Planning Applications being Resisted..

- Wed 23rd Aug 2006

A number of planning applications are in the pipeline and the Residents’ Association is unhappy with many and objected to them vigorously. We are concerned about the extent to which desirable houses are being demolished to build more units in many parts of the Island. An example in St. Catherine’s road is a case in point.

The matter of greatest concern is however the piecemeal development of areas such as that at central Beachlands. An application has been under discussion for some time at the old 4 Seasons Club for what we consider to be a totally inappropriate development of flats. Another has been submitted for redevelopment of a similar nature at the Arcade beside the Boot Sale site. With the loss of the Destination Hayling programme that would have given us a chance to provide an overall design for the Beach area, we are adamant that such developments should not be allowed. Further plans are in hand for the Hayling beach area not to loose its character and merely consist of a random hodgepodge of developments with which we would be lumbered for the next 50 years. Please support any campaigns designed to protect what remains of Hayling’s better features.

It is at least becoming clearer that the plethora of 1-bedroomed flat developments has perhaps passed its peak and that any future developments of flats might at least be of a standard that people would want to occupy permanently having at least 2 bedrooms and somewhere to put the odd bicycle..

MTI update.

The Market Town Initiative programme has been busy recently with the Tourism Review (reported elsewhere), our first proper steering group meeting and a review held at the Brookfield, in Emsworth, on the 13th July.

This last item reported on the experiences of a number of organisations and town groups covering the south of England. The key contents as far as Hayling is concerned relates to the activities carried out in those towns to improvements, primarily in business, and the wide range of those activities. Haslemere, Edenbridge, New Milton, Petersfield and Emsworth, were the most notable contributors.

Haslemere won the award for the best item by its introduction of its Town Loyalty Card. 30 local traders are now in this scheme, aimed at keeping the retail footprint within the town by offering incentives to shop at home. This scheme uses the technology already available within the normal card machines and has resulted in significant increases in turnover by the participating retailers. The incentives offered are determined by the individual retailer and thus are not set by the scheme organisers. Some give discounts over certain thresholds, others give accumulating bonus points and others might give special offers to scheme participants.

A more typical programme is that in Edenbridge, where, having recently had a town bypass, the opportunity has arisen to revamp the village centre and make up for the depredations on many years of incessant through traffic.

As far as Hayling is concerned, the main deficiency in our programme is the lack of significant business participation. Please contact me if you would like to join us and contribute to benefiting Hayling.

Litter.

There are many areas of the Island beset by litter. As previously noted, the northern end of West Lane is very bad and now the footpath from opposite the West Town Hotel to the park is similar. It is unclear why so much rubbish is ‘dumped’ when there are usually plenty of bins available and these are emptied regularly. Leigh Park has embarked on a ‘Pride of Place’ campaign to address a whole range of issues including ones such as this and we need to adopt a similar approach to making the Island an attractive place to be. Surely what Leigh Park can do, we can at least do as well!

Kench approach.

It is nice to see the new gates being provided by HCC at the Kench. They look infinitely better than the rusty old iron contraptions that were previously there. This eyesore had been identified in a Liveability survey and by others, carried out 18 months ago. Hopefully, other similar unsightly features elsewhere will get the same treatment.

Cycle ride.

By the time this is published, the participants in this year’s ride, including our chairman, Paul Fisher, will have successfully completed their journey and will be safely back home. This activity raises huge amounts of money for the Island and is one of many such summer activities that raise money for local good causes.

Tony Higham.

Main contacts:

Notice Board: Lois Neale 92469339

Reporter: Tony Higham 92464723.

By forum user, PaulFisher