Archived decisions
Hampshire County Council
Yateley Common Management Committee Item 8
6 June, 2007
Yateley Common Site Manager's Report
February - June, 2007
Contact: Nicki Paton. 01252 870425
1. Introduction
1.1 This report outlines the work undertaken at Yateley Common since the last meeting.
2. Fly tipping
2.1 Since the last meeting incidents of fly tipping have remained constant. Items included numerous bags of green waste, car seats, a Hoover, a Flymo, several bags of soil and rubble, a sofa bed and sheets of asbestos. We also collected over 100 tyres which had been dumped down the back entrance track to the scrap yard.
3. Dumped Vehicles
3.1 There have been five abandoned vehicles between February and end of May, 2007. A burnt out Mondeo was found at Stoods outer car park, but disappeared a few days later. We have also had burnt out cars at the cemetery car park and two on the East end of the Common.
3.2 We also had two abandoned motorbikes on the Common.
4. Motorbikes
4.1 All motorbike activity is reported to the Police. Since February there has been a small increase in the amount of activity, particularly on the West end and Brandy Bottom heath areas of the Common. There are several reports of quad bikes as well as two wheeled bikes. There was also a golf buggy driving around the Brandy Bottom heath area.
5. Signage
5.1 The site map boards have now been commissioned and produced. We are sourcing a manufacturer for the frames to be constructed in which to house the boards. We are hoping to visit a potential supplier in the next couple of weeks.
6. Rights of Way (RoW)
6.1 Bridleway 30 behind Stood Pool has had further surfacing work, as had the permissive route through the `pinch-point'. The lower section of Bridleway 20, near Strood Pool, has been cut through and opened up.
6.2 Mr. Davidson is now in the early stages of reviewing the remaining RoW on the Common.
7. Site Maintenance
7.1 A number of areas have been extensively litter picked, namely the Cricketers Green, Dungells Lane, Old Wellmore and along Reading Road. A den which was cleared near the business park has been removed, although another one was quickly reconstructed. This has since been removed.
7.2 The installation of dragons' teeth has been completed at Brandy Bottom and also at the inner Gravel Pit car park, as some vehicles were still driving over the bank.
7.3 The ditch on Stroud Lane was partially cleared in March in an attempt to alleviate problems with run-off rainwater. Due to the fairly wet conditions, some of the ditch clearance could not be completed as our machinery was getting stuck. The ditch will hopefully be completed over the next couple of months.
7.4 The remaining scrub clearance was completed in March at Brandy Bottom. A number of willows were removed from The Flats following access problems for the refuse lorry.
8. Water Levels
8.1 The water levels in all the ponds are good, although they are expected to drop. Pond dipping is taking place on Strood Pool.
9. Heath Fires
9.1 A number of heath fires have already taken place this spring. Small fires were started on the East end when cars were burnt out earlier in the year. There were also two other unrelated small fires on the East end at the end of March and a larger fire between Stroud Lane and the Gravel Pit picnic area.
10. Heathcroft Nursing Home, Stroud Lane
10.1 Plans are in progress to redevelop the Heathcroft Nursing Home site. Mr. Davidson attended a meeting on Friday 4 May with the developers, Hart DC and Highways. Access to the property was discussed and the possibility of resurfacing the track with tarmac. Obviously tarmac would not be acceptable, but discussions were had about the future maintenance of the track and adjoining ditch network. We are waiting to hear any further developments.
11. SPA Bird Survey
11.1 Between the months of March and June staff are carrying out bird counts for the three SPA bird species found on the Common. These are Woodlark, Dartford Warbler and Nightjar. All areas of the Common are being surveyed in an attempt to gauge numbers of breeding pairs on site. Results are being passed to John Eyre from Hampshire Ornithological Society, who collates the information for Natural England.
12. Wyndhams Pool
12.1 There is currently a closed season in operation on Wyndhams which re-opens on 16 July.
12.2 Earlier in the year bales of barley straw were added to the pond in an attempt to reduce the amount of blue-algae. In the last few weeks there has been an algal bloom on the pond, but Environment Agency staff has declared it below the toxic threshold at the present time.
13. Volunteers
13.1 During the end of February and March we had nine visits from Community Service. They are due to revisit the site from September, although a few visits are expected through the summer.
13.2 Yateley Society has continued to offer a healthy work force on the Common with good numbers attending on a regular basis. We have also had support from Berkshire Conservation Volunteers.
13.3 Our regular individual volunteers Mick Young and Roger Harris received letters of thanks from the Town Mayor for their efforts.
14. Events and Education
14.1 A Heathland Harvest walk and Spring Morning Birdsong walk have both been successful over the last couple of months.
14.2 Mr. Allen and Miss Booth manned an information stand at the Yateley May Fayre, which proved very popular with a wide range of local interest.
14.3 Miss Booth hosted an information evening at Yateley Library last week, which was attended by 10 people.
14.4 Our schools education programme is in full swing this year. So far we have seen a number of schools and sessions are now fully booked until 9 July. We have also had several bookings from Guiding and Scout groups, including Rainbows, Brownies and Guides as well as Cubs.
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