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The above are currently the major issues being worked on by the Holybourne Village Association. The first concerns the need to retain the Village Post Office, Shop and Lottery machine, the second is the proposed development at the ‘Scats’ site and finally the Onyx material recycling proposal at the Cuckoo Corner site.
Holybourne Post Office
Reasons for Reclassification to Rural Status
15th August 2002
Summary
Our position is that Holybourne is a distinct rural community, despite being close to Alton. There are a number of very strong reasons for this belief and these are summarised below. Details supporting each statement are outlined in the rest of this document.
Holybourne is a well-recognised separate community.
Holybourne has long been recognised as a separate community from Alton, in virtually all normal political and administrative dimensions, by:
The Holybourne Village Association (HVA) is recognised as a separate representative body for the village by all these organisations, and is viewed with similar status to that of a Parish Council – it is not considered part of Alton.
The Countryside Agency definition has been misapplied.
The Countryside Agency definition that is being used to support this classification simply states that a settlement of over 10,000 inhabitants is urban and not rural. This definition does not define where one area ends and another begins, and therefore defining any area as Urban or Rural is depends entirely on the allocation of boundaries. In the case of rural areas close to a town, parish and other political boundaries should provide the guidance for inclusion or exclusion from a neighbouring urban area. This has not been the case with Holybourne.
Holybourne Post Office serves a Rural Community
The results of a recent survey (with 700+ responses) show that Holybourne Post Office is used by a wider, rural, community living in Binstead, Wyck, Froyle and other rural settlements and by few people from Alton, most of whom live in east Alton where a sub-post Office has recently closed – reinforcing Alton Town Council’s own view that the coverage of Post Offices in Alton is woefully inadequate (See attached copy of letter from Alton Town Clerk to the Post Office). Survey results are included in this document.
Holybourne Post Office is a vital local Resource
Clearly, reclassification is a prelude to closure. For Holybourne to lose its Post Office would severely impact the village and the surrounding area. It is also likely that the Village Shop would lose a large part of its traffic and with reduced revenues from fewer customers (and the Post Office salary) it is likely to close. This is exactly what happened to Froyle Village Shop some years ago. The User Survey shows that well over a third of the customers are aged 60 or over, many from within the village. These villagers, and residents of The Lawns retirement home, regularly use the Post Office and for them it is a vital source of community contact. The implied assumption that they can easily go to another Post Office a mile or so away ignores the reality that they may no longer be able to drive or do not possess a car.
Detailed information supporting Holybourne’s status as a Rural Community
Planning
Hampshire County Council Planning Department, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, has created ‘Settlement Boundaries’ as part of a set of principles used to evaluate planning applications. Holybourne has a distinct settlement boundary drawn around, as has Alton. This boundary defines the village and planning applications that fall outside this boundary are considered ‘Greenfield’ development and, therefore, not permitted. This boundary is recognised by all the relevant planning Authorities, from Town Council to County Council. A copy of the settlement boundaries for both Alton and Holybourne are enclosed.
There is also a clearly understood ‘Strategic Gap’ between Holybourne and Alton that is recognised by all the relevant planning Authorities and is a key part of the five-year local plan. This gap is formed by Anstey Park on one side of the London Road and by a clear break in buildings on the other. It is constantly referred to in Planning Documents, and assessment of development applications considers the impact on this Strategic Gap. The purpose of the Gap is to recognise and maintain Holybourne as a community distinct from Alton.
Political
The recent redrawing of Political boundaries in Hampshire places Holybourne as part of Shalden and Lasham. This is a rural ward and does not include Alton, which is considered a separate town. The Parish of Shalden and Froyle certainly has less than 10,000 people and the average population density is significantly lower than Alton.
The Diocese of Winchester views Holybourne and Froyle Parishes as similar rural parishes and they are jointly served by same Vicar.
Post Office Usage
A survey of users of the Post Office was conducted during June. Nearly 700 responses have been analysed and the results clearly show that the Post Office serves the rural communities around the area, rather than customer base in Alton. (82% of users are from either Holybourne or the surrounding villages).
- Post Office - - Scats - - Onyx -
SCATS
21st March 2003
Dear Mr Oliver
SCATS Planning Proposal
Further to our recent conversation, the Holybourne Village Association’s position on this planning application is as follows;
We sought the views of neighbours to the SCATS site and their concerns can be summarised as:
In addition to these concerns, we also believe that this central position in the village should retain some commercial use and so we propose that the site be developed as a mixed site, comprising small offices and affordable (but good quality) housing.
There is a view that office accommodation is not required in Alton and the surrounding district, as evidenced by the number of empty offices. However, we believe that this surplus of office space is due both to the large size of the properties on the market and the usual leasehold conditions, both of which small one or two person companies find too expensive and too great a commitment. Instead, we propose a small firms business centre. There is an excellent example of this already operating in Alton called Charwell House Business Centre (01420 543141), in Wilsom Road. This building is full of small, entrepreneurial businesses, renting accommodation on a flexible basis. The managers of this building would be ideal to run a similar venture in Holybourne.
The second part of our proposal, affordable housing, is best managed by a housing association, which could ensure that such housing was available to younger residents of Holybourne as their first home. The rise in property values in recent years excludes many people who were born in the Village from buying their first home. Such young families are an important part of the community, supporting the playgroups and the local schools, as well as ensuring Holybourne remains a vibrant and active community in the future.
We look forward to your comments on our proposals.
Yours sincerely
John Bound
Chairman
Holybourne Village Association
- Post Office - - Scats - - Onyx -
Onyx
Awaiting an update on the latest developments Nov 28th 2003- Post Office - - Scats - - Onyx -