Stakeholder Meeting,
18 June 2019
The June stakeholder meeting was a really busy and interactive session with over 50 people in attendance. We had updates from a number of stakeholders with some really positive work going on as part of the wider contribution to Andover Vision.
Cycling Festival: The first update was given by Harry Lodge from Halo Sports on the upcoming Andover Cycling Festival. The Festival will be taking place on Sunday 7th July with a range of cycling events taking place for the family and more competitive riders. For more information visit https://www.andovercyclingfestival.co.uk/ .
Andover Town Centre: The second update was a presentation from the Head of Planning and Building at Test Valley Borough Council, Paul Jackson on the project to bring forward the future redevelopment of Andover town centre. This exciting once in a generation opportunity which reflects the ambitions of Andover Vision is picking up real momentum with the plans to deliver Town Mills Riverside, a new Cultural Quarter and re-develop the Chantry Centre which the Council recently purchased. Paul spoke on the importance of both looking at the future of the town centre as a whole, rather than individual sites and the engagement of stakeholders throughout the process. As a next step the Council is to undertake the development of a Masterplan which will take around 12 months to complete and will involve significant consultation with the public to decide what the future of Andover will look like.
Andover Vision partners gathered in June, to get the latest project updates the two workshop items were the Refill Project and the Riverside Project.
Asking Andover: Louise Mackay from the Museum of the Iron Age spoke regarding Asking Andover and their summer programme of events. Asking Andover has National Lottery Heritage Funding and is an exciting project bringing the community together celebrating the diverse heritage of Andover. For more information visit: https://askingandover.wordpress.com/
West Hampshire CCG: The West Hampshire CCG also delivered an update on Primary Care Networks and how people can get involved through their local GP participation group.
Community information screen: This was followed by an update on the Community Information Screen which is now available in Andover Library for communities to put up information on their groups or events. This was achieved with input by one of our stakeholders and information can be put onto the screen by emailing a JPEG to andover.library@hants.gov.uk
Andover Trees United: Andover Trees United gave the final update summarising the projects they are working on at the moment. In the High Street they have a Kew Gardens funded wild flower display as part of the Flowerbed Storytime Project. The Peace Day Procession which was held in Andover last year is to be held in Andover again with the theme of Climate Action for Peace. ATU is also having a community archaeological dig in Harmony Woods with students from the University of Southampton. For more information visit: https://www.andovertrees.org.uk/
Workshops:
The two workshops for the evening were then a walking tour of the Town Mills area looking at the Riverside project and the Refill project.
Transition Towns Andover ran the Refill workshop on Refill Andover which Andover Vision is supporting as it provides an opportunity to bring the community together to help safeguard the environment for future generations. The session promoted reusable bottles and refilling these at refill stations to reduce single use plastics.
In Andover refill stations are:
The Oak at Smannell, The Rock House, The White Hart, Love & Joy (Weyhill Fairground) Weyhill Farm Shop, The Lights and Andover Leisure Centre.
Nationally signed up Refill Stations:
Greggs, Costa, John Russell Fox, Premier Inn, Starbucks
For more information visit the facebook page @refillandover
We’re also looking for more venues to host stakeholder meetings, if you think you have a suitable venue that can host up to 70 people, please let us know, contact andovervision@testvalley.gov.uk
Our next meeting is planned for the autumn, keep an eye out for posts on this site or on our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/andovervision. You can also join our mailing list for Andover Vision news, events and volunteering opportunities, email us at andovervision@testvalley.gov.uk