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liphook junior school development - Mary (24th May 2013 - 14:19:07) Well done Dawn Hoskins - first to reveal that Liphook Junior School “ALREADY HAVE MASSIVE PLANS FOR EXPANSION ON THEIR OWN SITES” as you put it, on the Grayshott Forum (why?) 3 weeks ago. Today’s Herald seems to confirm your story. The headteacher of Liphook Junior told parents in her letter rubbishing Bohunt School that her school already has spare classroom capacity and suggested Liphook shouldn’t allow pupils from outside the town to come here for school. She seems to prefer a small village school. In the meantime she wants to turn her school into a super-size mega-school, which hardly has enough green space for play and sports even now! I wonder if it is possible that this massive expansion of Liphook Junior on its very small site might be connected to talk around here that the Lowsley developers going add yet another 400 houses to their site which already has permission for nearly 250 houses on the far outskirts of town? Dawn, you always were very anti any development in our parish council, so hopefully you will campaign against this suburbia sprawl extending further and further from the town centre? Previously you said that there is nothing the Council can do to stop development happening here - if so, at the very least, please, next time can you make sure Lowsley provide facilities for our needs too?

Re: liphook junior school development - H (24th May 2013 - 16:21:42) What do you mean "small site" and "little green space" to play? Are you talking about the same school - they have a massive field with loads of space..!?!

Re: liphook junior school development - Smc (24th May 2013 - 16:51:14) I didn't read Ms Frosts letter in the same light as you seem to have. I didn't find it rubbished Bohunt at all, just that the school could cope and has plans in place.

Re: liphook junior school development - Nimbygrouch. (24th May 2013 - 16:59:00) Hmm; The Principal of Liphook Junior school seems intent on empire-building - presaged by her introductory letter to residents of the Avenue/Avenue Close area, which stated "I will be taking over the reigns (sic) of the school....etc etc" Overlooking the obvious blooper, her subsequent assurances to residents vis-a-vis school traffic seem to have taken a back seat to her ambitions for the schools, which, if realised, would obviously impact on an already nightmare twice-daily traffic scenario.

Re: liphook junior school development - Dawn Hoskins (24th May 2013 - 17:02:18) Hi Mary Yes you are right I am against over development / urban sprawl I have always steered well clear of the Planning Committee on our Parish Council as [in my opinion] the opinions put forward were never really given due consideration. I know that EHDC have to at least look at the comments made – but that is not good enough as far as I am concerned. I think local people know full well what is good for a community and what is bad. It should not be decided by people who have never been to our village. However – it is. That is why my temper will not allow me to sit on the planning committee. It was my plan to ensure the planning committee were present at The Millennium Centre when the promoters of the mass build on the Bohunt Manor Frontage land held their ‘public consultation’. I don’t think the promoters liked the idea very much – but…..hey ho – the building belongs to the Parish Council so they couldn’t really do anything about it. The purpose of representatives from the Parish Council being there was to ensure that people attended knew about the 3 very large housing developments that already have planning permission approved. Most people did not know about these and were shocked to think of the strain that will be on our roads as a result. At past consultations, the number of visitors has been put forward by promoters as the level of positive interest. So, a comment book was made available. There were lots and lots of comments all along the same vain and some very colourful language in places! This was done so that a fair representation of the views of the public could be obtained, not just a record of numbers. As far as developers contributions etc. This system is set to change very soon to a new way of collecting money which affects everyone not just large developers. Again I have an issue with this as I believe it should be local people who decide where local facilities and improvements are needed. The very best way to keep ahead is to look at the Agenda and Meeting Notes on the Parish Council web-page. This lists all the applications and you can see the Parish Council decisions as well. The link for that is here: bramshottandliphook-pc.gov.uk/... Please be aware that I am only posting my personal views. Not everyone on the Parish Council holds my views and decisions made are done so after the public have a chance to speak.

