JULY

FIREFIGHTERS have been hailed the “heroes of Whitchurch” as they stopped a van fire from spreading to a nearby petrol station. On Saturday, 1 July, a fire started in a van in Church Street, Whitchurch that damaged a gym, workshop, and garden centre. The building that the business was in was split into three parts, each containing one of the affected businesses and the building suffered partial fire and smoke damage. The vehicle was completely destroyed in the fire. No one was injured. The fire was about 30 feet from the Murco petrol station in Church Street, where there were 40,000 litres of fuel on the premises. The owner of the petrol station, Zulfiqar Ali, said: “The fire was only about 30 feet from the petrol station, and the van went up in smoke very quickly, and the flames quickly jumped to the roof of the nearby building. It was quite scary, my legs were shaking, I could see my whole livelihood going up in smoke. “If it had reached the tanks of petrol, there would have been a massive blast. There were 25,000 litres of petrol and 15,000 litres of diesel in there at the time, and there would have been a massive blast if the flames had met the vapours.”

TWO of Andover’s drug-plagued town centre toilets will close from this weekend following the launch of a new public convenience scheme. Test Valley Borough Council has confirmed the public toilet at George Yard will close as of Sunday, and, alongside the already shut Bordon Gates facility, will remain so throughout the “indefinite” pilot period of its new community toilet scheme.

MORE than a quarter of all fires attended by the town’s firefighters are started “deliberately” - an Advertiser investigation has revealed. The shock statistic, which comes from this paper’s Freedom of Information request, shows that 99 of the 385 fire-related incidents attended by Andover crews between 2014 and 2016 were started on purpose. The figures, provided by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, also show a small rise in the number of deliberate fires last year. Of the 99 recorded incidents, 35 took place in 2016, compared to 30 in 2015 and 34 recorded in 2014.

PLANS to demolish an historical Andover almshouse building as part of an “exciting” £1.5million redevelopment project have been brought back to the table after a year of delays. Revamped proposals for the Andover’s almshouses, in Adelaide Road, were recently lodged with Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) - more than a year after the original plans stalled due to a complication over land ownership. According to those behind the project, the Andover Charity Trustees, the issue, which involved claiming back a small piece of land from Hampshire County Council, has since been resolved. However, the project has also been delayed, to allow for a major redesign of the proposed redevelopment. Changes include a complete revamp to the building’s look and roofline, as well as adding a new entrance onto East Street. Under the newly lodged plans, the current almshouses, which have stood since 1869, will be completely demolished.

AUGUST

A CHARITY boss of a major Andover charity has admitted the organisation has made several cost-cutting measures after facing financial trouble. Around 40 residents attended a meeting organised by Enham Alamein Parish Council to help address concerns and rumours about the charities current practices and future plans. Chief executive, Heath Gunn, among other trust representatives, were at the meeting to answer questions. Mr Gunn repeatedly said throughout the meeting that he would be open and honest with his answers but if he could not answer a question, he would explain why he could not. One major concern residents had was that some of the trusts’ properties may be sold. Mr Gunn confirmed five bungalows were being sold privately but they were empty properties. He explained regulations stipulated homes for disabled users must be inclusive of all disabilities, including wheelchair users. As a result, the five houses were not deemed suitable for wheelchair users and it was not practical to make them adaptable.

A NEW discount fashion retailer is set to open in Andover next month. A new PEP&CO store will be launching in the High Street in early September. The “fuss-free” low-cost clothing chain will be trading above Poundland where Woolworths used to operate before it shut its doors for the final time in 2009. A spokesperson for PEP&CO said: “This is part of an exciting, national roll out of PEP&CO into Poundland stores across the UK, meaning people can now conveniently shop for affordable fashion alongside amazing value products from Poundland.” The footwear and clothing retailer, established in 2015, aims to help families in every community spend less on their clothing.

