LANGHAM VILLAGE DESIGN STATEMENT

Winter 2002-3

Introduction

A Village Design Statement (VDS) is a community prepared assessment of a village’s character and qualities. It focuses on those elements that make it special to its inhabitants and which create a sense of being different from the surrounding areas.  For a village to be a community it must be a dynamic society, which involves embracing change; however, it is also important to deter­mine which changes will strengthen, rather than diminish, the sense of community which is so important to the continuation of a real village society.  It is, therefore, designed to identify which changes will be acceptable to the current residents with this aim in mind.

This VDS relates to the parish of Langham, although the focus is generally on those areas which contain the bulk of the population.  The VDS aims to provide guidance and recommendations to property owners and developers on future changes in the parish; it also offers guidance to Council officers and Members in the determination of planning applications.

The project was initiated by Langham Parish Council and as far as possible includes guidelines and recommendations for the planning of future changes, focusing on those which the parishioners would welcome, as well as those aspects they would wish to conserve and protect. 

The first meeting was arranged in October 2005 and a committee was elected. The committee organised 24 volunteers to visit all parts of the village to survey and note suitable items, with photographs, for a presentation to the whole village in an exhibition.  After a number of workshops, the first exhibition took place in May 2006 when invitations to comment on all aspects of the life of the village were made.
 

[Photos of exhibitions]

 A second exhibition to finalise two questionnaires, one for adults and one for young people, was held in October 2006.  Over 60% of the questionnaires were returned and there was a strong and constructive response from the younger element of the village. A review was carried out at the VDS Annual General Meeting in December 2006 so that any further comments by parishioners could be considered by the VDS committee. [The draft statement was presented to the Parish Council in May 2007 and subsequently to the Colchester Borough Council in June 2007.  The VDS was updated using further comments received and the final document was agreed with the councils.] Copies were provided to all the households in the village.

Langham and its history

The parish of Langham lies about 6 miles north of Colchester.  The river Stour forms the northern boundary of the long, roughly rectangular, parish; the Salary brook, the southern boundary with Mile End in Colchester.  The western boundary with Boxted follows field boundaries and a section of the Black Brook, a tributary of the Stour.  The eastern boundary with Dedham and Ardleigh follows the main road from Colchester to Ipswich.

[Insert map]

The land rises sharply about 30 metres from the Stour valley to the ridge at Langham Hall and church. The rest of the parish forms a slightly rising and undulating plateau, cut into two distinct parts by the small but steep valley of the Black Brook, running west to east across its centre.

[Photo of Black Brook?]

The manor of Langham is mentioned in Domesday Book when it was in the possession of Walter Tirel, Lord of Poix, who subsequently killed King William Rufus. Before then, there is significant evidence of Neolithic settlement and Roman remains, particularly the sites of a 4,000 year old Neolithic barrow and a Roman farmstead.  The process of development seems to have begun in the north, on the site of the current hall and church. Farming began here and then moved south, pausing for a while at the dividing line of the Black Brook. In the Middle Ages, the land south of Park Lane was a Royal Forest, which meant that it was the last area to be farmed.

The resulting pattern of settlement has created a number of widely spread residential areas within the village, of which Whalebone Corner in the north, Moor Road and Chapel Road in the west and St. Margaret’s Cross were perhaps the earliest. However, by the nineteenth century, it seems clear that the commercial centre of the village was along School Road and Constable’s picture of Langham church gives some idea of the environment at that time.

The overall pattern is that of a largely agricultural community, broadening out into cloth manufacturing in the thirteenth century, which contributed greatly to prosperity until it died out in the eighteenth century. In addition, the usual skills and trades required by the inhabitants of such a community were developed, but not to any great extent. Langham did not   attract industry or social development of great note during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The result of this pattern is a dispersed village, with no single centre of population.  Instead, habitation is dispersed throughout most of the parish and there are still significant areas of agri­cultural land. Perhaps the most obvious feature is the large piece of arable land in the central area bounded by School Road, Wick Road, Park Lane and Moor Road. This large open space, in what might otherwise be the centre of the village gives it its unique character and is highly valued by all residents, particularly the young people.

 [Photos from Park Lane towards Moor Road and to Wick Road].

