Whiteley Town Council

News for November 2024

Author

Nicki Oliver
October 30, 2024

Whiteley Town Council

News for November 2024

Contact Town Clerk Nicki Oliver

tel 07961 213750

Whiteley Town Council serves the Winchester District area of Whiteley, maintaining Meadowside Recreation Ground and the numerous play areas.  The Town Council will also be managing the woodlands, sports pitches, allotments, play areas, open spaces and community centre in the new development in due course.

Town Council meetings

All are welcome to attend council meetings which are held in our offices on the first floor of Meadowside Leisure Centre.

Meeting dates are on the council’s website along with agendas and minutes.

November meeting dates:

7.15pm Monday 4th November Full Council

7pm Wednesday 13th November Committees

A note from Chairman Mike Evans

The delivery of 3500 new homes, two primary schools, a secondary school and supporting infrastructure including major highways work is both challenging and a significant upheaval for many new and existing residents.

On behalf of Whiteley Town Council I would like to thank you for your continued support and patience. I can assure you that the Town Council is working tirelessly with the relevant authorities and the development consortium to ensure the delivery and ownership of the community infrastructure which includes sports pitches, pavilions, community centre, children’s play areas, allotments and areas of recreational open space.

Integration of the new and existing Whiteley is a priority for the Council and to assist with this process we have recently recruited a Community Safety Officer, a  Community Development Officer and a Communications Officer, to work alongside Nicki Oliver our Town Clerk. Further details are contained in this newsletter.

Finally,  the governance for the North Whiteley Forum has recently been passed to the Town Council and our aim is to encourage participation from residents. Meetings will be held in person three times a year and minutes produced. Further details to follow shortly.

Meet the Town Council staff

All the council’s staff work part time but will respond as quickly as possible during their working hours.

Town Clerk Nicki Oliver

Town Clerk Nicki Oliver manages the day to day running of the council and its facilities. You are welcome to contact Nicki if you have any questions about life in Whiteley.

Contact [email protected] tel 07961 213750

Community Safety Officer Sarah McCulloch

Community Safety Officer Sarah McCulloch is out keeping our community safe and building relationships with schools, our young people and the wider community.

If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to contact Sarah.

Follow Sarah on her Facebook page Whiteley CSO

Contact [email protected] tel 07863 036714

Community Development Officer Katie Mattingly

Community Development Officer Katie Mattingly has just joined the council and will be working with residents in the new development to deliver new initiatives, events and activities to support the growing community.

Communications Officer Leah Scott

Leah is managing the council’s social media presence and communications to improve residents’ access to local information. Leah has made a great start and the reach and engagement on our Town Council Facebook page is increasing rapidly. If you have a Whiteley event or small business you would like to promote please get in touch.

Town Council events in 2024

Whiteley Fireworks Sunday 3rd November 2024

Sunday 3rd November 4-9.30pm Fireworks - Ticketed event

Christmas Lights Switch On 5pm Sunday 7th December 2024 Meadowside Recreation Ground

Father Christmas will be arriving by horse and carriage to switch on the tree lights, craft activities for children and refreshments will be available. Cornerstone School will be performing during the event.

Saturday 7th December 5-6.30pm Christmas lights switch on - Free event

Plans for a new secondary school

The Town Council is delighted that plans are progressing for a new secondary school for Whiteley which is due to open in September 2027. The Town Council wants Whiteley children to have the opportunity to attend secondary school in their own community.

At a recent meeting with Hampshire County Council’s school planning team the Town Council raised the following issues:

How will the s106 requirement for community use of the sports pitches be enforced and managed?

 Is there is adequate parking for community use of the sports facilities?

Concern that there’s no drop off zone and only space for 90 bikes.

Residents’ visitor parking spaces have been used in the calculations for available parking.

Overall the Town Council is very pleased about the school plans but has concerns about priority community use of sports pitches, parking and traffic congestion at drop off and pick up times.

Botley Bypass

Many Whiteley residents are held up at the Pinkmead junction on their way to and from work.

Funding has been approved to complete the Botley bypass which will include a roundabout at this junction. Work is due to start in the spring of 2025.

Meon Valley Foodbank

Thank you to Cornerstone CofE Primary School who make regular collections for the Meon Valley Foodbank as do our local volunteers

If you are in need of short term help with food and basic household supplies a confidential referral can by made by our Community Safety Officer Sarah McCulloch

Contact [email protected] tel 07863 036714

The Town Council has agreed to make a grant of £750 to Winchester Citizens Advice for the 2024.25 financial year. In 2023 Winchester Citizens Advice helped 118 Whiteley individuals with more than 450 differing advice issues.

