Responsibilities

The Longparish Parish Council has 10 volunteer members.  It has a part time Clerk who takes minutes of the monthly meetings, records and replies to correspondence and maintains the accounts, as well as acting as Clerk to the Burial Board. The main responsibilities of the Parish Council are as follows.

  1. It has adopted the Longparish Parish Plan which you can see on the village website. The proposals fall into four main areas: Community (largely implemented by the Longparish Community Association), Housing and sustainable development, Village environment, Transport and road safety.

  2. It looks after Parish property, which includes The Plough Inn, playground equipment, three bus shelters, the Ashburn Rest, the grindstone, the stocks, various seats and benches, the War Memorial in the cemetery, the Stocks, the Burnaby Cross by the school, and the parish notice boards.

  3. It expresses its views on planning applications and application for tree works. These applications are decided by the Test Valley and (in some special cases) Hampshire Planning Committees. It has prepared a Village Design Statement which TVBC has adopted as supplementary planning guidance.

  4. It leases the Village Hall from the Church and delegates the running of it to a management committee. It manages the car park opposite the Village Hall by arrangement with Middleton Estate.

  5. It is responsible for the children’s playground, the allotments, the Village Hall (gravel) car park, and the cemetery.

  6. It leases the football field behind the Plough from Middleton Estate and cuts it for the benefit of local players.

  7. Hampshire County Council is responsible for around 20 miles of footpaths and rights of way in the parish. Using volunteer labour, the Parish Council helps with maintenance through the Parish Paths Partnership.

  8. It owns three areas of common land: The Common, off Southside Road (which it manages as a pocket nature reserve), the sand pit by Larkwhistle Farm, and the chalk pit by Vale Farm.

  9. It appoints a transport representative, a tree warden, a Highways representative (who refers road issues to the Highways Authorities and leads the Adopt a Road scheme), and nominates members to serve on the Village Hall, Hill & Valley, and Community Association committees.

  10. It arranges for Hill & Valley to go free to every household and is responsible for the village website www.longparish.org.uk

  11. It has it has a Planning Committee and working parties for finance, communications, open spaces and footpaths, and The Plough Inn.

  12. Generally, it looks after the interests of the parish by doing what it is empowered to do, and drawing other needs to the attention of the relevant authority. It also responds to consultation from other authorities.

The Council charges Test Valley for the money it needs to carry out its responsibilities (known as the Precept), and this amount is shown as part of the Council Tax bill for households in the parish.