Councillor's Surgery May

Lynne and Sylke went to the May Councillor's Surgery and talked to Jim Maynard, one of our local ward City Councillors.

Play Areas – we talked about the skate park development and mentioned that it wasn't ideal that the MUGA (multi-games area) had not been moved first so that local teenagers would still have a place to go to for activities. We were told that with everything going on (Leisure Centre plans being under consideration and the skate park grant coming through), the Council had to act fast to a) not lose the grant money and b) to make sure the skate park wouldn't get lost completely in the Leisure Centre dispute. There is still a plan to set the MUGA up on the old putting green (area in front of the kayaking building) but this might take a while.

We reported that we had communications with a Council officer about the Abbotts Barton green space consultation (received an online link that we posted on our various web areas) and that households close to the green got a consultation leaflet to fill out.

Recent Council meetings – we asked if there was anything interesting to report from the recent Council meetings (Cabinet and Traffic and Parking) and were told that residents around the Courtney Road area (‘upper’ side of Abbotts Barton) should expect to get very soon a consultation letter regarding parking restrictions that should alleviate the pressure from commuter parking.
The Council also agreed that the 20 mph speed limit will be introduced in Winchester city centre and Hyde over the corporate year. But rather than being set up all at once it will be rolled out bit by bit.

Road Safety – we mentioned the traffic increase along Francis Gardens due to the blockage of the Worthy Road entrance to Abbotts Walk and the dangerous driving that is partly caused by there being no lines on the roads. This is tricky as the area is still a building site and Redrow is responsible for road markings until the County Council adopts the roads. It might be worth for residents to report this to Hampshire County Council nevertheless (you could email Fiona Mathers at Fiona.mather@hants.gov.uk). Lynne explained that there had been a request for lighting for the little alley way that leads from Francis Gardens to Worthy Road that had never gone anywhere, despite there being an accident some time ago that could have been avoided if there was light. Again, any improvement requests needs to be made to the County Council.

Community space – we asked whether the Councillors had managed to talk to the football club owner about us possibly having access to a room for community group meetings. This is being worked on. We mentioned that there seemed to be a lot more events recently at the club which have an effect on the community, not only by the traffic caused but also in terms of noise levels, and that it would be only fair for the club to give something back to the community.

Leisure Centre - Our ward councillors are still very keen to hear people’s views about where they would like to see a leisure centre: “Many options are being looked and if it is rebuilt there is an outside chance of Bar End and, though that may well not be possible, we would like to know what people think of that.” Please give them some feedback when they come round with a leaflet!


The next Councillor's Surgery will be Thursday 5 June!