Thakeham Parish Council - July Update

As we head into the second half of the year we’d like to share what's been happening in Thakeham and what is planned in the coming months. It’s been a busy time but some of the highlights are below:

Thakeham Community Hub

We are glad to let everyone know about a new community group called Thakeham Community Hub who will be taking over the former pre-school building in the coming months and using it to provide the community with events and services aimed at young families and children in particular.

The group’s proposal was approved by the Parish Council at last week’s meeting and they are now in the process of preparing the building for use. We’d like to share a few words from the group about their aims and planned services.

Thakeham community hub will be run by a small group of people who are passionate in supporting the health, education and welfare of local children and their families. Our aim is to provide a safe, secure and affordable environment that provides a variety of activities and services that benefit the local community.

Some of the services we aim to provide include links with NHS services such as health visitors and the healthy start programme; breastfeeding support; support filling out DLA and EYFE forms; provision for families with children who have SEND and stay & play drop in sessions for families and home schooling groups. We have identified there is a need for local access to these types of services and support and we aim to bridge this gap between locality and accessibility.

The Parish Council was keen to ensure the building should remain focused on offering family based services that are not easily accessible in the parish after the pre-school had to close. Sadly this is a common occurrence especially with charitable organisations that cannot charge expensive “top-up” fees.

The Community Hub project is projected to be cost neutral to the parish over the initial two year period while offering the family focused services that are not currently available. If Thakeham Community Hub generates a surplus income over expenditure this will be returned to TPC as a reserve fund and for supporting ongoing community projects.

We look forward to providing you more updates about Thakeham Community Hub and their services in future newsletters.

Footpaths & Bridleways

In our last newsletter we let everyone know about our work on Strawberry Lane to improve the surface. As some might have noticed, part of the Strawberry Lane upgrade (just past the bark park) was not completed. This was due to Badger setts under the path delaying the ability to complete the works. We are hopeful to get the remaining section done in the coming months.

Badgers are protected by the Protection of Badgers Act so we needed to contact Natural England to get the necessary permits to complete the work required to improve the bridleway while ensuring there is no subsidence and as minimal as possible impact to the Badgers in the area.

We’ve also worked on improving the drainage and surface of the footpath that goes around the back of the cricket and football fields ending at Storrington Road. The section from the gate at the end of the cricket field to the main road was not paved and became very muddy and hard to pass in winter or after heavy rainfall.

We have cleaned out the drainage ditch along the edge of the footpath preventing it from flooding during heavy rain and a contractor has laid down the base layer of stones. A top coat will be added once the base layer has had time to bed in.

After the completion of the current tasks we will be looking at the feasibility of working with West Sussex County Council to create a hard surface footpath from the bus shelter along the western edge of B2139 connecting with the footpath by HF Hotel. We also have aims to improve the accessibility where possible further along the footpath along the east/west ridge line but it is in the early stages.

Road Safety Update

At the end of last year we commissioned Motion to carry out a road safety review focusing on the stretch of B2139 covering the existing traffic calming measures in the heart of Thakeham.

We then consulted the residents with some options aimed at improving the road safety on the B2139. The consultation started with a meeting at the Village Hall for everyone to review the options and ask questions on why certain options were or were not possible. We’d like to thank everyone who came and asked questions.

A survey was then sent to every dwelling in the parish as well as being available to fill in online.

Using the survey results we have commissioned Motion to create a report that we can use to discuss improvements with the WSCC Highways team. This is one more step in a long process but one that we have been working on consistently for a number of years to bring road safety improvements to the Parish. We received over 250 responses to the survey, the traffic survey and the initial results can be found on our website.

Local Planning & Development

The Parish Council spends lots of time reviewing applications in the parish and providing our feedback to the planning process. Any feedback (positive or negative) to a planning application will only have weight if it is in reference to the relevant recommendations or laws. This means a lot of reading and cross checking documents.

The biggest application this year was that of the Thakeham Mushroom Site (DC/24/0021) - the initial application was rejected last year and it went to appeal. The appeal was ultimately refused on the 16th of May this year. You can see the history of this application on our website here.

To give an idea of the scale of the work after the initial application was rejected last year there were over 40+ new documents uploaded to the planning portal related to the application containing 1000+ pages of materials, arguments and adjustments. These documents had to be read and cross checked and questions raised where there were disparities.

We'd like to thank the members of the parish both in and out of the Parish Council for assisting in reviewing all the documentation and making sure our response was detailed and well researched.

Community Event - Thakeham Thrives

The Parish Council provides grants to local community groups and one of these groups in the last year has been Thakeham Thrives who received a grant towards their hall hire costs. They have an event coming on Tuesday 6 August 2025, between 1pm and 6pm at Thakeham Village Hall.

You can join Thakeham Thrives for an inspiring afternoon exploring wellbeing, peace, and the planet – from our own trees to the mountains of Bhutan.

All ages are welcome (ages 11–110!) - Parents with younger children are also welcome, though no formal childcare.

What’s on:

🌱 1pm: Free lunch (pre-book with Caroline Instance)

🕊️ 2pm: Make paper cranes on Hiroshima Day

🌳 3pm onwards: Help map Thakeham’s trees so they can be protected

🌍 4.15pm: Talks & discussion: Fair trade, green lifestyles, local action with a global impact

Featuring speakers Roger Williamson (from Ashington, worked on peace, justice and environment for 50 years eg Christian Aid and Government) and Janet Way (Fairtrade)

Come for stories, art, food and fresh ideas on thriving in a warming world.

Contact: caroline.instance@btinternet.com for more information.

General

There have been numerous other items that didn’t get their own section but you can find out more about what we do by reading our website or coming along to one of our meetings. They are held in the Village Hall and the details and agendas can be found on the Parish Council website.

If you got this far in the newsletter we’d like to thank you for your time and hope to hear from you in the future.

Everyone at Thakeham Parish Council