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bohunt manor tree planting - katy (3rd Feb 2006  17:17:27) Did anyone see the article in the Liphook Herald regarding the tree planting for the Woodland Trust at Bohunt Manor this week? It stated that the "Bohunt Manor Conservancy" is appealing for people to join in the planting. Does this mean that it now had a new owner? If so does anyone know who it/they is? Just being nosey really.............

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - jill (4th Feb 2006  21:13:00) I saw the article, but it didnt say anything about what time to tun up, does anyone know?

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - katy (6th Feb 2006  07:49:52) Hi, it did say Feb 18th between 10am and 4pm, hope this helps..............

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - rob (2nd Jul 2006  10:43:36) So what's with this "Bohunt Manor Conservancy" thing? Are they the same conservators that have just ripped out 100 yards of centuries old hedge opposite the end of Station Road? Ready for what? Housing? rob.

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Grahame (3rd Jul 2006  13:19:41) Shouldn't this type of work require planning permission? If someone wants to prune a dangerous tree approval has to be granted first, but ripping up yards of boundary hedge doesn't. I wonder how many wildlife homes have been destroyed. I suppose it could be replaced by a nice wooden fence ready for the graffiti artist

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Allan (4th Jul 2006  01:03:58) Hi All, Do not know for certain, but I believe that all clearance and re-establishment is contractually pre-determined. I understand that the details are available for scrutiny at the parish council offices. I'm only repeating what has been said to me, so, if I am wrong, no bricks through the windows, please.

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - S (4th Jul 2006  08:54:23) Rob, exactly what I was thinking too. Thats hell of a demolition job opposite the station road. Why rip down masses of trees and hedging only to put new ones up? Seems odd, housing development? Anyone heard the rumours of Mr Abramovich having purchased Old Thorns? Will that be another Golf Course turned into Chelsea FC's summer retreat and training ground?

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - karen (4th Jul 2006  15:04:42) I understand that the story behind the removal of most of the trees, shrubs, grass, animals etc opposite Station Road and part way along the Portsmouth Road is to clear the line of sight for access to and from Bohunt Manor. However, in my opinion, they seemed to have been rather harsh in their improvement of the 'sight line' as I feel you could probably see traffic leaving Liss now if you tried hard enough.... Also, they need to take their 'clearing' much further up because if you try and cross the new 'cycle path' crossing you cannot see down the Portsmouth Road due to the large build up of overgrown Ferns. I actually have to stand in the road to see if anything is coming up the road. And as the traffic is never going at the correct speed (ie 30mph) this is obviously rather dangerous. Moan over.....

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - not telling you horrible lot (4th Jul 2006  20:41:33) Come on folks think a bit further ahead .. Maybe this is where the replanting is going ahead and lets be honest when you come out of station road all you looked at was an untidy hedge with a rotting gate. They could be planting a new hedge which they will layer properly instead of the councils slash it and see policy Gee whizz stop all this doom and gloom at least a few are trying to tidy up Liphook are you not proud of you village or are you all new comers to town with nothing better to do than moan when something changes Plus its about time that stretch of the road was cleaned up

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Eneida (5th Jul 2006  13:20:17) I should think it's almost inevitable that there will be housing built at Bohunt at some time in the future. Why else would someone pay £2.74 million for acres of commuter belt land near a railway station? Could anyone realistically stop housing being built there, as the law stands at the moment (even without Mr.Prescott) ? Would the part of the estate near the Portsmouth Road be regarded as a 'brown field' site?...I don't know, I'm just asking. If I were being cynical I would say getting the locals on your side by taking part in a 'tree planting exercise' was good PR...but only if I were being cynical ;) Eneida

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - louise (5th Jul 2006  13:52:51) I heard (from a friend who spoke to the new owner of Bohunt Manor last weekend) that they are restoring and converting an old barn into living accomodation and the Planning Department of the Council insisted that they must remove the hedge to improve the sight-line from the access drive. The owner says he did not want to pull the hedge down, as he believes in conservation, but had no real choice, however he intends to replant a new hedge further in from the road. Personally I like seeing the view across the fields towards Weavers Down which would be even better in winter, although I take the point that pulling down a hedge involves destruction of wildlife habitat which is not desirable. But I'm not sure why people start imagining fences with grafitti before they know anything about it! I don't know much yet either, but negativity and pessimism don't really help build good relations between us as a community and the new owners. I understand that the owner (who paid £2.74 million for the property according to the WWF website, (http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/wwf-ukaccounts05.pdf), is loaning land for nothing to his brother Patrick for the Bohunt Conservancy Trust. I found details of Patrick on line. He was Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Environmental Risk at the University of East Anglia and his subject is 'environmental sustainability' so he seems to have all the right credentials.(http://www.uea.ac.uk/env/pur/staff_cox_p.html) The important point is that I understand that if you check with the Land Registry, not all the land was sold by the WWF to the new owner of the Manor, and it is these other parcels of land that should worry us with regard to housing. I think the only 'crime' of the new owner of Bohunt Manor is that he has not yet understood the nature of the people of Liphook, who are concerned about everything to do with our community and local environment, and we expect to be kept fully informed. Maybe he has come from somewhere where the locals were apathetic and communication with them was pointless. I hope he very soon realises that this is not the case in Liphook, however in the meantime, I for one am willing to give him and his brother a little lee-way to settle in and learn our ways and I feel we should also do our bit to make them feel welcome as new members of the community. If anyone is in a position to find out more about the owners and whereabouts of these other parcels of land, then please spread the news. Ringing the WWF apparently gets nowhere as they are not prepared to say.

