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Not in our front yard

Housing allocation sites MSDC HDC
The Midhurst and Petworth Observer has an interesting report from a Chichester local plan hearing:

Ian Ellis, director of Southern Planning Practice, [said]

The [South Downs] National Park will do the least it possibly can to meet its objectively-assessed housing need, whatever that is going to turn out to be. It will expect a proportion of its objectively-assessed housing need is met by other authorities. My experience is when they go forward with the local plan, they will be .. saying ‘can you accommodate X per cent because we don’t want to accommodate it here and we don’t have to’.

In response, the SDNPA’s strategic planning lead Lucy Howard said the plan was yet to finalise its decisions: “The authority does need to consider the purpose and duty of a national park,” she said, highlighting its ‘landscape sensitiviy’ .. the SDNPA was in the ‘early stages’ of working on its strategic housing market assessment. “We do realise that if necessary we will be approaching neighbouring local planning authorities, but we’re simply not at that stage yet”.

Woodland Work Days

Tottington Woodlanders at work
The Tottington Woodlanders need you:

Come along and have a go at coppicing.

You do not need any special tools as they are all provided, along with the training, however please wear suitable clothing and footwear for working outdoors. The most important thing is to bring a mug for the cuppa around the fire – the hot water, tea or coffee will be provided.

We always pair up newcomers or novices with volunteers who are experienced and training continues until everyone is comfortable that you can work safely unaccompanied. Some people previously have been worried that they may cut the wood to the wrong size or do something wrong. We are grateful for the assistance and it is unlikely that you could do any lasting damage.

The work starts at 9.30am on a Sunday morning and normally finishes around 1:00pm, but there is no requirement to be there at the start and still be there at the end.

Starting on 26th October, the dates include all Sundays until the end of March 2015 with the single exception of 28th December.

‘Green Infrastructure’

Green Infrastructure
Once upon a time there were urban planners. They gave us Crawley New Town. Today, there are rural planners. They don’t call themselves that, though. Their current buzzphrase is ‘green infrastructure’. Much of their activity revolves around GIS (geographical information systems). GIS software produces attractive coloured maps that can be used for giving presentations to other rural planners. Correlations are magically transmuted into causal hypotheses. Those who live far from ‘accessible natural greenspace’ have poor health. Eureka! The SDNPA is, unsurprisingly, heavily invested in this stuff. They held a ‘Green Infrastructure Workshop’ a couple of days ago and you can find the overheads here [scroll down]. If you want to.

Changing Times reprinted


Privately published in an edition of 550 copies in 2008 in aid of St. Andrew’s, Tony Brooks’s The Changing Times of Fulking & Edburton 1900–2007 has been out of print ever since. Secondhand copies occasionally show up on Amazon for £35.00–£50.00. The book recounts the twentieth century history of the parish by telling the story of each building and its inhabitants. It is based on Tony’s extensive collection of documents and photographs and his interviews with numerous residents and former residents. Tony himself has been in Fulking since 1965 and thus knows much of the history at first hand.

If you somehow missed out on the first edition six years ago, or if you are (relatively) new to the village, then you have another chance to get this fascinating book. It has just been reprinted in a limited edition of 50 copies. The reprint has an advantage over the original: many of the photographs are reproduced in colour (the original edition was black & white throughout).

It is available now from the Shepherd & Dog, Springs Smoked Salmon, or Tony himself (tel. 200) for just £15 (he might even be willing to sign it for you). You had better move immediately — it is bound to sell out rather quickly.

An inspector calls

Fulking Footpath 4f: the official route
The DEFRA inspector charged with deciding whether Footpath 4f should be rerouted has ruled that it should not be. He concluded “that the adverse effect on the public’s enjoyment of the path if it were diverted in the manner proposed would be significant” and “the adverse effect on public enjoyment clearly outweighs the benefit .. to the landowners”. The proposed diversions (crossed out in red, above) will thus not come into force. Instead, the historic route (marked in green, above) retains its status as a lawful right of way. Here are some extracts from his report:

Footpath 4f runs .. almost immediately adjacent to the rear of Perching Sands House for around 40 metres. The public right of way runs past Perching Sands House in the way described, but that right of way has been unlawfully obstructed, and an unofficial path has been provided which passes some 10 metres to the west of the house.

The public right of way has been obstructed in the vicinity of Perching Sands House. For the purposes of assessing comparative convenience (and enjoyment) I take into account the lawful right of way, treating it as if it was open and available for use, and not the unofficial and unapproved diversion which has been created by the landowner.

From the northern end of the curtilage of Perching Sands House to point A the right of way (although not the path provided by the landowner which lies immediately to its west) runs along a track with a good hard surface which seems unlikely to be muddy in wet weather (the site visit was carried out during a prolonged dry spell). The Definitive Statement for the path does not list any stiles or gates as lawful limitations on the public’s use.

It is reasonably clear where the path runs (or should run), and the correct route could be emphasised by signage so that there was no danger of people inadvertently wandering off the public right of way.

The full report is here [PDF].