In terms of current land usage, there are light industrial areas at Lodge Lane, Gun Hill and School Road, but the remaining land use is agricultural or residential.  The majority of the population works in the service industries, either in Colchester, Ipswich or London. There is, however, a larger than proportionate retired population, who are very active. This, together with the young people, creates a sense of activity during the working day which is perhaps absent in other villages.

Perhaps because of this, and despite the commuting nature of the workforce, there is a very strong community spirit.  The destruction by fire of the old village hall in 1985 resulted in a determination to create a new and superior Community Centre, which continues successfully to this day. More recently, the Community Centre facilities have been expanded by the provision of tennis courts by the Langham Tennis Club, and a Millennium Garden created by the local Women’s Institute.  Similarly, the closure of the only village shop in 2003 was met by a determination to create a community shop, staffed entirely by volunteers, which has now celebrated its third anniversary.  The local primary school (dating from 1850) is another centre of community life, taking as it does most of the primary age children in the village. So also is the Shepherd and Dog public house at the junction of Moor Road and School Road.

The core of the village

The central part of the village consists of the rough rectangle formed by School Road, Moor Road, Wick Road and Park Lane. Together with Perry Lane, Chapel Road and the High Street, this area contains the majority of the village’s population, as well as the schools, Community Centre, recreation ground, children’s’ play area and football pitches, pub and community shop. One of the three industrial areas in the parish is also based here and contains light engineering and plant hire businesses. The increased traffic going to this site is proving a problem for road safety, given its proximity to the primary school and the lack of pavements on both sides of the road.

[Photos of Community Centre, industrial area and pub]

There are several mediaeval houses along School Road, but they are interspersed with more modern buildings and the nineteenth-century mansion which is now Homestead School.  Moor Road and Wick Road consist mainly of more recent building, with a few older properties, but are much more built up, to the point where few additional houses could be built in them. The same is true of Chapel Road, although there is some space outside the village envelope.  Perry Lane is largely built along one side only, the other currently being agricultural land. Park Lane is less developed, especially in its central part.

[Photos as appropriate]

Recommendations

1. Recent development in this area has taken the form of infilling, rather than large developments and most new houses have been in a vernacular style and in keeping with the rest of the village. It is clear from the answers to the questionnaires that this is what the great majority of the respondents would prefer and that they would be strongly opposed to ribbon development along those roads with major open spaces.

2. The current light industrial site on School Road was judged to be acceptable but no further industrial development should take place there.

Northern Sector

The northern sector of the parish incorporates the floor and southern side of the Stour Valley, together with extensive farmlands. Its boundary to the east follows Gun Hill (the Roman Iter IX) and to the west it incorporates the Low Lift Water Works. Its southern boundary is the Black Brook. This special, historic landscape, consisting of meadows and arable land, is largely unchanged since the time of John Constable, as may be seen from his paintings, although the recent formation of a wildlife lake and small mixed wood on old meadow land enhances the present views.

The northern part of this area is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which has inspired John Constable and appeared in many of his pictures. The twelfth-century Parish Church of St. Mary and the Langham Hall Estate are set in exquisite surroundings on the ridge above the Stour valley side, adjacent to the Essex Way, a walking path which follows the route of a mediaeval track way through the Essex forests.  Around the Hall and Church is a mixture of grazing, parkland and farmland, together with wildlife enclosures on the Langham Hall Estate, which add to the beauty of the area.  Farmhouses and agricultural buildings are dotted around, together with cottages purpose built for Water Works employees in the 1930s, at the time of construction of the Works, reservoir and pumping station.

Further south is an area of good arable and grazing land, with a large number of springs, brought about by its geological formation. Whilst not designated as an AONB, it has many key features of its neighbouring region.  The extensive orchards of the early twentieth century have been replaced by more open farmland, giving the area a distinctly rural aspect, with extensive hedging, two-way tracks and single narrow roads.  Housing density is very low, consisting mainly of seventeenth and eighteenth-century properties, together with other detached more modern properties in a range of styles, principally situated along the Dedham-Boxted Road.  The only industry here is a small distribution depot on this road.  The Black Brook valley divides this area from the rest of the village and its peaceful seclusion provides a varied and well distributed wildlife habitat. This area in particular illustrates the liking expressed by the young people of Langham for a rural peaceful environment.

