FoSCP’s Wednesday work party met half an hour early, in the car park, to discuss the latest developments in Wiltshire’s Housing Site Allocation Plan’s Examination.
Continue reading “WHSAP: the Friends plan the next move”1.Here is WHSAP Programme Officer Ian Kemp’s postal address for those who do not use or trust email:
Ian Kemp
Wiltshire HSAP Programme Officer
16 Cross Furlong
Wychbold
Droitwich Spa
Worcester WR9 7TA
2. Here is a webpage that has been set up to report on the progress of the WHSAP Examination.
3. The hearings in April will be held in public but only those who have applied to do so will be invited to speak; applications need to be made before 5pm Friday 8th March.
The Inspector’s Examination of the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation Plan (WHSAP) has reached the public hearing stage. Hearings will begin on April 2nd at 9.30 am in The Civic Trowbridge, St Stephen’s Place, BA14 8AH.
Continue reading “WHSAP – the latest news”
The decision on the planning application (18/10035/OUT) to develop the Church Lane site was due to be made yesterday, Wednesday Feb 6th, but has been delayed. The target date for a decision is now Monday April 1st.
Continue reading “Church Lane site update”
The Friends of Southwick Country Park and a member of the Wiltshire Countryside Team have a bi-monthly get together. These meetings last about two hours and are always held on the last Tuesday afternoon of every other month.
Continue reading “Asda’s Community Room”
By Sarah Marsh
“A new year and time to reflect on the old one and where better than on one of two seats donated by Asda. The Friends of Southwick Country Park applied for their tokens scheme and when customers voted for us we were awarded £500.
Continue reading “Asda benches”
By David Feather
A newish hazard for dogs is Alabama Rot Disease which is caught from walking in muddy woody areas. Not a lot appears to be known about it, but it is a very dangerous disease that can lead to kidney failure.
Continue reading “Check your dog after a walk”
We have asked the police to help us to reduce vandalism in the park in 2019. PCSO Melissa Glover and Community Policing Team 5 are collecting intelligence. If you have information that you think will help or see anything in the park that you know shouldn’t be happening , please contact her or her team. The contact details are below:
Thank you.
We are posting the first part of our comment on RPS’s Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) of the Church Lane Site for two reasons: firstly the PEA seems particularly ill-informed about the park, the Lambrok and dismissive of their ecological importance; secondly, so that anybody who might like to comment before the public consultation ends on Dec 21st can use any of our data.
Our Famous Tree
A message from DKG
“Just to let you know, my photo of the lone oak with the cloud halo above it was shown on the BBC Weather report this morning”
The deadline for comments on RPS’s planning application 18/10035/OUT has been extended from the 14th to the 21st of December. The application had not been properly advertised at the beginning of the consultation period.
FoSCP feels strongly that development on this site will damage Lambrok Stream. There are protected and vulnerable species in the park that live or breed or feed in the Lambrok. If you feel the same way, please comment on Wiltshire Council’s planning website.
We received this picture and the following mail today, Wednesday December 5th:
These 2 men, both wearing black jackets, one pushing a pram, one with a cream satchel bag: also with 2 all black, skinny lurcher/ ratter like dogs were firing stones or slingshotting the 2 ducks on the pond today at approx 12:10.
Continue reading “Who ARE these people?”
by Sarah Marsh
A new species has been spotted in the Country Park.
Continue reading “Notes from Southwick Country Park”
The Friends of Southwick Country Park will be manning a stall at Hope Nature Centre’s Christmas Market this evening. It begins at 6.00pm; come and look us up.
Several readers on our Facebook page have said that they are having trouble finding the right place to voice their objections to Planning Application 18/10035/OUT; this is the plan for up to 65 houses on the field between Church Lane and Southwick Country Park.
Here is a link directly to the right page.
The comments box can be enlarged from the tag in its bottom right hand corner and you get 32,000 characters (about 5,000 words) to have your say. You can copy and paste into the box from most document formats but we haven’t been able to make it upload photographs yet.
The request for personal information looks more intrusive than it is; you need only fill in the boxes marked with a red asterisk. Don’t forget to press the submit button.
Wiltshire Council’s website is a dreadful place; there is always somebody digging up the pipes or knocking holes in the walls. There are whole days when it speaks only in code. For the sake of the park, be brave; find the right page and have your say.
Continue reading “Have your say…”
In May of 2017, water voles (Arvicola amphibius) were identified by Wiltshire’s Countryside Team as resident in Lambrok Stream. Water voles are fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. They are protected against:
. . .intentional killing, capture or injury and intentional or reckless disturbance, obstruction, damage or destruction of their burrows.
Continue reading “Protecting the Lambrok”
RPS, acting for a named client, has submitted an outline planning application for the Church Lane site. The Wiltshire Council reference number for the application is 18/10035/OUT. This morning, searching with this reference produced this result:
Continue reading “Another Church Lane planning submission”
Today, FoSCP submitted the report of their objections to the Schedule of Changes to the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation plan. The plan proposes that land at Church Lane, Upper Studley and Southwick Court should be made available for development; we believe that development at these sites will damage the ecology of Lambrok Stream and subsequently the ecology of the park.
Wiltshire Council has finally opened a consultation portal on the proposed changes to the draft Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation Plan. The consultation period will last for six weeks; it began on Thursday, 27th September and will end on Friday, 9th of November.
The bench by the decorated bridge has been damaged and will probably have to be replaced. One of the supports has been snapped right off. There is no sign of rot in the wood; it must have taken considerable force to achieve. A bench like this one, and its installation, costs £500.
The latest update:
The Inspector has returned one of the documents of the WHSAP submission with the requirement that it be put forward for public consultation.
Frank Lamerton, long-time Friend of the park and regular work party volunteer, is Southwick Country Park’s parkrunner of the year.
This from David Feather:
“My wife and I have learnt that Marilyn Maundrell has recently died. She was an enthusiastic Friend of Southwick Country Park for many years. She brightened up many of our events and meetings with her cheery manner and was a great ambassador for the Country Park. She was only defeated by difficulties with walking which eventually took her into Wingfield Nursing Home, where she died on August 19th. People will remember her smile. It was infectious.
Her funeral will take place at 12.15 on Monday 10 September at Semington Crematorium.”
.o0o.
Let’s go back to the documents that were submitted to the Secretary of State on July 31st: in that list are Sustainability Appraisal Documents, among which is Annex 1 A9 Trowbridge.
The Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation Plan was submitted to the Secretary of State on July 31st 2018. The documents that were submitted can be accessed here.
The bin in the picnic area has been mended by FoSCP volunteers and our Countryside Officer. Unfortunately the missing part to the gate latch has not been found; whoever took it must have brought their own spanner because the bolts that attached it have been unscrewed. Somebody apparently came equipped to steal half a gate latch….
