Introduction

Billingshurst Community Partnership has commissioned a research study of the small market town of Billingshurst and its surrounding rural hinterland (the “study area”). The study has been funded by South East England Development Agency and Horsham District Community Partnership and has both local and wider regional objectives. These are as follows:

Local:

• Establish the relationship between services available in the village and rural areas that make up Billingshurst's hinterland, and their reliance on Billingshurst (the market town) for services and facilities

• document current service provision in Billingshurst and its hinterland, and investigate how this meets the needs of the local community; taking account of constraints and the way choices are influenced by necessity and/or preference
• investigate the skills required in order to make the community of Billingshurst and its hinterland sustainable
• assess the opportunities presented by various local strategies and programmes of work (e.g. Local Area Agreements) for current and future services provision
• provide a context in which proposals can be made to enhance and maintain the vibrancy of the town and villages and meet local needs.

Regional and Strategic:

• Use the Billingshurst research to determine whether a 'model for sustainable rural communities' for looking at service demand and provision can be formulated, which might be used to help inform delivery of SEEDAs Small Rural Towns Programme and new Rural Access to Services Programme, in conjunction with key actions in the Regional Economic Strategy

• establish and explore those elements that contribute to a market town acting as a service centre and 'rural capital' to its surrounding hinterland.

In order to do this the study has involved the following:

• a review of definitions of, and requirements for sustainable rural communities, rural towns and rural services, which identifies good practice approaches

• an audit of current provision of services in the study area, identifying strengths, weaknesses, planned changes and peripheral and competing service centres
• a review of current patterns of service use, involving survey evidence and interviews with service providers, local businesses and other stakeholders
• a review of the strategic context for the delivery and funding of services locally, and opportunities arising
• identification of possible actions to make Billingshurst, with its supported hinterland, a more sustainable service location

This Technical Appendix provides our detailed analysis and presentation of survey and other evidence. It accompanies a separate Summary Report which presents the main findings, conclusions and recommendations of the work.

Contents

1. Background to the Study Area
1.1 Defining the study area 7

1.2 Resident profile 7

2. Defining Sustainable Services and Communities
2.1 Sustainable Communities 9

2.2. Sustainable Service Provision 11

3. Issues and challenges for Rural Service Provision 13

4. Sustainable Rural Services: Good practice 16

5. Detailed Analysis of Service Provision in Billingshurst and its hinterland
5.1 Analysis by Service Type 18

5.2 Travel to services 30

5.3 Service provision in peripheral centres 32

6. Comparison of Billingshurst with Small Rural Towns in the Surrounding Area
33
7. Service Use Patterns for Billingshurst and its Hinterland
7.1 Who visits Billingshurst for services? 35

7.2 Defining Billingshurst’s retail hinterland 37

7.3 Defining Billingshurst’s Hinterland for Other Services 39

7.4 Use Patterns for Village Services 42

7.5 Impacts of Work Patterns 42

7.6 Service use patterns for young people 46

8. Strategic Context for Service Delivery
8.1 Regional context 48

8.2 West Sussex context 49

8.3 District context 52

8.4 Local context 54

8.5 Funding opportunities 56

1. Background to the Study Area

1.1 Defining the study area

For the purposes of this research we have focussed on a study area which was anticipated to reflect Billingshurst’s hinterland or area of influence. This was modelled in part on the catchment area for The Weald school. In broad terms this is the area within a 5-6 miles radius of Billingshurst centre (maximum 10 mile drive distance by road), although the hinterland is more curtailed to the south and north-east by the proximity of Pulborough and Horsham respectively.

The study area contains the following parishes and villages:

Parish Villages
Billingshurst Billingshurst
Wisborough Green Wisborough Green
Kirdford Kirdford
Plaistow & Ifold Plaistow, Ifold
Loxwood Loxwood
Shipley Shipley, Coolham
Alfold Alfold
Rudgwick Rudgwick
Slinfold Slinfold
Itchingfield Itchingfield, Barns Green

Whilst this defines our study area, we have also looked at service provision in those centres that are peripheral to the area, and in other small rural towns in the wider area as part of the work.

The findings of our research with respect to defining the catchment for various services are presented in Section 7. In broad terms, the research suggested that the area chosen for the study appears to coincide with the area of influence, except that:
Billingshurst has limited influence on Alfold residents
there is an influence to the south in Pulborough parish for some services. Whilst we did not include this area in resident surveys, we did through our survey of students at The Weald School and discussions with stakeholders.

1.2 Resident profile

The parish of Billingshurst has a population of around 7,000 and the surrounding parishes are home to some 13,500 people. In terms of households this equates to around 2,900 in Billingshurst and 5,200 elsewhere. The most populous surrounding parishes are Rudgwick, Plaistow & Ifold and Slinfold, and the least populous are Kirdford, then Shipley and Alfold.

