ANNUAL PARISH MEETING Held on Thursday, 13th March, 2025 at 6.30pm in the Phoenix Hall

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1, Netheravon Parish Council Annual Report

Cllr. Burke welcomed the 20 members of the public to the meeting, he chaired the meeting as Cllr Ayling was away.

He said it has been a very busy year for the Parish Council. We welcomed Cllr O Grady who was co-opted on in May. We had the retirement of our very experienced and knowledgeable Clerk Mary Towle who has spent time training the new Clerk in her handover, Debbie Corbett, who has also been attending some training courses too. Thank you to Sarah Brown for donating and serving the refreshments for tonight’s meeting.

These are the highlights from the year:

  • We have had a 40mph speed limit trial throughout the village which seems to have worked well.
  • We paid out for plants for the tubs and volunteers planted and looked after them ready for Netheravon in Bloom
  • We had volunteers who watered the hanging baskets on telegraph poles along the High Street.
  • We have managed and oversee the allotments,
  • Millenium Park which had to have trees cut back due to Ash die back disease, new trees will be planted by Landmarc soon.
  • We worked with the church and the working man’s club for a very successful Remembrance day Parade.
  • Organised working parties for putting flags up the High St for D Day, Remembrance and also for putting up the Christmas tree.
  • The village Emergency Plan was updated
  • We had a very successful year with the community allotment and community larder
  • We had the D-Day 80 beacon event at washdown
  • Newsletter was reinstated which started in June
  • Council dealt with 12 Planning applications including contentious ones
  • Old school playground after standing empty for a long time nearly ready to come under the Parish Council
  • Supported the Phoenix Hall and Netheravon day centre
  • Emergency First Aid and Defib training in the village hall
  • Training course attended by new councillors
  • Handyman carried out several jobs to tidy the village, bus shelter painted, new bench put there,
  • Geoff Dyers memorial repainted
  • Youth club money – bought new things for the school, Globes, basketballs, welly store, book store etc.
  • Cemetery noticeboard has been refurbished

Our Chair, Richie Ayling is standing down after many years on the council and as chair, and we want to give him thanks for everything he has done which this year included taking the Christmas tree down on his own in a storm on New Years Day! He has been a formidable councillor over the years, and we hope he continues to be a village asset for a long time to come.

Graeme our village handyman is also leaving and thanks for all his help throughout the years

Thank you to all the Councillors who are volunteers and give up a lot of time to make sure the village looks and runs smoothly

I would like to thank them for the excellent job they do and for their loyal service.

2. Report by the Wiltshire Councillor, Ian Blair-Pilling

Cllr Blair -Piling spoke about the Highways, it looks like the MOD have agreed to put the bus stop back at Harefield Crescent, therefore making it safer. The 40 mph speed trial looks to have been a success, we are just awaiting sign off. The bus stop at Harefield Crescent, we are meeting with the MOD about moving it back and making it safer for people to use.

He spoke the rise in council tax for Wiltshire being 4.5% and that we are judged 5th in the country in road maintenance. There will be Wiltshire and Parish elections on the 1st May, which is also the day our boundary changes. This will mean the houses up near the camp and also the river walk by Cholston Bridge come under Netheravon Parish council and not Fighledean anymore. He reiterated that Cllr Ayling has been a star and will be sorely missed. Cllr Blair-Pilling answered questions from the member of the public about elections.

3. Reports from Village Organisations

 

Parochial Church Council (PCC) Report by Rev’d Phillip Bromley

All Saints’ Netheravon remains one of seven parishes forming the Avon River Team. The Team Rector - Philip Bromiley, came and gave their report. Our team vicar – Gale Hunt retired in September and our team Curate – Simon Pope is also leaving. We hope to have a replacement vicar in the village and the advertisement is out this week. With interviews in May, and then hopefully a new vicar based in Netheravon by September. Until then Rev. Bromley is our point of contact.

Rev. Bromley emphasised how much the church which is nearly 1000 years old costs to run, approx. £20,000 a year with an income of just £5,000. He asked that the village get behind our church, even if it is just to support the fete and other events put on by the church. He emphasised that the church belongs to us.

 

Report from PC J Kinge local community Police Representative

PC Kinge reported that burglary remained a priority for our area, mainly outbuildings, garages and sheds being targeted. We are very lucky and do not have very much Anti-Social behaviour, slight blip at half term but sorted with parents being spoken to. Retail crime had been a problem with fake £50 notes being used in our local shop. Rural crime continues to be a focus especially now we are in hare coursing/poaching season.

Weapon sweeps have been completed in different play parks including Netheravon. Foot patrol and drugs awareness leaflets were also given out in June

Local officers attended Cheerful cuppa and organised an interesting talk on scammers, and also attended Netheravon fete.