Re: liphook junior school development - peter (24th May 2013 - 19:09:41) could someone please direct me to the Grayshott chatroom, and who is Dawn Hoskins

Re: liphook junior school development - Jane I (24th May 2013 - 19:12:31) Speaking for myself, without my parish councillor head on, I feel well placed to comment as I lived in The Avenue for a number of years and suffered the morning and afternoon crawl through there!! My take on this is that there are some 175 children at the Infant/Junior school who are out of catchment hence they HAVE to be driven to school. But move ahead a few years and we have a bigger school with more children who live in the new houses on Lowsley Farm and Silent Garden and maybe Bohunt Manor ie in the catchment area....well they would on the whole walk to school, partly because they could and partly because we know that the parking around the school is currently being looked at and will hopefully be resolved. So maybe it isn't all bad?? We are not talking massive expansion to the current school either...30 places per year...big enough to cope with new catchment children but not too big to encourage too many out of catchment. Potentially there could be 175 cars LESS driving through the village.

Re: liphook junior school development - Mary (25th May 2013 - 09:47:07) Peter, I read the the Grayshott chatroom at www.grayshott.com/... and Dawn is our parish councillor in Liphook Dawn, Thanks for responding, but you don’t really mention either of the concerns I mentioned. Will you also campaign against the expansion of the Liphook Juniors and especially Lowsley which will turn the Avenues, Longmoor and Headley roads into a nightmare? You say that developers should fund facilities that we need, but the local community should decide where they should go. Can we really force owners to give up their land for this?

Re: liphook junior school development - peter (25th May 2013 - 14:44:44) Dear Dawn I found your comment on the Grayshott Forum (grayshott.com) and you mention the Liphook Junior and Primary Schools as having plans for 'massive' expansion. This is concerning, as apart from the traffic problems that it is likely to cause everyone around The Avenue and Longmoor/Headley Roads, do we really want the Junior and Primary Schools to become mega schools ? As you may be privy to certain information which is not in the public domain (I certainly have never heard of any plans to create massive schools here), could you please let us know: 1. why these schools need to expand ? 2. what EXACTLY do these plans for expansion actually entail ?

Re: liphook junior school development - Dawn Hoskins (25th May 2013 - 19:06:18) Hi again Mary, To answer you point for point, I regularly read the Grayshott Forum and a post had been submitted about the provision of new housing, a GP surgery, football pitch and new Primary School. I therefore commented in the place where I read it. I assume you also read and post on the site so I am not sure why you ask why I am doing so. I do not agree that The Mrs Frost rubbished Bohunt at all and adding one classroom for each year group, although this constitutes a massive development, it does not amount to it becoming a super-size mega-school. I am confused by and disagree with your comment that LJS & LIS do not have enough green space for play and sports as they have absolutely massive fields. The plans vis-à-vis the school are already in place as far as I know, even if they were not I would not be campaigning against them. Houses in unnecessary places – yes – school places on an existing plot – no. The plans for Lowsley most likely will be a complete nightmare even at the present number – but EHDC in their wisdom have already approved it. But they don’t have to live there do they. I have no knowledge on the Lowsley developers, but my cynical mind would not exclude the possibility of a developer shoe-horning more houses in wherever possible. More houses = more money. I don’t say that the Parish Council can do, I say that the meagre input is not enough and not given enough weight in the decision making process. As far as developers providing facilities for our needs, this is already a compulsory payment, but currently gets spent in ways which I do not agree with. £50k on statutes along the shipwrights way for example is an outrageous and stupid gilding of the lily. That walk is to appreciate the views and the countryside – that is beautiful enough surely? The developers are already forced to do this but the way in which it is managed is changing. To Peter, I am not privy to any information which is not in the public domain and gather my information from looking at the Agenda and Minutes for each meeting. I do not know the reasons or needs behind any of the applications – only that they exist. The link for the planning committee can be found on the Parish website. If you have questions on any application you need to go to the meeting in which it is on the agenda. The Parish Council will pass comments up to the District Council [which may or may not be listened to] and then EHDC make their decision. Please be aware that I am only posting my personal views, and also that I am not on the planning committee. If you have particular question you must ask a member of the planning committee as they have the in-depth knowledge on the history of each application.

