Draft Local Plan Consultation

The overall messages were very clear. Villagesaccepted Option 1 housing growth around theexisting settlements but rejected theOption 2 newdevelopment of 2,000 houses and all options for are-routed A29.Residents were angry at the poor quality evidencebase that was presented in the Draft Plan and,despite it being August, submitted hundreds ofconsultation responses to Arun DC.The four parishes of Aldingbourne, Barnham,

Eastergate and Walberton collaborated andcommissioned professional advice to support theparish council submissions.A key issue for all villagers is that drainage andflooding infrastructure must be addressed beforeany more development takes place.ArunDChavenowdelayed taking thePlan forwardto public consultation until late Spring 2013. Letsall hope that Arun DC respond to public opinion increating the next draft.

COMMUNITYNEWSLETTER

The consultation period for the draft Arun District Plan closed on September 10th andvillagers made their voices heard. Over 80 attended the Extraordinary Barnham ParishMeeting on the 25th August and 230 attended the Extraordinary Eastergate Parish Meetingon the 30th August. The Village Action Group mobilised and many people went to the ArunDC consultation events. Nick Herbert MP held a public meeting at Fontwell Racecourse onthe 28th September and hundreds of residents attended - too many for us to count.

In this Issue:October 2012Arun District Council'sDraft Local Plan

Opportunistic Developers

Village Parking

Neighbourhood Plan

New Community Centre

There are too few resources, volunteer time and money for Parishes to operate withinhistoric boundaries that no longer reflect the communities and settlements that theyonce represented.Whilst recognising that Eastergate and Barnham villages each have individually stronghistoric and cultural identities, which are important to preserve, the two Parishes havebeen holding joint meetings to combine resources, funds and skills on key projectsthat are important to both parishes. This newsletter is to communicate to residentsand businesses these key projects and it includes a short questionaire as we wantyour feedback, input and participationWe will keep this newsletter short, and hopefully an easy read, as more informationon all the subjects covered here can be found on the Parish web-sitesarun.gov.uk/barnham and arun.gov.uk/eastergate.

David Philips, BPC Chair Chris Allington, EPC Chair

Happy Christmas ...

OpportunisticHousing DevelopersDevelopers are taking the opportunity ofthere being no current ADC Local Plan tosubmit applications for large housingdevelopments.TheParishCouncils are vigorously challengingthese proposals. Our main contention is thatwe are working on the Neighbourhood Plansso that we, the community, can decide whereour Parish Allocations of housing growthshould go over the next 15 years.Not only are these developments too large,totalling 413 houses on horticultural land, theyare also out of character with the villages.170 houses have already been permitted onappeal due to a weak defence by ADC andtherefore we have virtually filled our ParishHousing growth obligations already.

© Crown copyright and database right. All rights reserved (100015974) 2012

Barnham Village Parking

The County Council last reviewed this in2004/5 with recommendations made onbusiness and residential parking. A newlyformed transport group will be examining theproblems for business as part of the newNeighbourhood Planning process.The last County Council review consulted onthe possibility of a controlled parking schemeon (part of) Barnham Road, Dial Close,Goodacres, Gospond Road, Lake Lane(between Goodacres and Barnham Road).The conclusion at that time was that it wouldhave to be self-financing and that the costwould be £100 for a permit and this wouldhave a knock-on effect on neighbouringroads.The Parish Councillors have debated this atlength and our shortlist of deliverable ideas

are limited to control it or increase parkingcapacity. We therefore have two questions:-1) Would residents like us to ask the County

Council to hold a new consultation on acontrolled parking scheme?

2) What do you think of turning FarnhurstRoad into a Home Zone. 10mph to 20mphspeed limits would be imposed and thecurrent roads redesigned to calm trafficand give pedestrians priority. No doubtthis is expensive but maybe we shouldcreate a vision for such a scheme andlobby for the money.

We would welcome other ideas and we'd liketo hear your views. Neither of these ideasshould be implemented without the consentof the residents effected.

Parking is clearly an issue with 68% saying they had concerns about it in the recentVillageSurvey. Therewasannoyanceabout the lackof parkingplacesnear the shopsbecause of commuter and holiday parking. Others were concerned about theproblems of residential parking. There was also concern about the dangers toresidents, shoppers and drivers associated with through-traffic and villagecongestion.

