Surrey Hills Society Views
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Edition 11 Spring 2012 Surrey Hills Society views If you go down to the woods... See page 6 The Famous Gardener of the Surrey Hills See the winning images from our photo competition on page 4. Chilworth Manor Munstead Wood - the former home of Gertude Jekyll During April the Society was privileged to became her home. Her influence is seen be able to visit Munstead Wood, between across the Surrey Hills, often in Godalming and Bramley, by kind partnership with the famous arts and craft permission of the present owners, Sir architect, Edwin Lutyens. Robert and Lady Clark. The ten acres of restored gardens retain much of the Not a year goes by without the Surrey genius of the original designer and Hills Society featuring at least one of her Loseley Park original owner, Gertrude Jekyll. gardens. We are grateful to the private fortunate for the opportunity of an owners who very kindly open their homes exclusive visit. Gertrude Jekyll (1843 - 1932) created so the Society can enjoy one of the over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and Surrey Hills’ most famous resident’s Other gardens we have visited include America and she continues to influence work. Indeed, Munstead Wood no Loseley Park and Chilworth Manor, garden design to this day. Born in longer participates in the National Garden where Gertrude Jekyll’s work can Bramley in Surrey, Munstead Wood Scheme so the Society was particularly be seen. Our thanks to May Gurney for providing graphic design and printing of our newsletters. Thanks to Andrew Wright and Sean Harrison for their articles plus Society members for their on-going contributions and their photos. www.surreyhillssociety.org Registered Charity number 1125532 Chairman’s View this landscape vulnerable to the As a National pressures of development and we are Trust ranger, he grateful to the visionaries who designated has been able to this area as an Area of Outstanding give us advice in Natural Beauty after World War II. We organising are also both constantly amazed by the events and has new information we learn at every event a knowledge of or talk we attend and enjoy the issues relating fascinating people we meet through this to land Society. management. As a local I am delighted to introduce May Gurney, resident in the Surrey County Council new highways Surrey Hills, he contractor, as the new sponsor of our is passionate about protecting and newsletter. We are so pleased to be enhancing the AONB and encouraging working with them and look forward to interest and visits to the area. As a future collaboration. young farmer and son in law to a farming family, he understands the challenges of We are very grateful to all our sponsors working and farming in the Surrey Hills. and also the many parish councils that Mark’s input and enthusiasm will be support us by offering rooms, or events or missed at the Management committee information for us to use. I am also meetings. I am extremely grateful for all I recently met our administrator, June grateful to the many volunteers who he has done for us and send him and his Robinson on a beautiful sunny spring kindly volunteer to attend events, like the wife, Amanda, our very best wishes and lunchtime at Denbies in Dorking. I County Show, with us to attract new thanks.” travelled along the A25 past beautiful members and promote our work as well rolling green hills and picturesque as those that come every week to I hope you really enjoy the season we churches and cottages that would make volunteer in the office at Box Hill. Thank have planned and I look forward to any American weak at the knees. We sat you to all of you. seeing you at one of our many events. in the lovely restaurant looking out over One of our original volunteers, Mark Chris Howard the stunning vines surrounding us and Richards (pictured here), has recently Chairman both commented on how lucky we were stood down as a member of the to live in such a beautiful county. management committee. Our President, This is why we are both passionate Neil Maltby, said of him “Mark has been a supporters of the Surrey Hills Society. valuable founder member of the Charity Situated so close to London does makes since March 2008. Launch of updated walks leaflets During 2012, the Society was that it would be appropriate to launch approached by Toyota GB with an them by holding a display at the Toyota invitation to submit details of a project GB offices so that their staff had first view which could be voted for by their of the work that they had voted for. We employees, leading to financial support. took along our display boards, the walks leaflets and newsletters, which were set At the same time we were investigating up in a prominent area for over a week. how to pay for the updating and republishing of the suite of walks covering There was significant interest and Tilford, Churt and Frensham. We numerous copies were taken away. If suggested this topic and were awarded you would like to obtain your own funds which, together with a second grant copies, come along to one of our from the Surrey Hills Sustainable member events or visit our trailer and Development Fund, allowed us to gazebo at one of the events which we will undertake the work. be attending throughout the season. This spring, the new leaflets were Once again, a big “Thank You” to delivered from the printers. We decided Toyota GB. Registered Charity number 1125532 2 Update from the AONB office Planning update Environment Minister Out goes over 1000 pages of Government planning statements to guide planning decisions and in comes just over 50 pages of new Government gets a preview of the planning policy. All decisions on planning applications and local planning policies Olympic venue will now have to follow this new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The draft NPPF was much criticised for being too pro-development and for Richard Benyon MP officially opened the giving insufficient importance to environmental issues. The Surrey Hills Board new National Trust Adventure Play Trail on submitted its own views to the Government on the draft document. the top of Box Hill in late March, before being shown and told how spectators will The final document is more balanced and it does now give greater recognition to be accommodated. He said : “it is environmental interests. Nevertheless, the need to permit developments that are inspiring and uplifting to see that the in the national and local economic interests still features very strongly National Trust is not only encouraging throughout the document. children to enjoy the countryside but encouraging them to learn” The “presumption in favour of sustainable development” remains as before but the meaning of “sustainable development” is defined to a greater extent. In practice, further clarification will be determined by Appeal Inspectors and in the courts. So what does all this mean for the future of the Surrey Hills? Government policy generally remains the same as for many years before. Government policy is that “great weight should be given to conserving landscape and scenic beauty”. Major development in an AONB can be permitted in exceptional circumstances and where it is in the public interest. L to R Dan Webb, Chris White, Richard Benyon and Michael Sydney It can also be argued that the Area of Great Landscape Value (AGLV), being a local landscape designation in Surrey bordering the AONB, is covered by the He also went to Denbies Wine Estate document’s reference to “valued landscapes” that should be protected and where the Surrey Hills, in partnership with enhanced. But they do not have the highest status of landscape and scenic Denbies, is organising a Road Race protection as do AONBs. A Surrey Hills AONB boundary is therefore much Festival over 28 and 29 July to showcase needed especially as much of the AGLV has the same characteristics as the the landscape and food of Surrey to the AONB. thousands of cycling enthusiasts expected to converge on the Dorking area to watch We will see how Surrey planning authorities and Appeal Inspectors interpret this the races. The festival is an official live important planning document over the next few years and the weight they give in site for the road race and visitors will be practice to protecting the Surrey Hills. able to watch events unfold on a large screen sited there. Entry is free – open Clive Smith 8am to 7pm on 28 July and 8am to 5pm on Surrey Hills Planning Adviser 29 July. A new chapter begins for Hindhead, Surrey’s ‘Little Switzerland’ Hindhead lived up to its nickname, ‘Little viewpoint of the Sailor’s Stone - all now Switzerland’ during February for the start returned to nature. They observed a of a new chapter in the life of the village. minute’s silence to appreciate the Members of the Hindhead Together tranquility that has been restored to this partnership braved snow and ice to area and reunification of the Hindhead gather at the Devil’s Punchbowl Hotel for commons and the Devil’s Punchbowl their final meeting when the Highways Special Protection Area. Agency handed the former trunk road bottleneck back to the community ‘de- Guest of honour, Paul Christensen, Members of Hindhead Together Partnership trunked’ and re-landscaped as the centre Chairman of Natural England declared of the village. Chairman Catherine Members inspected the crossroads, now “this project is a blueprint for the kind Graham-Harrison of Natural England converted into mini-roundabouts, and of major infrastructure development declared that overall, the project had admired the snowy, lorry-free sweep of which should be used all around the been an outstanding achievement.