Re: liphook junior school development - S Jenner (26th May 2013 - 05:48:21) So Jane, are you saying that the solution to some of Liphook's traffic problems is to build more houses so that the out of town catchment would eventually be replaced by locals who would walk to school thus reducing the amount of peak time traffic? Please tell me that is not what you are thinking. I understand that Lowsley Farm could be a 400+ house site not 150. Silent Garden - 150 and if by some devious means or other the Bohunt Manor building scheme gets the go ahead (200-400) we have potentially nearly 750-950 new houses. None of this is going to reduce traffic in Liphook.

Re: liphook junior school development - Jay W (26th May 2013 - 08:51:26) Please don't fall into the trap of thinking that housing near to the school means children walking to school. I knew of one parent who regularly drove their child from The Mead - mind you, she would have a hard job now to even get out of the The Mead with the school traffic that parks along both the Tower Road and Tunbridge Crescent ends! If the school can spare land for classrooms maybe they are also thinking of sparing some land for a drive through drop and run style layby for parents of the older children - suggested many, many years ago when the school was adamant they would not give up any of the playing field?

Re: liphook junior school development - Paul (26th May 2013 - 11:42:36) Hi all, I have been meaning to post about the traffic in The Avenue for some time, and this seems to be the perfect forum to do so. As a resident, there is already too much traffic at school times. Yes the schools were there when we bought the house, but the traffic has increased every year and my personal opinion is it is now reaching a dangerous level. I have had my driveway blocked on two occasions by people collecting their children, and have even witnessed drivers driving on the pavement to reach the school. Can either of these be regarded as safe? What would happen God forbid should the emergency services need access at school times? This is the first I have heard about the Junior school development?? And ANY suggestion that the traffic level will diminish is quite frankly laughable! To me, the perfect solution would be a park and ride scheme. With all the development about to take place, secure areas could be set aside as part of the planning applications for drop offs and pickups. Certainly, more thought needs to be given to the traffic with access down such a small road. Finally, to the minority of idiotic mothers and fathers who drive so appallingly as collecting their children is more important than anyone else's day to day business, perhaps if you stopped to let people out, there may be more room for you to get in!!! I think I learnt that in Junior school funnily enough!

Re: liphook junior school development - Jane (26th May 2013 - 19:48:53) No S Jenner I didn't mean that at all!! What I was trying to say is that Lowsley Farm and Silent Garden have already been approved for housing...they are a done deal. We can't change that now. With those houses alone there is inevitably going to be more demand for school places from children living in the catchment area thereby forcing out those from out of catchment. So extending the current LIS/LJS provision could maybe, and I do say maybe, mean that we could reduce traffic around that area as the children could walk to school particularly if there were much tougher restrictions on parking around the school. Building a whole new school could however increase traffic. We have to, unfortunately, work with what we've got now and we've got Lowsley Farm, Silent Garden and the old OSU site all with plans in place for new housing. Bohunt Manor is still very much under debate. I am simply trying to say that extending the current school provision could be the lesser of two evils. My personal view is that I want to keep the village as it is and do not wish to see huge housing developments. As Dawn says above these are my views and are not necessarily shared by the PC. But let's keep the debate out there as we need to work out as a community what is best for us and not what is best for the developers!

Re: liphook junior school development - Dave (26th May 2013 - 23:19:43) It's good to see that a lot of people believe the proposed development of the Bohunt Manor land is not a good thing for Liphook in it's current state. If you do not want the development to go ahead I strongly suggest that people on this forum and the Grayshott site submit their objections of the proposed primary school and housing development on the official South Downs Application site, seen below. http://goo.gl/KbxoM If you wish to object to the development you only have until the 29th May 2013 to do so however.

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