Welcome to the Local Alliance Blog

Did you ever learn, or try to learn, to drive? A very long time ago, I was once a driving instructor and my youngest daughter is currently learning. I was recently spotted by my barber taking her out - a different sort of close shave! On Saturdays I like to get some mileage under her belt, so last week she drove us to Midhurst, then on to Petworth. Part of the route bordered its lovely Park, which is famed for its deer and historical Royal appeal . If you have never been, you might fancy a change of scenery. If you use the A27, and have not heard, this is the week that “ Oving starts going .” Last week I shared a story about a 3D printed house, so I thought you may be interested in something much nearer to home, a barn conversion in Fishbourne , that also shows how a little imagination with housing can go a long way.  Interest in the Southern Gateway project continues, demonstrating how much we care about our area. Whatever your views of the merits of any or all of its proposals,...

This week we start with a cautionary note. Our Water and its quality are important to many of us - look how many people are drawn to our rivers and beaches. A 'risk of disease' warning has been issued because of river pollution so please read this news report and follow the advice.  Last year we mentioned the Rampton 2 wind farm proposals to you. They have been back in the news because growing concern about the potential impact has led to a parliamentary petition.  Another topic that arouses interest and debate is housing. Technology is ever evolving, so I was fascinated to discover this week that a 3D printer in the United States has actually printed a 3-bed house , something that might one day help with affordable housing.  If you prefer more historical housing this latest news article about our castles and ancient ruins is for you.  In other local news, Muddy Stilettos are the latest to rate places in West Sussex as a good place to live , including Midhurs...

  Have you come across Easter eggs in the shops yet? Amazingly, we did last Sunday, nearly three and a half months before Easter itself. Valentine’s events are popping up too, but that's understandable with only four weeks to go. (I mention that for other married men so they can start planning, rather than do a last-minute dash to the fuel station!) February 12th is the 23rd anniversary of our first date, so I have booked something special on the 14th in one of Donna’s favourite hotels (Yes it’s on the Isle of Wight!) The Step By Step Project that began the aptly nicknamed Men in Sheds has drawn to a close. It contributed to improving men’s health and wellbeing by bringing them together in a new generation of Sheds. These were the basis of the SBS Model: welcoming places where men met to (re)create social links, find peer-to-peer support, share and learn skills, and support each other in terms of their health and employment, in an environment free of judgement.  A particular...

  Happy New Year - as always, where did the holiday go? We hope you had as good a Christmas as you could in the circumstances we all found ourselves in, and managed the sudden switch from mild, but wet, weather to the more wintry experience we have had in the last few days. Some good news you may have missed, is that next Christmas will see Chichester’s first chalet-style market .  In our last two posts we discussed the importance, to our local tourist industry, of our area’s particular appeal and the need for it to remain relatively unspoilt. This was in the context of the Southern Gateway regeneration project, something that is of wider interest as this letter about the bus station demonstrates .  Another important financial consideration, of course, is our area's contribution to our country’s £120 billion food chain . Development on any scale in our greenbelt is a worry to a large number of us, particularly when there are still unused Brownfield sites. I was particu...