Longparish Village Plan

Longparish has changed significantly over the last 20 years. Many of the facilities that used to exist - Stream stores, the Off-licence at Forton and the separate Post Office have now gone, along with the surgery and the mobile chiropodist. House prices have risen dramatically and the population of the village is both changing and declining.

What do you think our village will be like in 10 years time? And in 20 years? Here are a couple of possibilities.

What will the Plan cover?

We will have to decide which aspects to concentrate on but topics might include

• How to ensure the future success of our shop, pubs, school and playgroup
• Clubs and Societies. The Church. Facilities for sport, recreation, drama, young people and the elderly
• Is our housing supply adequate? Is it affordable? The cheapest houses in the village now cost getting on for £200,000 which puts Longparish out of the reach of many families.

"Oldparish"

People get older. They can't move to smaller houses when their children leave home, because there's nowhere for them to go if they want to stay in the village. But their children can't afford to buy here, so they are forced to move away. With fewer children in the village, the playgroup closes down and the school may go the same way. Pensions and benefits are paid directly into bank accounts and with so many people living on pensions there is not enough business to enable the Shop and Post Office to keep going when the current owners retire.

• Transport. Are the buses adequate. Could we promote other ideas? A village minibus? Car sharing? Do we need traffic calming or better footpaths.
• The future of the Village Hall (the lease expires in 8 years)
• The environment. We have the best river in the country but what about flooding? And could we recycle more?
• People - who are the people who make up our community? Where do they live and work?

"Commuterparish"

House prices in the village continue to rise so that only people working in London can afford to live here. The village is deserted during the day and when the commuters return home it is too late to do anything. The village doesn't offer the social facilities they want - the village hall closes. They do their shopping on the internet and have it delivered and the village shop is sold to build a bungalow in its place. Nannies and gardeners are brought in from Andover, and the village looks good - 'chocolate boxy'. But the parents prefer private schools so the village school may close.

Of course it won't be like that

But unless we plan for the future, decide what we want our village to be like and then make sure it happens we could end up as a dormitory with very few facilities.

That's why the Parish Council would like to develop a Village Plan. It is a major task and it will take about a year to do it. Other villages which have prepared plans say it's a great way of bringing people together. It taps local talents and enthusiasm and helps foster an improved sense of community

The government, through the Countryside Agency offered financial help and access to expert advice. We will need that help but we have to do the job ourselves. That's where you come in! What do you want our village to be like in the future?

So how do we start?

The Parish Council has set up an ad hoc group to start the ball rolling. The idea is to start with an open meeting in the Village Hall in November. But that meeting needs to be planned so we can make sure that everyone who wants to contribute has a chance. If you can help to plan the open meeting please contact Jeremy Barber, Chairman of the Parish Council (tel 720459) or Gloria Goodliffe Chairman of Planning for the Parish Council (tel 720425).

Didn't we do all this with the VDS?

No. The Village Design Statement is about design but a Village Plan is about all aspects of the community. The latest version of the VDS is looking good and the Parish Council would like to thank everyone who has contributed. It will be on show at the open meeting. Please come and comment so we can improve it further. The VDS will form part of the Village Plan and we hope that the Borough Council will adopt it as supplementary planning guidance.
Resources
You can see examples of the sort thing we might produce at Linkenhorne in Cornwall and Warfield near Bracknell

http://www.linkinhorneparish.homestead.com/index.html http://www.warfieldpc.fsnet.co.uk/Parish%20Plan.htm
And there's lots of background information from the Countryside Agency at http://www.countryside.gov.uk/vitalvillages/pdf/Parish
%20Plans%20Interim%20guidance.pdf