Informal meeting, 20th May 2021

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Parish councillors are hosting a drop in online session this Thursday evening from 7pm-8pm on Zoom. We would like to invite residents to attend to give you the opportunity to talk to us about recent concerns raised about how deemed consent has been granted for a barn at Lone Barn Farm in Church Lane.
If you wish to attend then please use the link below to log in. The session will start at 7pm but feel free to drop in any time until 8pm when the session will close.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89251334128
Or by telephone: 0203 481 5240 using meeting id: 892 5133 4128
Following the drop in session, councillors will separately meet informally to discuss any action they wish to take. Holding meetings at the present time is proving extremely difficult and frustrating. We are not permitted to hold formal council meetings remotely at all now and we also have some councillors and residents who are understandably concerned about meeting in person. If members of the public attend a remote informal meeting, it may be considered a council meeting which would leave any decisions made open to challenge and potentially run the risk of those decisions being deemed invalid.
The other reason why we have decided to arrange the meetings this way is that whilst we are able to hold face to face meetings, we must also balance public safety and think about restricting numbers. This could mean that some residents may not be able to participate in a formal face to face meeting meeting should we hold one in the village hall as, if we reach capacity, we would have to turn people away. This does not sit well with us and we want to give anyone who wishes to speak the opportunity to have their say.  We have also considered holding a meeting outside but the weather forecast is currently awful for the remainder of this week and would make any meeting very difficult.
We do hope that you will drop in to talk to councillors on Thursday if you have concerns but equally do pass on any comments by email. Importantly, we must bear in mind that the site owner does have permission to proceed with building a barn but it is the method by which this has been given that we will be focussing on.

Greatham Amicable Charity

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Greatham Amicable Charity

Did you know that you can get financial help from Greatham Amicable Charity if you live in Greatham and are struggling financially? To find out more please read the flyer here:

Allotment Charity Flyer

SDNPA Refuses Planning Application at Liss Forest Nursery Site

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The SDNPA Planning Committee met in March to discuss their response to the proposed development of 37 houses on the Liss Forest Nursery Site. The proposal was unanimously rejected and you can watch the discussion here. The discussion about Greatham starts at approximately 16 minutes in to the video.

SDNPA refusal of Liss Forest Nursery Site

 

Defibrillator Update

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The defibrillator has been placed back in the cabinet on the outside of the Church Rooms behind St John’s Church today. It has new batteries and pads and is in full working order.

We have been aware of some criticism on social media that the defibrillator was removed last week without informing residents. Defibrillator batteries last approximately 5 years so the unit has not had to be serviced until this year. The Clerk correctly removed the unit in order to do this and informed the ambulance service that it was currently out of action. This is the correct process so that when a resident dials 999 they are automatically directed to the next nearest defibrillator should they need to access one.

The ambulance service advised us that the defibrillator, which was purchased some years ago by the old parish council, was not registered with them at the time of purchase. This means that the emergency services have not known of its existence to use in an emergency. The good news is it will now be registered and also automatically added to the Save a Life app.

The defibrillator will be moved shortly to a new location at the Village Hall with a new cabinet as the existing one needs replacing. The cabinet will have a keypad system in place and if you dial 999 after someone has had a cardiac arrest, the ambulance service will give you the keypad code so that you can access the defibrillator.

Every community defibrillator needs to have two guardians whose details are held by the ambulance service and whose role it is to ensure the defibrillator remains response ready at all times. This involves checking the active light and battery life regularly and reporting any problems to the Clerk. The Clerk will have the overall responsibility for being the main liaison point with the ambulance service should there be any issues.

If you would like to take on the role of guardian please email the Clerk at

Reporting Crime

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Greatham Parish Council recently took part in a meeting with our District Councillor Phillip Davies at our local Police office in Bordon over several matters that local residents were concerned about it became apparent that people are not reporting crimes to the Police. People don’t like to bother the Police who they know are busy.  People have told us they are not always sure who to call when they wish to report anti-social behaviour and other forms of crime so we thought it useful to explain here how and when to report.

As with any organisation, public or private sector, resources are deployed where they are most needed. if there are no reports of crime or anti-social behaviour the Police will not adjust resourcing to meet demands that are not there. When local councillors are working to try and solve anti-social behaviour it’s difficult for them to engage with partners including the Police if crimes haven’t been reported. Please always report anti-social behaviour and crime. Don’t leave it to someone else. Reporting crime will help your councillors and the Police take the right action to help you and the wider community.

When and who to report things to?