The Visioning Horsham report identifies the following key issues and characteristics with respect to the local population and economy of the area:
a pattern of attracting well-off households, leading to above average incomes and qualification levels
a relatively high level of commuting, particularly for highly skilled and senior level jobs
high costs of living (particularly housing), presenting challenges for lower income households and leading to a net outflow of young people
a growing population, with growth above the West Sussex and South-east average. Billingshurst has been a particular focus for growth.
an ageing population. This means economic activity levels are below the south-east average, affects demand for public services (like health and care) and limits scope for economic expansion
a strong sectoral employment mix, with large proportions of the workforce in ‘high value’ activities, and a strong business and professional services sector
younger adults currently look outside the district for some leisure experiences. The district needs to decide whether to accept that their needs are best served here, and focus instead on enhancing its offer for children, families and high earners.

Billingshurst and the surrounding villages are popular with both people moving locally and in-movers to the area. In particular there has been a lot of in-movement from the periphery of the London area in recent years. Prime reasons for this are the station - with train links north and south; good roads for commuting; The Weald secondary school - which has a good reputation; combined with the general quality of the environment and villages as attractive places to live.

2. Defining Sustainable Services and Communities

2.1 Sustainable Communities
What is a sustainable community?
The UK Government defines sustainable communities as “places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all”.

Requirements for sustainability include:
decent homes at prices people can afford
good public transport
schools
hospitals
shops
a clean, safe environment.
open public space where they can relax and interact
the ability to have a say on the way their neighbourhood is run.

The definition goes on to identify eight key components for sustainable communities. They should be:
Active, inclusive and safe - fair, tolerant and cohesive with a strong local culture and other shared community activities
Well run - with effective and inclusive participation, representation and leadership
Environmentally sensitive - providing places for people to live that are considerate of the environment
Well designed and built - featuring quality built and natural environment
Well connected - with good transport services and communication linking people to jobs, schools, health and other services
Thriving - with a flourishing and diverse local economy
Well served - with public, private, community and voluntary services that are appropriate to people's needs and accessible to all
Fair for everyone - including those in other communities, now and in the future.
Services for a sustainable community
In terms of services, sustainable communities are defined as having:
well-performing local schools, further and higher education institutions, and other opportunities for lifelong learning
high quality local health care and social services, integrated where possible with other services
high quality services for families and children (including early years child care)
good range of affordable public, community, voluntary and private services (e.g. retail, fresh food, commercial, utilities, information and advice) which are accessible to the whole community
service providers who think and act long-term and beyond their own immediate geographical and interest boundaries, and who involve users and local residents in shaping their policy and practice.
opportunities for cultural, leisure, community, sport and other activities, including for children and young people
user-friendly public and green spaces with facilities for everyone including children and older people
sufficient range, diversity, affordability and accessibility of housing within a balanced housing market
a wide range of jobs and training opportunities.

and in terms of access to services they need to have:
accessibility of jobs, key services and facilities by public transport, walking and cycling.
transport facilities, including public transport, that help people travel within and between communities and reduce dependence on cars
facilities to encourage safe local walking and cycling
an appropriate level of local parking facilities in line with local plans to manage road traffic demand.
Sustainable rural communities and small towns
Meeting the requirements for sustainable communities and services presents a challenge in rural areas, where population is more dispersed and the population concentrations to support higher level service provision may not exist. Various pieces of research, and support organisations, have tried to define the requirements for sustainable rural communities and market towns.

Sustainable small towns
Research carried out through the SusSET project defined requirements for successful, sustainable communities. Although focussed on slightly larger centres, the research identified a number of themes which should be addressed when developing strategies for small towns which have relevance for smaller market towns, particularly those facing demand for residential growth.

To view these themes visit www.pagodagraphics.com/susset
Small rural towns
In the south-east, South East England Development Agency has developed the concept of the ‘small rural town’, with its specific support needs and characteristics. SEEDA’s Small Rural Towns Programme has delivered a tailored packet of support to such centres over recent years.

SEEDA defines Small Rural Towns as having a population of 3-20,000 people, supporting a hinterland and providing core functions to this in the form of a retail centre, good range of key services, jobs and a secondary school. The creation of the Billingshurst Action Plan, its supporting health-check and the work of Billingshurst Community Partnership has been supported through this programme, which is also part funding this research project.

Within the West Sussex area surrounding Billingshurst the following locations come under this definition currently: Petworth, Midhurst, Haslemere, Pulborough, Storrington and Steyning (Henfield is often also included but has no secondary school). These are all at the small end of the small rural town definition, with populations of between 3,000 and 6,000. Billingshurst is slightly larger with in excess of 7,000 residents. The Surrey towns to the north east are slightly larger with Haslemere and Cranleigh having populations of about 11,000.

