Welcome to the Funtley Village Society

Latest News:

Residents relieved by the return of the No 20 bus to Funtley!

From a resident regarding plans for land South of Funtley Road:

The following poster has been designed by a resident regarding the revised plans for land south of Funtley Road. ( Reside development).

This poster is independent from the official response from the Funtley Village Society about this development.

Please make your comments known by the timeframe mentioned and through the official channels outlined. Please note this is NOT via the Society. We are more than aware of the views expressed during 4 consultation exercises.

FVS

Return of a Bus Service to Funtley!
The Number 20 Service Resumes Monday 15th March:

Many thanks to Ro, one of our committee members, who has been on this for many months like a dog with a bone! She’s been constantly onto HCC and both developers to ensure this happened. Never accepted no for an answer. Persistence does pay off! 

The Funtley Village Society has now received an update from Hampshire County Councils Transport Section outlining a temporary solution to sustainable public transport for Funtley residents. Please see their statement below. They will update us on the longer term solutions in due course. We have thanked them on your behalf for their assistance in this matter.

Understandably you may feel apprehensive about using public transport at the moment, however this provides you with the opportunity if you choose to use it.

Please share this information with neighbours who may not have access to computers,  so they also have the opportunity to make local bus journeys if they choose to do so.

We will also keep you posted on all information we receive in respect of the ongoing Reside development.

Here is the statement from Hampshire county council 

The  temporary solution is now in place and the route will revert to serving Funtley via Mayles Lane from Monday 15 March at a reduced timetable (due to COVID). As COVID restrictions ease we will see a gradual return to usual timetables, hopefully by the end of April.

In order to achieve this, we have used the COVID-19 Bus Services Support Grant from the Government to meet the annual cost to the land owner, The Land Trust. This means it can only be guaranteed using this particular solution for one year as it is not an ongoing grant.  This allows time for the various developments to progress and a long term solution to be implemented.  

We will get signs up at bus stops, on the vehicle, and at the bus station in Fareham when we are able to but in the meanwhile we would be grateful if you could spread the word around the village. We are particularly pleased that the village will have access to a service again when the Stay At Home guidance is lifted and people are able to make more local journeys.

https://bit.ly/3q1vCFs?fbclid=IwAR3ZBQnjat_RkzHrH7Zt-QsZvcCMe70PfTNvG87xE-ozy2tbi4BnUd0r0Y8

Development news

Planned South of Funtley road developments (Vivid and Reside):

We have all been living through unsettling times which are ongoing. In spite of this the Funtley Village Society has followed up on your ongoing enquiries about the new developments and their significant impact on the community.

Just one of the important issues raised is the lack of sustainable public transport.

Obtaining a full response from Fareham Borough Council or Hampshire County Council proved to be impossible. So Funtley Village Society approached the developers directly. In brief both Vivid and Reside developments support sustainable public transport as this was the premise on which these new builds were given

Both developments are subject to Section 106 Agreements. This means where a planning application is submitted to the council, there is an assessment to see if the development will cause a significant impact on the area and community. As you are all too aware particularly if you live on the Roebuck Avenue side of the village then the current impact is significant, but there are also the wider infrastructure implications of continued mass development.

Section 106 vary depending on the nature of the development and the needs of the District. During the many consultation exercises from Fareham Borough Council with residents, all the significant impacts were consistently outlined.  The most common obligations then require subsequent funding from the developers and these form part of the Agreement. This funding should then be returned to the community in the form of its common obligations.

We will keep you posted. In the interim please remember we are all purely unpaid volunteers, so any questions or lobbying, needs to be via your locally elected Councillors but please keep us in the loop.

The Funtley Village Society.

Welborne...

Buckland Development Ltd have submitted an updated planning application for Welborne to Fareham Borough Council (FBC).

You can see these plans here.

FVS have previously submitted our own comments which can be found here. 

Funtley Village Society response to Fareham Borough Council's draft Local Plan:

Our response can be found here.

The latest news is both applications have now been given planning approval, and on the the Northern site work has now started. Since the initial approval, the whole site was purchased by Vivid homes, and all of the homes will now be "affordable" (there's no legal no definition for that), however along with two Social Houses, many will be "affordable rent", and a number part-purchase to help people onto the housing ladder, and the Society welcomes that aspect of the development.

The Southern site also now has draft planning approval for 55 homes, however the developers (Reside) have recently sent letters to local residents saying they would like to increase this number to 125. FVS opposes these plans to squeeze even more houses onto the plot already agreed for a lower number, particularly on the grounds of loss of character to the village, the fact the village no longer has a bus service, and also due to ecological and flooding concerns. The society as well as individuals will be opposing the planning when it comes to committee. We are also urging our local councillors to oppose this plan. 

If you wish to contact the Society please email us on: info@funtleyvillagesociety.org.uk

Annual Fete 2021!

Due to the Coronvirus pandemic, our village fete had to be cancelled this year.

We will be back however next year, bigger and better!

In the meantime, we hope you all stay well and safe.

Older stuff:

Lyme Disease - a Cautionary Tale!

Please read this, sent from a resident who developed Lyme disease through a tick from the grass near Funtley lake - and beware of any similar symptoms!

One of our residents, whose house backs onto the lake, was tidying up and clearing away some long grass, nettles and brambles the other side of his fence by the foot path & wearing stout clothing / boots to protect himself from the nettles and thorns. Quite often deer can be seen passing by their back fence by in the late evening and early morning. Also Mr Fox and occasionally squirrels which are all capable of carrying / transferring ticks!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but that evening he remembers brushing something off his leg just below his right buttock whilst having a shower [the overalls have a side pocket each side from which he could access the shorts underneath]. A few days later when his wife came back from visiting some friends she asked him what he had banged into to get such a large bruise on the back of his leg [egg size]. Obviously he could not remember and though nothing about it. A few days later she remarked on it again saying it was twice the size with a nasty red ring outlining it. Unfortunately that was a Friday evening by which time he was aware of an ever present headache, a sore right neck and that when he came home from works he needed to have a little lie down to recharge his batteries. Something he had never had to do previously. The penny had dropped!

Phoning up Fareham health centre first thing on Monday morning he was put on the Triage list and when he spoke to a Doctor she had diagnosis Lyme Disease almost before he mentioned “the long grass”. Apparently it’s becoming quite common along the South coast and around this area. [Spreading from the New Forest and on the Downs]. She asked him to call in to see her immediately. By that time the patch on his leg had increased to about 6” in diameter. Although starting the antibiotics within 10 minutes his condition continued to deteriorate over several days and was unable to drive as searing barbs of pain were hitting his right head and neck causing him to literally stop in his tracks & forget what he was about to say or do for several minuets at a time. That lasted for over a week moving round to his left side.

After 2 weeks of antibiotics he is much improved, but his vision is still a little blurred and the vicious headache is now just a back ground irritant as are the sore and aching joints. He is just hoping no lasting damage remains to hit him in the future!

Very soon, as always, families will be picking the blackberries from the brambles around the lake and elsewhere, be it in the Funtley area or in the New Forest and there is no reason to stop them enjoying the experience. He is still quite happy to carry on working and walking around the Lake or elsewhere, but strongly advises that everyone reads up on “Lyme Disease” on the NHS website here so they can identify the symptoms at an early stage and seek medical advice.

This can be a killer at worst, or leave you with lifelong disabilities if not caught soon enough. A child is even more susceptible and parents need to be aware of the symptoms and how to remove a tick safely. You can’t pick it off as it will squeeze the poison into your blood stream which is probably what happened when he brush it off his leg. Had he seen it he could have use the tick removal tool they have in their first aid kit. [mainly for use on their cats]