Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité; these words came ringing to our ears after so many young people were

brutally massacred in Paris on Friday 13th November. News and developments following those

atrocities will naturally move on before and after this edition of ‘Community News’ reaches your

door. Each time something so terrible like this happens, it’s harder to imagine how we can continue

to enjoy the sort of liberty and freedom to which we have become accustomed. How can it not

affect us?

Scenes of support and unity between English and French supporters and players at Wembley

Stadium four days later were deeply moving, as previous rivals put aside their differences to sing

together La Marseillaise. In the early 1800s it would have been very difficult for our great (many

times) great grandparents to have imagined such scenes of camaraderie between French and

English people, but in a similar way, however hard to imagine now, maybe that gives us some hope

that eventually there could be a peaceful outcome to the terrors visited on us all at this time?

Unity and support for each other are cornerstones too of communities such as ours. From Class 3

pupils, Anna and Ruth Watt of Eastington Primary School, we hear how good it is to take care of

each other, and to help people around us. Ruth is a leading member of the Rights Respecting

Team at the School where ideas about rights and responsibilities are shaped. Given the ‘boisterous

antics’ at some recent Parish meetings, maybe some adults might benefit from such concepts!

Camaraderie between a wide range of ages was experienced locally

during the well--‐supported community walks. These were organised

by Bill Edwards and colleagues from PROWD and the ‘Community

Walking Group. A new concept to me for a team activity is

the practice of ‘Zorbing’. In fancy dress it seems even more

challenging as the pictures show - see EMC pages.

Undertaking the complete process of compiling articles for ECN this

time has given me good insight of the workings of the ‘new look

ECN’. By standing in for Chris Osman (just for this edition,) it has

strengthened further my appreciation of the terrific work put in by her to modernise our

publication. I am afraid I am not as ‘sharp--‐eyed’ as Chris in proof reading, so may I please ask for

your understanding for things I may have missed.

How many of us have raised an eyebrow on seeing the first Christmas decoration in late summer?

Commercial outlets are bold in making ‘open season’ on Christmas to maximise their sales, and

know how vulnerable children are to temptations of early celebration and presents. Given how

eager commercial enterprises are to cash in on Christmas, is it not surprising that Digital Cinema

Media (DCM) have banned the new ‘Lord’s Prayer advert’ that was to be shown in cinemas before

Christmas? How reasonable is it to flaunt the trimmings of Christmas in commercial interest, while

denying the founder of the festival His message, in case someone might be offended by the notion

for a good and responsible life?

Looking to the future

The Local Plan, in which ‘West Stonehouse’ (WoS) is now a major development site for the whole

District, was finally approved on 19th November. It’s explained well by Daniel James, and I share his

disappointment that our 30--‐year long battle against it has finally been lost. One of the happiest times

for me was making numerous friendships, particularly in the early decades when the term ‘WoS’ was first

used. Sadly, some of those supporters are no longer with us. Working with the Planners, to influence

the design and layout of the WoS development, now seems to be in our best interest; a point reinforced

in our District Councillor’s letter. Indeed, our Parish Council has already started talking to

developers and planners.

The past few years have been really tough for communities, as developers had a field day scrabbling

to gain planning permissions before a Local Plan was formally approved. Communities across the District

faced a similar onslaught as the Council apparently lost control of the planning process. So, it’s easy to

understand why a large sigh of relief was heard as Stroud (SDC) became the first District Council in

Gloucestershire to have its Plan adopted.

With the WoS development being foisted on us, the biggest question facing Eastington is ‘how do we

plan for the future heart of the village and remaining hamlets?’ Our strength of community has been

fuelled by modest growth over sixty years, and continuing such a realistic approach could serve us well

for the future. Being ready when the next development takes place, by identifying precious things

around us, would ensure those could be enjoyed by future generations too.

During extensive work defending Planning Appeals for Bath Road site and land at Bath Road

Bungalow, it became clear we desperately need a document listing things most important to everyone in

Eastington. Such a document would provide essential evidence to ensure future development is

sympathetic to the character and form of the place where we live. It’s called an ‘Environmental

Character Assessment’ (ECA,) where views and places are described with reasons to say why these are

important to the quality of life of residents. In future, developers would be referred to the ECA before

submitting plans. Some experienced parishes like Kingswood have already been sufficiently insightful to

prepare an ECA as a base to support their NDP, and to ensure that precious things are not damaged by

inappropriate development.

These days, communities wanting to begin an NDP are advised to first prepare an ECA and other

documents as the ‘legs’ that support the NDP ‘table’. Since beginning our NDP a couple of years back a

lot of things have changed; not least of which is the reason for doing it. Although some had hoped that

rapidly submitting our NDP would stop some things that we didn’t like in Stroud’s Local Plan, that was a

misconception and plainly wrong from the very start. An NDP can only bring extra development, over

and above that already defined in the Local Plan. With the spectre of WoS hanging over us, maybe we

missed seeing some of the better parts of Stroud’s Plan? There were certainly very helpful policies in the

Local Plan that helped defeat some recent Planning Appeals.

I’m sure there is much gratitude for the huge amount of work and time put in to the NDP so far. As

can be seen in Parish Matters, and many thanks  to all of you who took time to respond to the ‘NDP

consultation draft, the intention is to push ahead to formally submit the Plan to SDC; ready or not. There

will be a Parish Council meeting 5th January 2016 (to be confirmed,) specially to ‘sign it off’. No

significant upgrading can be made after that. Given all that has changed since beginning the NDP, and

that some members are planning to ‘move on’, would it not be an appropriate time to take stock,

regroup and invite new members to join the NDP Group who have longer--‐term commitment to the

parish? There is still considerably more work needed to shape the future of this place where we live.

Andrew Niblett

From all of us in the ECN team

may we wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and New Year.