Facilities and Services

Slindon Village Pond

Believed to be as old as the village itself, over the years the Parish Council has taken responsibility for the pond’s upkeep which has always proved to be a costly affair!

The pond was first registered as a town or village green on 17 May 1967 although in February 1971 an objection was made by William Charles Stuart Harrison, County Surveyor, on the grounds that part of the area was highway not village green at the date of registration and therefore owned by West Sussex County Council. As a result, the register entry was amended in December 1971 to exclude a width of highway verge on the west side of the carriageway leading from St Mary’s Church, Slindon to Elm Cottage, Slindon but the rest of the pond and surround was still registered as a town or village green. At this time the land was thought to be waste of the Manor of Slindon which at that point was owned by the National Trust although recent enquiries confirm they do not own it.

As early as 1897 a special Parish Council meeting approved an extra 3d rate to clean out and strengthen the pond at a cost of £4.10.0 and in 1905 the Rural District Council advised that a noxious smell could only be eliminated through cleaning at a cost of £16. Then at a special parish meeting  in 1927 there were two votes in favour of doing away with the pond, with 18 in favour of cleaning which was then funded by public subscription rather than rates. Between 1948 and 1950 the County Council stepped in to clean the pond as it was identified as a useful purpose in drawing storm water off the roads. In 1980 the parish council benefited from Arun District Council’s Lotteries which was used to strengthen the banks and again in 2000 a local volunteer group secured funding as part of a millennium project.

The Pond has recently been restored as part of a successful application under West Sussex County Council’s ‘Operation Watershed’.

The Parish Council has now also nominated the pond as a Local Green Space 2022 as part of the South Downs Local Plan Review (28th September 2022).

Local Green Spaces are areas of particular importance to local communities that can be identified and protected through the planning process. Nominations must meet certain criteria.

Allotments

The Parish Council has always been responsible for a three-acre allotment field which it inherited (along with the four-acre recreation ground) from the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor, received as their share of the  Slindon Enclosure Award in 1870/71 under which large areas of common land were enclosed and divided between existing  owners in proportion to their existing holdings.

For a long time much of the land was let to farmers or smallholders although, following a suggestion that the land should be sold for development to raise funds for a new pavilion, in July 1962 the Parish Council was persuaded that it would be better used as a football pitch. In 1963 The Ministries of Agriculture and of Local Government agreed to a change of use, conditional on the Parish Council providing a suitable alternative as it was given to the Council’s predecessors to provide “allotments for the deserving poor”. However, as the sole allotment holder had died several years before the Parish Council considered this was not a problem and ceased to offer this facility.

Parish councils have the ‘power’ to provide allotments which means that they can do so. They may also have a ‘duty’ to do so if there is sufficient demand, which means they must provide them under section 23(2)of the Allotments Act 1908. This procedure is however rarely, if ever, used.

Slindon Parish Council previously leased land at Slindon Nursery Ground from the National Trust as a community growing space although there is now a direct agreement between the National Trust and the Allotment Society (2022).