The Association would like to assemble a collection of photographic images showing the estate in days gone by. This newsletter has occasionally contained a photo of early Ethelburt Avenue and Bassett Green Road before the council estate was build. But we do not know what Leaside Way looked like before it was made up, or Field Close before the bungalows were built. In his book Sights and Scenes of SWAYTHLING, Mr Brian Ticehurst has assembled an excellent collection of photos. But there is nothing on the Collins Estate. He gives us one tantalising glimpse through the railway arch towards Bassett Green Road, but there is nothing to tell us what lies beyond. When W.J.Collins, Herbert’s father, purchased the land from John Willis Fleming of Chilworth Manor in 1925, it was just a field on the north side of Bassett Green Road and allotment gardens on the south side.

Did no one capture this rustic scene with their Brownie box camera?

Do you have any photos showing local views or recall any event on the estate that was recorded by a photo in a local newspaper?

The HCERA Ethelburt Avenue Improvement Group (formerly the Ethelburt Avenue Repair Sub-Committee) will, in the short to medium term, carry out maintenance at two to three month intervals. John Dixon ( Tel: 80550064) is organising a team of volunteers and the first round is planned for the end of January or early February.
At the same time, the Group is liaising with various City Council departments to develop a long term strategy for road improvement.

In the last newsletter, we said that the question of uPVC plastic conservatories would raised with Woodhill Properties. The following reply was received:

“You said that your AGM voted that uPVC conservatories should be allowed on the rear elevation.  At our meeting generally it was thought that this was OK and we were pleased to have the residents’ views.  However, Woodhill will consider each application on its merits, so as to avoid any anomalies.”

Woodhill Properties guidelines are now on our website.

Mrs Knight, Headteacher of St George’s School came to a HCERA Committee meeting in November to tell us about the bid to become a specialist school in Engineering and Humanities. Part of the application includes links to the local community. One idea that the school has, is the development of local history themes.
As a result of our discussions, they have included in their bid, proposals about working together to make the area around the adjoining stream a more environmentally friendly area to encourage wildlife. At the moment it is a dumping ground.

In the long term they will explore how their sports facilities can be made available to the community through additional flood lighting etc.

Since the last Newsletter there has been an upsurge in vandalism and break-ins. This is not confined to the estate but extends to smashed glass in a bus shelter, on an advertisement display and shop doors in High Road. Cars have been broken into on Bassett Green Road, Ethelburt Avenue and Leaside Way. House windows have been broken in Ethelburt Avenue. (A perpetrator has ended up in court). There was a burglary in Field Close and attempted theft of a motor cycle from a garden in Ethelburt Avenue. In a curious piece of mischief, a length of fishing line was strung by some children, apparently to remotely knock a door.
It is likely that the culprits are young members of our local
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The public enquiry session dealing with the strategic gap, park-and-ride and a bus depot at Stoneham will be on Wednesday, 4th February, commencing at 10 am in Conference Room 3 at the Civic Centre.

On this walk we look at the sites considered for park-and-ride (p&r) in the report “Strategic Park and Ride Opportunities for the Southampton Area”. It takes about one hour.

Go down Bassett Green Road, under the railway arch and, just past the Fleming Arms, turn onto the Monks Brook Greenway.

Walk along the path. The vegetation beside the railway line has been recently cleared.

Where you see the gas holders, cross the railway line by the public footpath which then runs along the south side of Ford’s car park. This car park is the first of the p&r sites.

Go along Wide Lane and under the M27. As you climb the bridge over the railway you see on your left the playing field that is the most favoured site for p&r.

Continuing to the roundabout, ahead are two more p&r sites on the opposite side of Wide Lane to the railway station. One is on part of the University Sports Ground and the other on the King Edward VI School fields. Now retrace your steps to the Monks Brook Greenway and continue along the path.

Cross the new bridge over Monks Brook into the field beyond, also a p&r site. Follow the path along the east and then north side, pass through the tunnel and come to the field used by travellers in the summer and another p&r site. (Yet another is on the other side of the M27.)

Walk southwards along the Stoneham Way side of this field to the fence. The rough ground beyond, plus part of the adjoining BTC sports ground, is our last p&r site and is within the area reserved for a bus depot and park-and-ride in the City’s draft Local Plan. Go along this side of the field until there is a gate. Pass under the bar into the BTC ground and exit though a gap in the fence into Stoneham Lane and so return home.

The Southampton Federation of Residents’ Associations meeting in October was devoted to antisocial behaviour. Many residents are feeling helpless to stem the tide of vandalism, muggings, car thefts, damage, noise and threatening incidents. Councillor Mizon, who has the Communities and Regeneration portfolio said that dealing with this problem was one of the first priorities of the new administration. A Task Group had produced a strategy document over the summer. She stressed that the Council cannot deal with this problem alone; there is an African saying “It takes a village to bring up a child.” Read the rest of this entry »

From its formation on 9 October 1949, the Bassett Green Leaseholders and Tenants Association was concerned about the poor state of the unmade roads, which then included Leaside Way. A letter from the Borough Engineer on 6 March 1950 tells us that the Council sought authorization for a loan to make up Ethelburt Avenue in 1940 but that had to be abandoned. He said Leaside Way and Ethelburt Avenue now had low priority. The Association proposed to pave the footway along Ethelburt Avenue. On 29 November 1950 residents were offered 3 standards of work and they chose to have it done to the Council standard, the most expensive, which would cost about