SHEET villagers have had their plea for funds to maintain the Sheet Millennium Meadow thrown out by Petersfield town councillors. And now councillors have been warned by town mayor Vaughan Clarke that their actions could make villagers even more determined to break away from Petersfield. Mr Clarke reminded town councillors that Sheet villagers were currently examining a proposal to break away from Petersfield Town Council and form their own Sheet parish council. Their UDI plan has long worried some town councillors, who fear that the new parish would take away town council assets, which would mean a vital loss of income to the town. Mr Clarke warned: "You are saying 'shucks, this is very sad', but we are in a situation where Sheet could break away from the town, and you are making this likely to happen." He told councillors there were three organisations in Petersfield which carried out work on town council-owned ground. "Two get grants whenever they ask for them and one has to really fight," he said. He was referring to the grants panel decision to reject an application from Sheet Village Association for £850 to maintain the meadow. The land was given to villagers by the town council to mark the millennium six years ago. The chairman of the panel, George Watkinson, told the meeting councillors believed that when villagers took over the meadow there would be no further costs to the council. "In actual fact it has cost us more than if we had kept it, which is why we said no," he said. But Mr Clarke told him: "The people of the village have spent £1,000 of their own money on the town council and you're not recognising the fact that people in this town are prepared to spend money on your land." The chairman of the grounds committee, Chris Jenner, said Mr Clarke needed updating on the situation. "When this first reared its head the community said there would be no funding needed from the town council," he said. "Up to then the town council was getting £500 a year for grazing rights. Then the people of Sheet said they wanted the land for community use, we didn't renew the grazing licence and lost money. "It was made clear to us by Andrew Platt that it was a community project and no funding was required from the town council. We insisted there would be no funding, and every year since we have been asked for money and we have given money, but this year we said no." He said not only did the council no longer get income from the land but the project bore little resemblance to the one agreed originally by councillors. The chairman of the finance and general purposes committee, Bob Ayer, said councillors had the same debate every year. "I always represent the view expressed by the town mayor," he said. "We have a very significant amount of town council land and it is being maintained to a very high standard. If it was given back to us and we were asked to maintain it, no way would we be able to maintain it to this standard." But councillors stuck to their guns and refused the grant.
