parish council

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Government Housing Officials Visit Hambledon Affordable Homes Site

Hambledon Parish Council hosted a visit by 20 civil servants from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government who arrived in the village to look at the Orchard Farm affordable homes project.

The officials are part of the government’s housing team with responsibility for affordable housing strategy. They left their offices in Whitehall to see three schemes being run by English Rural Housing in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in Hambledon, Dunsfold and Chiddingfold.

These picturesque villages, in beautiful countryside and with good schools and transport links, are highly desirable and, consequently, house prices are high – on average 34 per cent more expensive than in surrounding areas and almost 23 times the average household income, according to recent figures published by English Rural.

This means that many local people struggle to afford to get onto the housing ladder. English Rural, a housing association whose patron is The Princess Royal, works with local councils and communities to provide homes at lower than market rent or part-ownership in rural areas.

In Hambledon it built Duncombs Cottages on Hambledon Road, Hydestile, which were opened by HRH Princess Anne in 2003. Now it is working with Waverley Borough Council and Hambledon Parish Council to build seven affordable homes and two open market bungalows at Orchard Farm, a disused livery yard between Wormley Lane and Petworth Road.

The civil servants were escorted by officials of English Rural and, in Hambledon, were met by parish council chairman John Anderson and vice chairman Stewart Payne, who explained the background to the scheme, the pitfalls along the way, and the overall support of the village for a small development of affordable homes for local people.

Work has yet to start on the site, so the civil servants were shown the empty farmhouse, which is to be renovated and sold on the open market, and the abandoned buildings that will make way for the new homes.

Nick Hughes, who is leading the scheme on behalf of English Rural, showed plans and drawings and explained the various issues that the scheme encountered before finally being approved by Waverley Council in November last year.

The visit, which took place on January 29th, was welcomed by John Anderson as an opportunity to explain the many difficulties that the parish council faced in helping to deliver a scheme that most villagers had welcomed, but some had opposed vociferously. Legitimate concerns by some residents had to be balanced against the benefits the scheme delivered.

Commenting on the visit, English Rural’s Chief Executive, Martin Collett, said he was pleased “to welcome representatives from the Ministry of Housing to show the affordable homes we have built and are developing in the villages of Hambledon, Dunsfold and Chiddingfold.

He said the visit focused on how parish councils and local; authorities can work effectively with rural housing associations to form strong partnerships that ultimately benefit local residents. “This has a positive impact on their own circumstances and the wider community”, he said. More information can be found here: https://englishrural.org.uk/ministry-of-housing-team-view-affordable-rural-homes-in-surrey/

 

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Hambledon Nursery School is “Outstanding”…Again

Hambledon Nursery School has entered 2020 in a mood of celebration after receiving an “Outstanding” grading following its latest Ofsted inspection.

Kate Walford, the head teacher, said that she, her staff and parents were all delighted with the news. The school, at Rock Hill, was judged Outstanding in all four categories; quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

She said: “I feel so very proud of the team of fantastic individuals with whom I have the pleasure of working with. This outcome is only achieved with the collective hard work, drive, passion and commitment of all staff members.” Kate, front row in green jacket, is pictured below with her staff.

The report is extremely complimentary about all areas of school life. It can be found here:

https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50138477

Ofsted – the Office for Standards in Education – is a non-ministerial body that carries out official inspections and regulation of schools and other places of learning. After visiting a school, usually with very little notice, it then issues it with a grade: 1. Inadequate, 2. Requires Improving, 3. Good and 4. Outstanding.

The nursery school was last inspected in 2014, when it was also given an “Outstanding” rating.

In summary, the latest report, carried out in December, said:

* The head teacher and her extremely enthusiastic staff succeed in achieving their strong ethos, which they describe as providing a highly stimulating environment ‘where skills to last a lifetime are taught and lifelong memories are made.’

* Children demonstrate exceptionally high levels of confidence and security in the setting.

* Children have immense fun as they learn. They behave impeccably.

* Staff demonstrate exemplary teaching skills through which they provide children with wonderful opportunities to use critical thinking skills and to extend their thoughts

* Staff have an extensive understanding of each child, their interests, abilities, cultures and backgrounds. They ensure every child has the best possible opportunities to meet their full potential.

Kate added: “The level of support from the parents was overwhelming. Their positive feedback and testimonials, shared with the inspector on the day of the inspection, was mentioned as being especially unique to the nursery when she delivered her feedback.

“We are very lucky to work with such inspiring young people and their families and we will continue to strive to provide the very best possible early years’ environment that we can as we look to the future and continue with the very important task each day at the nursery…. of having plenty of fun!

  • The school was originally the village state primary school. When it closed in the 1980s residents were determined to see it remain at the heart of the community as a place of learning.  A campaign led to the acquisition of the Victorian school house complete with playground and its reopening as a nursery school run as a business by a charitable trust. It caters for children aged 2 to 5 and retains its strong links with the village, the church and the parish council.
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Christmas Celebrated, And New Year Greetings

Hambledon’s festive celebrations concluded with community carol singing outside the village shop on Christmas Eve which an estimated 200 people attended. It just gets bigger every year!

Following on from the equally-successful carols in the Merry Harriers and the Christmas Dance at the Village Hall (see earlier news item), it was then left to St Peter Church to bring home the Christmas message with midnight communion on Christmas Eve and a Family Service on Christmas Day.

Now all that remains is New Year’s Eve. There will no doubt be many private parties around the village and the Merry Harriers has live music and a buffet, beginning at 9pm and going on until 1am. Midnight will be celebrated with complimentary bubbly.

Finally, from all of us at the Hambledon Village Web Team, we wish you the very best for 2020.

We leave you with some photographs taken by David Edmiston of the Village Shop carols and our thanks to all those who organised and participated in a wonderful Christmas community gathering.

 

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THE 503 BUS – WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The fate of Hambledon’s only bus service, the 503, will be decided by Surrey County Council in May and, unless the proposal to axe the route is overturned, it will cease operating in September.

However, SCC has acknowledged the strong opposition to the proposal by Hambledon Parish Council and residents and indicated that it may be prepared to meet to see if there is an alternative to outright closure. The parish has suggested that the 503 could be merged with the 523 Milford Hospital service, which is also under threat, and rerouted to take in new housing developments.

In its latest Local Transport Review SCC – faced with having to make budget cuts -has been examining rural routes in West Surrey with the aim of reducing the level of subsidy it pays to operators to keep the services running.  Under this review it proposed scrapping the 503, which runs three days a week and connects Hambledon with Milford, Godalming and Guildford.

The 503 is important to the village and its immediate neighbourhood, and especially to some of its older residents and those without cars. Starting and ending at Lane End it connects Hambledon and Hydestile with supermarkets, banks and surgeries. Most of its users have bus passes but face losing the only bus they can travel on.

Village Bus 3 - Copy

Under the review SCC is also proposing scrapping the 523, which operates twice a week to Milford Hospital from Godalming via Busbridge.  Both services are operated by Stagecoach on behalf of the County Council, using low-floor buses suitable for the elderly and infirm.

SCC has been consulting on the proposed changes to these and other services. In its submission Hambledon Parish Council urged the county to keep the 503. It also suggested that the 503 and 523 could be merged to serve the new 100-plus homes being built beside Milford Hospital, other areas of new development and be re-timetabled to make it more widely available.

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