Rural capitals
Sustainability for small rural towns needs to be about more than sustainable functioning of the town itself, and to take account of the role that the town must play within its hinterland. The South-East Regional Economic Strategy 2006-2016 (RES) introduces the concept of a ‘rural capital’, with the rural town functioning to provide higher level services to its rural hinterland of villages, hamlets and dispersed homes and businesses. In terms of sustainability, this has a number of potential benefits:
longer car journeys to more distant larger centres can be minimised
businesses and residents can source needs locally, saving time and costs
community cohesion grows, because local businesses, people and services are interacting with each other
local spend is retained within local businesses and services, boosting their viability.

2.2. Sustainable Service Provision
What is a sustainable service?
What is meant by a ‘sustainable service’? Our research suggests that the following characteristics are important:

i) The service needs to be financially viable: the costs of delivering the service need to be consistently and reliably covered. Ideally this will be by user payments, or by a regular and on-going commitment to fund from public sources because the service is deemed important. However, there are also examples of services which could be thought financially viable because of a consistently successful fund-raising effort which supports service costs year on year (the hospice movement is a good example of this).

ii) Delivery of the service needs to be managed and staffed effectively, by people who have the right skills. Where delivery is managed by the voluntary sector, there needs to be sufficient time and skill commitment from volunteers, and issues of succession need to be managed to address the loss of key individuals.

iii) The service needs to address local needs and demand. For example proper market research by prospective retailers can identify whether there is a niche locally for their goods before they invest in premises. A high turnover of High Street businesses which open up and then fail and close can have a negative impact on the overall confidence in, and perception of, a small town centre.

iv) The service needs to adapt to meet needs as they change. Otherwise customers and users may go elsewhere. For example, a village shop may need to adapt to offer more local produce or to open in the early evening; a school or play group may need to offer extended hours of care to cater for working parents.

v) The service needs to be accessible to target users, with appropriate public and community transport links in place wherever possible. Whilst reducing car journeys is always desirable in sustainability terms, practically we can expect many services in rural areas to be used predominantly by car-borne users. However, there is scope to reduce numbers of journeys by grouping services together.

vi) Service providers need to be innovative to anticipate and overcome challenges and opportunities. This might mean diversifying the service offer (for example the village pub taking over the shop or post office function); or it might mean collaborating with others to jointly share and reduce the overheads of providing services (e.g. a dentist located at a doctor’s surgery; a village hall hiring out its kitchen space on an occasional basis to local food producers; or accommodating a hairdresser for some time each week).
Delivery Mechanisms
Service delivery to rural areas comes from three principle sources:

1. Public sector: delivering both essential and non-essential statutory services including health care, education, childcare, skills and training, social-care, leisure services, accident and emergency services and waste recycling. The location and nature of provision is driven by costs (budgeting and balancing needs against resources) and also political priorities (which can guide the prioritisation of budget). Funding formulae for services may take account of rural needs e.g. there is currently some additional budget available to small rural schools. It is important to note that a number of publicly funded services are often delivered by the community/voluntary sector - for example community run playgroups; and by the private sector - for example contracting out of social-care.

2. Private sector: key services provided by the private sector in market towns and surrounding villages are bus and train services (the former with public subsidy); pubs, restaurants; shops; banks and financial services; postal services and leisure facilities and activities.

3. Community and voluntary sector: a wide range of services including community transport; village halls; information and advice services; as well as sports facilities and clubs; youth activities; lunch clubs and befriending services for the elderly; training and education. There are also growing examples of community ownership of village shops, community space and historic buildings/museums and even pubs, often happening to prevent the loss of a facility. Services provided often rely on grant funding (particularly for capital spend), volunteer support and use fund-raising to supplement user payments. Some of the most sustainable examples complement community provision and motives with commercial income - for example a village hall charging commercial rates for hire for weddings and conferences, and local rates for community activities. Organisations operating this way are sometimes called ‘social enterprises’. Whilst a small number may become formally constituted as a “Community Interest Company”, many more operate elements of social enterprise within their funding structure.

3. Issues and challenges for Rural Service Provision

The provision and accessibility of services in our study area has been affected by a number of issues in recent years, whose impacts are mirrored throughout the rural south-east and rest of UK. These have resulted in:
a decline in the numbers of traditional village based services, including shops, pubs, post-offices, petrol stations, post offices, garages and health services.
a resultant clustering of services in small market towns and larger urban centres
loss of some services from the larger villages and small market towns, particularly their traditional retail function

The principal reasons for this have been:
Policy decisions, to do with cost savings from economies of scale, with providers choosing to deliver services from fewer locations, each with a greater volume of use. This has affected services like health, post offices and also commercial services like petrol stations

Poor returns to individual business owners (like shops and pubs) which mean businesses are no longer viable. Sometimes this is about inability to cover staffing costs and recompense the owner for time spent at the outlet; sometimes about inability to invest in necessary new equipment to remain competitive (which has affected rural garages).