To contact Citizens Advice use this link https://citizensadvicewinchester.org.uk/get-advice/

Home Start Hampshire

The Town Council has agreed to make a grant of £1,500 to Home Start Hampshire 

Home-Start helps families who are experiencing difficulties in their lives by providing well trained volunteers to give support and friendship. Volunteers work on a one-to-one basis with each family.  It costs £1,300 to support a family for a year.  Home Start has trained volunteers in Whiteley and has helped a number of Whiteley families during the last year.

Whiteley Youth Club

The Town Council has agreed to make a grant of £400 to Whiteley Youth Club. The Youth Club runs from Whiteley Community Centre in Gull Coppice on Friday evenings during term time.   The grant will help pay for an additional youth worker to enable the club to offer additional youth club spaces for Whiteley young people.

For more information contact [email protected]

Whiteley Health Walks

Winchester City Council works with Community First to offer weekly heath walks in Whiteley. If you would like to join a walk meet outside Meadowside Leisure Centre at 2pm on Wednesday afternoons.

If you would be interested in running a health walk please contact Calum Drummond [email protected] 

parkrun

Whiteley parkrun takes place at 9am every Saturday morning on Meadowside Recreation Ground. New participants and volunteers always welcomed.

Issues the Town Council are pursuing in the new development

Transfer of Allotment 1 to the Town Council - legal work has begun; work on Allotment sites 2 & 3 has started and should be completed by the end of 2025. The legal work to transfer the sites to the Town Council has begun and is waiting for the developers to action.

Transfer of the play areas and green infrastructure to the Town Council - legal work has begun and is waiting for the developers to action.

Transfer of the sports pitches and changing pavilions to the Town Council - work has begun on the first pitch site and a planning application for the north east site is expected soon.

Establishment of a temporary community building managed by the Town Council - some delays with this but the building is in place and expected to be made available in the coming weeks.

Completion of Footpath 9 which provides pedestrian and cycle access to Cornerstone School - complex technical issues have recently been resolved. The legal work is almost complete and a start date is awaited. It may not be until the spring of 2025 due to weather and ground conditions.

Parking restrictions on Bluebell Way and around Cornerstone School - proposals for parking restrictions on Bluebell Way have been agreed with the developers and the Town Council awaits their installation.

Clearing the completed green spaces, balancing ponds and Whiteley Way of builders rubbish - there has been good progress and completed areas are now subject to a maintenance programme undertaken by the developers.

Installation of additional bins - three extra roadside bins have been installed in Whiteley Way and Curbridge Way. The developers have completed the installation of bins in the southern section of the development and the bins for the northern area have been ordered.

There is interest in both the northern and southern retail centres and it is hoped that buyers will be secured shortly.

Allotments

There are four allotment sites planned for the new development; Allotment 1 has been completed and we are pleased to say that the legal work to transfer the site to the Town Council has begun! There’s no time scale for completion at the moment.

Allotment 2 is expected to be ready for transfer to the Town Council at the end of 2025. A contractor has been appointed for Allotment 3 and work has begun.

You can view the location of the four sites on this link

We are keeping a list of people interested in an allotment, if you would like to be added please use this link

When there is an update on the handover of the allotments we will arrange a meeting for those interested in setting up a management group.

If you would be interested in helping with setting up a community growing area at the temporary community building please contact Katie [email protected] 

Temporary community building

Katie checking out the temporary community building

The temporary community building has been installed in the northern area and it is hoped it will be available for use very soon.

Work on the permanent building is expected to start in 2025 and take around a year to complete.

Our Community Development Officer Katie Mattingly will be consulting with residents on what they would like to see the building used for. Please let us know!

Complete the survey here https://forms.gle/tEphdGZjwLZWDPM89

If you would like to use the building please contact Katie at the Town Council [email protected]

Open space and junior football pitches

The football pitches and allotments on the north west edge of the development are making good progress. Following a recent site visit the developers have been asked to improve the proposed specification for the drainage to meet the planning conditions. Thank you to Winchester City Council’s Landscape Officer Stuart Dunbar-Dempsey for pursuing this as the Town Council has long term experience of poor drainage at Meadowside which is doesn’t wish to see repeated.

Phone signal in Whiteley

The northern mast sited in Campion Road is now operational, it seems there are some adjustments being made from time to time when the mast is switched off but its hoped the improved signal is noticeable.

£100 for residents of new houses to reduce car use

Could you be a Whiteley Womble?

Litter pickers, hi-vis and bag holders available if you would like to keep your neighbourhood tidy. Contact Nicki Town Clerk [email protected]