St. Nicholas Hurst Parish Design Statement

Howard Larkin reports on progress

Actually this could be more accurately entitled 'A Report on a Lack of Progress'. In the last Hurst Village Society Newsletter I said that the Second Draft would hopefully be published towards the end of February. Knowing how perceptive Hurst residents are I have no doubt that you will all have spotted that this did not happen, and indeed has not happened yet.

The reason is that we have been discussing the document in some detail with Wokingham District Council. It seems that whilst we in Hurst have been beavering away at what was then the flavour of the month, Village/Parish Design Statements, the flavour has changed. The new 'initiatives' are all about 'Community Planning' and 'Vital Villages'. Design Statements as such are now viewed as very limited documents that should only deal with detail design issues within a village context.

However I am happy to say all is not lost. Our Parish Design Statement was never truly just about design and, as you will know, extended beyond the boundaries of the main village of Hurst. We are very hopeful that, following discussions with the district council, our Second Draft can go forward largely in its present format and will be accepted by them as a document that they will have regard to when making planning decisions.

Once it is clear that this is the case we will publish the Second Draft to get your views on it, before we spend any more time preparing the final document and formally submitting it to Wokingham for approval.

It is a massive understatement to say that this whole process has been like watching paint dry. I think however that the paint is at least very tacky now and possibly just needs to cure and harden a little. I counsel patience whilst this happens!

HVS News in Brief

The next committee meeting will be held on 22 May. If you would like to raise any issue at this meeting, please contact a committee member.

The next HVS Newsletter will be published in June. If you would like to publicise events and activities of an organisation or group in the next HVS Newsletter please contact Wendy Tobitt on 0118 934 xxxx. Copy deadline is 31 May for publication 17 June.