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The Parish Council continues its fight against speeding in Rownhams Road and Rownhams Lane and traffic calming measures will be installed after consultation with residents and after funding has been received from Wimpeys on completion of the former Borden site.

The new cycle way has been put in place between North Baddesley and Rownhams. This has proved to be very popular with cyclists and pedestrians.

Sadly vandalism has continued to occur throughout the village. A public meeting was held with the Police, Test Valley Borough Council, Testway Housing, Neighbourhood Wardens and the new Police Community Support Officer to update us on the progress made this year and the ongoing measures being put in place. A Youth Club sponsored by the Parish Council is in the process of being established which will hopefully improve the situation. Residents have noticed a marked improvement since the arrival of the Police Community Support Officer who has been part-funded by the Parish for two years.

The "Baddesley Beadle" has been published four times during the year, and I would like to thank the Editor, Fred Clarke, and all who undertake delivery of what is a valuable means of communicating with parishioners. The award for "Parishioner of the Year" was made for the tenth time in 2007—on that occasion to Keith Henser, co-ordinator of Baddesley Friends, and we have just made Dennis Peckham this year’s winner. We also nominated Keith Henser for a Hampshire County Council Good Neighbours award which he was awarded recently.

Due to the efforts of Councillors, the Annual Remembrance Parade went well again and passed off without incident. The Police once again escorted the Parade helped by Councillors and "The Last Post" was played by myself.

Grant money had been gained for two CCTV cameras with recording equipment to supplement the two existing cameras at the Scout hut. Money also had been gained for anti-vandalism paint and graffiti removal tools for use by our groundsman. £85,000 and £5,000 were awarded from Hampshire County Counci’s Local Network Fund for the youth wing to the pavilion and multi-sport court cage respectively.

The Council have also been hard at work to protect the village from large developments after the Borough’s Core Strategy was published. The Parish Council published a flyer that was delivered to most houses in the village by the Council and a large group of parishioners about the Core Strategy Road Show. As a result of this publicity around 1,000 people turned up at this one day road show. The Borough Council’s planning department have said that this is the biggest response they have ever known for a road show.

In conclusion the Council has held 12 full meetings during the year. The Planning Commitee met 24 times, the Finance and General Purposes Committee twice and the Recreation Committees met occasionally for informal meetings.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the Council for their support during the year, with particular thanks to my Vice-Chairman Councillor Eric Cosier, our Parish Clerk Joan Harrington and to Hampshire County Councillor Alan Dowden and Borough Councillors, Steve Cosier, Celia Dowden and Ann Tupper who have been most supportive.