 

Report by Caroline Aubrey-Fletcher, Chairman of Netheravon Day Centre read by the Clerk

Unfortunately Caroline was away, but sent a report:
Netheravon Day Centre (incorporating Enford, Haxton, Fittleton & Figheldean)

The Day Centre is run by the three Trustees and we also have a committee comprising the trustees and three members of the Day Centre. The Trustees are the Chair – Caroline Aubrey-Fletcher, the Secretary – David Barron and the Treasurer – Emma Peacocke. All the aforementioned are formally elected at the AGM in May. We are a registered charity and our accounts are filed on line each year with the Charity Commission. Philippa Lackford is our Organiser and is a great asset to the Day Centre (and especially to me). The organiser co-ordinates the day to day activity on Wednesdays and manages the rota for volunteers. (She previously worked in the NHS as an occupational therapist with special remit for older adults and patients with mental health issues) We are very fortunate to have a wonderful team of volunteers in the Day Centre, approximately 7 (some of whom have been volunteering at the Day Centre for very many years). They work either morning or afternoon on a roster run by the Organiser.

We are fortunate at the moment to be very well covered by volunteers, but we are always looking for occasional volunteers to fill in for holidays. It is not an onerous task and what’s more it is very rewarding. We also use volunteer drivers who collect and return members who require transport. We now have two drivers (Peter Thomas and Joy Jenkyns) who have undertaken to do all the collections and deliveries when they are here. Please even if you can help out occasionally with driving let us know. There are currently 13 members (maximum optimum numbers would be 18) I continue to cook the lunches every week (provided free of charge) and they have a good home cooked meal. We would like to find someone from outside to cook the lunches but with financial constraints are leaving it as it is at the moment. The Day Centre runs from 10.00 am - 3.00 pm. Members have a cup of tea or coffee and biscuits on arrival and then play games, do gentle exercises targeted at senior citizens and socialise until a home-cooked lunch at about midday. After lunch they have occasional other activities or play games, including bingo and a raffle. Before departure they have a cup of tea and cake. We did not go on an outing last year as we are trying to pare down costs in order to continue to operate. We had a great Christmas party and a wonderful Christmas raffle with fantastic prizes, the money for which was raised by the members selling tickets. We are very grateful to Netheravon Parish Council for their donation to the Day Centre. We no longer receive a grant from Wiltshire Council so our grants from Parish Councils and others are very much appreciated. So for the moment we are relying on fund raising and donations. We have applied for a couple of grants but have so far been unsuccessful. We are also always looking for grants and donations to fund outings and such things as the bowls etc. I hope everyone feels the Netheravon Day Centre is a valuable asset to the community.

Caroline Aubrey-Fletcher, Chair, Netheravon Day Centre.

 

Report by Richard Marsh, Governor, Netheravon All Saints School

All Saints Netheravon is part of the Acorn Education Trust which is made up of 21 schools based at Kingdown School, Warminster and formed in 2014

  • Locally: Bulford St Leonard’s, Durrington Infants, St Michael’s Larkhill, Pewsey Vale School, Avon Valley Academy (AVA)
  • Mission: “Preparing young people for their world in their time”
  • Integration of children from Afghanistan in AVA and St Michael’s; also at Bulford and Netheravon
  • All saints have 6 classes, 2 mixed age groups; (which is unpopular with staff & parents)
  • Attendance is good at 96%, in line with our target Ofsted Good: March 2023 and SIAMs (school lives up to its Anglican foundation): November 2023
  • We can maintain numbers of pupils despite demographic issues, we would like to build to return to 7 classes and will be marketing to support the above
  • Continuous improvement of quality of education with current staff structure and support an increasing SEND workload
  • We are very lucky to have a new headteacher who started in January 2025, Mrs Rachel Banham

Our critical next steps are:

To consolidate our position, we need to acquire more children and build from 140 to 175 to:

  • Better leverage our finance
  • Return to one class per year group
  • Offer more extracurricular activities

We need to work out how the Parish Council and other village organisations support the school as an important part of our community, and how can the school play a bigger role in the villages we serve?

 

Report by Steve Perry, Chairman of the Phoenix Hall Committee

We are currently coming to the end of the financial year which seems to have been a successful one, with bookings up on last year by 18% and cost kept under control.

The solar panels are producing well and we have had our first rebate.

We are on course to report a profit this year.

We have had to purchase a new dishwasher.

So the hall is in a good state of repair it will be closed for 1 week In August for a complete floor renovation as part of the ongoing maintenance programme.

The hall is well supported by our regular users. This has continued to increase with an extra exercise class, and a new band practice. We now welcome a church who are using the hall Friday evenings for a club and Sunday for a church service.

The bookings for next year are already on a par with this year.

The committee would welcome any new members to assist in running this much valued village asset.

Stephen Perry
Chairperson Phoenix Hall Management Committee

 

Newsletter report by the editor Susan Birks

Susan reported that the first Newsletter was delivered in June and has been very well received. She thanked the Parish Council for their support, and Debbie Corbett for taking over the distribution side of things. Thanks go to all the distributers too. We were worried in December that we may need to go down to a copies bimonthly, but we have been very grateful for donations, from people like the Cheerful cuppa, Parish Councils, and also some personal donations, that with the advertisers have helped us keep it to monthly distribution.

