In highlighting a potted history of events surrounding Old Basing Parish Council it is surprising that so many events and concerns have appeared – and reappeared – in the minutes during the 105 years of the council’s existence. Parish councils were created by Act of Parliament in 1894. Old Basing Parish Council, whose jurisdiction at that time included Chineham and Daneshill, held its first meeting on 4 December 1894.
1894 to 1900
The oldest set of surviving minutes is dated 17 January 1895. The venue for the meeting was the Workmans Club. The minutes show that the council’s bankers as Capital & Counties Bank in Basingstoke.
Before the turn of the century there had been calls to:
- Install street lamps in the village street
- Build a railway station
- Improve the Basingstoke Canal
- Improve the state of roads and footpaths in the parish
- Build a parish hall on land leased from Lord Bolton
The electoral register for the period listed 235 voters for the period 30 November 1894 to 31 December 1895.
1901 to 1920
The minute books for the period July 1904 to July 1920 are missing. If anyone knows of their whereabouts,
please contact the parish clerk.
1921 to 1930
During this period council meetings were held in the school and in 1923 it asked the Rural District Council to erect “Please drive slowly through the village” signs. (These were finally erected in 1998!) The Parish Council also resisted attempts to absorb the village into the Borough of Basingstoke.
1931 to 1940
Street names and house numbering was agreed for all dwellings in the parish.
1941 to 1950
Agreed to buy 840 numbers at two shillings and three pence per dozen (about 12p) to number all dwellings in the parish. Postage and screws were extra.
1951 to 1960
The Southern Electricity Board agreed to provide a supply to Chineham. Attempts were made to get an improved bus service to Little Basing. It was reported that the newly erected noticeboard at the Recreation Ground had been defaced. The parish clerk told of difficulties in getting reports from the council published in the Hants & Berks Gazette.
1961 to 1970
The Rural District Council had invited tenders for the surfacing of Belle Vue Road. The Coronation Tree was in need of pruning and the new bus shelter had had one of its windows broken. The RDC also agreed to make up the roads on the Byfleet Estate.
1971 to 1980
The bus shelter at Crossways was reported as being in need of repair. Planning applications included one for Rileys Lane burial ground and another to replace the old rectory with the Old Basing Infants School, a residential development (known as The Mead) and a replacement rectory in Milkingpen Lane.
1981 to 1990
Local government re-organisation moved the Daneshill Area of the parish into a Basingstoke town ward and the County Council promoted the Chineham Development Brief to create almost 1,000 new houses in the Lychpit and Chineham areas of the parish. In 1986 the separate parish of Chineham was created and the Old Basing electoral register was divided to give 4,338 voters to Old Basing and 2,403 voters to Chineham.
1991 to 2000
Betty Holmes MBE was made the first Honorary Citizen of the Parish of Old Basing on 1 August 1994. Planning applications included one for a replacement incinerator on the Old Basing – Sherfield border and another for an additional primary school plus 336 houses on the Lychpit – Chineham border.