Other challenges have come from changing population and life-style patterns, affecting patterns of demand:

Decrease in young people in rural areas who cannot afford to make their home here. The Visioning Horsham Report identifies this as an important trend for our Study Area, and suggests that if higher growth objectives are to be pursued, it will be essential to challenge the trend of loss of young people and retain younger adults in the area. This will require affordable housing, and also be about the provision of the type of services which they demand, and which many smaller centres currently do not provide.

Increase in the numbers of people who work outside the rural community, and who access services at, or near, their place of work because it is more convenient (e.g. lunch-time shopping, supermarket shopping on the way home).

Increase in demand for services out of traditional working hours and competition from providers elsewhere who accommodate this (e.g. late opening of supermarkets and services like hairdressers in larger towns).

The growth of internet sourcing of goods, information and advice.

Growth of home-based leisure activity, replacing some demand for local social opportunities - like computer games, DVDs, social networking sites and drinking in the home as oppose to at the pub because of drink-drive legislation.

Growth of the experience economy, with consumers spending higher proportions of their incomes on experiences like holidays, restaurants, cinemas and leisure activities, driving jobs growth in these sectors. The main implications for rural areas are a growth in demand for rural leisure and tourism opportunities and facilities; local jobs growth and demand for service sector skills.

The combined effect of loss of local services and substitution with those located further away, or provided by internet, has particular implications for certain sections of the population. These changes can disproportionately affect those without access to private transport or the internet - typically those who are older and/or on lower income.

Some change has positive indications for rural service provision and the vitality of centres. Of interest are:

Flexible work locations: growing numbers of people who work from home, whether for themselves or as remote workers, and whether full or part time - enabled by technology. This means people choose to move their work to where they want to live rather then the traditional trend of living near work. Our study area has proved attractive to home workers, and micro businesses, and our research suggests that these people tend to use local services and spend more of their income locally than out-commuters. However, this sector (who tend to be more adept users of technology) may prove less likely to use some local services, which they source on-line.

Growing interest in sourcing goods and services locally reflecting ‘green’ concerns coupled with rising fuel costs. This is reviving interest from some in the village shop, farm shop and local small and independent retailers.

There is a body of opinion that these two trends will be a driving force in the regeneration of rural services, because increasingly people will want, and choose, to access things locally. An article in Times Online in December 2006 presented a vision for a future where climate change concern drove a growth in home working:

“people will move to places that offer the facilities they need or aspire to. Having a good range of schools, shops and healthcare facilities within affordable range will become vital, leading to the resurgence of the old market towns as the hubs for the local physical economy”

Key factors impacting the accessibility of services in rural areas can include:

i) diminution of public transport to service locations: access is affected by loss of public transport services, but also affected by
poor routing and linkages to other transport types
poor timetabling
an infrequent, irregular service - meaning, for example, that it cannot be used regularly to commute to work and college, or to visit larger centres in the evening
congestion at peak times

ii) lack of information and co-ordination of information: meaning people are not aware of what is available, where and when; or of alternatives which better meet their needs. This can mean that despite latent demand, services close because they fail to attract users.

iii) costs of travel (particularly where someone is car reliant). Costs of travel time can also be a factor - for example travel to access business services or staff training can impact on the profitability of a small rural business.

iv) individual circumstances - like disability, lack of childcare and working hours that make access to services provided in office hours only problematic.

4. Sustainable Rural Services: Good practice

An active community of people with an interest in sustainable rural communities has become established, with a number of organisations - such as Action for Market Towns and South-East Rural Towns Partnership - providing a forum to share experiences and good (and less successful) practice. Below we focus on the main issues identified for our study area, and identify some of the ways in which other localities are addressing the provision of sustainable services.
Declining retail base in the market town
For many small market towns the major issue faced is a declining retail base in the face of strong competition from elsewhere. This results in vacant shops, a high turnover of retailers and decline in the range and quality of goods available locally, leading to less sustainable transport patterns. It can also impact other services - for example banks and food outlets may be adversely affected by loss of retail trade and also be lost. Initiatives and approaches focus on capturing back the spend of local residents and/or attracting new spending by improving a town’s role as a visitor destination.

