What exactly does Kingsclere Parish Council do?

Kingsclere Parish Council looks after a wide range of facilities and open spaces, all on behalf of the community. In recent years you may have noticed some major improvements. For instance, the Holding Field car park has been enlarged to make parking easier for parents on the school run and over 300 trees have been planted around the village including the new Community Orchard.

Many people don’t know exactly what the role of a Parish Council is, however, so here is a summary of what the Parish Council, and its Councillors, do.

There are nine councillors, all from the village, who volunteer their time to protect and enhance the community. Their work includes maintenance and improvements to the assets the Council owns, and making requests and recommendations to other organisations for anything else. This includes other councils, such as Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire County Council, as well as the police and other groups.

The Parish Council own things like the bus shelters, benches, the Recreation Ground play equipment, the War Memorial, the projector, and the electronic Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) located on Winchester and Bastingstoke Road.

Kingsclere Parish Council also own and / or maintain some of the open spaces around the village, such as the Holding Field and adjacent car park, the Recreation Ground (The Rec), the Cemetery, the allotments, the Community Orchard and the Malthouse Open Space (next to the churchyard).

There are many things that come under the responsibility of either Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council or Hampshire County Council, such as planning and roads. Although the Parish Council can’t take direct action on these, the Council actively advocates for the village when there are major issues such as significant planning applications and traffic problems.

There are always a wide range of projects under way, so if you want to get involved or even just report a problem with any areas of Parish Council respoisiblity, please get in touch.