19/02/2025
Over time, rural villages change. They evolve due to a change in
technology, demographics, politics, changes in demand, or due
to local employment. The village of Marnhull 100 years ago looked
very different. Was it better? Some would say yes. Is our current
village more practical for this year? I think we'd all agree it is.
20 years ago many in the village objected to the Surgery and
Pharmacy being built. I don't think there's a single person in the
village that regrets this wonderful asset to the village.
A number of property developments have been approved in the
village, I believe 65% are social housing - correct me if I'm wrong
there. This will likely bring in some families and more children in the next decade. This is great for our village schools, but some have
objected to the developments putting more demand on existing
infrastructure.
Take our Post Office for instance. Most would say that it is an
essential asset to the village. Atul works tirelessly to give us the
biggest range of products he can, the widest range of services and
of course a Post Office. He's very restricted in space and of course
the building is far from being disabled friendly. Remember this is
a former house, now filled with commercial grade equipment to
provide the village with what it needs.
Many of you will be aware of a recent planning application named
"Tess Square". Recently it has become rather controversial due
to some heated public comments, but a surprising number of
residents don't seem to know anything about this application.
Marnhull Parish Council have publicly campaigned against the
development. They've received over £16,000 of donations to fight
the application - an outstanding achievement! The donations are
from 69 people and 81 anonymous donations, but the pattern of
which suggests that many of those are the same person, so we're
unclear on the exact number.
The Parish Council are spending your money based on the
premise of "speaking on behalf of the village" and claiming a
strong consensus. However, this is based on the results of the
last village survey and it has been demonstrated that the survey
only represented a specific demographic (wealthy retired) and a
maximum of 25% of the village.
We are therefore forming a new non-profit committee to determine
the actual wants and needs of the villagers. We hope that the
outcome of our work will also assist the Parish Council with the
Neighbourhood Plan and reflect a wider demographic.
The first task of the "Future of Marnhull Committee" is to conduct
a survey specifically addressing what villagers want to see in the
village. We want to ask what facilities you want, what challenges
you face and even want to tackle the important question of whether you want Tess Square or not.
Our work will likely not impact the current planning appeal that
you've heard so much about, but will provide the Parish Council,
land owners and business owners with insights as to how the majority of the village feel.
We do not have the time pressure that the Parish Council had
so there is no set end date to our survey, we see it as a rolling
project until we have a true consensus. While we will be
taking entries from outside the village, there will be an effort
to report on this separately. Our primary reporting is on what
our current villagers want to see.
Finally, we are aware of abuse received online against
villagers that have expressed their opinions about Marnhull's
future. We will campaign against this and stand in support of
free speech. For the plans of Marnhull to truly be the "will of
the people", the opinions of all people need to be heard.
We're fund-raising to cover costs of an independent study,
but in the meantime, have published our first survey online.
Please help us by completing the survey. Only once per
household. A separate survey will be issued to businesses.
If you are interested in the future of Marnhull and would like
to be involved in our efforts, or would like more information
please email [email protected]
The Future of Marnhull Committee