Successful initiatives and approaches fall into seven broad categories:
marketing the town/village centre as a whole
improving quality and attractiveness of established retail outlets
supporting established retailers to innovate to trade at higher levels of income;
establishing - and marketing - a new focus/identify for the town
establishing/strengthening the centre’s role as a local food and produce centre
improving loyalty to local shopping
physical improvements to effectiveness and attractiveness of town centre

Annex 1 (page 1 of the annexes at end of this report) summarises some of the more successful initiatives and approaches under each of these headings.

Our review of best practice indicates that the following are particularly important to implementing successful approaches:
a clear direction and plan of action, with a champion to move it forward (for example a town centre manager)
the involvement of retailers themselves - ideally this involves working with, and through, an active community of retailers and retail service providers - often through a retail traders action group, Chamber of Commerce or similar. It is important that this group share a vision for the centre
direct working with major retailers, where they exist, who have a significant interest in the success of the centre, and may be able to unlock investment funds
an eye-catching, effective and co-ordinated information and marketing campaign which regularly reminds people about the attractions of the centre.
Loss of commercial services from village centres
The main issue for our study area is the loss, or threatened loss of shops, and also of petrol stations which often have a sub-function as a local convenience store. In some cases shop closure is linked to the loss of income from post offices. Also common is the loss, or decline, of the village pub, although this has not been identified as a major issue for the study area through our research.

The main approaches to addressing this have involved:
community ownership of the village premises, so that the shop rent can be kept at an affordable level for the operator (there are also examples of community ownership of the village pub)
revitalisation of layout or the range of goods offered, often through the introduction of more local produce to differentiate from competitors elsewhere
community loyalty campaigns - Use It or Lose It - with the message regularly being relayed to residents
introduction of new forms of income and services. Examples include collection service for deliveries, veg-boxes
grouping of services - this takes the concept of the combined shop and post office further and involves providing a number of commercial (or income generating) services under one roof. Examples include the sale of some essential goods from the village pub.

All of these approaches have met with mixed success, and whilst there are examples where community ownership works well, there are others where even with community ownership the shop has closed.
Service hubs
Service hubs are about delivering a range of services from one building, or group of buildings. This can enable the cost effective provision of a range of services locally, both commercial and non-commercial. To date examples developed include:
use of the village/community hall for information and advice services, perhaps the incorporation of a tourist information centre/point or outreach place for pension service advisers
use of the village hall/community space to support businesses through the hire of meeting space: Billingshurst is a good example of this (although users are primarily public sector)
use of the village/community hall or school for adult education and other training activities
use of the village/community hall for outreach medical services, most commonly baby clinics, but there is scope for other services to be offered
health centres which bring a variety of health and healthy living related services together.

Other innovative options being discussed and developed include:
Centres for Children (as is being completed in Billingshurst) which combine childcare with family support and advice and social opportunities
information/resource/training centres which include informal meeting or café space, perhaps targeted at young people
tourist/visitor attractions which provide a retail outlet for local produce and perhaps café space
provision of grouped business support services including advice and meeting space and commercial services like copying/printing.
5. Detailed Analysis of Service Provision in Billingshurst and its hinterland

This section reports on the findings of a detailed Audit of Provision for services within Billingshurst itself, and the surrounding villages and rural areas, as well as issues identified through discussions with stakeholders. We also identify the key peripheral centres and the higher level, and competing, services that they provide.

The Audit of Provision looked at the following types of service:
Medical
Retail, post office and retail services
Schools, colleges and lifelong learning
Community space
Sports facilities
Arts and cultural activities
Tourism, hospitality and visitor facilities
Information, advice and public services
Services for the elderly
Services and activities for young people
Services for families
Financial, legal and professional and business services
Community groups and community support infrastructure
Public and community transport services
Employment space

We consider for each of these service types:
the provision and spread of service to the study area
issues relating to provision of this service within the study area

To accompany this report, we have provided the project sponsors with an Excel workbook which sets out the specific services identified for each village and in Billingshurst. Other local partners interested in copies of this information can contact Billingshurst Community Partnership.

5.1 Analysis by Service Type
Medical services
There are General Practice (GP) surgeries at three locations in the study area: Billingshurst, Rudgwick and Loxwood. These are multi-doctor surgeries which provide the normal range of services associated with a small medical practice - GP appointments, practice nurse and specialist advice and support clinics (for example for babies, diabetic, asthma).

Certain parts of the study area are served by surgeries in peripheral centres - including Pulborough, Southwater, Horsham, Cranleigh and Cowfold. Pulborough has a new Primary Care Centre which provides GP facilities and also a cluster of other health related services (district nurses and health visitors, social services day centre and houses the Mary How Trust for Cancer Prevention).