Neighbourhood Plan

Together we have formed a Cluster Groupto share knowledge and expertise in theproduction of the Neighbourhood Planand to ensure that common issues whichoverlap the individual parishes areconsidered appropriately and sensitivelyto create a sustainable joined-up vision forthe villages. We have established workinggroups addressing the following topics:Housing; Transport; Employment; SocialInfrastructure; Environment & Heritage

and Drainage.If you would like to help to develop theNeighourhood Plan please contact: DavidPhilips, Gerry Reeves, Eddie Tarbard orPhilippa Hind. The Parish web-sitesarun.gov.uk/barnham and arun.gov.uk/eastergate will provide their contactdetails.Your help will be warmly welcomed.

Eastergate ParishCouncil togetherwithBarnham, Aldingbourne andWalbertonParishCouncils arecurrentlydeveloping theirNeighbourhoodPlan in linewith thegovernmentNational Planning Policy Framework.

The Localism Act received Royal Assent onNovember 15th 2011. It introduced new rights andpowers to allow local communities to shape newdevelopment by coming together to prepareneighbourhood plans.

The Cluster of Aldingbourne, Barnham, EastergateandWalberton have received a 'Front Runner' grantto support this work and Barnham and Eastergate areworking on developing a joint plan.

Once complete these plans will help us define andprotect our local community.

What is aNeighbourhood Plan?

New Community Hall and ParkWe're nearly there! ... Work to construct the new Community Hall in MurrellsField is well under way. It is costing £1,100,000.We have already secured £950,000andweare nowon the final push to raise the last £150,000. TheOneFinal BigAppealTarget is £150,000 and so farwe have raised £10,000. Seebarnham.info andmakea donation.

Our Community is delivering thisachievement all through volunteer effortwhich totals over 8,000 hours since 2008.It's a huge project that comes immediatelyafter the Park for which we raised £230,000.There is a tremendous amount going onbehind the scenes with project managementof the build, grants being applied for and localfund-raising initiatives.The team of volunteers are from Barnham,Eastergate and other villages. We should beenormously proud of what is being achieved.

Local fund-raising is extremely important.Wehave thus far converted every £1 raisedlocally into £5 of grants.

Please support BLADE events which areadvertised around the village andon theweb-site at barnham.info/blade/.

We hope to open the new Community Hall inMay 2013 and currently the build is onschedule.

The hard facts are that private car-park ownersare entitled to charge and that cars may beparked on any public highway (subject toparking restrictions which apply to all roadusers). Residents can have no exclusive right topark on the road nearest their house.

A controlled parking scheme allows permitholders (e.g. residents) to park at any time. Arestriction period, for example 9am – 3pm,would allow non permit holders to park for alimited time period. This effectively stopscommuter, and other long term, parking.

Clearly the major downside of such schemes isthat residents need to purchase a permit (circa£100/year) and it would be inappropriate toimplement such a scheme without the affectedresidents agreeing, by majority, to such ascheme.

What is a ControlledParking Scheme?

FEEDBACKQUESTIONNAIRE

As Parish Councils we have committed to improve two-way communication with the community that werepresent. Please take a moment to fill in this form and drop it into Elm Tree Stores, Eastergate or The ParishOffice, Barnham. These businesses have kindly agreed to help us as collection points.

Alternatively: Pop it in the post to:Barnham Parish Clerk, Mr E Tarbard, 2 Orchard Grange, Yapton Road, Barnham PO22 0AXEastergate Parish Clerk, Mr G Sleet, 12 The Cedars, Barnham, PO22 0EZ

Scan and e-mail, or just e-mail your views, to:Barnham Parish Clerk, barnhamparish@hotmail.co.ukEastergate Parish Clerk, g.sleet@btinternet.com

Barnham Village ParkingDo you live in any of these roads which get particularly congested with parkingduring the working day: East end of Barnham Road, South end of Lake Lane, Goodacres,Dial Close or Gospond Road

Yes No

If Yes please provide the name of the road

Would you consider a Controlled Parking Scheme whereby youwould need a permit to park between 9am and 3pm (weekdaysexcluding bank holidays) at a cost of approximately £100/year

Yes No Maybe

What do you think of the idea of lobbying for a Home Zoneon the Farnhurst Road estate

Like Dislike WouldConsider

Any other comments or ideas:

Gotothis

question

Communicating with the CommunityPlease rate this newsletter as a way of communicating tothe community

Please make additional commentshere:

Excellent Poor

Do you look at the parish council web-sites arun.gov.uk/barnham and arun.gov.uk/eastergate

Often Never

Do you look at the barnham.info web-siteOften Never

Please tell us here about any otherissues that you'd like to bring to theattention of the Parish Councils:

Newsletter distribution is either expensive or very hardwork for a few volunteers. If you'd be prepared to do anarea in the villages, even if just a street, please provideyour contact details here: