promote East Hampshire and Grayshott. Bishop Christopher may be sending one of his Deans to the area later this year and I also hope to persuade Alex Marshall to visit the village when I meet with him in a few weeks.
….and finally,
..I’m pleased to say that Laura and I won the winter karting endurance championship and so have added several more racing trophies to our growing collection. Once again, I’ll be in the SE region’s Formula 6 championship this summer, with Laura and also racing my car in two major championships, one of which, the BESCR championship, (pronounced BESCAR), will feature on Sky Sports 1.
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Laura in our kart winning the final round. We race as number 49 because that was the year I was born!
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Our house extension work will start in mid May but I don’t envisage any disruption to my service to you as District Councillor, (he says optimistically!).
Don’t forget May 5th!!
As usual, if you have any comments, please write to me at fcowper@aol.com or call me on 01428-609858.
Best wishes,
Cllr. Ferris Cowper
EHDC Councillor for the ward of Grayshott and Leader of the Council
