Chairman’s Report February 2026

Two dates and one change of dates for your diaries. The annual litter pick will be on Saturday 21^st March starting at 10 am at the usual five assembly points. This is a great community event for the whole Valley so hope to see you there. High viz vests and litter picks will be provided but if you have your own please bring them. The second important date to note is the Annual Parish Meeting which will be held in Easton Village Hall on Thursday 23^rd April. The meeting will start with a short talk by a guest speaker on a topic of local interest (details will be given nearer the time). The change of date is for the Parish Council monthly meeting, in April which has been moved from 2^nd to 9^th April to avoid a clash with Easter.

The Parish Council has agreed its budget for 2026/7 and submitted it for approval. It has been necessary to increase the precept for the first time in five years. The Parish Council tries not to increase the precept but we have a responsibility to ensure that we can meet our commitments. The past five years have been a period of significant inflation, where costs went up, yet our income has remained static. In addition 2025 has seen a number of significant payments which have depleted our reserves. A good example is the £3.5k of necessary work to the trees at Couch Green. Such items are not always predictable but should be budgeted for going forward. The aim is to hold six months cover, to ensure that we can cope with most eventualities in the future. Currently we are way short of this. To put this increase in perspective, if we had an increase of 3% per annum over this period there would only have been a three per cent increase this year. In effect we have actually saved the tax payer over the past five years by not adding that incremental increase each year.

Transport issues continue. Having noted that there are extra funds for bus services we have requested via our County Councillor that some can be allocated to improve the service through the Valley. The M3/J9 project has geared back up after the Christmas break. At the latest meeting we were told all is on schedule. Be warned there are a number of essential road closures planned for February in connection with this project. Please regularly go to our website for information and links to know when these closures are happening. Remember that dates and time can change at relatively short notice due to factors like weather conditions. Sadly although the contractors for the M3/J9 project have been good at communication, those dealing with the gas pipe work in Easton are not so good. When the present section is finished we have heard (not directly from them) that they will be starting another section from where they are ending now to past the Cricketers and into Chapel Lane. So far there has been no public notice issued that covers this work. Once we have any further information we will put it on our website, so please keep a regular check on it for this and road closures in connection with junction 9.

The quest for more green multipurpose bins continues. Hopefully progress, albeit somewhat slow, is being made. A site meeting is being arranged with the officer concerned from Winchester District Council and we will have to see what happens after that.

The latest Boomtown planning application proposes to purchase habitat units to offset damage to the environment. These offsets are not location specific and therefore the Parish Council has submitted an objection with the following comment “That the proposal to purchase habitat units should be the subject of a condition that the habitat units be used to enhance the environment of the local area within the the3 South Downs National Park”.

With thanks to the Parish Councillors who have helped compile this report.

Patrick Appleby (IVPC Chairman).