CPRE Hampshire - Latest News

Events

Details of events - both county and district - are now given on a separate events page.

New Christmas Card for 2008 Now on Sale

Our new Christmas card shows a seasonal image of St Nicholas Church Steventon taken by a CPRE member. Cards cost £4 for a pack of 10. See details.

Bill Bryson's Notes on A Dirty Island

CPRE President Bill Bryson reported for BBC's Panorama on 11th August. He highlighted the blight of litter and flytipping that is despoiling our countryside. Support CPRE's Stop The Drop campaign. See Litter Campaign

CPRE celebrates a significant victory in the campaign against BOATS.

Following an Appeal Court ruling, eighteen of the claims for new BOATs (Byways Open to All Traffic) in Hampshire which were previously exempt from the NERC Act legislation have now been rejected as invalid. Rosemary Horsey takes reader through the tortuous byways of this legislation (Aug 2008). Read full article.

Eco-Towns: Not So Eco

The Government plans a number of eco-towns, including a 5,500 home development at Bordon-Whitehill. CPRE fully supports the Government's aspirations for achieving the highest standards in terms of sustainability and affordability. However, far from being eco, many of the schemes are in remote or otherwise unsustainable locations. CPRE is assessing the various schemes to see how they match up to CPRE's ten tests for sustainability.

Read details of the campaign at the CPRE national website and learn about the ten tests.

One Last Push for the South Downs Petition

John Venning of CPRE Hampshire is urging as many people as possible to sign the petition to include the Western Weald in the South Downs National Park. The target is 5,000 signature by 9th July.

Read the press release

CPRE Hampshire Announces Award Winners

CPRE Hampshire is proud to announce the first four winners of its Countryside and Design award, launched this year. They are:

Portway Junior School, in Andover, for their new school garden project in the Schools category
Bordon Junior School in East Hampshire, for their new school garden project- in the Schools category
Futurefarms Ltd of Martin in the New Forest, for their cooperative farm and food project - in the Voluntary/ Community category
Ballard Water Meadows, in New Milton, for their conservation work - in the Voluntary/ Community category.

Read the press release for more details. Nominations are now open for the 2009 awards - see Awards Details.

Stop the Drop Anti-litter campaign launched 16th April

CPRE's President, Bill Bryson, launched this, CPRE's biggest 2008 campaign saying "Litter is becoming the default condition of the countryside. It is time that we – all of us – did something about this. The landscape is too lovely to trash."

CPRE Hampshire has been addressing the problems with fly-tipping since 2006, and is now fully behind the national campaign with local initiatives.

We have created a special website section just for this campaign. See Stop the Drop pages or go to the campaign pages at the CPRE national website for the latest information.

Spring/Summer Newsletter

Members will now have received their 24-page newsletter. You can download a PDF version here (opens in new window). Individual articles are also put into the relevant sections of this website. See for example the 2007-8 District Group Reports.

Walks and Talks Programme 2008

CPRE Hampshire's walks and talks programme is now underway. There are springtime guided walks in Old Portsmouth, Ampsfield, Queen Elizabeth Country Park. There are farm visits in June and July to two farms on the Wintershill estate and Lyburn Farm. Later visits include Silchester, Twyford waterworks, Fleet Pond Nature Reserve and Alton's Material Recovery Facility.
Full details are in our Walks and Talks Leaflet (PDF), view the events page for a chronological list, or view the press release for links to websites of the locations.

128,000 New Houses - Is This Sustainable?

The latest South East Plan report is recommending housing allocations for Hampshire that exceed 128,000 over the next 18 years. These numbers are 5 per cent higher than targets that were recommended in the EiP (Examination in Public) report, and could be raised even further by central government in future.

In response to this, two CPRE members have set up a website called www.savethesouth.org.uk, and they are asking for all those concerned with this issue to sign their Downing Street petition. Well over 1000 signatures are needed for this petition to make an impact, and to generate a response from the Prime Minister, so your contribution would be very much appreciated.

You will find the petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/savethesouth/.

New Awards Scheme Launched

As part of CPRE Hampshire's aim to involve more people within the community in its activities, we have launched a new environmental awards. The 'CPRE Hampshire Countryside and Design Award' and will run annually and cover three categories:

Schools
Voluntary and Community
Public Sector and Business.

Nominations for the first awards must be received by 21st March 2008.
Read the full details of the scheme.

Autumn Bulletin

This has recently been sent out to members who have registered their email address. The contents include:

Visit and Walks programme 2007- more on transport symposium
Planned visits for 2008
500 Club update
Next year's AGM - 24th April - an exciting new venue, and a few surprises!
Website - addition of the battlemap
Christmas cards

You can download the bulletin here (PDF).

New Report on Water Resources

The South East could face a shortfall of one billion litres a day in drinkable water if we do not do more to conserve and recycle supplies. The Government and the water companies have not woken up to the new realities of water supply. These are the conclusions of a CPRE South East report written by hydrologist Graham Warren. Read the press release or the full 65-page report (PDF: 2.85Mb).

Bill Bryson visits areas to be excluded from the South Downs National Park

Bill Bryson, CPRE's president, on 11th September visited areas in the Western Weald which were recently recommended by the government's planning inspector to be excluded from the proposed national park.
Read about this visit and see the photos.

South Downs Campaign Hots Up

A 'nonsensical boundary' is how John Venning describes the latest proposals for the South Downs National Park. See his recent article (July 2007) and CPRE's position statement.

Recently over 100 campaigners walked Harting Down to support the campaign to achieve the best possible South Downs National Park. Walkers included Brian Blessed, the actor and outgoing President of the Council for National Parks. Read about it and see the pictures. There is currently a further round of consultation (closes 13th August) on issues such as its boundaries.
See full list of South Downs articles.

Act Now To Protect The Future of The Countryside

Following publication of the Commission for Rural Communities State of the Countryside report 2007 CPRE national office has issued a press release welcoming "much good news in this report", but expressing concerns about "some urgent issues" including affordable housing and damaging infrastructure projects.
Read the national press release (17 July).

Reports from CPRE Hampshire's AGM - 19th May

This was held at Sparsholt College, near Winchester. Read about:

Spring/Summer 2007 Newsletter

The latest newsletter was recently sent to members. Contents include:

plus all the usual features such as district group reports and details of events. Articles are placed in the relevant sections of this website. Alternatively you can read the whole newsletter (PDF format - 691Kb).

Other County office news

Rebecca French joins as full-time admin and media assistant. Read the announcement. There is a separate flier about the farm visits on 21st July
Have you joined the CPRE 500 Club yet? Details here.
Office and administration news - staffing, email and postage. Read the details ...
Behind the scenes at Exbury Gardens - an out-of-season visit to these wonderful gardens. Read press release ...
45 members enjoyed a visit to Broughton Water Buffalo Farm in September. Read the visit report.
CPRE Hampshire a founder member of SHUV (South Hampshire's Unheard Voice) - find out more at the SHUV website

South East Region News

The CPRE South East Regional Director, Edward Dawson, is very active in representing CPRE at the Examination-in-Public of the South East Plan. Read our South East Plan campaigns pages for latest updates. He also works closely with partners to influence SEERA (the South East England Regional Assembly) and also has good links with SEEDA (the South East England Development Agency) and GOSE (the Government Office for the South East) in order to campaign for CPRE objectives.

Go to the Regional News page for up to date regional information.