The maximum distance to GP facilities for study area residents is about 4-5 miles. However, there are issues with access to GP services for people without access to private transport. Research behind the West Sussex Accessibility Strategy measured the proportion of households who could access GP facilities within 30 and 60 minutes by public transport in different “transport plan areas”:
for Horsham transport plan area, 25% households without cars are more than 30 minutes from a GP by public transport, and 39% who have a car in the household (n.b: having one car in the household does not always mean it is easily made available for trips to the doctor)
for Chichester transport plan area, 57% households without cars are more than 30 minutes from a GP by public transport, and 63% who have a car in the household.

Billingshurst is served by hospitals to Billingshurst are at Horsham, with Worthing and Princess Royal at Haywards Heath providing A&E facilities. The north-west parts of the area are served by Haslemere and Guildford Hospital and parts of the West by St Richards in Chichester. Residents in the area may be affected by the outcome of proposals to downgrade St Richards in Chichester. Again, access to hospital by public transport is an issue:

For Horsham transport plan area
83% households without cars are more than 30 minutes from a hospital by public transport, and 92% who have a car in the household.
20% households without cars are more than 60 minutes from a hospital by public transport, and 32% who have a car in the household.
For Chichester transport plan area
56% households without cars are more than 30 minutes from a hospital by public transport, and 66% who have a car in the household.
8% households without cars are more than 60 minutes from a hospital by public transport, and 17% who have a car in the household.

Because of this, the role of community transport to take people to medical appointments is important to the area and all the villages are covered by some form of community transport service, whether village based or operating out of Horsham, Cranleigh etc. to provide this support.

There is a dental surgery in Billingshurst and also one on Rudgwick. However, the Billingshurst practice does not provide NHS care. Otherwise there are surgeries at Cranleigh, in Horsham and at Southwater. There are two vet practices in Billingshurst, one near Wisborough Green and one in Alfold.
Billingshurst retail, post office and retail services
Billingshurst centre provides a range of convenience shops, including a Budgen supermarket, butcher, bakers, wine shop and Burdfields Country Market, which sells local produce and a range of luxury and ‘whole foods’. There is also a small Tesco Express near the station.

Non-food shopping is relatively limited, and fairly functional. The village has two hardware/DIY stores, an electrical goods store, chemist, stationers and a good sports shop. There is also a local garden produce shop, and a larger agricultural/garden centre (Scats) on the edge of the village. There is only one clothes shop (ladies clothes). There are also several charity shops.

There is relatively high rate of vacancy (at least 5-6 units currently). Retailers feel that the presence of vacant shops has a negative impact on the image of the centre for shoppers, as well as for other potential traders. Whilst the level of vacancy is perceived as high, it is important to note that many small towns do experience similarly high vacancy rates, and have seen increases in vacancy reflecting the retail climate over the past year. Centres with a large proportion of independent retailers do have a tendency to higher vacancy and a natural ‘churn’ of units.

The centre contains a number of high quality retailers who trade successfully, and are important in that they attract customers in from the wider catchment area - these include Jim Hills Sports and Austen’s (homewares and hardware), and the more recently established Burdfields Country Market (local and speciality food) and DK Vintners. Budgen also told us that they trade successfully, although assess that their trade is predominantly local (from the village).

Retail (shop-front) services include a number of hairdressers, travel agent, dry cleaner and shoe repair. There is also a post-office.

In terms of what provision would boost and attract more people to the centre, stakeholders interviewed for this study feel the key thing is attracting comparison goods shops - like gifts, clothes and shoes - into the vacant units. They felt this would both increase visits and encourage shoppers to spend more time wandering through the village, rather than visiting to purchase a specific item and then leaving. However, it is recognised that footfall might not support such outlets. Retailers identified examples to us of others who had tried to establish such units in the village but found that trade did not support costs, and subsequently closed. To succeed, new business need to generate their own market and attract people into the village, rather than relying on established footfall.
Parking in Billingshurst
Billingshurst has two car park areas - one between the library and rear the shops near Budgen, and the second at Jengers Mead. Parking is a topical issue following the introduction of charges at the privately owned Jengers Mead car park. However, traders told us that parking was already limiting trade prior to this change. The two village centre car parks do not link up, and the “library” car park - which is more accessible to Budgen - fills up early in the day.

Village shops and post offices
The hinterland is relatively well served with village shops, with shops in six of the villages and only Shipley, Coolham, Kirdford and Itchingfield without (although Barns Green, 2 miles from Itchingfield is the centre for most services in Itchingfield parish). Kirdford
Stores closed relatively recently and the Village Shop Association is trying to set up a new facility in another building. The larger villages of Barns Green, Rudgwick, Loxwood, Alfold and Wisborough Green all have some additional retail - for example a farm shop at Rudgwick and Barns Green, butcher and gift shop at Loxwood - or retail service outlets like a village hairdresser.

