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Blue? houses in Longmoor road [thread closed] - Andy Woodage (27th Feb 2003 - 09:02:09) Does anyone else think the new houses in Longmoor Rd that have been painted BLUE are out of keeping with the surroundings? Surely the planning authority should have insisted on a colour that blended with the other properties in the area.

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Freddie Dawkins (27th Feb 2003 - 11:29:03) Andy - a bit of a joke really. Especially when you have personal experience of the EHDC planning department and it's little foibles. So much for protecting and enhancing Liphook's appearance. Mind you, the new railings have calmed the blue a bit.

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Neville Powell (11th Mar 2003 - 12:54:55) Re Ugh Blue houses I went to meetings about these new houses ,and was assured all the front houses would be stone finished. Imagine my surprise when i saw blockwork being erected! I went to see the site agent who told me the council had passed blue houses! I phoned mr Jeremy Hepple on the council and asked him who had approved this build ,he said he had and had suggested blue ,seconded by My Adrian Bird. The councillor suggested that if I didnt like the colour I could always move! I phoned Mr bird and asked him about the houses,he said, Well look at Lloyds bank for instance. I replied Lloyds was cream and had been for 3 years,so much for our local spokesperson! At least most people can walk past and not look at them all day as we have to ! Black slate roofs ,red green and blue doors .brown gutters,black railings with paint splashed everywhere! How is it that someone can pass all this and not even live here?would he like blue beach huts opposite his house? There is not even any definition between the houses,and what happens when the new owners,who have to pay more for these blue blobs than the stone fronted houses want to change colour? Will we have yellow pink and green or just union jack colour schemes? Planning ,whay planning? especially as these new houses are within the village centre definitions!,whatever happened to the village plan? I know now why communities go down hill! I was born in Liphook and dont like the watch while the VILLAGE is being wrecked. Neville Powell

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Steve (13th Mar 2003 - 15:31:38) Couldn't agree with you more. For days driving past those blue monstrosities I hoped that it was going to be just the background to the stone cladding the other houses have, but to no avail. I just could not believe it when on a Saturday afternoon I saw them painting the doors in what looked to me as Green, Blue and a PINKish colour. In keeping with the village? Yeah right there is one other blue house in Liphook by the station. I wouldn't bother with the council I think some of them have done more than enough to ruin what was once a lovely village. Sainsburys development, blue houses, more houses and I bet yet more and more to come. Ive lived in Liphook all my life for over 30 years and I have had to move to the outskirts to get away from the wreck that the centre has become. Mouthy kids, done up cars driving at ridiculous speeds, muggings, car hijackings, burglaries and what next? It saddens me, it really does. If I could turn back the clock i'd of tried to drum up masses of support against the Sainsbury's development when the opportunity was there. Still hindsight is great isn't it and now we just have to live with it. I could move away from our village and home I suppose, I probably will eventually. Cheers S

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Matthew Wiggins (18th Mar 2003 - 12:25:00) Hi, My fiance and I have bought one of those houses (the one in the middle) and I should say that we were quite suprised when they got painted in such a bright blue - we assumed it would be slighty more muted. We had orginally been told that they would be stone clad like the other 2 bedroom houses developed there, but unfortunately this didn't turn out to be the case. Hopefully the inclusion of hanging baskets and window boxes will soften the effect somewhat.

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Freddie Dawkins (1st Apr 2003 - 23:14:56) Matthew - if you're not happy with the blue, and if your neighbours on either side are not too keen, maybe we should band together and repaint in a colour of your choice. Now that would be a community action! Freddie Dawkins

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Caroline R (7th Apr 2003 - 15:35:38) Are you allowed to re-paint them? My husband and I live in Conford and walk into Liphook every Sunday to get the newspaper. We have a bet as to when someone will paint over the blue. It is VERY bright!

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - neville powell (14th Apr 2003 - 08:17:00) Hi caroline ,well i wouldnt say the colour is bright,but then the people who decided on it may not have been either !!!! Its a shame because the new owners dont like it as well !

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Caroline R (15th Apr 2003 - 10:34:16) If the new owners don't like it are there any laws to say they can't change the colour. Do they need planning permission or something? If so, I wouldnt' have though it would be hard to get permission. I'd be pretty disappointed if I thought that I was buying a stone clad house and ended up with that blue - I'd want a discount at least.

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Matthew Wiggins (27th Apr 2003 - 00:30:46) I'm gradually becoming more accustomed to the colour - it seems to look better on a sunny day after a few months of weathering. I expect that when we repaint it for maintenance purposes we'll choose a different colour. We were able to negotiate with Westbury on the price of the property due to a few issues, so the outcome softened the shock of buying a house for the first time :).