[Photos of this area]

The Black Brook Valley

The Black Brook Valley itself and Hornestreet (between the valley and School Road) are located within the Colchester Conservation Area and forma very picturesque area, well known and loved by local residents. Accessed by winding lanes, with several popular footpaths running through the valley, the area contains Hornestreetfield, a conservation area owned and managed by a consortium of village residents, Hobday Wood, a privately owned arboretum, and other wooded land and fields which encourage wildlife.  A variety of farm and other housing from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries is located here, with an unobtrusive sewerage plant situated in the valley.

[Photos of Hornestreetfield and BlackBrook]

The Southern farmlands

Almost one third of the area of the parish consists of the area south of Park Lane; this is largely arable farm land with very few houses. It does, however contain the remains of the Second World War Boxted Airfield and the industrial area at Lodge Lane. (See below)

Before 1940 this area consisted of many small fields with hedges; however, the hedges were removed during the construction of the airfield.  After the war, the majority of the area reverted to farmland and was laid to orchard, with a few hedges and lines of trees planted along the edge of the old runways, which soften the appearance of the plateau and give it  a distinctive character.  It contains two small reservoirs, which are used for irrigation purposes, but also effectively serve as a small nature reserve.  Swans have nested there, they are home to coots, moorhens and a variety of ducks (mallard, tufted, widgeon and shoveller) and in the summer, attract the comparatively rare yellow wagtail.  The surrounding woodland conceals roe deer and foxes.  The remaining arable land supports a wide range of birds, including many Skylarks.  A recent change of ownership has resulted in more intensive farming, which has reduced the areas available for wild animals, making it all the more important to retain the unspoilt areas which remain.

At the western edge of this area, forming part of the parish boundary, is the early phase of the Black Brook, before it turns through 90^o and flows through Langham, cutting the parish into two parts. The bed of the valley varies in character from areas where it is wide to areas where there are steep banks and the bed is narrow;  the wide areas make an excellent site for growing cricket bat willow as there is good soil above a water retaining base of clay.  Areas where the valley is steep and the bed of the river has been left for many years form a rare habitat called 'alder carr'.  This forms where there is poor drainage and trees in a narrow valley fall, partially blocking the river, and so an area of waterlogged land develops.  One of the only trees which can survive in waterlogged soil is the alder and so an alder carr habitat develops. A good example of the habitat is at the bottom of Hundred Lane, the bridleway which joins Langham and Boxted.  Wet woodland, of which alder carr is a major constituent, is a target habitat for the Forestry Commission and the Biodiversity Action Plan and as such there are national and local targets for its conservation and restoration.

Lodge Lane and the Airf ield Area

During the Second World War, an airfield was constructed on land south of Park Lane (and a little to the north) for the use of the US Army Air Force. A number of squadrons used the airfield, which was known as Boxted, to avoid confusion with a similar airfield at Langham in Norfolk. Runways and taxiways are still evident and there are still a few Nissen huts. A memorial to the airmen who served there is at the edge of the airfield and serves as a focal point for commemorative ceremonies. The airfield is not listed and a number of Nissen huts have been destroyed in recent months.

To the south of the Airfield, in the area bordering Lodge Lane, are a number of residential and business premises, some of which are still housed in the wartime airfield buildings.  Some business premises have been designed in a rural vernacular barn style, in keeping with the environment; the remaining wartime buildings are of significant historic interest, as is Langham Lodge, a Grade II listed building.  Old Ipswich Road, to the east of the A12 trunk road, which ends as a cul-de-sac, marks the border of Langham and Ardleigh and contains a range of properties, mostly set in their own grounds. A small number of properties and a hotel are situated within Langham to the east of the A12. Vehicular access to Langham from this area is only possible by using the A12.

1.             [Photos of wartime buildings and business park]

Building Styles and Designs

Langham is characterised by a rich variety of property, deriving from its long history as a settle­ment on the banks of the River Stour and its location alongside IterIX, the major Roman road from Colchester to Caister.  St. Mary’s Church, dating from the twelfth century, is mainly pebble rubble with iron pudding-stone and dressings of oolite and limestone. The nearby listed Langham Hall is a grand, Georgian two-storey, six-bay house with more recent estate houses of red brick and flint;  Church Farm House is sixteenth century, timber framed and plastered.  Other property in the area is largely seventeenth and eighteenth century, with mainly detached twentieth-century housing situated along the Dedham-Boxted road.

