LIPHOOK is a safe place to live. That was the verdict delivered by key stakeholders who took part in the inaugural neighbourhood development plan meeting.

The neighbourhood development plan event, held at the Millennium Centre, was led by Richard Eastham of Feria Urbanism, an independent planning and design team which provides advice and support on the process of developing a neighbourhood plan and introducing fresh ideas and new ways of thinking.

Looking at some of the critical issues affecting Bramshott, Liphook and the surrounding hamlets, the event was attended by more than 60 people from across the parish representing businesses, services, residents, community groups and organisations, including district and county councillors, Liphook fire services, Scouts, Girl Guides as well as local churches.

During their presentation, Feria Urbanism pointed out the task of an neighbourhood development plan was to achieve a “shared vision” for the community, set policies for future planning applications including affordable housing, demographics, quality of houses – and to look at existing issues which may include narrow pavements and wide roads and a possible redistribution of space, as well as the local history, rural challenges and safety issues within the community.

Mr Eastman invited guests to form eight brainstorming teams before introducing a “speedplanning exercise”, which consisted of a series of structured tasks to be completed by each group within a limited time frame.

Moving around the room, teams were asked to give their views on issues including future planning, sites, transport - including rail and bus services, heritage, growth, preservation, schools, traffic, sports and leisure provision, employment as well as main challenges the parish faces now and may do so in the future.

Positive points about Liphook were identified as the parish having plenty of green spaces, a great community spirit, good schools including Bohunt and the new sixth form college set to open at the start of the next academic year, in September.

The railway station on the main Portsmouth to Waterloo commuter line and having close access to the A3 and the Hindhead Tunnel gave the area a strong transport links to the rest of the south east of England and the nation’s capital, London.

Liphook’s selection of quality public houses were also a big plus factor for the quality of local social life along with dedicated organisations such as Liphook In Bloom.

Improvements were suggested for The Square, which has six main roads feeding into a series of roundabouts, causing major congestion at peak times, the Station Road image, facilities for young people and more frequent train services, as well as the current bus service, which has suffered many cutbacks over the past decade due to cuts in local authority subsidies.

It was suggested that with some improvements made in certain areas, Liphook could and should become the “Gateway to the South Downs National Park”.

Safety issues in and around Liphook during the day and at night were discussed by each of the teams and it was almost unanimously agreed that Liphook is a safe place to live in.

The village does however have safety issues with road crossings during school times in The Square, Midhurst and Headley roads – and Longmoor Road was considered unsafe for pedestrians at night due to a lack of street lighting.

In addition, uneven pavements around the village prove to be a hazard for disabled people and wheelchair users.

Trouble spots at night include the Recreation Ground, the skatepark and the area behind the Millennium Centre, which are frequented by youths who are drinking, smoking and causing litter problems.

Mr Eastham summarised the initial result of the “speedplanning” exercise - as a snapshot of an NDP - pointing out that safety is a key issue for the village, as well as housing, which involves two authorities, namely East Hampshire District Council and the South Downs National Park Authority, conservation issues and protection of the village.

Challenges, he said, were traffic problems in The Square, settlement patterns, after dark issues and the future of the parish.

He invited all residents to complete the tasks set out at the meeting with other groups, within the community, schools, clubs and organisations to collect as much information as possible for a neighbourhood plan.

“This is not a big master plan,” he said. “It is about lots of small things that are going on in the village, small projects, which all create a bigger picture.

“In order to build a neighbourhood plan – we encourage everyone to get copies of the eight tasks we have set out from the parish council office and complete them with their own groups, clubs or teams as well as families.

“Photographs of specific areas of concern can be added and we are hoping for a good response.

“We will be taking the parish plan, a key document, into account when putting together an neighbourhood development plan, which is a statutory document and we anticipate a time frame of 18 months to two years before reaching its completion.

“There are still many stages to go through and the community as a whole will be consulted.”

Emma Winfield, chairman of Liphook’s neighbourhood development plan, told The Herald: “It was fantastic to have so many people representing the voice of the community at the visioning event.

“The room reflected a good range of interests and opinions from around the parish.

“There was a great atmosphere discussing what is positive about our parish, and the challenges it faces.

“I look forward to seeing the results of the evening and with the steering group soon to be in place, developing the key messages discussed at this event.

“With Feria Urbanism, we will start to look at these messages and develop a timetable for future community engagement events as part of the neighbourhood development plan.

“We encourage members of the parish to visit our website for further dates of future community events.”

Mrs Winfield was elected chairman of the NDP last March after the position was left vacant by fellow councillor Susan Garnett, following a declaration by the parish council that the NDP was “flawed from the outset” and dismissing the steering committee members as well as its chairman and vice-chairman, Michael Croucher.

The parish council agreed to produce a neighbourhood plan to help address potential changes and appoint a steering group consisting of members of the community.

Mrs Winfield said: “Engagement with the community and listening to the voice of the people within the community is at the heart of this project, which is why we were very excited about this event.”