With village shops and post offices tending to locate together, the hinterland is also currently relatively well-served with sub-post offices. All the village shops but Ifold house a post office, although the Slinfold post office is not open every day. However, Kirdford recently lost its post office when the shop shut, and Barns Green is currently threatened with reduction to an outreach service as part of the Post Office rationalisation. Where there is no post office service, the next closest facility is about 3-4 miles away - whether in other villages, Billingshurst or locations like Southwater, Broadbridge Heath or Horsham.

Many parishes, through their parish plans, identify the need to promote local use of the village shop and post office (“Use it or lose it”) in order to ensure survival.

When asked what changes to services would encourage people to use their local village more, the main areas identified related to shopping. One quarter said a better range of goods in the village shop, and 18% said having a village shop or post office. A better range of shops and longer opening hours were also identified.

Superstores
The closest locations for study area residents include Broadbridge Heath (where there is a large and expanding Tesco Extra); Horsham (Waitrose and Sainsburys) and Pulborough (Tesco Express and Sainsbury’s). Stores in Cranleigh (Sainsburys) and Haslemere (Tesco) also service people in the north-east parts of the study area.

Distance to superstore is relatively significant (over 10 miles) for residents in parts of the study area, including Alfold, Plaistow, Kirdford and Shipley parishes. Whilst this distance will help encourage the use of the village shops and Billingshurst provision for some food shopping, for the majority who travel to do food shopping by car, it is as easy to travel to one of the competing centres as to travel to Billingshurst.
Petrol stations
Billingshurst does not have a petrol station any more, and the only services within the study area are at Alfold and Fiveoaks (north of Bilingshurst). Otherwise petrol is available at Bucks Barn, on the eastern fringe of the study area and at Broadbridge Heath and Pulborough. The greatest distance to petrol for study area households is about 5-6 miles.
Schools, colleges and lifelong learning
The villages, including Billingshurst, are generally well-served with primary schools, with only Kirdford, Alfold and Ifold without one. The nearest schools to these villages include Loxwood, Wisborough Green and Plaistow. The village schools are in general popular with both local residents and those from outside their catchment areas, and there are no proposals currently for rationalisation.
Stakeholders interviewed identify the village primary schools as key to village life and cohesion. Their after school activities are an important element of provision for children and, for many working parents, used as a valuable form of after school care.

The Weald school (circa 1,500 pupils) in Billingshurst is the catchment secondary school for the study area. It plays an important role in Billingshurst, bringing in young people from a wide hinterland (80% from outside Billingshurst village), and also some 200 staff - making it the largest local employer. The school is popular and often oversubscribed, and most young people in the catchment area attend. Some sixth formers travel to the colleges in Horsham and Godalming.

The Weald is also an important provider of after school activities for young people (with late buses twice a week) and as a “dual use school” provides sports facilities for the wider community, hosts adult education provision as well as being used as a venue for a variety of community activities and events.

The “extended schools” agenda has scope to play an important role in improving the provision and sustainability of services in a number of ways, by
encouraging the availability of school facilities and premises for other community uses
enhancing the provision of after school activities and childcare (although there are some important issues of staffing and cost to address here)
improving access to support for parents and families
bringing village schools and The Weald together to plan, co-ordinate and share services.

Lifelong learning opportunities are provided within the area at a number of locations:
Chichester College, Brinsbury Campus - located 3 miles south of Billingshurst on the Pulborough road. Brinsbury has a traditional specialisation in courses linked to land-based industries/rural issues. Chichester College offers a range of full and part-time courses as well as short courses targeted at local (West Sussex) businesses. Short course provision is demand-led and Chichester tries to respond to employer demand for training. On-line course information indicates that provision at the Brinsbury campus does, however, have a strong bias to land-based and craft skills, with a more limited local offering of courses relevant to, for example, the retail and business services sector.