 

Community Speedwatch (CSW) – Team Leader Mike Ashfield

A lot has happened since I stood here this time last a year.

The trial period for the speed reduction for the A345 along our village from November 2023 to 2024 has now been completed. We are eagerly awaiting the final decision from Wiltshire Council, although there is a very positive feeling from the local Wiltshire Councillor Ian Blair-Pilling that it will be made permanent.

The Netheravon Community Speed Watch team has now been operating since April 2024 not quite covering the whole trail year.

In 2024 we completed 29 roadside speed checking sessions.

During those we have seen over 12500 vehicles pass us 94 of which were identified to have exceeded the speed limit. That is around 7.5% of the vehicles.

The highest speed we record within that group of 94 was 61mph

As part of the process the team follow the details of the 94 vehicles were passed onto the Police support team in Trowbridge for them to follow up with letters and or visits from the police.

We now have 3 SIDs (Speed indicator Device) in place which prove effective in reminding drivers if they are exceeding the speed limit. Equally helpful they thank them for keeping within the speed limits. Watching them in action most drivers to react to them and slow down.

In addition to the real time visual information they provide to the road users, they continually collect traffic numbers and the speeds. This data is collected from the devices and sent to the Police for their own analysis. Looking at this data has been interesting and does show some quite scary speeds that some vehicles have been doing through our village. There have been several around 100mph and even a few over 100mph.
In addition to the support from Ian, we have had visits the 2 PCs from the Salisbury station to offer support and advice. And we also have met the local Traffic Safety Officer who is tasked with attending our site on a regular basis conducting their own checks.

So, a positive year for the village in its journey to getting the 40 MPH made permanent and increasing safety for all of us that use the road or footpaths along it.

Last but as they say no least, I want to thank the team of volunteer speed watchers who have given their time to stand out in bitterly cold weathers and to be fair some lovely days too. They have also endured a degree of abuse but to be honest it does make us laugh at the antics of some the of public’s reaction to us.

 

Report by Mary Towle on Cheerful Cuppa

Cheerful Cuppa is going from strength to strength. We usually have in excess of 50 people who come on a Tuesday morning whatever the weather and that is not including about 8 dogs! We have some very generous cake makers so that there is never any shortage of cakes to offer. I would especially like to thank Doreen for all her cakes and savouries so freely given. We look forward each week to finding what she is going to produce for us. I must admit that the helpers - me included - always have first dibs. We do have to test them to make sure they are up to standard!

We have had several fundraising events with entertainment including Pewsey Male Voice Choir, the Ukelele Band and Michael and Tim. Our Christmas party was on Christmas Eve and everyone had a great time with party food, carols and dancing.

The charities we supported this year were: Salisbury Hospice, Netheravon Day Centre, Julia's House, Village Newsletter, MND, RBL Poppy Appeal and the Samaritans. The total given is £2100.00. On the 1st April we will be holding a fundraiser for SDH Pembroke Unit which I hope will be well supported.

I would like to thank especially Pam, Debbie, Sue, Mark and Doreen for their help and support. Also everyone who turns up with freshly made cakes, sausage rolls and cheese straws. We couldn't operate without you.

 

Netheravon Art Group – report by Alan Wood

The Art Group has grown in popularity and now averages 14 people attending every week at the Phoenix Hall from 2 - 4.30pm. We have moved from the Committee Room to the Main Hall to give us plenty of space. The standard of our work has improved with help from our tutor Franklin Grimes from Figheldean, a former art teacher and local artist. Sadly, two of our members passed away this year. Their spouses passed their art materials to the Group who sold the items and passed the money to a chosen charity of the deceased.

 

MOD Houses/Farms update

Unfortunately, the MOD DIO representative did not come to the meeting.

 

4. VE-Day 80 commemorations Thursday 8TH May 2025

The Jubilee Committee have been working with the church, school and Cheerful Cuppa to commerate VE day on the 8th May. We will be raising the flag at the War Memorial at 0900 hours and will be having a service of remembrance there at 1215. 2 MI have been invited and we will also have the last post after wreath laying.

Afterwards Phoenix Hall will host a display of local memorabilia from the local Royal Artillery Museum and photographs from the Village History group in the village. It is hoped that local people will also bring along any memorabilia they have too. We will be hosting a free afternoon tea in the hall with music and memories.

There will be a slip in the newsletter to complete and take to the shop to give us some idea of numbers. It is hoped that the school will also join in. Then at 630 pm there will be a peel of bells at the church to finish off the day of commemoration.

 

5. Questions from members of the public

Questions were asked and answered after each speaker.

 

A display of work by the Art Group was available to view after the meeting together with editions of the new Newsletter

Meeting closed at 2015pm.