Minister approved trench today

A cable trench
The West Sussex County Times reports:

Onshore construction is expected to start in 2015 and the project including the offshore installation will take four years to complete.

The Argus adds:

For the wind farm to go ahead the company will need to make a final investment decision on the project, and apply for subsidies.

You will surely also want to read the 590-page report from Yr Arolygiaeth Gynllunio: Rampion Offshore Wind Farm and connection works — Examining Authority’s Report of Findings and Conclusions and Recommendation to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change [PDF].

The route of the envisaged trench through Edburton is shown here.

Mobile promises

Mobile phone antennae locations on Truleigh Hill
The Argus reports:

EE, O2, Three and Vodafone, which make up the Mobile Operators Association, have teamed up with National Parks England to sign [a] government-backed accord. .. The deal is intended to tackle so-called ‘notspots’ – areas where there is little to no mobile coverage. .. Although there are no specific measures in place for the South Downs as yet, it is understood new masts could be built. The accord states new masts would be shared between networks and designed to blend in with the surrounding environment.

Cream tea & plant sale

Cream tea at Farthings
‘Beeding in Bloom’ is hosting a cream tea and plant sale on Sunday 20th July between 2.30pm and 5:00pm at Farthings in Henfield Road, Upper Beeding. Eat a cream tea with homemade scones and cakes, buy some plants and a raffle ticket, and admire the Farthings garden. The winners of the ‘Beeding in Bloom’ garden competition will be announced at 4:00pm.

Update: the Shoreham Herald reports on the event here.

SDNPA issues first article 4 direction [update]

Soberton view
The Hampshire Chronicle reports:

Winchester city councillors agreed the retrospective application by Danny Bower, for a field at West Street in Soberton, for 130m of wooden posts and wire fencing. The application had been handed over by South Downs National Park after 21 letters of objections arguing the fencing was detrimental to the landscape and in direct violation of trust’s preservation policies. .. However councillors were told that if they refused permission the applicant would be entitled to claim compensation for an unknown amount in costs.

Our earlier post is here.

Lampposts safe (for now)

Villagers may well not have noticed a slim green-bordered booklet from SSE Contracting as they engaged in the ritual fortnightly transfer of the contents of their letterbox to the blue bin. Those who did and who delayed its journey to recycling for long enough to glance at it will have read that “within the next four weeks we will start replacing the lighting in YOUR street” [emphasis theirs]. White circles containing the letters ‘SL’ would soon appear on the highway surface to assist villagers who wanted to chain themselves to the relevant street lights. But, as those who attended the recent PC meeting now know, this was just a dry run, designed to test the strength of village resistance to modernity. No replacements are actually scheduled for Fulking. You can put the booklet in the blue bin after all.

Three of the historic lampposts to be found in the downtown Fulking area.