The development of buildings in the village has been influenced by its situation as a farming community and the growth of small hamlets (e.g. Langham Moor, Langham Wick, and Blacksmith’s Corner) at road junctions.  A range of very picturesque timber-framed thatched and tiled cottages and farmhouses from the sixteenth century and earlier, are located in various parts of the village, occasionally interspersed with twentieth-century housing.  Some of the earlier properties are listed as of special historical interest; others wait to be so listed.  Nineteenth-century property development is limited, one major exception being the Oaks, now Homesteads School, a large listed mansion in the early Victorian style.

Two significant twentieth-century developments with characteristic building styles in Langham are the Water Works, designed in the Art Deco style of the 1930s and Boxted Airfield, built during the Second World War, with Nissen huts and other buildings for services personnel. There is a small amount of largely semi-detached local authority housing from this period. 

Post-war residential development in Langham has largely consisted of detached houses and bungalows, located in a line alongside the roads, which allows many properties a view of open farmland to the rear.  The styles of property are in keeping with the period of construction, mainly faced in brick, with design developing from the open, functional appearance of the 1960s to the more vernacular style of the 1970s and 1980s.  The growth of car ownership has required garaging for properties, some of which have been constructed directly in front of properties, which may adversely affect their aspect.

It is clear that, in the last twenty years, significant efforts have been made to design and con­struct both residential and commercial property which is sympathetic to and in keeping with the local character of the village.  Barn-style commercial property has been constructed on what used to be Boxted Airfield and a group of vernacular type residences, including a barn-style property, yeoman farmhouse and Suffolk cottages have recently been built in Wick Road.  Other new build individual properties have been constructed in Regency, Suffolk farmhouse, Georgian and other styles aimed at harmonising with the established buildings in the village.

With the growth in property values has come a growth in the number of planning applications for extensions and additions to property in the Parish.  Given the diversity of style, age and con­struction of houses, many applications clearly take into consideration the existing features in order to enhance and improve the appearance of each property.  However, there are examples of extensions which, because of insufficient attention given to scale, design or materials, have a detrimental effect on the appearance and character of the property and others in the surrounding area.

The variety of buildings from different eras means that no single style predominates in the village, and this diversity contributes significantly to its character, which is to be welcomed and protected.

…could this be useful?

Recommendations

           1.  New housing development should be sympathetic in scale, design and materials to         surrounding buildings.

           2.  Any new development should make provision for sufficient off-street parking.

3. Consideration should be given to the protection of buildings which are not currently listed.

4. Design harmony and diversity should be aimed for, depending upon the particular circumstances of any prospective development.

5. Attention should be given to the features of extensions which enhance, improve and are sympathetic to the character of the existing property in the consideration of planning applications.

6. Property boundaries in the form of hedging, fencing and brick walls are part of the distinctive character of Langham and should be encouraged.

Materials

As may be seen, the buildings in Langham are very diverse in age, style and construction.  Roofs are thatch, tile or slate whilst exteriors are brick, render or weatherboard.  Despite the variety, the overall aspect of the buildings in different areas of the village is in harmony with each other, although the older buildings do follow the vernacular style. The range of surfaces, including brick, plaster, weatherboard and pargetting provide a pleasing contrast and it can be preferable to have contrasting materials on separate properties rather than a poor match.

Roof design and materials have an important bearing on the appearance of buildings in Langham. Most have pitched roofs with tile or slate fixings whereas some older properties are thatched.  In some cases, flat and “lean to” roofs tend to detract from the overall appearance of the buildings, particularly where they form part of an extension to the building.

Recommendations

1. Roof design and materials should be in keeping with the age, style and construction of the building.
2. Materials should be to blend as far as is possible with the existing building and its immediate neighbours in order to maintain both harmony and diversity of styles.

Windows and Doors

Together with the basic building materials, the style and appearance of an area is set by the com­bination of windows and doors and by the pargetting of rendered buildings.  Windows are a key design feature and different types of building, whether timber framed, Georgian, Victorian, Modernist, or post-Modernist are frequently defined by their widow styles.  Moreover, doors and doorways provide focal points for many buildings and their scale, design and materials often characterise their era.  It is sometimes the case that renovations are undertaken to these elements with insufficient attention given to the materials used or style of building and the use of inappropriate materials and design may have a detrimental effect not only on the integrity of the property itself but also on the harmony of the immediate neighbourhood.