When you have a crime or other situation you feel should be brought to the Police’s attention, such as anti-social behaviour, you can either report online on the Hampshire Police website – https://www.hampshire.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/ or you can phone 101. You can do both twenty four hours a day seven days a week. Where you phone, your call  is answered by the Police. Examples of what you might phone 101 with are thefts you may have discovered overnight from your car or damage to your fence or anti-social behaviour such as litter, graffiti or late night noisy neighbours. It’s important the Police are told when you discover this so they can ensure the right actions are taken including referring to agencies that can help and prevent escalation.

Phone 999 when a crime is happening right now such as a burglary or an assault so the Police can try and apprehend the offender and also phone if you or others are in danger. Also use 999 where you see people regardless of age with weapons, even if you think these are air weapons. Someone may get hurt if you don’t. It’s important in these cases that the Police  are told quickly so they can do their best to respond to keep us safe, to prevent crime and where needed to preserve evidence.

 If you don’t want to give your name, telephone number or address that’s fine. You can phone Crime Stoppers anytime twenty four hours a day, seven days a week on free phone 0800 500 111. Crime Stoppers are a well-established charity who have a very close working relationship with the Police. You can report to Crime Stoppers anonymously, you do not need to give your name, address or contact number. Crime Stoppers will pass reports of crime to the relevant Police force.

Rewilding Greatham

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District Councillor Adam Carew produced a wonderful report for us on rewilding Greatham and has agreed to provide a grant for wildflower plugs to be planted in 3 locations in the village over the coming weeks. We are really excited about this project and look forward to seeing the results over the coming year. Read Cllr Carew’s report here Rewilding Greatham

Greatham Village Hall Trustees AGM

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The date for The Village Hall AGM is to be confirmed due to present Government Guidelines. There will be a zoom meeting to be held in November 2020.
WE HAVE 4 VACANCIES FOR ELECTED TRUSTEES
We are a friendly group of trustees that meet once a month. We are looking for enthusiastic people to join us and help to secure and shape the future of The Village Hall and the surrounding land.
If you are interested in becoming a trustee please notify:
Josh Dale Harris or Linda Carr by Friday 23rd October 2020
Josh Dale-Harris (Chair) 01420 538029 
Linda Carr (Vice Chair) 01420 538702.

COVID-19/Corona Virus Community Support

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We’ve now been living with Covid-19 in the UK for around seven months. We said back in March that one of the wonderful things about living in Greatham is the way the people in our community look out for one another, and this has certainly been the case throughout the duration of the pandemic. We have seen countless cases of villagers reaching out to support their neighbours, making even stronger connections, and looking after the most vulnerable in our community.

We know that we will be continuing to live with this devastating virus for the foreseeable future, and we want to reiterate our original requests to all of our wonderful villagers:

  1. Please – if you are well, and able to do so without risking your own health, check whether any neighbours who are elderly or at risk need any support in the form of supplies or medicine. This does not need to be done through face to face contact but could be a note through the door or a phone call.
  2. If you are unwell, in self-isolation, or at high risk, and need support in the form of shopping or medicine, please contact our Parish Clerk, Jane Ives (07873 891 351) who will find a volunteer from our amazing group across the village to support you.

Our lovely Vicar, Peter Sutton has also offered support for those who need comfort or someone to talk to. He can be reached on 01730 827459.

Greatham Parish Council will provide any further updates via our email list. If you would like to subscribe, please email 

Alternatively, you can find us on Facebook @greathampc

Thank you all for everything you’ve done so far. This is a very special village, and we feel very lucky to have such a wonderful community.

Stay safe

Welcome to the brand new Greatham Parish Council website!

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We are very excited to launch our shiny new website!

Back in September 2018 a new legislation was passed that all websites belonging to public bodies needed to be accessible and user friendly. Whilst our old website had worked well for us for many years it was not compatible with mobile devices and very hard for users to navigate and find information easily.

The new regulations need the website to comply to WCAG 2.1 AA.

This new regulation exists so that everybody can access the content of a website regardless of any impairments the user may have such as:

  • vision –  severely sight impaired (blind), sight impaired (partially sighted) or colour blind people
  • hearing –  people who are deaf or hard of hearing
  • mobility –  those who find it difficult to use a mouse or keyboard
  • thinking and understanding –  people with dyslexia, autism or learning difficulties

When we think of these impairments, we then start to think how they may affect how people interact with a website. This may include the ability to:

  • use a keyboard instead of a mouse
  • change browser settings to make content easier to read
  • use a screen reader to ‘read’ (speak) content out loud
  • use a screen magnifier to enlarge part or all of a screen
  • use voice commands to navigate a website

We are delighted to say that our new website complies with the new regulations and we have managed to go live before the cut off date of the 23rd September 2020.

We do hope that you find our new website useful and we will continue to keep it up to date with current information.