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - karen (5th Jul 2006  14:45:35) Just had to respond to 'not telling you horrible lot', I live opposite Bohunt Manor and don't mind that they have cleared away a lot of the overgrown 'hedge'. I am not a newcomer and I love living in Liphook and pride myself on the fact that I also belong to several village committees. We are not being miserable and moaning we are just commenting that the new 'wasteland' opposite Station Road is a little drastic and I personally preferred a little greenery down there as opposed to the very brown and unattractive pile of dry dirt that is now on view. Yes, maybe they will be planting new hedge or putting up a fence which will be lovely. Let's just wait and see shall we???? It's the locals that don't like the change, we love our village just the way it is.......ta very much.

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Eneida (5th Jul 2006  19:28:06) Interesting post Louise! The application currently registered with EHDC is actually for a replacement dwelling after demolition of existing out buildings (F.39366/002/FUL). But I guess that's a minor point, it's probably more practical to demolish the old farm buildings and start again from scratch....rather like the old hedge. Eneida

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - katy (6th Jul 2006  19:38:34) Aapparently the land has now been restored to how it was 30 years ago - there was never a hedge there originally so they have in fact recreated a piece of old Liphook! The tree planting ploy is interesting - I believe that when you plant lots of trees to create a new woodland you get a lovely big grant from the government ........hmmm that's more interesting me thinks!

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Louise (8th Jul 2006  00:40:57) Katy, Do you have any evidence that the tree planting at Bohunt Manor is a "ploy" (your word)? Maybe time will show you are right to be cynical, but I hope not, and I feel that the owners are damned if they do and damned if they don't with this. I understood that the tree planting was in conjunction with the Woodland Trust as part of it's campaign to plant 12 million trees in 5 years, (one for every child in Britain). If you are right and they did get a grant for buying trees I very much doubt they could make any profit on it as nowadays claiming grants is tightly regulated and full of red tape. Grants are not an easy way of making a quick buck as in the seventies! As I said before, I would rather give the Bohunt Manor owners the benefit of the doubt and see how it pans out. It's all too easy to be cynical and distrustful. Society in general has become more jaded because we are deluged by a constant flood of stories of bad people doing bad things - which is what sells newspapers. We hear almost nothing about ordinary people doing good things. So we begin to believe everyone out there is on the make for themselves. Some are but some are not, but lets not judge before we know. Of course we should be watchful, but why assume an egg is bad before it's been cracked open?

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Curious (10th Jul 2006  10:15:28) For all out there - I have done some research via the Land Registry, the land, unlike the reports on the WWF website says, was sold in 5 parcels, not one. The Manor and surrounding land was sold to Patricks brother, the amount it was sold for is irrelevant, and Patrick and his brother are planning to get the manor and the rest of their land back to its original state. To the left and right of the drive nearest to the road, are the critical pieces we the people of Liphook should have concerns over. The piece to the left was sold, according to the land registry, to the owners of one of the links cottages, again the amount is insignificant, but the piece to the right of the drive has been sold for a huge amount in comparison to the left piece, to a trust which is based in Liechtenstein and British Virgin Isles. It is for investment, but the trust won't divulge who are the owners - I have already asked !!! The other two pieces were the housing on the perimeter. I have been trying to solve the issue of the fact that I rang the WWF and asked if they sold the land as one piece. I was telephoned back and told that yes, they had sold as one piece, for 2.74m as reported, but told me that the buyer was private and couldn't tell me the new owners name. This is totally against the land reg documents, which I have downloaded, the wwf actually sold certainly the manor, and the left and right fields to three different individuals. There is something I feel that we are not being told, anybody any thoughts ????? Curious of Liphook

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Eneida (10th Jul 2006  17:37:38) Curious, How would it benefit you to know who owns the land, apart from satisfying your curiosity? Until these mysterious people apply to do something that needs permission with it, like housing for instance, you can't object can you? And even then, IF that land is classified as a "brown field site" the people of Liphook, as you put it, probably wont be able to stop it anyway! If you know Patrick Cox why don't you ask him about it? I'd be very surprised if anybody would buy a property without knowing what might be planned for the land surrounding their entrance way before they signed on the dotted line. I certainly wouldn't....would you? Eneida

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Chris (11th Jul 2006  05:54:49) It is very rare that speculative purchase of land for "investment" is not linked with some intent or hope that at some stage something, usually a dwelling or dwellings can be built upon it. Land that can have no potential designated use is not much of an investment as its commercial value does not increase by much. Usually the "investors" lie in wait for a relaxation in the planning laws or a change of legislation that forces an area of the country to cater for more housing needs. Then they pounce and before you know it there's an application in place to build 10, 20 or more houses. This happened in dramatic style where I used to live in Lindfield, Sussex and even more so in Crawley where I used to work. There's no harm in being curious or, indeed, vigilant.

