Bulletin Number four

The story of the Hamstreet VDS

August 2002

November 1999	The Hamstreet Village Design Group. This was established in December 1999 on an initiative by the Parish Council. Every villager was invited to attend the inaugural meeting in the church hall by a letter delivered to every household in the village.
January 2000	.To a packed audience a presentation was made by the Parish Council Chairman, Andrew MacBean, who explained the background, followed by a representative of Ashford Borough Council Planning Department and the Kent Council for Rural Development (KCRD). The meeting outlined the position in which Hamstreet finds itself: i.e. it has been earmarked as an appropriate site for further development in the Ashford area, Ashford itself having been selected by central government as a region ripe for building. Hamstreet has already had its share of new houses, with growth accelerated over the last 5 years. There are also some new housing schemes which have already received outline planning permission; involving around 70 more houses. The message being given out was that new developments are inevitable but the villagers can have a say in the type of housing that will be built by producing a Village Design Statement, based on the views of the current inhabitants. This has a good chance of being adopted by the Ashford Borough Council as supplementary planning guidance. Thus planners and builders will be able to consult the SPG and get a clear view of what Hamstreet is like and what sort of buildings would be appropriate. This is not only about housing ! Infrastructure (e.g. schools, transport, roads), business and the environment are some of the wider issues to be addressed.
February 2000	Out of that meeting, 15 members of the public volunteered to form the steering group, Andrew MacBean was elected as a chairman in a overseeing role only, and five sub groups were formed: 1) Photographic (village in pictures, design, surroundings, characteristic features) 2) Business (present status and future development) 3) Communications (to keep the village informed) 4) Questionnaire (twofold village appraisal and opinions) 5) Sponsorship (covering some running costs and building towards the print of the ultimate document) Like most, our village has a host of talent and trades and finding a friendly printer, designer and editor was easy. Probably a very strong reason for our success were the decisions to run a regular bulletin of the progress of the Village Design Group (delivered by volunteers to every household,) and the establishment of a web site.
March-May 2000	These efforts proved invaluable as it drew the community into the project and by the time the questionnaire was delivered, people were aware of what it was about and it made the tasks of the volunteers very much easier when going from house to house asking people to fill them in. The questionnaire was developed, agreed, printed and distributed during April. Subsequently we ran the first exhibition of the photographic group including historical photos of Hamstreet showing how it had developed over the years, and many pictures of the existing housing, new and old, highlighting their good and bad features. This display was open all day one Saturday and gave ample opportunity for villagers to return their questionnaires and look at the displays and succeeded in raising even more awareness and interest. We had a significant number of visitors. The exhibition also included paintings by many local school children of what they would like to see in Hamstreet which increased its entertainment value. The return rate of questionnaires were very encouraging (68 %) giving lot of data not only for the Village Design Guide but also material for the parish and borough council as well as enough material for a village appraisal. Preliminary results are available.
June 2000	Full exhibition of the photographic group, statistics group, first responses to comments/ questions raised. The end of June saw a meeting forming of the more "textual" groups and a proposal for the structure of the content. An editor was appointed to guaranty an overall "style"
July to September 2000	Ongoing meetings to arrange the content culminated in the first draft being produced.
November 2000	The 1st draft was send on to ABC for comment.
January 2001	The draft had been returned by ABC with comments. These comments where discussed by the VDS group. Some points where accepted, some points refined and some points where rejected.
February 2001	2nd draft was produced and again send to ABC for comments. Later in the month we arranged a meeting with the ABC planning department, resulting in a lively and thorough discussion.
April 2001	3rd draft was produced and subsequently send to ABC.
May 2001	Saw the final discussions and the start of the final editing process. Pictures, plans and excerpts from various planning guide lines where selected to flank the messages of Hamstreets VDS.
Summer break
October 2001	Further comments from ABC and additional information was received. Yet another meeting with ABC to discuss some finer points resulted in the preliminary green light from ABC to go ahead.
Winter break
February 2002	We have the print design and are finalising the last touches.
June 2002	It is done. The printed document is accepted by ABC. A copy is given to every household in Hamstreet and further copies are available for reference.
	It takes longer than one expects. Persistance pays. Involvement of the local council and planning departments is an absolute must.
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