Worth protecting
We hope you are managing in this continued cold weather, particularly as more may be on the way. This has been a significant week for our District because, on Tuesday, we had a Special Full CDC to consider the Local Plan, which outlines where development is expected to take place, locally, for the next five years. This has been delayed by several years, as it was originally planned to come to Council shortly after Donna and I were elected in 2019. The passage of time has helped demonstrate the concerns we have been repeatedly raising since then, about the effects of climate change, overwhelmed infrastructure and the negative impact of development on our tourism dependent economy. Selsey and most parts of the Peninsula have zero new allocations when once they were earmarked for hundreds more houses. The Spatial Development Strategy specifically commits to "Reinforcing the role of Manhood Peninsula as a home to existing communities, tourism and agricultural enterprise."
After the meeting Donna, who sits on the private Development, Planning & Infrastructure Panel which has been working most on it, posted "I am enormously pleased to say that the local plan, which has been in the making since before 2019, has been agreed this afternoon. I am also pleased to report that Selsey's housing 'allocation' has been reduced from 250 in the new plan, to zero. It's been a very, very long road to get here. This doesn't mean no one can ever build in Selsey again, there may well be speculative applications, but our Local Plan means CDC can control and guide significant development in other planned, more suitable locations.
I am grateful to CDC Officers for their careful understanding of our unique issues. The Plan is not perfect, it can't be, and I have concerns about other areas which will have to change and adapt to a growing community, as we had to. The reality is that it's not possible, with the restrictions and unique issues of the coastal plains, to have the amount of development that had initially been planned. The plan will now go to a period of consultation, then to inspection. At this point, the Plan will, hopefully, get through inspection without significant changes following consultation of technical issues. There will also be an Integrated Coastal Management approach to the Manhood. This will recognise the pressures on our coastline and take a holistic approach to its sustainable management.
A significant step in the right direction and the best outcome for Selsey."
You can inspect the Local Plan here, which now goes out to consultation from Feb 3 until March 17.
Donna has had other success this week as there is finally a Local Foodbank Trolley in Selsey's Asda. It literally took months to get everything sorted and she is grateful to the Asda Community Champion in Waterlooville who helped her so much with what turned out to be a very long process.
The Team are pleased too because STC's increase in residents’ next Council Tax Precept is 4.1% which works out at about 9p per week.
Let's briefly talk about health and all the 'lurgies' going around. Covid goes on (and on and on) along with other coronaviruses. This week’s interesting reads therefore include a couple of health stories: -
Sewage has now been pumped into our sea since before Christmas.
A species of bat thought to be extinct has been found in one of our rail tunnels.
Returning to news from CDC, following the success of Culture Spark in 2022, they have announced that they will fund another two and a half years of events, live entertainment, and community projects to celebrate the rich and diverse range of cultural and heritage experiences in our District.
This year’s activities will start on Sunday 29 January between 9.30am and 1pm with a Community Sand Drawing Workshop on West Wittering Beach at East Head car park. Visitors will be able to watch artist, Mark Haddon Ford, work with the local community to create an artistic masterpiece, all of which will be captured on film before the tide comes in at 2pm. Mark will then be creating a community landscape work of art in the grounds of Petworth House, from the wood cuttings that the gardeners gather. ‘Culture Spark at Petworth House’ will take place on Friday 17 February between 10am and 2pm. Families will be invited to get involved to help create the artwork, which will all be captured on film. Both of these activities are free to participate in or watch.
In addition, ten local professional artists are currently working with local groups and schools to create an exhibition, which will be held in Chichester and Petworth in March. All of the activities have been inspired by Pallant House Gallery’s current exhibition: Sussex Landscapes — chalk, wood and water.
CDC are also arranging a free laser extravaganza show at the Canal Basin in Chichester on 17 and 18 February to mark the half-term holidays. They will be running two 20-minute laser shows which will be set to music on both days – one at 6pm and the other at 7.30pm. There will also be ‘light’ jugglers and hula-hoop jugglers, as well as food stalls.
Young people in our District have the opportunity to get involved in a nationwide initiative to raise awareness of biodiversity and ecology with a series of workshops coming to The Novium Museum. Led by national art charity Art Fund and supported by a major National Lottery Project Grant from Arts Council England, The Novium Museum joins hundreds of museums, galleries and historic houses coming together for the largest ever collaboration between UK museums.
Taking place from January to July, The Wild Escape invites children to find a favourite animal in their local museum and create an artwork imagining its journey to a natural habitat. The pictures and stories the children create will then be brought together in a collective work of art that imagines a better future for the wildlife on our doorstep, which will be unveiled at a community event in Priory Park on Earth Day, Saturday 22 April.
As part of The Wild Escape, The Novium Museum received a grant of £2,970 to run a series of free art workshops for children aged 7-11 years old during the school Easter holidays. Developed and led by professional artist Rachel Johnston, the workshops will take inspiration from objects within the museum’s collection as a starting point for a discussion on the importance of animals in the natural world. Youngsters will explore the adventures these creatures could have in our local habitat and tell their own stories of the animal’s ‘Wild Escape’.
The young artists will then work with textiles to make prints of their chosen animals, exploring the important role that nature and wildlife play in our local environment, before the individual artworks are combined to create one large piece. Learn more here.
Finally: -
As always, from the whole Team, stay safe.
Tim
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