Bentley Parish Council

East Hampshire District Council

Bentley Neighbourhood Plan:

Submission of the Bentley Neighbourhood Plan to East Hampshire District Council

The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012

This notice advises of the submission of the Bentley Neighbourhood Plan to East Hampshire District Council, under Regulation 15 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012.

In accordance with Regulation 16, a 6 week consultation will run from:

Monday 11 November 2024 and closes at 5pm on Monday 23 December 2024.

Documents can be viewed at the following locations:

The Star Inn, Main Road, Bentley GU10 5LW
(Opening Hours: Monday 12:00pm to 10:00pm, Tuesday 10:30am to 10:00pm, Wednesday 10:30am to 11:00pm, Thursday 12:00pm to 11:00pm and Friday to Saturday 12:00 to 11:30pm)
Bentley Village Stores, London Road, Bentley GU10 5HY
(Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 7:00am to 9:00pm and Sunday 7:00am to 8:00pm)
East Hampshire District Council, Monterey House, Bedford Road, Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 3LJ
(Monday to Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm) BY APPOINTMENT ONLY please email neighbourhoodplans@easthants.gov.uk or call 01730 234339

In accordance with the regulations, East Hampshire District Council has published the submission documents on its website Bentley modified neighbourhood plan | East Hampshire District Council, this also includes guidance on how to respond to the consultation.

For further information, please contact the Planning Policy team on: 01730 234339 or neighbourhoodplans@easthants.gov.uk

Neighbourhood plan documents can be found here: Neighbourhood Plan – Bentley Parish Council

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Welcome to Bentley, a small rural parish on the Surrey and Hampshire borders.

Bentley is the first village across the Surrey-Hampshire border, announcing Jane Austen country. As part of the Austen heritage, the first rector of Bentley was Henry Austen, Jane’s brother, who moved into the Rectory in 1824. Another curate, the Rev. Gilbert White of Selborne, was a regular visitor to Marelands, a Georgian house overlooking the river Wey, in the previous century.

Bentley-‘the green in the forest’- dates back to Roman and Saxon times. We are a rural community with fine views across the fields to the Alice Holt forest, small enough to know and care for each other, but large enough to do useful things together. Our church on the Pilgrims’ Way plays an active part in village life, as does our thriving primary school.

The village developed mostly along the ancient road from Winchester to London. Many of the older houses along the post road were smallholders’ farms dating back to the 13^thcentury, which were ‘gentrified’ in Regency times. We claim the oldest cruck cottage in Hampshire, and a number of fine old country houses surrounded by rolling farmland. More recent housebuilding in the last few years has brought new blood and young families into the village.

We have an annual fete and flower show, a much valued pub and shop, and two small industrial estates. Scouting thrives here: no great surprise as the village was home for 30 years to Robert Baden-Powell. The hop fields familiar to earlier generations have now become vineyards, producing Jenkyn Place sparkling wine, our “local brew”.

We have a beautiful church situated in the heart of the village and a busy Memorial hall, hosting everything from badminton to gardening clubs, salsa classes to the recently opened pre-school Dottie Tots. The village is situated approximately 4 miles from Alton and Farnham, the village has a bus service and has a mainline station, which commences at Alton and terminates at Waterloo.

For the active members of the parish there is an array of footpaths, Alice Holt forest nearby as well as Birdworld, and the butterfly meadow. The parish has a newly installed adventure playground for the younger children and a newly formed youth club for the older children of the village.