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Freddie Dawkins (28th Apr 2003 - 22:14:38) Well done, Matthew. Sounds like you negotiated well! If you really would like to change the colour - obviously with permission and agreement of your neighbours - I'd be happy to give some time to help. It's no use lots of us moaning about the colour and then leaving you to do all the work. rgds Freddie

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Matthew Wiggins (3rd Jun 2003 - 16:24:21) Thanks for your offer Freddie, but I think we'll stick with the current colour for the moment. Other projects - notably the garden - are pending :).

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Freddie Dawkins (7th Jun 2003 - 11:56:46) Don't I know the feeling! If anyone would like some leek seedlings, I have pots of them and they are ready to be planted in the earth. rgds Freddie

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Anon (14th Oct 2003 - 18:11:40) ** EDITOR EDIT ** A reply has been made to this post, but has not been accepted because we do not accept anon messages. If you want your message to be shown please provide a valid name, and e-mail address to: editor@liphook.co.uk.

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Alex Cameron (14th Oct 2003 - 22:54:04) "...the wreck that the centre has become. Mouthy kids, done up cars driving at ridiculous speeds, muggings, car hijackings, burglaries and what next? " I'm sorry - am i living in the same town as you? I know Liphook isn't the most refined of places at the best of times, but since when did we get extensive muggings and car-jackings? And just what about any of the above is unusual in any town with a population of more than 5000? I'm not saying its acceptable or uncommon, just that maybe we need a little perspective here possibly? I'd be very interested to know just how widely read the Daily Mail is in our lovely village!

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Steve (15th Oct 2003 - 15:53:10) Alex, You obviously don't read the Herald either? We have had at least two muggings down the Midhurst rd that I recall, a car hijacking at the temporary traffic lights outside the said blue houses which resulted in a someone getting their face slashed, armed robbery at the coop store and vandalism a plenty. I don't recall the amount of crime growing at this alarming rate before the Sainsburys development appeared, do you? If you lived here before that of course. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have noticed that the amount of loitering and mouthy teenagers has reduced significantly in the past few months. Perhaps they have passed their driving lessons now and are terrorising road users. I think there are a lot of long term residents who agree that Sainsburys has been anything but good for this community.

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Mike Grimes (15th Oct 2003 - 16:26:20) Thanks Alex, as a resident of the 'Sainsbury's Houses' I though my chief worry was the brief visit of the Tetra mast. But Steve seemed to think that many of my neighbours were inconsiderate drivers, muggers, car jackers etc. with mouthy kids. If this really were the case, I don't think I would be worried about a couple of blue houses.

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Alex Cameron (15th Oct 2003 - 21:41:10) Blaming Sainsburys is simply the easy way out. I get extremely frustrated by those who insist on going for the obvious target, and never providing anything near to an answer to the same problems that have persisted for years. When i talk about perspective, i'm saying that we need to look at the bigger picture. With the increase of Liphook's population and the commercialisation of the old OSU site comes statistical certainties - such as rises in crime, road use etc and the reduction of access to resources that residents have enjoyed from the previously lower population. 2 muggings (3, as my best friend was mugged by a gang of 13-year olds)? 1 car-jacking? 1 armed robbery? I'm not saying they are acceptable or that the feelings of the victims (or residents) should be trivialised but its hardly Johannesburg or Lambeth is it? All you need to do is take a trip to Haslemere or Guildford station at 11.45pm on a friday night to look at towns who cope less admirably than Liphook does. My point is these are not new problems - they are existing problems that have increased proportionately as the population has risen. You can see the evidence in the greater extent of problems suffered by larger towns around us. And why sainsburys? The OSU development/investment that sainsburys is a part of has brought us (amongst many other things) : Higher levels of trade and tourism (although larger retail properties possibly at the expense of local traders) A long overdue expansion of the road system A dedicated (albeit useless) police station A (allegedly corrupt) town hall This is not armageddon as we know it, and the media has a well-documented vested interest in dramatic headlines. We need to understand and root out the core of the problems that have always been present. Questions (and demands) need to be asked of the council, the police and the civil services that are accountable to us for protecting the sanctity of our area. What will single this town out as a shining light will be the imaginative ways we deal with what has been insidious for a very long time now. Here's an idea - as we've identified the problems, lets stop grumbling like powerless victims and work on creating effective answers to them? Like Mike says, if we spent half the energy on researching and solving the really critical issues we face, that we do on inertly complaining about them, we'd have a very productive community. Before i grew up, i was one of those bored teenagers who 'acted-out' and occasionally terrorised ordinary people - a skate park or youth club would have made no difference whatsoever (so yes i do remember a time when crimes increased in the same capacity). Like all the kids throughout every generation, i (like my friends) was primarily interested in being accepted by, and impressing my peers. If the issues you mention invade our community like a cancer, we must return the favour in kind and invade them by understanding and dealing with their causes, not thinking of ways to slap on a band-aid to keep them out of sight. Phew! breathe alex, breathe......