  An example is the replacement of a flat bay Victorian terrace window with a Georgian-style bay window. Similarly, doors and entrances may be relocated or inappropriate materials used with replacement doors. However, it is not necessary always to use traditional materials to provide the same overall effect. For example, Upvc windows and doors are acceptable providing that the original design characteristics are retained.

Recommendation

1. Consideration should be given to the use of appropriate design and materials in the replacement or renovation of windows and doors.

Roads and traffic calming

Because of the village’s closeness to Colchester and the A12, its roads are increasingly used as “rat runs” in the rush hours and heavy vehicles use them to change direction on the A12. Speeds are often excessive and Park Lane, Moor Road, School Road and Wick Road all suffer in this respect. Despite this, there was no great support for changes in either the extent or the level of speed limits and it is likely that the recent deployment of Community Speed Watch teams will have more effect than either. Nor was there any great support for traffic calming measures, although practical safety measures were strongly supported. Improving visibility through proper maintenance of hedges and verges and providing more passing places on narrow roads are examples. Young people were if anything more concerned about road safety and more inclined to support measures to slow traffic, no doubt because they spend more of their journeys outside the cocoon of the car. They were also keen to see more pavements in the village.

Parking does not appear to be a major issue in general terms, although there are undoubtedly certain points of difficulty, where people park on verges and pavements. As on similar subjects, the status quo seemed to have most support. People in general liked the appearance of the village as it is and did not want to spoil it with yellow lines, different road surface colouring, traffic calming, pedestrian crossings or street lighting. Areas for improvement clearly included better maintenance of roadside ditches and drains and the reduction of noise from the A12.There was also strong support for the harmonisation of the design of street signs throughout the village.

Recommendations

1. Practical measures to improve road safety should be introduced wherever possible and given priority over physical traffic calming.
2. Consideration should be given to improving areas for parking at those places where demand leads to parking on pavements and verges.
3. Street sign design should be harmonised.

Footpath Protection

There is an extensive network of footpaths through out the village, many of which are well used. It is clear from responses to the survey that villagers value the countryside and their access to it.

Issues relating to footpaths fall into one of three areas: protection, publicity and maintenance. The Parish Council already undertakes a role in the first area, although statutory responsibility lies with the County Council. It would probably also be concerned with the second, particularly the strongly supported suggestion that a village map showing footpaths and points of interest should be put on public display. No doubt this could also be provided in printed form, either free or for sale. As for maintenance, this seems to be left to voluntary efforts or the goodwill of individual farmers. The latter more than fulfil their statutory obligations in some areas of the parish, but this is not the case in others. Greater coordination of these efforts could pay considerable dividends in the form of useable footpaths around the year.

Recommendation

1.           The Parish Council should be congratulated on their current efforts in this area and invited to consider how best to publicise and ensure maintenance of footpaths in the future.

2.           The current footpath map should be given more publicity.

Wildlife Preservation

Wildlife abounds in the village and is seen as an important part of the benefits of living here. The idea that projects which create more natural habitats for wildlife should be supported received very strong support. Inevitably, however, there are balances to be sought between increased wildlife and farming practices. Hens and foxes, to quote an obvious example, do not mix well. If the current situation is to be improved upon, or even maintained (there are areas where farming is becoming more intensive), there is a need for some body to take an overview and coordinate action. This may be the Parish Council or some ad hoc body.

Recommendation

1. Consideration should be given to attempts to coordinate the protection and stimulation of wildlife habitats throughout the parish.

Young People’s Views

The Youth Questionnaire secured a response rate of almost 80%. Some of the questions were general and replicated those in the adult questionnaire, but others were specific to the concerns of young people. Of the latter, the main thrust of the responses was that there were not enough facilities in the village for their social and recreational needs. When asked about specific facilities, there was strong support for a public swimming pool and an all-weather sports pitch.

On the more general questions, the responses tended to mirror those of the adult questionnaire, except in the area of road safety, where they were more conscious of the dangers presented by speeding vehicles.

Future Development

Perhaps the most important aspect of a VDS  is to give guidance to those proposing major developments in the village. Langham is not a large village, and it lacks many of the facilities which greater size would bring – more shops, entertainment, doctors’ surgery etc. However, the very clear message from the questionnaire was that the overwhelming majority of the villagers were content with things broadly as they were.

