News
Here is the latest news from the Parish. 
Feed Entries
Follow this link!
n this communication:
|
Latest affordable housing in Totton
We’ve completed our latest social housing development in Totton.
The 12 new homes meet the government’s proposed Future Homes Standard. They include air source heat pumps, triple glazed windows, increased insulation, and electric vehicle charging points.
The development is called Penman House and is named after Councillor Neville Penman. Five years ago, he identified the site as an opportunity for affordable housing after Testwood Social Club closed on Salisbury Road.
Penman House has been financed through our Housing Revenue Account with nearly £700,000 in additional grant funding from Homes England.
The rented council homes will be allocated to people on our housing register. New residents are due to move in from as early as next month.
You can read more information about the development and the Future Homes Standard on our website.
Register to vote
To have your say in elections, you need to be registered to vote.
Registering to vote means that your name appears on the electoral roll. If you are not registered, then you will not be able to cast your vote.
If you are already on the register, you don’t need to register again, unless your name or address has changed.
Find out more and register on the GOV.UK website.
February Cabinet meeting
Our next Cabinet meeting is on Wednesday 7 February.
The meeting will include community grant awards, a Local Plan review, and a financial report.
You can keep up to date with all our upcoming meetings on our website calendar, and access links to watch our public meetings live on YouTube.
Plastic bottle recycling
Any type of plastic bottle can go in your clear recycling sack, including drink and milk bottles, shampoo and shower gel bottles, and cleaning products like bleach and laundry detergent bottles.
Before recycling plastic bottles, remember to:
|
How to recycle plastic bottles with a pump:
Some plastic bottles, such as hand soap bottles, contain a pump. The pumps in these bottles contain a spring mechanism which cannot be recycled. If safe, please remove the pump and recycle the plastic bottle. The pump will need to go in your black rubbish sack. If you cannot safely remove the pump, please reuse the plastic bottle or add to your black rubbish sack.
How to recycle plastic bottles with a trigger spray:
Some plastic bottles, like bottles used for cleaning products, contain a trigger spray. You can recycle these plastic bottles with the trigger spray on, you do not need to remove the trigger spray.
Currently, plastic bottles are the only type of plastic you can recycle from home in Hampshire. If you have a different plastic item, you may be able to recycle it elsewhere in the New Forest. For example, many supermarkets collect soft plastics for recycling. Soft plastics include items such as plastic bags, plastic film, crisp packets and sweet bags.
Find your nearest location by adding your postcode to the Recycling Locator tool on our website.
In the future, we are planning to collect more plastic items from households. To do this, we are reliant on Hampshire County Council’s plans for new recycling facilities. Find out more about future changes to our household waste and recycling collections.
Being prepared this winter
Taking a few simple steps can improve your resilience this winter.
|
|
|
|
Find more information about how you can be prepared this winter on the Met Office website.
You can visit the Met Office website to sign up for severe weather warning text alerts in your area and get further advice for preparing for all weather conditions.
Hampshire County Council Future Services Consultation
Hampshire County Council (HCC) is asking for your views on the future of some local services.
The public consultation is about options to help meet a £132 million budget shortfall, by April 2025.
You can read more information about the proposals, and take part in the consultation on HCC’s website.
Register your appliances
You can register your electrical appliances online to make sure that you don’t miss a safety notice or recall.
Registering your electrical items means that the manufacturer can easily get in contact with you if the product you’ve brought turns out to have a fault, be dangerous or need recalling altogether.
To register your product, you’ll need the brand name, model, serial number and the date of purchase, or as near to it as you can remember.
Find out more and register on The Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances website.
Please share this email with your family and friends. They can sign up to receive them in future at https://www.newforest.gov.uk/emails
To stop receiving these emails please email STOP to
Read the privacy notice: https://newforest.gov.uk/article/2708/Communications-Privacy-Notice-enews
In this communication:
|
Driving in wet weather
Recent storms and changing climate conditions have seen heavier rainfall over shorter periods of time. This has caused some localised flooding in the district.
By driving differently in flood conditions, you will protect yourself and your vehicle, other people, and reduce the risk of flooding to nearby properties.
During spells of heavy or persistent rain, try to travel only if essential. If you are travelling, check the latest transport and travel information, and monitor weather updates.
The advice from motoring organisations and the emergency services is not to drive through flood water, and to respect road closures. Wherever possible, turn around and find a different route if the road is flooded. And always obey road closure signs and barricades.
If you can’t delay your travel, or use a different route, The AA advise to drive slowly in flood conditions for several reasons:
|
If you have no choice than to drive through flooded roads, please be aware not to increase the likelihood that nearby properties will flood. Driving quickly through standing water creates a bow-wave which can then overflow sandbags and other defences that properties have put in place.
See live traffic information on the Hampshire County Council website.
You can also check for flooding and sign up for flood alerts on the government’s website.
