It's Rambling Time Again

Next Wednesday sees the first of Whitchurch Ramblers evening. Starting with an easy 2.5 miles.

Meet at Bell Street Car Park at 7pm on 2nd April, with stout walking shoes and a camera. Full details are at www.whitchurchramblers.org.uk.

Borough Council Elections

Both of the Town's Borough Council seats are to be contested on 1 May 2008. The Publication of Notice of Election is Thursday 27th March and completed nomination papers can then be returned until noon on Friday 4th April 2008. Apparently political agents have already been sent nomination papers.

The statement of persons nominated will then be published from noon on Tuesday 8th April and copies of the statements will be put on noticeboards throughout the borough and then on the web.

More information from [email protected] or 01256 845264. As at today there is no information at all on the subject on the BD&BC website.

Whitchurch on TV

The Potato Days held earlier this year featured on BBC TV's inside out on Friday 21 March. If you missed it you can still download the video until 28 March here.

The Day is featured in the last 10 minutes of the programme but took a team of 4 a whole day to shoot!

Cheaper Shopping in Whitchurch

This website's price check might not be as comprehensive as those seen on TV but large organic eggs in Asda and Tesco are currently £1.98 for 6 and £1.50 in John Dennett's!

Large free are £1.35 for six compared with £1.45.

Support your local shops!!

Better Service in Whitchurch

The Town Centre dentist is now under new management and open for longer hours. The business is now called Whitchurch Smiles and is open every weekday 9am - 1pm and 2 - 5pm, plus Saturdays by appointment.

There is also an opportunity for more patients to register on 01256 893968.

Micheldever Houses Again

The builders, whose application to build 5 houses on the plot currently occupied by no 87 was rejected last September, have lodged an appeal.

There were 5 grounds for rejection:

• The proposed development would be out of character with the established pattern of development and would be contrary to the Hampshire County Structure Plan and the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Local Plan
• The proposed development would adversely affect existing boundary hedgerows, again contrary to the plans above
• The proposed development would adversely affect the landscape character of the area , again contrary to the plans above
• The proposed development would give rise to unsatisfactory building relationships with existing properties giving rise to unacceptable levels of overlooking and overshadowing, again contrary to the plans above
• The proposed development would lead to an unacceptable increase in traffic which would adversely affect highway safety along Micheldever Road and the junction of Micheldever Road and Winchester Road, again contrary to the plans above.

The developers claim that they had discussed all the above points with planners prior to the application and they had recommended approval.

Full details are here, if you have an opinion then why not put it on the Forum?

More services in Whitchurch

Men and boys can now have a haircut in Whitchurch 7 days a week. Taylor-Made Men's Grooming is now open everyday so there's no excuse for a lack of male sartorial elegance in the Town.

The barbers is now open from 10am to noon on Sundays and 10am to 4pm on Mondays, in addition to late night opening on Wednesdays.

Traffic in Whitchurch

The Town Council and Borough Councillor's traffic plans seem to have been thwarted by County Council officers.

The erection of £3,000's worth of warning signs would seem to be fairly pointless if motorists' reaction to those put up recently are anything to go by, see item below.

The suggestion that a roundabout might slow traffic also would seem to be a waste of money if my observations are anything to go by. The traffic slows, not because of any street furniture but because of the parked cars between the Weir and The Harvest Home. A mini roundabout would remove those cars, leaving the road clear (presumably for those who would like to continue their speeding as they approach the centre of Town from the A34 or leave the Town even quicker than they do now!) .

Station Parking Raised in House of Commons

Sir George Young is continuing his campaign for more car parking at Whitchurch and other local railway stations.

During a transport debate in the House of Commons he asked: "Does the minister agree that a major constraint on the capacity of the rail network is the capacity of station car parks? "Will he have urgent discussions with Network Rail and South West Trains with a view to increasing capacity on the Waterloo to Salisbury line, so that more people who want to travel by train off-peak can do so?"

He was told that while the Government accepted that enhanced car park capacity encouraged more people to use the railways, parking facilities were a matter not for the Government but for local authorities, Network Rail and, occasionally, the train operating companies.

Item from Andover Advertiser

Bulletin board is back!

With apologies to all for:

• the absence of the board for 11 days
• the loss of previous posts

The board is now back and is here!

Update is Published

The March edition of Update, Whitchurch's quarterly community newsletter is being distributed to every home and business in Whitchurch. You can download a copy here.

Under New Management

The Beehive Farm shop is now being managed by Sue and will soon be renamed The Village Bakery. There's a wider range of freshly baked bread and cakes and it's open from 8am - 2.30pm Mon - Sat.

New on offer are freshly made sandwiches to order , which Sue can deliver to cater for business meetings, plus hot drinks and snacks. The phone number remains 892431.