In particular, there was a widely expressed view that the number of new houses to be built over the next 15 years should not exceed a relatively small number. Almost 60% of respondents put this number at 25, with a further 18% being prepared to go to 50 and 15% wanting no new houses at all. Only 6% of respondents were prepared to go further than 50. The responses from the young people mirrored this wish to stay small. Similarly, there was strong support (92%) for expanding the development line (at present tightly drawn around the village) only if any expansion was in keeping with the surrounding area. In terms of the size of development, there was strong opposition to anything greater than clusters of 5, and the preference of the majority would be for individual dwellings.

There was less agreement about the types of dwelling, but strong support for accommodation for first time buyers, the elderly and families. Executive housing and housing for rental were less popular.

Overall, the widely (80%) expressed feeling was that Langham had sufficient facilities for its inhabitants and that it wished to maintain its current character as a village, separated from Colchester by significant areas of countryside. In fact, the countryside as such is clearly an important issue for the inhabitants of Langham, and especially for the young people. There is a strong feeling that the large expanses of agricultural land so close to the main centres of population, as well as the more scenic areas, are a vital part of the village’s character and need to be preserved. Easy access is important, as is the creation of more wildlife areas. The community effort to create Hornstreetfield shows what can be done. Local landowners have cooperated in these efforts but more such cooperation would be welcome.

Recommendations

1. The essentially rural character of the parish should be maintained and enhanced
2. Village buildings, special sites and trees should be reviewed to identify those worthy of protection.
3. There may be a case for new single dwellings in the parish, although the numbers built by 2021 should be strictly limited.

4.                  Footpaths and bridleways should always be kept clear and accessible and should be developed and promoted for local recreational use.

5. It is important that hedgerows and green verges are preserved.
6. There was very strong support for the creation of more natural habitats for wildlife and the youth of the village were very much in support of retaining farmland features and woodland.  

List of Recommendations

1.      Recent development in this area has taken the form of infilling, rather than large developments and most new houses have been in a vernacular style and in keeping with the rest of the village. It is clear from the answers to the questionnaires that this is what the great majority of the respondents would prefer and that they would be strongly opposed to ribbon development along those roads with major open spaces.

2.      The current light industrial site on School Road was judged to be acceptable but no further industrial development should take place there.

3.      New housing development should be sympathetic in scale, design and materials to surrounding buildings.

2.          Any new development should make provision for sufficient off-street parking.

4.      Consideration should be given to the protection of buildings which are not currently listed.

5.      Design harmony and diversity should be aimed for, depending upon the particular circumstances of any prospective development.

6.      Attention should be given to the features of extensions which enhance, improve and are sympathetic to the character of the existing property in the consideration of planning applications.

7.      Property boundaries in the form of hedging, fencing and brick walls   are part of the distinctive character of Langham and should be encouraged.

8.      Roof design and materials should be in keeping with the age, style and construction of the building.

9.      Materials should be to blend as far as is possible with the existing building and its immediate neighbours in order to maintain both harmony and diversity of styles.

10.  Consideration should be given to the use of appropriate design and materials in the replacement or renovation of windows and doors.

11.  Practical measures to improve road safety should be introduced wherever possible and given priority over physical traffic calming.

12.  Consideration should be given to improving areas for parking at those places where demand leads to parking on pavements and verges.

13.  Street sign design should be harmonised.

14.  The Parish Council should be congratulated on their current efforts in this area and invited to consider how best to publicise and ensure maintenance of footpaths in the future.

15.  The current footpath map should be given more publicity.

16.  Consideration should be given to attempts to coordinate the protection and stimulation of wildlife habitats throughout the parish.

17.  The essentially rural character of the parish should be maintained and enhanced

18.  Village buildings, special sites and trees should be reviewed to identify those worthy of protection.

19.  There may be a case for new single dwellings in the parish, although the numbers built by 2021 should be strictly limited.

20.  Footpaths and bridleways should always be kept clear and accessible and should be developed and promoted for local recreational use.

21.  It is important that hedgerows and green verges are preserved.

22.  There was very strong support for the creation of more natural habitats for wildlife and the youth of the village were very much in support of retaining farmland features and woodland.  

Richard Watson/Tony Ellis

1.06.07