April 24 Combined - Flipbook - Page 16
Hayling Herald Community update
Save Our Island: No way back
By Dave Parham from Save Our
Island
HERE we go again. Hampshire
County Council (HCC) is again
proposing to close the Hayling
Island Recycling Centre to save
money.
We, of course, have been given
the opportunity to give our views –
basically so HCC can claim consultation with the community – but
the intent is closure, along with all
the other small recycling centres in
Hampshire.
The usual language of threat is
put right up front – if we don’t do
this (presumably along with other
service reductions yet to be announced) the risk is that HCC may
declare bankruptcy. Let’s look at this
in context.
Since the 1970s, most of the Island’s services have been outsourced
by the councils – energy, housing,
drainage, water, hospital trusts –
our police station was closed – and
Hayling First Responders are now a
charity.
We have a 200-year-old road network, and a coast at high flood risk
which suffers uncontrolled pollution. In addition, we already have
two-week bin collections, and an
additional cost for a garden waste
bin.
The proposal document uses very
selective statistics in its justification,
and the major issues for Hayling are
not recognised or addressed.
The proposal also says that the
distance that a resident has to cover
to reach a recycling centre should be
less than seven miles, and the travel
time should be under 20 minutes.
It is however reasonable to look
at reducing the number of open
days and the time available each
day to align access with the demand
profile, and to keep the costs to a
minimum.
n The 20-minute travel time does
not reflect the congestion on the
A3023, and the council seemingly
does not care how long it takes you
to get back home – which can be the
major problem here. There are no
statistics provided on the queuing
times involved.
n Hayling is a major leisure destination for the area on Havant Borough
Council’s (HBC) plans – look for
this to continue to expand – which
in turn will place more pressure on
the restricted road infrastructure,
and will increase the frequency and
duration of periods of severe con-
gestion. The 20 minutes travel time
is probably the time to join the daisy
chain on the site which can be up to
50 cars, and even more when all the
small sites are shut down.
n The Havant Recycling Centre is
located on a toxic waste dump, just
100m from a tidal river.
And this area is going to flood
from the sea sometime before 2100,
as predicted by the Environment
Agency, which will necessitate its
relocation somewhere north, which
will exceed the target seven-mile
limit. There will be no way back by
then as the Hayling Island site will
have been sold to a developer.
In addition, we believe, it is time
for both councils to cut their cloth.
We know the UK Civil Service in
Hayling Holiday Lunches
By Sarah Smith
AS Easter has fallen early this year we will
have delivered all the lovely Easter eggs
that were donated alongside the usual
food bags by the time this is in print.
Thank you to all who have donated
these, in particular Hayling Beach Babes
WI who organised a special collection
at their March meeting. I was invited to
give an update of our scheme as some had
joined since I last gave a talk.
I am happy to give a talk to any group,
especially if it encourages them to
organise a regular food collection for us.
We are always grateful for the financial
donations we receive because, for each
delivery, we spend around £1,500 on
the fresh food and fruit bags, as well as
16
topping up our tinned food, for our 95
families.
In addition to individual donations
we have recently received money from
the Catholic Womens’ Guild and we are
delighted that this year HI Fest music
festival organisers are donating profits
from the weekend of July 28th to 30th.
Victory AC, which promotes the
Hayling Billy 5 charity run on June 19th,
are including us in the charities they
support.
We are glad to receive the usual food
donations at the Co-op, Elm Grove,
Ruby’s tea rooms and the Lions shop and
to our doorstep at 18 Chichester Avenue.
Thank you to everyone enabling us to
carry on with these food deliveries.
total has grown by 100,000 employees since 2017. It is reasonable to
ask if a similar growth occurred in
HCC and HBC.
We would like to see what cost
reduction could be achieved with,
let’s say a 10, 20, 30% reduction in
the permanent workforce in both
councils, and migrating to a member-led structure (councillors) from
the existing officer-led (Civil Service) and refocus all activities on
community needs.
We would encourage our sole
County Councillor Lance Quantrill to lead a charge to prevent this
additional burden proposed by the
political masters being inflicted on a
community which has done nothing
to cause this problem.
Hayling Fundraising
Support Group for Rowans
By Barbara Beck
OVER the period since our
last report, the Hayling Fundraising Support Group for
Rowans has been able to bank
another £416.55, comprised of:
n £178 from the sale at Dilkusha Court in December
n £125 raised from the Christmas Hamper raffle
n £59 from the January coffee
morning
n An anonymous donation of
£28.29
n £26.26 from Warner’s collecting box
Our thanks go to everyone
who helped us achieve these
totals. It means we have been
able to send another £1,000
to Rowans, making £6,000 for
this financial year.
We are still happy to receive
collections of used stamps or
items suitable as prizes for our
three-day tombola at Stansted
Garden show in June.
Our next event will be a coffee morning at the URC Small
Hall on Saturday, April 27th,
starting at 9.30am. We hope to
see you there.