A POLICE sergeant who has served Andover for the past 30 years is set to hang up his handcuffs as he retires from the force at the beginning of next month. Sergeant Steve Parker joined Andover Police Station in 1987 after completing his training at Chantmarle in Dorset during the Home Office’s recruitment drive in the late 1980s. After working as a police constable for four years, he joined Andover’s criminal investigation department (CID) for several months before moving to the area car team at Weyhill where he was an area car driver for ten years. He rejoined the Andover team as an intelligence officer and was then promoted to sergeant in 2006, going on to work with the emergency response team, in custody and on investigations. Following a nine-month transfer to Basingstoke he then returned to Andover in 2014 as the neighbourhood sergeant.

RESIDENTS are in an uproar after plans have been revealed for a proposed free range egg production farm that can hold up to 32,000 chickens. Members of the Appleshaw Action Group are ‘vehemently’ against a planning application for two linked agricultural buildings, four feed bins and associated works on land south of Hill Copse, Privet Lane. Concerns that leader of the group Miles Woodhouse have include increased traffic, odour and environmental impact. Planning documents submitted show a need for the disposal of farmyard manure from the site, with an anticipated 16 tonnes per week to be removed in sheeted trailers for disposal as an agricultural fertiliser on farmland. Chairman of Appleshaw Parish Council, Anne Cowlin, said: “This is an outrageous plan on grounds of smell, increased traffic and environmental concerns. (In October the plan was withdrawn by the applicant).

SEPTEMBER

MANAGERS, staff and volunteers at an Andover charity have been left shocked and angry after a jar containing up to £400 worth of foreign currency was stolen from its offices. The large glass container is thought to have been taken from Neighbourcare’s Union Street premises at some point between Wednesday, 16 August and Friday, 18 August. It was only on the following Monday morning that the charity’s staff realised the jar, which usually sits on a desk in the middle of the office, was gone.

Veterans, active personnel and families of fallen service members all gathered for the opening of the British Army Flying Memorial at the Museum of Army Flying in Middle Wallop last Friday. The unveiling of the memorial, which commemorates 5,127 Army Air Corps (AAC) members who lost their lives since 1912, comes on the 60th anniversary of the unit.

A CHARITY for people with learning disabilities is facing a ‘crisis’ as it could be forced to foot an unexpected £400,000 bill. The chief executive of Andover and District Mencap (ADM) Chris Dixon has said this new bill – almost a quarter of its yearly turnover - could “massively impact” the services the charity provides. The bill comes after a government ruling on overnight carers who provide sleep-in support for people with learning disabilities, reinforcing they should be paid at national minimum wage. Last year, the taxman said workers were also entitled to six years’ worth of back pay from their employers. The Royal Mencap Society said this meant the care sector faced a £400m bill nationally and, with enforcement action due to start next month, ADM says it does not have the money to foot its part of the bill.

YEARS of campaigning for a signalised pedestrian crossing outside a primary school look set to be paying off after a U-turn by council chiefs. Proposals for a puffin crossing outside Roman Way Primary School, in Viking Way, are now back on Hampshire County Council’s (HCC) agenda, despite the authority maintaining the pedestrian-to-vehicle ratio was not high enough to warrant a crossing until just a few weeks ago. The decision to give engineers the go-ahead to develop plans for the crossing comes after a meeting where leader of Test Valley Borough Council, Councillor Phil North, county councillor for Andover North, Kirsty Locke, and MP for North West Hampshire Kit Malthouse lobbied HCC’s executive member for environment and transport, Councillor Rob Humby, to install a crossing. Following the meeting, Cllr Humby said: “I was pleased to have the opportunity to meet with local councillors and the local MP to discuss arrangements for pedestrians on Viking Way, and how we could best use the funding available as part of the agreements with the developers of the East Anton development.

A HUGE jobs boost is coming to Andover after an online supermarket announced it will expand its workforce by a third before the end of the year. Ocado is looking to employ 200 warehouse operatives for its Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) based in Walworth Business Park. The new staff will bring the total number of people from the area employed by Ocado to around 800.