Category Archives: SDNPA

South Downs National Park Authority

Shale: council cut doubled

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Balcombe and the Weald shale map
The Midhurst and Petworth Observer reports:

WEST Sussex County Council and the South Downs National Park Authority could be set to make millions following an announcement made by David Cameron. Councils that give the green-light to ‘fracking’ projects will be allowed to keep millions of pounds more in tax revenue, the Prime Minister has announced. He said local authorities in England would receive 100 per cent of the business rates collected from shale gas schemes — rather than the usual 50 per cent.

You can read the full story here.

Fern Free Frackhurst

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Frack Free Fernhurst
The Telegraph reports:

In what is being seen as a test case for fracking in national parks, Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, has made it clear he is likely to oppose plans to drill in Fernhurst, a village in the South Downs National Park in West Sussex. Celtique Energy submitted a draft application to drill on land in the area on Thursday .. a formal application is expected early next month.

Earlier posts on this topic can found be here, here and here.

SDNPA Travel Grant Scheme

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BN postcode area map

Not a single school in BN5, BN6, BN44, or BN45 is included in the scheme.

“Feedback from our recent schools survey identified that one of the key barriers to schools accessing outdoor learning opportunities within the National Park is the cost of travel to sites. To address this issue we are delighted to announce the launch of a new Travel Grant Scheme aimed at schools within our more deprived communities in and around the National Park. This scheme aims to reduce this barrier and encourage more young people to have access to the fantastic opportunities for outdoor learning provide within the South Downs National Park, and to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the developing South Downs Curriculum.” [SDNPA]

SDNPA Travel Grant Scheme
Pupils at Albourne Primary, Ashurst Primary, the Good Start, Lancing College, St. Peter’s Henfield, Shoreham College, Steyning Grammar, the Towers, Upper Beeding Primary, and others are not eligible for this scheme. Pupils at Balfour, Blatchington Mill, Dorothy Stringer, St. Luke’s, Varndean, and Westdene Primary do qualify, however.

The full list of ‘deprived communities’ and their schools, indexed by postcode, can be found here.

GJMG

Farm conversion

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The conversion of Hazeley Farm into houses
The Hampshire Chronicle reports that the SDNPA has just approved the conversion of an entire farmyard into housing:

Eight barns will be turned into dwellings in Twyford, near Winchester, after applicant Hazeley Farm was granted planning permission by the South Downs National Park.

This is very similar, albeit on a slightly larger scale, to what Terry Willis did with the original Perching Manor farmyard twenty odd years ago.

Parsing the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

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Nick Herbert MP for Arundel and South Downs
Nick Herbert has told the West Sussex County Times :

We are not going to see house building all over the South Downs National Park, and the Minister [Nick Boles] did not say that there should be a relaxation of planning controls in parks, as press reports implied. He said that the parks should not become museums, and I agree with him about that.

I also agree with what the minister said about the need to express localism more fully in parks. I have always warned about the democratic deficit in national parks, which was reflected in the controversy over the South Downs National Park’s decision over to allow a travellers site at Crossbush.

It was the backbench MP who moved the debate [Simon Hart] who suggested that the duty to conserve parks should no longer be given primacy over the duty to secure economic well-being. The minister did not endorse this view, and it is not Government policy.