KINGSLEY residents are being urged to get involved in how the countryside around them is being managed. An audience at Kingsley's annual parish meeting, heard that the management of the heathland above the village should be of particular importance to residents. Kingsley Common - a tranche of Ministry of Defence-owned land, rich in acidic sand and gravel deposits and with a diversity of flora and fauna - has many notable features including Oxney stream on the southern edge, Kingsley Pond in the north west corner and evidence of Bronze Age and Mesolithic activity. Alex Cruickshank, the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust's grazing project manager, described to about 60 villagers, at the April 24 meeting, how the trust helped landowners by monitoring wildlife activity and offering environmental education and planning input. But he said that a crucial part of the trust's work also involved volunteers and, in partnership with the Minstry of Defence, a management plan was being drawn up which aimed to involve stakeholders, including local residents, by finding out how they would wish the common to be run, and by encouraging volunteering. Kingsley Parish Council's deputy chairman Mary Herbert applauded the idea of the village working with the management team. "The countryside is very important to us," she said. "We are all stakeholders in this process and can have an input." Also at the meeting was Margaret Paren, from the South Downs Campaign and CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) stalwart, who told the audience that "fingers crossed", the campaign to have the Western Weald included in the national park was at last "getting somewhere". The battle to include the Western Weald, already an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, into the South Downs National park began last year after it was removed from the park plans because it was regarded as too geologically distinct from the chalk hills of the Downs to warrant inclusion. A petition on the Prime Minister's website, inviting signatures from those who would like to see the Western Weald retained within the national park boundary, can be signed until July. "It all makes a difference," said Ms Paren. Retiring council chairman Colin Neville said he "thanked God for the little people" fighting to stop sand-extraction works in the Kingsley area. With 12,000 objections to mineral extraction plans across Hampshire, Kingsley people are not alone in feeling that their community has had enough. Mr Neville, standing down after six years, said the council needs new blood, and that he felt some pride in what the council had achieved under his chairmanship, particularly the campaign to establish a 30mph speed limit through the village. "We are close to achieving a dream and I hope nothing goes wrong to thwart us again," he said. He commended: the litter picks in the village; the inroads being made into the fly-tipping problem on the common; the maintenance work at St Nicholas' Chur-ch; the PowerPoint equipment provided for the King-sley Centre, and the council's £17,000 bank balance, with £10,000 of developer contributions to be spent in the next two years.
