Parish Council
Fovant Parish Council is working hard to make the village a more comfortable and safe place for everyone. Major projects often take several months to bring to fruition, and the Council will regularly report progress on these.
Annual Parish Meeting Report May 2022
PC Projects in Progress
Website. The village website is up and running. Thanks to Mrs Derryn Hinks for her energy as the ‘webmaster’, it is fulfilling its promise for up to date communication about current local activities and issues, including interactions with other local platforms.
Defibrillator. The public access AED (defibrillator) has been installed on the porch of the village hall.
Advertising has so far failed to find enough people interested in a half day awareness raising session to justify the expense of hiring a trainer.
Highways improvements. Children Warning signs have been installed on Sutton Road near the
entrance to the playground. FPC obtained a grant from the Area Board for new 30mph Gateway signage and rumble strips, and to cut back the overgrown verge on the A30 approach from Shaftesbury. The Area Board has agreed to a survey of traffic flows at the A30 / High Street junction, and at their cost is carrying out an engineering assessment of a possible build out on the curve into High Street that would increase safety for pedestrians.
SIDs, metrocounts and the police. Three Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) were purchased with an Area Board grant and installed on verges kindly provided by householders on Tisbury Road, Dinton Road and High Street. The idea to use speed data recorded by SIDs to inform Wiltshire police is at last gaining ground, and the data from our SIDs has been formatted for sharing with a pilot group of councils that is developing links to the police at a senior level. Data from metrocount tubes on the A30 asked for by FPC shows average speeds in the 30mph section exceeding the police enforcement threshold. We will ask for tubes at other locations in that section in order to complete the picture. This may inform new discussions with Highways Engineers about the 40/30 arrangements.
Road drains. Our requests for thorough cleaning of Fovant road drains at several locations prone to blockages have paid off, with results reported back to us for the first time. Responding to any new blockages will continue to be a priority for the Council.
Working group among the Ward parishes. Ward Councillor Nabil Najjar has set up an informal
working group for the 14 Parish Councils of the Chalke Valley & Fovant ward to share concerns about speeding and speed limits and flooding. County Councillor Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste, Street Scene and Flooding attended, and assured us of County policy to reflect community wishes.
Interaction with County for road safety and footpath grants. The scope of the Area Board’s Community Area Transportation Committee CATG in April 2022 widened from road safety to include topics such as waiting restrictions, footway and footpath improvements, and some drainage works. The new title is FHFIG.
FPC has been very successful over the last decade in negotiating grants for highways safety projects at CATG, and has already managed to navigate the new application rules by receiving a grant for contractor work on Footpath 16, leading up
past the Badges.
Emergency equipment and planning. The Trustees of the Youth Club have installed a new store room in their Waterside building to house FPC’s collection of emergency equipment, for an annual rent. The two emergency generators were loaned to several householders during the recent power cuts of February 2022. An updated village emergency plan is being drawn up in conjunction with County specialists.
Updating of footpaths and planters. Steps have been cut in Footpath 3, and Footpath 16 will soon
receive steps and a kissing gate to replace the style. The youth work charity S4S will again carry out some of the work, providing experience for their youngsters; the steps will be installed by a contractor. S4S also use the Waterside Centre as a base, and we are very pleased to support them. A grant application has been made for a community orchard and tool shed.
NEWS FLASH!
The Annual Parish Meeting will be on Wednesday 19th April at 6.30pm in the Village Hall.
Planning Applications
Application Type:Full planning permission
Proposal:Installation of 34 solar panels in an agricultural field.
Site Address:Fovant House, The Cottage, Church Lane, Fovant, SP3 5LA
Application Type:Householder planning permission
Proposal:Create off road parking, single storey extension and replace windows/doors
Site Address:WESTWOOD COTTAGE, DINTON ROAD, FOVANT, SALISBURY, SP3 5JW
Application Type:Full planning permission
Proposal:Application for the change of use to leisure & tourism activities on 2.39 hectares of land at Manor Farm, Fovant to accommodate 3 shepherds huts (all year round) and up to 10 camping pitches through summer season.
Site Address: Manor Farm, Church Lane, Fovant, SP3 5LA
Minutes and recommendation following the Fovant Parish Council Meeting held on 1st February to discuss the Manor Farm Clamping Application
Welcome ...
to the Fovant Parish Council (FPC) website. A parish council has statutory duties and responsibility for certain local issues. We set an annual precept - a local addition to your Council Tax - to cover the Parish Council’s operating costs and the costs of projects it decides to undertake to the benefit of the parish. Annual accounts are available for public scrutiny. We employ a Clerk to take care of administrative functions and carry out certain decisions. We are one of sixteen parishes in the Fovant & Chalke Valley division of Wiltshire Council, for which the County Councillor is Nabil Najjar. Parish councillors and county councillors are elected every four years, and a parish council can also co-opt members at any time. FPC is allowed up to nine councillors, with a legal minimum of five. The Chair of a parish council is elected annually by the other councillors.
Meetings
We have regular meetings, at present six times and year. We also have extraordinary meetings when necessary, for example to fulfil the statutory duty to consider each planning application submitted in the parish, when we can make recommendations to the Wiltshire Council Planning Officer. (See News Flash for all meeting dates).
Planning
Planning applications are flagged up on this web site as soon as we receive them, by an alert in the News Flash box and with more detail by clicking on the link to the Planning page. The agenda for each council meeting is displayed well in advance on the FPC noticeboard outside the village hall. Agendas and meeting minutes are published on the web site, with a shortened version in the 'Three Towers' magazine. The public and press are welcome at every FPC meeting, and time is set aside at the start for the public to speak. We invite Wiltshire Councillor Nabil Najjar to each regular meeting, and ask him to report relevant County activities.
Residents wishing to raise issues with the FPC are welcome to contact any councillor or to write to the Parish Clerk, or to raise an issue in person at the start of a FPC meeting. Residents are also encouraged to contact their Wiltshire Councillor.
Area Boards
We are one of 39 parishes grouped under the South West Wiltshire Area Board, one of 18 Boards set up under the Unitary county council to provide a discussion forum between County Councillors serving the area and members of the public. A broad range of issues can be addressed, such as youth opportunities, policing and crime, housing, broadband connectivity, public transport, wellbeing and road safety. The AB has funding to support non-profit organisations including community groups, charities and community interest companies. A parish council can support applications for funding by activities in the parish. An AB grant usually comes as ‘matched’ funding.
Road safety
Each AB has a sub group called CATG which sets up dialogues between parishes and county Highways Engineers and considers emerging requests for specific changes to improve road safety. Road safety has been a major focus for FPC, both on the A30 and the village roads. To this end, FPC has been an energetic participant in the CATG of our AB, and has succeeded in arguing for several significant changes in our local roads. The 30 mph limit on the A30 and the more recent change from 30mph to 20 mph on other village roads are examples. FPC also works directly with Highways Officers on drainage, and we give guidance to the Parish Steward contractor who comes monthly to clear Council verges and gullies. We consider how footpaths in the parish can be kept in good order. We have funded a public access AED (defibrillator) which will be fixed to the outer wall of the village hall, and we will maintain its registration with the South Western Ambulance Service.
Some of our parish councillors volunteer to take special responsibility for particular ongoing issues, and you can see this in the list of councillors.
The powers and responsibilities of a Parish Council are complex but further information can be found on
Wiltshire Council's website >>>