LIVELY forum: Residents along Axford Road spoke up forcefully during the open forum at last Monday's Ellisfield Parish Council meeting.

They want something done about traffic speeding past their houses.

Roy Frankham pointed out it's the route residents have to use to post a letter or go to catch the bus.

Lyng Hopwood added that there are quite a few youngsters and several residents more than 70 years old living along the road.

Ted Dowson recommended some sort of walkway.

It was good to see our local policeman, Pc Andy Reid, at the meeting in response to these concerns.

Because the police are enforcers - not law-makers - and because the speed limit outside built-up areas is 60mph, he explained that residents would have to look for other ways to calm the traffic.

And that they did.

Suggestions included a detailed survey carried out by residents, from Cllr Peter Mitchell, a petition, from Cllr Tim Guinness, asking Basingstoke council if it had any monitoring equipment it could loan out, from Cllr Paul Turner, and approaching the slower speeds initiative, from myself.

crime watch. Asked for an Ellisfield report, Pc Reid said: "The good news on crime is that there is none," adding that illegal hare coursing had been stopped. That is good news because often there's subsequent crime in the area.

CAN Go? Roy Frankham recounted a tale of booking Cango, then waiting 45 minutes in vain.

Cllr Turner reminded everyone that Cango organisers had said if a booked bus didn't turn up and the disappointed passengers telephoned, a taxi would be sent.