THE PRESENTATION of the Liss Villager of the Year trophy took place at the annual parish meeting.

Sandra Berryman was awarded the trophy for her valuable work with Liss Heart Trust and the Triangle Centre.

She received the award from Liss Parish Council chairman Keith Budden during the meeting last Wednesday.

Cllr Budden also made presentations to John Neilan and Bob Perry for their work for Liss Conservation Rangers, to Judy Medhurst for her work on Liss in Bloom and her fundraising open gardens for the British Red Cross, and to Cllr Roger Hargreaves for his work on the neighbourhood plan.

Cllr Budden said: “We had a petition from 50 people saying Sandra should win the award, which added a lot of strength to her case.

“I think that is the first time we have had a petition.

“John Neilan, Bob Perry and Judy Medhurst also deserved their awards, and we are hoping to revitalise Liss in Bloom in the village.

“It was also nice to present Cllr Hargreaves with his award for the thousands of hours he has put into the neighbourhood plan.

“It is thanks to him that we have delivered a plan which is substantially below the cost of plans in other towns and parishes.”

Cllr Andy Smith made a presentation on the Liss pavilion development.

The presentation included a timeline for the project. If the parish council is able to stick to the timetable the pavilion would open in the third or fourth quarter of 2018.

Councillors were quizzed about the cost of the pavilion project at the meeting.

Cllr Budden said: “We are going out to tender so we can’t say what we can afford to spend.

“We do have a figure in mind though and we won’t spend what we can’t afford.”

Cllr Hargreaves updated parishioners on the Liss Neighbourhood Plan.

It was revealed the plan has only had 19 objections and is now being looked at by an independent examiner.

Cllr Budden added: “We hope to get the independent examiners report in a few weeks and we’ll see what he says. I understand none of the 19 objections are significant and we hope to have a village referendum on the plan in the summer.”