Chair of the Titchfield Village Trust, Nick Girdler, reports on important developments concerning The Parish Rooms, the planting of a copse in Barry’s Meadow and the Posbrook Lane development
After almost 2 years we have now raised all the funds to commence work on replacing all the 125 year old tiles on the Village Hall and replacing the paths on the outside giving easier access for wheel chairs.
We originally set ourselves the target of £100,000. In the end rising costs meant we had to raise a further £33,000.
We managed to do this with grants from FBC and Hampshire County Council topping up the original £100,000 and expect work to commence sometime this spring.
The Village Trust and the Earl of Southampton Trust have joined forces to plant a copse at the top of Barry’s Meadow.
2022 seemed the ideal time to do this as part of a greening of Titchfield initiative undertaken by Fareham Borough Council, and the plant a tree for the Queens Jubilee scheme.
Our plan is to remove the brambles at the top of the meadow on the south west side of the meadows, while the brambles on the north east will remain.
We had a meeting in February with officers from FBC to discuss options and they suggested a way forward; removing the brambles in October to mitigate disturbing wildlife; and planting native species in drifts to create the copse.
During the project we will always be aware of our responsibility to the wildlife in the area. This will also mean we aim to do our planting in early November.
The area we want to plant means finding about 100 trees; depending on size they will be planted some 3 to 5 metres apart.
We are currently researching types, prices, planting costs, and overall scheme plan.
We are hoping to involve the whole village in different ways: Individuals could donate a tree, streets could get together and plant a tree, organisations within the village could contribute one, businesses might like to buy one. Different varieties and various sizes.
Among all the good news some bad as well. Foreman Homes have won their appeal to build 57 houses off land adjoining Posbrook Lane and adjacent to the Bellfield Estate.
We will be closely monitoring the development to ensure the safeguards on the remaining area of land, the 40% allocation to affordable homes, and other assurances mentioned in the inspectors report are adhered to by the developer.