Work party with DKG
WHSAP public consultation
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.
Criminal damage
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.
Wiltshire’s Housing Plan
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.
parkrunner of the year!
Frank Lamerton, long-time Friend of the park and regular work party volunteer, is Southwick Country Park’s parkrunner of the year.
Marilyn Maundrell
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.
Assessing Wiltshire’s housing plan
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.
WHSAP update
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….
Damage in the picnic area
The waste bin in the picnic area has been pushed over and the catch on the gate broken. Hopefully, with a lot of manpower and effort, we can right the bin; a new bin in a concrete base is very expensive.
Half of the gate latch has been thrown or carried away. If anybody sees it, please pick it up and report it to FoSCP; use the contact details here on the website. If we have the other half, we can mend it.
We know that the huge majority of the park’s users are careful and considerate, that it is a small minority who damage things. Please report any vandalism that you see.
FoSCP.
Night Flyers
Bats and WHSAP
Nine species of bats have been identified in the park, among them members of the UK’s rare, internationally important population of Bechstein’s bats that roost in Green Lane Wood.
…
Natterers bat by Guido Gerding (CC3.0)
Daubenton’s bat Guido Gerding (CC.3.0)
Nathusius pipistrelle by fs-phil ((CC2.0)
Common Pipistrelle by Barracuda 1983 (CC3.0)
Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation Plan
We have been exploring the trackless wastes of the Wiltshire Council’s website, hacking through dense thickets of acronyms, all the while under attack from syntactical monsters such as:
Sustainability Appraisal (SA) is iterative and integrated into the plan-making process, influencing the selection of site options and policies through the assessment of likely significant effects….
Who to write to about Trowbridge housing plan
A lot of people have asked who they can contact either to ask questions about the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation Plan (henceforth known as WHSAP) or to register their objection to it.
Continue reading “Who to write to about Trowbridge housing plan”
Wildlife corridor
Above is an aerial photograph of the wildlife corridor between Trowbridge and the villages of Southwick and North Bradley. It connects the woods and open farmland east of the railway line to Southwick Country Park, Sleight Wood and Vaggs Hill in the west. Rare Bechstein’s bats from Green Lane Wood use the corridor to reach SCP where they feed.
Lambrok Stream threatened
Lambrok Stream is the heart of the park’s ecosystem; the residential development proposed for Church Lane threatens its well-being.
Housing proposal for Church Lane
RPS is preparing a planning application for a residential development in the field between the park and Church Lane; the field is shaded yellow in the map above.
The vandalism spreads
At half term, there was more damage to the trees in the copse at the top of Village Green, fortunately nothing fatal this time but still significant. There was evidence of a camp. The rough grassland, left for wildlife, where we have been planting native daffodils, had been trampled flat in places. We picked up the litter and hoped it was an isolated incident.
Hundreds turn out for special NHS parkrun in SCP
Last Saturday Southwick Country parkrun celebrated the 70th anniversary of the NHS. Hundreds of runners took part, many of them in fancy dress.
This is Cathy Warner photographed by Martin Pearce (flickr credit: dungey2002) and FoSCP is willing to bet real spending money she’s not in fancy dress; she’s running in her work clothes. Well done Cathy; well done everybody.
Here is a link to an article in this week’s Wiltshire Times.
Sarah’s Report to the Village Newsletter
By Sarah Marsh . . .
This month’s report is all about our volunteers and the work they do. Without the Friends, the Park would be in a sorry state as the Countryside Team gets ever smaller and funding is limited. We are all unpaid and give our time willingly to keep the Park looking lovely and preserve it for future generations. But working in the Park is just one part of the Friends commitments.
Despite the announcement on Wiltshire Council’s website and in the Wiltshire Times, the Traffic Regulation Order notices that have gone up in the car park do not mean that parking charges will be introduced at Southwick Country Park. They are part of the formal consultation process that the county has to complete in order to change their car parking strategy. Such notices have gone up in several car parks across the county.
Marathon Man
Frank Lamerton, Friend of Southwick Country Park, ran the London Marathon last weekend in 4 hours 19 minutes and 14 seconds. Out of the 174 runners over the age of seventy, he came 13th. It was the hottest London Marathon on record and Frank came in somewhere around number 13,500 among 41,000 finishers.
Wiltshire Council has agreed with us that parking fees at Southwick Country Park are unworkable; the proposal has been withdrawn.
Car Parking News
FROM DAVID FEATHER: –
A big thank you to all of you who signed the petition last weekend against charging for car parking in the Country Park. We presented it to the Council on Monday.
Parking Fees Recommended
Parking Fees for the Park?
Wiltshire Council has consulted on charges for car parks across the county, including the car park at Southwick Country Park. The proposed rate at Southwick is: £0.80 for an hour, £1.30 for two and £2.70 for three.
