How much does the rec get used?

Thanks to everyone who took the time out to fill in the survey forms about how much the rec gets used. The number of completed forms was enough to be a viable sample and provides a real snapshot of how often we visit the rec.

How often do you visit the rec? 23% of the respondents visited more than once a day, whilst 60% visited more than once a week. A sturdy 2 respondents visited more often and the rest from time-to-time each month.

When asked about their children or grandchildren's use of the play park 11% used it more than once a day (they must be the toddlers I think), almost 50% used it more than once a week and the rest used it from time-to-time each month.

95% agreed that it is a vital resource for wildlife and enjoyed seeing the creatures too.

And a splendid 100% said that they love the place and agreed that building over it would be a crime.

Of course this isn't a gold-standard randomly controlled piece of research but is more than the district council seems to have done, and perhaps more telling than the figures are the comments people made:

"Don't build on it!Or teens will have nowhere to go and will get in to trouble!"

"It's the nicest play area in the ..... area. We choose this one to go to instead of about 5 others we could visit."

"Child health is of major importance and it is more important than ever to encourage playing and outdoor activity, this is the only accessible playground for our child."

"A vital area of our community and was a factor when we bought our house. Please consider other alternatives."

"Having a child at Camelsdale First School and a new baby who will be attending in the future, I'm concerned that not only will they lose their cherished play area but that the school will be overwhelmed by the excess pupils brought to the area by the new housing that is proposed."

"Camelsdale Rec is a vital social area for the local community for all age groups. It is used for children's play, football matches, stool ball matches, dog walking and it is somewhere safe our children can gain their first taste of independence. It is a beautiful spot and certainly the wildlife would suffer if this land is built on (owls, foxes, bird life). Please don't spoil this beautiful place."

"This plan is not thought through at all. Camelsdale doesn't have the infrastructure to support these extra families and the traffic at rush hour is horrific as it is and could not support the extra congestion. It is ironic that at the very time the government is starting to act to reduce child obesity the council are reducing the recreation space."

"The need to keep such recreational areas are essential. Sporting events undertaken by the children each weekend are an important part of life in Haslemere and cannot be taken away."

And finally.......Everyone agreed that communication from the PC (although I think it's beginning to improve) and elected councillors - district and county MUST improve.

Your fete in their hands

Thanks for the comments on the last post about the Parish Council meeting. In answer to some of the questions which arose from it....

Yes I am thinking about standing for the PC, but a vacancy won't arise for a few months so I can't do it now. As for the fete, I wasn't intending that we hold one before the 2nd of March - too cold and wet. But I do think it might be a)fun to do it in the summer and b)it will demonstrate how much the rec is used and cared about. Chichester DC will keep its beady eye on the rec for some time to come, possibly over the next few years so the village must keep up its protests for quite a while. Even if the DC decides, as a result of the response to its consultation that it will take the rec off its contingency list - it can still put it back on at a future date or under a different government. It's very difficult to get local government to change its plans once its got an idea in to its head.

So I think a number of well publicised events over the next months and years will be a good thing to do.

I have collected loads of completed survey forms from Cee Gees and will publicise the results in my next blog post and will tell the DC how much the rec is used. I might do a press release too, just to keep things on the boil. If anyone missed the survey forms in the shop you can download one from this site, just go back a few pages. Good old Cee Gees, they've been great about hosting the form-filing.

The Parish Council Meeting

Well, that's my cover blown after last night's meeting. Thank you everyone who said nice things to me about this blog. Unfortunately now that everyone knows who I am and some of them know where I live I can't be quite so rude about Chichester DC.

So what happened?

An excellent turnout - about 30 people turned up plus the Parish Councillors, a couple of district councillors and the well known county councillor 'Tex' Pemberton. I have to ask, does anyone know where his first name came from? I digress but it was a good crowd for a freezing cold Tuesday evening. Sylvia McC was in the chair and did a fine job - adjusting the agenda so we didn't have to sit through hours of stuff and making sure everyone got to have a say, and in one case a bit of a swear.

Key themes:

1. General agreement that communication from Chichester DC has not been good. The informal consultation meetings last week were not considered to have been well done. There was general bafflement that the DC was under the impression that there had been 'no response' from residents to the proposal as none of us knew about it until the recent press articles.
2. Unanimity on all sides that the thought of building on the rec is A BAD THING and that IT SHOULD NOT HAPPEN.
3. After a bit of a rant about John Prescott's department wanting to concrete over large parts of the south east, there was (I thought) a remarkable sense of agreement that like it or not we are going to have to put some more houses somewhere and a number of good alternatives were suggested. One possibility might be the National Trust field next to the roundabout. I have to say I've never understood why it's an NT site. It's a nice enough field and sometimes a few sheep are grazing there but er, that's it. Nobody could understand why the Syngenta site at Fernhurst had been discounted as it seems to be a prime piece of real estate, the development of which would not be greenfield. It seems that the DC isn't really being imaginative about it as a possibility.
4. There were lots of good reasons why building on the rec would be wrong e.g. utilities such as roads and sewage pipes couldn't cope, the destruction of recreation grounds is contrary to public policy in other fields e.g. children's health and so on.

