PLANS to refurbish the Oak Green shopping parade at Four Marks got a £100k boost from Hampshire County Council's Village Initiative Fund. The grant means that Four Marks Parish Council has exceeded its project target of £160,000 to spruce up the land around the shops on the A31 Winchester Road. Parish council chairman Bryan Timms said the aim is to flatten the bank in front of the shops and to landscape the area with improved planting and trees lining the Oak Green side of the footpath flanking the road. The pedestrian area in front is to be extended and smartened up and the car park realigned to provide three more spaces. The rear will be tidied up to provide improved resident parking (for people in the flats above the shops) and delivery area. The parish council hopes that the project will conclude a 25-year search to identify the owner of the Oak Green shopping parade site. Last year it was revealed that the land was owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, having been handed to the crown when the company, into whose hands it had eventually fallen, went into liquidation.
