BRAMSHOTT and Liphook Parish councillors stressed the urgency to make applications for developer's contributions for badly-needed facilities in the parish, during their last planning meeting.
Chairman Anna James pointed out that the parish council could ask for contributions from future development sites for any specific needs identified and prepare a priority list for East Hampshire District Council to consider.
Action also needed to be taken to use funds, after EHDC had been notified of the projects, on which developers contributions were sought.
Priorities within the parish are the 250 bus service, for which a contribution had been received, but the outcome of the transport survey was not yet known and which could reveal other needs.
Infant and junior school extensions or extra classrooms as well as pre-school facilities for buildings and play areas had been included in the Community Facilities Survey in 2001 and 2003, and needed to be looked at again and updated.
Badly-needed sports and playing field facilities, for local football and cricket clubs, have been under discussion in parish council meetings for some time and a meeting had been set up with the owners of the Bohunt Manor Estate site and the chairman of the planning committee, Mrs James, to discuss the purchase of a piece of land by the parish council for sports facilities, which would be funded out of developer's contributions.
Newtown Surgery, currently based in Station Road, is continually trying to expand and was hoping to get new surgery premises on the OSU site, which was thwarted when a planning application for 51 close care and assisted living apartments, a 74-bedroom nursing home, 49 retirement apartments, four keyworker flats and 24 affordable housing units was given permission in July, after a three-day appeal hearing.
Road signage for the Millennium Centre has also been under discussion, since there were signs for pedestrians and cyclists, but not for vehicles looking for the hall or parking facilities.
Developers contributions of £10,000 had been secured for car parking spaces at the Millennium Centre to be built in the area west of the building, but so far no action had been taken to carry this out.
In Passfield, provision of developer's funding of £30,00 had been made to cover a children's play area and badly-needed footpath along the Headley Road and Hollywater Road, and only just managed to be implemented within the three year expiry period.
The funding was discovered by councillor Nikki Young in the section 106 agreement of the redevelopment of the site and had been given to EHDC by the developers – who at the time claimed that they did not know it had been received.
Unless funding can be used and implemented within a three year period, the money will have to be given back to the developers.
Councillors unanimously agreed to the creation of a new list of projects to be put together by all committees, which could be pursued and forwarded to EHDC for consideration of developers contributions.
They also agreed not to take any projects, which have already been prepared and put forward over the years, off the list, as they could not be raised again in the future.