The Parish Council appears to be determined to put forward a robust response to the proposal, setting out why the rec is a bad idea for building and suggesting alternatives. Hurrah! But everyone is also urged to write individually to Chichester DC planning department by March 2nd - so please, please do.

But, now is not the time to think that it won't happen. The issue needs to be kept on the boil so that the council understands we won't go away. Personally, I think a steady press campaign might not be a bad idea. Perhaps a mass dog walk (bring poo bags please) one day? Possibly a rally on the rec with the local MP invited to speak or even a village fete. Post your thoughts and ideas about last night's meeting here and about anything else to do with saving the rec.

Parish Council Meeting

Here's a picture of a joyful dog on the access road to the rec.

The PC meeting is at St Michael's Hall Hammer, Tuesday 8pm. That's the hall next to the Hardman Hoyle. The meetings apparently go on for a long time but the Rec is to be dealt with under correspondence. This is because the PC has to respond to the District Council's request for informal consultation feedback. I understand that it will be dealt with reasonably early in the agenda.

The public are allowed to attend meetings but not to speak. Which in one way is ok because it would be a complete free-for-all and therefore chaos. On the other hand I think we need a bloody good public meeting at which everyone can speak and we can INTSRUCT our representatives on our views. However, the PC do allow a brief period at the end of meetings for the public to speak.

The PC intends to take a robust response to the proposals to wreck the rec, along the lines many of us have already thought, but it would be much better if they did so having undertaken a meaningfull poll of resident's views. Well, that's what I think anyway.

Parish Council Meeting

The meeting is at St Michael's Hall in Hammer next to the Hardman Hoyle Hall. Cunningly, it's difficult to work out what time it starts. Plus we, 'the public' are invited to attend all Parish meetings, but my spies tell me that we will then have to sit around for as long as it takes the councillors to get through their business before we can raise other issues or generally get involved. So you might want to bring a book. Or an iPod. Or perhaps we could talk quietly amongst ourselves.

Interestingly, according to the sad bits of paper on the Parish notice boards (do the parish council have a website? Why not? This is the 21st century)there is a vacancy for a Parish Councillor. I might think about standing, but if anyone else is feeling keen, you're welcome to join in. I'll try to get the time of the meeting on to this site tomorrow (Monday).

By the way I'm glad to see so many people making comments - what a boost! The site has been up for only a week and is obviously beginning to attract attention. I wish it were possible to do this kind of stuff without a site, but I suspect that as we all lead very busy lives, getting our thoughts known through a community website like this is easier. Pity there isn't a pub or club in the centre of Camelsdale which would make meeting up easier. But perhaps a meeting at the Mill might be in order some time? If the landlord is ok about it.

Last but not least I wandered out on to the rec this beautiful frosty morning to ask the football club about their views on the possible build (Note to district councillor - yes there's a football club playing here). Haslemere were all very fed up and knew about it. When I asked one of the opposition Dad's, his response was 'We're the away team', so I asked him if they might want to come back some time and play here, especially if it was a building site. Great credit to him he agreed that it isn't just a Camelsdale thing.

Filling in forms is good

Here's a form you might like to print off and place in a box in Cee Gees please? We must put our objections in to Chichester BC by 2nd March, even though this is an informal stage. I think we could do with some leadership and va va voom from the Parish Council too. Parish Council meeting on the 6th Feb. Be there or be square.

Click on the form to magnify and then you can print it off. But wait for a day or two because I've got to ask Julie at Cee Gees if she's ok about the box!

Time to get serious

Here's a picture of some very angry Camelsdale wildlife.

Well I went to the informal consultation yesterday, as did as many people who could and who knew about it. And this is the deal. The council's first choice for building is land by the pumping station at Sturt Rd. BUT and it's a big but, if by 2018 there are not enough new houses both built there and on other sites as they become vacant e.g. building 3 0r 4 houses where previously one had been then the rec gets it.

However, knowledge is power and we are beginning to learn more. The council acknowlegdes that there are difficulties in developing the rec. These include the risks to the adjacent National Trust Shottermill ponds from pollution and building site run-off, the fact that it is a recreation ground and there are no other alternatives and so on. Interestingly it doesn't mention (does it know?) that the rec is in fact owned by the parish council. That's' the parish council as representing us the residents.

So here's what to do. There is a parish council meeting on February 6th, I've asked for the place and time and will post, although it's probably on the notice board by the main rec gate. I'm going to go and have asked the Parish clerk to let me know if the rec is to be discussed. Anyone else coming?

Secondly I'm researching succesful objections to proposed developments - how was it done? - Who did it? Did it cost much to do? For example objectors recently knocked back proposed developments at Hindhead on the grounds that the infrastructure i.e. the roads, the Victorian sewage system couldn't take the strain. So it can be done.

A responder commented on the last post that the meetings for the informal consultation held yesterday weren't very well advertised and also that objections must be in by March 2nd, which I didn't know either. I'm also going to ask my dear daughter to design a poster for distribution through this site.

Here are the Parish Clerk's contact details - write to the Parish Council if you do nothing more!

The Clerk: Mr. D.J. Bleach
Address: Parish Council Office Village Hall, Glebe Road, Fernhurst Haslemere, Surrey, GU27 3EH
Telephone No.: 01428 661150,
Email Address: postmaster@lynchmere-wsx-pc.gov.uk