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Freddie Dawkins (16th Oct 2003 - 10:13:59) All here - Interesting debate kicked off here. I'm a relatively newcomer, having lived in 3 houses in Liphook over the past 10 years. I'd like to make the following observations: 1. Liphook was selected as a village to be expanded some years ago. 2. Unfortunately, the infrastructure has not been developed fast enough - and the housing has been developed too fast. 3. With a population increase along the lines we have seen, there are bound to be problems, e.g. anti-social behaviour etc. 4. We do not reflect a cross-mix of typical UK population trends, i.e. ages, ethnic mix, income, car ownership etc etc. We are relatively wealthy, predominantly white and have a high car ownership. 5. What worries me most about the UK today, is the lack of respect for thje individual - and the fact that we are having to include citizenship in teaching programmes. 6. Should we assume that civic pride is not being instilled into children by their parents - and why would this be? Liphook is still a great place to live - if we all pull together, we can make improvements. What we need is open discussion, some real vision about what we want and some planning about how we will achieve the budgets to improve the village which is now, really, a town. Last week's Planning Forum - Liphook 2013? - was a good example of what can be achieved by discussion in just 2 hours. We had developers, planning officials, residents, councillors, all in the same room in a relaxed atmosphere, coming up with some great ideas and some good advice about how e will realise the vision. Just a shame that not more people bother to come along to these public forums which are organised by the Parish Council. The Village Appraisal survey forms will be dropping through your letterboxes soon. 100 Questions to answer. If everyone make the effort to complete and return, we'll have good data to match against forward planning and we'll be able to produce a solid Village Development Plan, which will be the guide for the next 10 years. rgds to all here Freddie Dawkins Parish Councillor

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Steve (16th Oct 2003 - 10:15:53) As I said Mike, I think things have improved in the past couple of months dramatically and thats a credit to the council and the police. I also never once said it was the people from the Sainsburys development themselves that caused any of the problems. I use to regularly see many teens getting off the train at Liphook for a night loitering around Sainsburys car park, meeting others with their heavily modded cars, doughnutting them round and round till all hours of the night. I think the local police must of addressed the problem as things are getting better. For me a Village that I have lived in all my life in my opinion has lost it's appeal since the development went in, maybe I have just lived here too long. Regards Steve

Think of the children...... - Andy Hill (16th Oct 2003 - 11:22:41) Ive lived in Liphook for 20 years and there is still sod all for the kids to do. No wonder they indulge in the odd doughnut. If 'stiff upper lip' communities like ours continue to ignore and ostracise its youth, rates of crime and vandalism will rise accordingly.

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Mike Grimes (16th Oct 2003 - 12:49:30) It seems the problem may have been associated with the Sainsbury's car park and it may have been alleviated by better policing. It also could have been alleviated by longer opening hours & associated security provided by Sainsbury's. Were the store opening hours chosen by Sainsbury's as a commercial decision or were they restricted (perhaps misguidedly) by the local council? But none of this solves the problem of what can young people from the village, and around, enjoy without being a nuisance to others

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Alex Cameron (16th Oct 2003 - 13:11:11) Hell of an interesting debate - not much of it about blue houses, but hey... Is this about people being irritated by bored kids, ugly buildings, or is it actually about crime? There's a hell of a difference between armed robbery and gravitating to a central village spot to meet your friends. Even if it is irritating and impractical, it isn't illegal. Freddie - you seem to have more intricate knowledge of the village politics than most, and that would make an interesting topic - might you re-post those observations in a separate thread? I feel we're getting ever so slightly off topic now... Steve - is it getting better or worse? I'm confused as at first you seem to say you can't remember a time when crime has risen so sharply, and then say you believe its reduced? And Andy - i remember the good old days when the most dangerous thing to any of us our schooldays was you being beaten by me on Piers' snooker table for a mars bar ;)

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Freddie Dawkins (16th Oct 2003 - 13:38:11) Mark, Mr Editor, Sir, Could you take the relevant message string and post i tinto a new thread, as Alex suggests. Maybe we could headline it: Village/Town - The Next Decade thx Freddie

Re: Blue? houses in Longmoor road - Liphook.co.uk Editor (16th Oct 2003 - 14:03:43) Please continue this disccussion at: http://www.liphook.co.uk/?section=interactive&page=talkback_thread&id=59.

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