CHURCH leaders at Sheet have decided to go it alone and make a bid for planning permission for a hall and extension on controversial land close to St Mary Magdalen church.
The move is the latest development in the row between Sheet Parochial Church Council and Sheet Village Association over contentious plans to build between ten and 20 new houses, together with a church hall, on Churchfield, land to the north of the church.
Last year residents told developer NW Holdings they believed the proposed development would add to huge parking problems, endanger rare wildlife species, create more flooding problems and cause the largest divide the village had ever seen.
At the Sheet Village Association annual meeting the parochial church council was criticised by angry villagers for offering its support to the scheme, if the land was re-zoned for housing, which includes plans for a new church hall.
After the meeting, when more than 80 villagers filled the Scout hut in InmanÕs Lane to grill the developer, The Sheet Village Association decided to conduct a poll of all villagers.
A leaflet headed ÔWe Need Your ViewsÕ was sent to every house asking householders to fill in a questionnaire.
Now the Rev Sarah Chapman, vicar of Sheet Church, has told villagers through the Sheet News: ÒThe parochial church council has now had an opportunity to meet and consider its position regarding the Sheet Village Association survey and accepts that no-one in close proximity to Churchfields is ever likely to support the development of the site.Ó
But she added: ÒNevertheless the PCC has a duty to protect its position with regard to possible development and has to recognise that the land is now owned by a developer.Ó
Church leaders believed it was only a matter of time, she warned, before NW Holdings or another developer acquiring the site, would be successful in its planning application irrespective of whether the application had the support of the church or not.
She warned: ÒThe only way to prevent development is for Sheet Village Association to acquire the land.
Mrs Chapman announced that the PCC had decided to submit a planning application for a church hall and extension on part of the land close to the church.
ÒThis will not be done in conjunction with NW Holdings but will be an independent undertaking. Should the application be successful it would force any owner of Churchfield to include a hall/extension in his or her development plan.Ó
She stressed that the PCC Òdoes not want to be at loggerheadsÓ with Sheet Village Association or any villagers and wanted to discuss its plan with the association before it was submitted to East Hampshire District Council.
ÒThe intention of the application is to protect the long- term position of the church and to prevent over-development of the site,Ó said Mrs Chapman.
She accepted that the planning application would result in the withdrawal of any concessions previously offered by the current prospective developer.