Crown Building on London Street, Andover Andover Town Council has expressed objections to a planning application that seeks to convert the commercial space on the ground floor of a building in Andover into a residential space. The councillors made the observation about Crown Building on London Street in an informal online meeting yesterday (Monday). The ATC observations will be passed to the Planning Authority of Test Valley Borough Council through the Town Clerk. The town councillors found four major problems with the planning application – it does not have a parking space, amenity space, provision for affordable housing and nitrate mitigation.
Andover Town Council is to refine its policy of investing thousands of pounds of public money after councillors raised issues with proposals. The council’s Draft Investment Strategy is to be redrafted after councillors said that it was “too much of a placeholder” and needed to be more precise before any money could be used. Councillor Luigi Gregori said refining the proposals are “not going to change the price of fish too much but it will set it on the way going forward.” Andover Town Council’s Policy & Resources (P&R) Committee met on Wednesday, April 22, to discuss a number of items, including the Draft Investment Strategy.
Councillors have said they are “disappointed” following the outsourcing of council rules to an advisor. Andover Town Council’s standing orders and financial regulations are to be reviewed by Caroline Godfrey, an advisor from The Society of Local Council Clerks who has been working with the council following the fallout of staff grievances in the past year. However, councillors working on an overview group for these rules called for better engagement with them as they “aren’t that far away” from completing their own review. Councillor Luigi Gregori said: “Frankly, I do not understand this. It has been going on for quite a while now. I was disappointed that despite the hard work of my colleagues it has been put aside and we’re seeking to start from scratch again.
Councillors have voted against placing toilets on a new allotment site, with one member calling for the facilities to be removed from all allotment sites. Members of Andover Town Council’s Allotment Committee voted on Wednesday against putting a portaloo on the new Ox Drove allotment site, which is set to be handed over by developers of Picket Piece in the coming months. Councillors raised concerns that doing so would be ‘a waste of money’ at present, as the toilets can not be used during Covid, amid wider concerns of “prohibitive” costs of putting the toilets on smaller sites. The allotments committee discussed a number of new allotment sites from developments across Andover at the meeting on April 14. Firstly, Cllr Nick Matthews said that new allotments near Saxon Heights would be available for use earlier than expected, with an aim of September.
Andover Town Council is to investigate the future of its offices in the town centre. The council is looking into a range of options, including serviced office space in the town centre or at Test Valley Borough Council’s (TVBC) offices, occupying a shopfront in the high street or becoming fully remote. Officers had prepared a report into some of these options, but have now been instructed by councillors to investigate further possibilities ahead of a decision that needs to be made before October. At present, Andover Town Council occupies offices just off the High Street, which were closed in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.