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Awbridge Parish Council

Home

 

Who are we?

Awbridge Parish Council is a local authority that makes decisions on behalf of the people of Awbridge.  The Parish Council is the level of local government closest to the community, with Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council above it in the hierarchy.  Given its position, the Parish Council will invariably be the first place people will go with concerns or ideas. For this reason it is a vital part of the Awbridge community.

The Parish Council is here to serve all parishioners and we hope you will contact any councillor or the clerk on any issues affecting the parish.  Please see the Council Members page for individual contact details.  The Council will do what it can within its powers to assist with any matters raised. 

Please feel free to attend any of the Parish Council meetings, which are held in Awbridge Village Hall and start at 7.30pm unless otherwise notified.  Below is a list of meetings for 2025.  Please note that these may be liable to change at short notice.

Council Meeting Dates 2025

9th January 2025

20th February 2025

3rd April 2025

15th May 2025 (Annual Meeting of the Parish Council and Assembly)

26th June 2025

31st July 2025

11th September 2025

23rd October 2025

27th November 2025

All parish council meetings will take place in the village hall unless a change of
venue is notified.

OTHER MEETINGS

Annual Parish Assembly 

This consists of the local government electors of a parish and its purpose is to discuss parish affairs. 
It is NOT a meeting of the parish council, although it will usually be convened by the Chair of the
Parish Council and the parish council clerk may take the minutes.  The annual parish meeting is an
effective forum for the local electorate to engage directly with the Parish Council around local issues
and concerns. 

The Annual Parish Assembly usually takes place in Awbridge Village Hall, Romsey Road SO51 0HG. 
The press is invited to attend. 

Annual Meeting of the Parish Council  

The main purpose of this meeting is for councillors to nominate a chair for the forthcoming
year and to deal with governance issues.  This is an open public meeting, and the press
is invited to attend.


What do we do? 
We make all kinds of decisions on issues that affect the local community, and you can see a full list of the powers available to the parish council below.  Probably the most common topics that we get involved with are planning matters (we are a statutory consultee), crime prevention and highways.  It is true to say that on our own, we have limited powers to make decisions (other than those listed below as Powers & Duties). But we do have the ability to negotiate with and the power to influence, those other organisations that do make the final decisions.  In this respect the Parish Councils is extremely powerful, as the organisations that make the final decisions know that the Parish Council gives the best reflection of how a community feels about something and its views will be taken seriously.

Powers and Duties of the Parish Council
We function within a legal framework of Powers and Duties.  We only have one Duty and that is to provide allotments but only when the criterion to invoke this duty has been met. Borough councils have duties such as collecting household waste and county councils have a duty to maintain highways. Our powers allow us to do a wide variety of activities at our own expense and where applicable with the consent of the authority who normally would have that duty.

Parish Profile
Produced by Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC), this document provides a summary of the latest available information on the demographic make-up of Awbridge parish, which is in the Blackwater Ward.  It looks at information on topics such as the population structure, economic, housing, health and educational information for the parish.  Click here to go to the relevant page of the TVBC website, where you can view the Awbridge Parish Profile.  

 

 

Powers and duties

Function Powers and duties

Allotments

Duty to provide allotments; power to improve & adapt land for allotments, and to let grazing rights

Burial grounds, cemeteries and crematoria

Power to acquire & maintain; Power to provide, Power to agree to maintain monuments & memorials; Power to contribute towards expenses of cemeteries.

Bus Shelters        

Power to provide and maintain shelters.

Bye-laws

Power to make bye-laws in regard to pleasure grounds; cycle parks; baths & washhouses; Open spaces & burial grounds; Mortuaries and post-mortem rooms.

Closed churchyards

Powers to maintain.

Common pastures

Powers to provide common pasture land.

Community centres

Power to provide and equip buildings for use of athletic, social or recreational clubs.

Crime prevention

Powers to install & maintain equipment & establish & maintain a scheme for detection or prevention of crime.

Drainage              

Power to deal with ponds and ditches.

Entertainment and the arts

Provision of entertainment & support of the arts.

Highways

Power to maintain footpaths & bridle-ways; Power to light roads & public places; provision of litter bins; powers to provide parking places for bicycles, motor-cycles & other vehicles; power to enter into agreement as to dedication & widening of highways; powers to provide roadside seats & shelters; Consent of council required for ending maintenance of highway at public expense, or for stopping up or diversion of highway; Power to complain to highway authority as to unlawful stopping up or obstruction of highway, or unlawful encroachment on roadside wastes; Power to provide traffic signs & other objects or devices warning of danger; power to plant trees & lay out grass verges etc., and to maintain them.

Land

Power to acquire land by agreement; Power to appropriate land; Power to dispose of land.

Litter      

Provision of bins.

Lotteries

Powers to promote lotteries.

Open spaces

Power to acquire land and maintain open spaces.

Public buildings and village hall

Power to provide buildings for public meetings and assemblies.

Public conveniences

Power to provide public conveniences.

Town and Country Planning

Right to be notified of planning applications.

Tourism

Power to encourage visitors and provide conference and other facilities.

Traffic calming

Power to contribute financially to traffic calming schemes.

Transport

Powers in relation to car-sharing schemes, taxi fare concessions and information about transport; Powers to make grants for bus services.

War memorials

Power to maintain, repair, protect and alter war memorials.

Water supply

Power to utilise wells, springs or streams and to provide facilities for getting water from them.