SHEET took another step towards declaring independence this week when villagers inside the proposed new parish boundary gave their backing to the scheme. And now Sheet Steering Group, which has been drawing up the proposal to break away from Petersfield Town Council and form a new Sheet Parish Council, has decided to take the next step towards a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI). Sheet's increasingly stormy relationship with Petersfield Town Council resulted last year in the formation of the Sheet Steering Group, which was set up to look at a permanent breakaway from the town council. The move was fuelled by rows over the village tree swing, Sheet Common BMX track and Millennium Meadow funding. Just after Christmas a consultation leaflet was hand- delivered to all addresses in the Sheet Parish, asking for villagers' views on the formation of a new parish council, and where they thought the boundary lines should be drawn. The initial suggested boundary for the proposed Sheet Parish Council was drawn up on the lines of the current St Mary's Ward. The chairman of Sheet Steering Group, Don Dark, told The Herald: "The objective of the consultation exercise was to tell everyone in Sheet Parish about the idea of a Sheet Parish Council and to ask for their thoughts for and against the proposed new council, and for their comments on the suggested boundary." He stressed: "This was not the formal vote for a new council - that will take place once comments from the consultation phase have been absorbed and the final boundary agreed on." But this week he said he had been very encouraged by the positive response from those who took part in the consultation. "Ten per cent of the households responded to the leaflet, via the post, email and collecting boxes at the Queen's Head and the town hall," said Mr Dark. "This 10 per cent is encouraging when you bear in mind that consultation leaflets from local councils usually get a response rate of less than one per cent." He added: "The majority of replies were in favour of progressing the plans for a Sheet council, both from those living inside the proposed boundary and those outside - and although we were not really looking for a definitive vote at this stage, it was encouraging to receive a positive response." What became clear from the responses of people in Sheet parish was that people living in areas such as Madeline Road, Ramshill and the new Ramshill development did not think of themselves as in Sheet, and most said they would not want to be included in a Sheet council. However, residents of the Pulens Crescent area, although not in St Mary's ward, showed a high level of interest in being included in a new Sheet Parish Council in the future. Mr Dark said those who replied to the survey raised a number of issues that would need to be answered before the Sheet Steering Group went out for a formal vote. "These include reassurances that costs and bureaucracy would not increase if a Sheet council replaced Petersfield Town Council," he told The Herald. Mr Dark said villagers would be provided with accurately-costed budgets for income and expenditure to put their minds at rest. The steering committee is now moving ahead with the next phase of the scheme, which involves the development of a "manifesto" which will be presented to all households inside the revised boundary for the new parish council. "We hope to present this in person to the householders concerned, in order that we can accurately gauge opinion and to ensure we can identify those who would be interested in involvement with a council," said Mr Dark. It is at this stage, providing the steering group continues to get a positive response, that it will go for a formal vote on the proposal. "If this vote proves to be in favour, then a formal application will be made to Petersfield Town Council and East Hampshire District Council to establish a separate council for Sheet," Mr Dark explained. There was strong support for a parish council at the annual meeting of Sheet Village Association in May last year, and a special meeting was called two months later to from the steering committee. Since the formation of that group, regular meetings have been held to discuss the viability of a new council and to form the draft boundary. One of the key issues of a breakaway was set to be the ownership of Pennsfield, development land at the back of Heathfield said to be worth around £6m, which is currently owned by Petersfield Town Council.