Garden waste wheeled bins – use from April 2024
We have started to deliver wheeled bins for the new garden waste collection service, which begins in April.
You will only receive a garden waste wheeled bin if you have signed up and paid for garden waste wheeled bin collections.
If you are a garden waste wheeled bin customer, please do not use your bin for collections until after 1 April 2024. Otherwise, your garden waste may not be collected.
Find out more about garden waste bins, including how and when we will deliver them.
You can sign up and pay for garden waste wheeled bin collections on our website.
If you’re a current customer for the garden waste bag service, you will need to join the new service if you would like to continue your collections from April 2024.
In the future, we will be introducing weekly food waste collections, and wheeled bins for recycling and waste collections. Read about changes to collections from 2025 on our website.
Help for people facing homelessness
Support for people experiencing homelessness is available all year round. This support is even more important when cold or extreme weather occurs.
If you know of someone who is homeless or sleeping rough in the New Forest district, or you’re homeless or in a position where you might become homeless, please get in touch on our website.
Our teams are out in the district in all weather conditions and find solutions for rough sleepers and people facing homelessness. We work to ensure they are safe, listened to, and have the right support for their individual circumstances.
Have your say about beachfront facilities
Let us know how we can improve beachfront facilities at Barton on Sea and Milford on Sea.
You can give your views about the accessibility and appearance of public facilities in these areas. This includes beach shelters and toilets, which are provided and managed by us.
This project is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda. This provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. Visit the GOV.UK website for more information.
Improving air quality in the New Forest
Burning wood at home releases harmful gases into the air, including carbon monoxide, benzene, and formaldehyde. This is as well as particulate matter, such as soot and dirt, which can be harmful to our health and the environment.
Caroline, our environmental health technical officer, says: “We monitor air quality and have found that levels of particulate matter can rise in residential areas, especially in the evening. We’re continuing to research the sources, but we have found that a proportion of the increases in particulate matter will be from domestic wood burning. Understanding the facts about wood burning will help us all to make informed choices when heating our homes.”
Wednesday 24 January is Clean Air Night, which aims to raise awareness about the impacts of wood burning, and we work with the Environment Centre to share this information.
To help keep the air cleaner, they advise:
|
|
|
Find more information and advice on the Environment Centre’s website.
Supporting social housing tenants
If you’re a social housing tenant living in the district and have an issue you would like to raise, you can find advice on the Social Housing Complaints website.
We’re supporting the government’s “Make things right” campaign, which aims to raise awareness about the ways that social housing tenants can access support if they have an issue with their homes or landlord.
If you’re a New Forest District Council housing tenant and have a concern about an issue you have already reported, you can contact our housing team by emailing
National Park Authority’s volunteer fair
The New Forest National Park Authority are hosting a volunteering fair on 28 January at Brockenhurst Village Hall from 10.30am to 4pm. Over 40 groups and organisations will be offering roles for all ages and abilities.
Find out more on the National Park Authority’s website.
16,891 of you are signed up to receive these emails.
There are 80,000 households in the district, and we would like to reach more people with this information about their local council and area. If you know anyone not currently receiving these emails, please let them know they can sign up with just an email address on our website.
Read the privacy notice: https://newforest.gov.uk/article/2708/Communications-Privacy-Notice-enews
To stop these emails going in to your junk folder add
Hampshire County Council
Tell us your views on proposals to change some services we deliver to you after April 2025
hants.gov.uk/future-services-consultation
Future Services Consultation Poster
New Forest District Council is inviting people to have their say in a consultation about proposed changes to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy (The Taxi Policy).
Proposed changes to the policy are designed to ensure those drivers, vehicles and operators licensed by New Forest District Council continue to operate at the highest standard.
There are a large number of changes included in the draft policy including:
- Age of vehicles
- Conviction policy
- Vehicle testing
- The driver application process
- Interim enhanced DBS checks for current drivers
- Vehicle signage
This is the first major review of the NFDC Taxi policy for some years and will incorporate revised Statutory Guidance together with increased checks on drivers to ensure their continued fitness and propriety.
Due to the number of proposals included in the draft policy it will be subject to a three-month consultation period and responses may be submitted until midnight on Friday 15 March 2024.The Draft Policy can be found on the Council’s web page at
www.newforest.gov.uk/article/1040/Taxi-licences
In addition, the Key Changes document highlights the major changes in the Draft and the reasons for the proposed change/amendment to Policy.
Responses may be submitted using the online Consultation Response Document. It is important that the reference to the Policy page/Appendix or paragraph number is included in your response.
All responses to the consultation will be considered by the General Purposes and Licensing Committee later this year and changes made to the Draft if agreed, prior to adoption by full Council.
Regards
Christa
Christa FergusonLicensing ManagerNew Forest District CouncilTel: 023 8028 5505