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Curious (12th Jul 2006  08:51:44) Eneida Does anyone know if the area is classed as 'brown field' ? Of course, I am not the only person in Liphook who is curious about the intentions of the owners of the land. If I ever get to meet Patrick (Cox ?) I will ask him, but as I said, he doesn't own the land anyway, and yes, he might be concerned. You seem to think that the people of Liphook have to accept that inevitability that houses would be built I am not sure that is quite true. The people of Liphook have opposed and won some battles regarding other developments in the Village, and I would like to think that they would do the same here. Curious (maybe I should have called myself 'concerned of Liphook')

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Eneida (12th Jul 2006  10:15:23) Sorry Curious, From the way you were speaking about Patrick Cox and his brother's intentions of getting their part of Bohunt back to its original state, I assumed you had met and discussed it with him! I should imagine EHDC would know if some of the land may be designated as brown field, either now or in the future. I'm afraid I do think it's inevitable that some housing will be built on parts of the old Bohunt estate at sometime in the future. Obviously, you can be 'concerned' about it and try to oppose it....but just look around you at what's happened to other estates...Ludshott Manor....King George's Hospital... Sainsburys, people opposed those too, didn't they? Eneida

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Andrew Ellis (21st Jul 2006  18:37:44) any one want a bet that there will be some new houses and link road going through there

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Allan (2nd Aug 2006  08:33:55) I read in the local free paper today that a Mr. Evans of Canada Way has invoked the full force of the law to investigate the legallity or otherwise of the owners of Bohunt Manor ripping up the hedge opp. Station Rd. Why such consuming opposition to something that is o.k. with most folk? At the best it was only a hawthorn hedge overgrown with brambles.

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Eneida (2nd Aug 2006  08:34:15) I believe that what Mr Evans is really concerned about is that the hedges etc. were removed in preparation for future housing....at least that's the impression I got from comments he made in last week's Liphook Herald. Eneida

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - liz (2nd Aug 2006  08:44:22) Mr Evans should have seen what they did in order to build Canada Way! Liphook really was quite rural pre-Sainsburys and its associated housing. -

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - andrew (2nd Aug 2006  21:12:31) there will be houses there at some point how ever much we dont like it. Mr evans is waisting his money. what we should be concerned about is the talk about the incinerator in liphook

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - liz (3rd Aug 2006  09:35:44) Don't worry Andrew the incinerator story is a very old one, put about as scaremongering when Sainsbury's were applying for planning permission. - Presumably so that people would believe anything is better than an incinerator and support the application. There are not going to be major developments on the Bohunt Manor site either in the immediate future - more scaremongering. (Yes OK maybe one day, who can say, but not in any timeframe that is likely to concern us).

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Eneida (3rd Aug 2006  09:55:38) How can you be so certain about that Liz?? Eneida

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - liz (3rd Aug 2006  14:56:12) I can't be certain - anything's possible, but I'm about as certain about it as I am that they won't bulldoze the Anchor and build a tower block in its place or tarmac over Liphook Golf Club and turn it into a car park. (Plenty of material for the cynics here!!)

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - lisa (4th Aug 2006  17:49:21) I agree with both Eneida and Liz on this but does any one know anything about the owners of Bohunt Manor and who is Daybright referred to in the free paper? Why does nt someone approach the owners to provide land for the playing fields which are needed in our village... what about social houses on this land if it is going to be built on which I doubt anyway. But I don t think the removal of the hedge looks that bad but they must be forced to replant some trees or hedges. Should we start a petition for the playing fields?

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - LippyChick (6th Aug 2006  11:15:16) Hi Lisa I wasn't aware that there was a great shortage of playing fields in the village. We have the rec where a lot of work has been done to bring the football pitches up to spec, and of course great facilities at Bohunt. Unfortunately in this day and age I suspect that a prime piece of land is far more attractive to a purchaser with the prospect of nice lucrative housing rather than a low income playing field. Lips x

Re: bohunt manor tree planting - Mike Grimes (6th Aug 2006  23:53:20) Hi Lisa, Like Lips I fail to see a need for further playing fields in Liphook but I am about to start a petition because I've got some really good ideas about what we could do with your garden. Hope you don't mind.

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