PACKED: The agenda was certainly packed at the recent annual parish meeting.

Many of Ellisfield's electorate turned up to hear reports from, and ask questions of, representatives from the parish council, educational trust, church, village hall, horticultural society, ladies club, volunteer group, parish paths group and Neighbourhood Watch.

Also, Pc Andrew Reid, county councillor Anna McNair Scott and borough councillor Mark Ruffell all gave presentations.

Lucy Keal, borough council environmental services officer, talked about how the Government is requiring district councils to recycle at least 30 per cent of rubbish collected.

There was a lot of discussion about why Basingstoke can only manage 17 per cent and everyone was keen to hear what could and couldn't be recycled.

The real problem is plastics as the borough can only handle household bottles used for milk, water and soft drinks, washing-up liquid, etc.

Residents expressed a strong desire to help raise the amount of rubbish recycled from Ellisfield.

GATEWAYS: The county's highways management department has agreed to install "gateways" at each end of the Axford Road community, together with a number of traffic-calming measures.