Adult Education provision based at The Weald School and Village Hall in Billingshurst - a variety of courses are offered including cookery, computing, food safety, exercise classes, French and photography.
Shipley, Loxwood and Rudgwick Village Halls are designated Adult and Community Learning Centres. However, we understand that provision here is limited to exercise classes and some art classes. Whilst a number of parish plans identify a demand for village based classes, ensuring adequate numbers to support a class can be problematic.
Transport to Brinsbury is provided by college bus from Pulborough station, with service buses en-route from Horsham to Pulborough also stopping.
The nearest higher education opportunities for study area residents include Brighton (University of Sussex and Brighton University); Chichester University, and University of Surrey at Guildford (all about 45 minutes drive away).
The businesses interviewed indicated that they do have problems finding new staff with appropriate skills, and that replacing a skilled and valued employee can be problematic. This is partly about the cost of living in the area, and relative shortage of younger workers. For some the favoured approach in this situation is to find the ‘right person’ then work with the college or training providers to address gaps in their technical skills.
Community space
Billingshurst Village Hall (BVH) is a large facility which offers a good range of meeting and function rooms and attracts a wide range of users. Regular activities hosted include a youth club, lunch club for older people, sports activities (badminton etc) and Billi-rox (live music for young people, in part organised by young people). It is also an important meeting venue with regular hirers including the local Primary Care Trust and West Sussex County Council. Although meeting space is available to businesses, take-up is fairly limited. The centre manager suggests that this is probably more about lack of awareness and direct marketing to them, combined with an already busy booking schedule, than lack of demand. Commercial income helps support the centre’s running costs and enable the provision of affordable community activities. BVH also hosts a good range of theatre, music and film events.
Otherwise community space in Billingshurst comprises the church halls, which run a programme of church linked social activities and the facilities at The Weald School, which can be hired, together with the Women’s Hall.
All the hinterland villages have village halls, and stakeholders interviewed reported that (allowing for some constraints with respect to age and layout) village hall facilities were of good quality, enabling a range of uses. For most of the villages, the village hall is the centre for activities and clubs (unless there is also a sports pavilion). Most halls list a busy programme of activities - one parish council representative commented “it is hard to find time to let the cleaners in”. Some halls are able to attract some commercial lettings (e.g. weddings, meetings) to supplement their income, and support community services.
The manager at BVH commented that he has tried to establish relationships with other suitable halls to pass on bookings that can’t be accommodated, but this has proved difficult to implement.
As elsewhere, village halls face the challenge of funding upgrades to facilities to allow them to continue to house certain activities and meet user demands. A number of local parishes identify the need to secure improvement funds as a priority.
Sports facilities
In Billingshurst the provision of sports facilities has seen recent and continuing improvement:
The new Billingshurst Sports and Recreation Club at Jubilee Fields, provides 5-6 football pitches, a good quality cricket pitch and new pavillion with changing rooms and bar. Jubilee Fields also has a fishing lake and informal woodland recreation area. The new facility was funded from a range of sources including Landfill Tax (Biffa), “Section 106” money (contributions from housing developers for community facilities) and contributions from the Football Foundation, Parish, District and County Councils. We understand there is interest from clubs and local individuals in establishing other sports activities here.
Facilities at the “dual-use” Weald school site are already used by the public, and will be enhanced by a new Swimming pool, with associated gym and other leisure facilities, due to complete this summer. The facility will be run by Horsham Leisure Link. Currently the nearest leisure centre for most study area residents is at Horsham (or Cranleigh or Haslemere for some living in the north and west of the area).

The former (parish council owned) cricket pitch offers further opportunities, and there is the possibility of creating an astroturf ball park for basketball, with adjacent associated public open space or garden

All the hinterland villages have a playing field or recreation ground with pitches for cricket, football and sometimes stoolball. Several of them also have a sports pavilion and tennis courts. The best provided villages boast a range of sports - for example Loxwood has a sports pavillion with bar, fitness centre, squash and snooker. Alfold, Wisborough Green and Barns Green have a social club based within their sports pavillion (or village hall).

Many of the villages have three of four active sports clubs (usually football, cricket, stool ball, tennis and/or netball), and Kirdford provides a children’s football club. The stakeholders interviewed felt that take-up of sports opportunities was good in most villages, although for some getting younger adults to participate can be a challenge (reflecting in large the population make-up of families and older people). Parish plans indicate that a number of villages would like to further improve provision of sports options at their village facilities. Most villages also have some form of weekly fitness/pilates to yoga class(es) in the sports pavillion or village hall.
Arts/cultural activities
Billingshurst Village Hall hosts a good range of theatre, music and film events. Many of these come to the hall via Horsham District Council arts officers, and increasingly drama groups will make direct approaches to the venue.

Most villages have something happening, most common are:
village amateur dramatics groups
art classes
art appreciation groups
art and craft exhibitions
music events - annual festivals, jazz nights
film nights.

The latter three are used as fund-raisers for other community-based activities.

Outside the study area, there are theatres at Horsham, Worthing, Chichester and Guildford, and also at Christ’s Hospital.
Tourism, hospitality and visitor facilities
Billingshurst village centre provides two cafes/tea-rooms, several pubs as well as Indian and Chinese restaurants/takeaways. Recent additions have been a new higher quality Chinese restaurant and tea shop/café within Burdfields. This is welcomed by stakeholders interviewed who commented that the offer was previously too limited and rather ‘down-market’. All the villages but Ifold have at least one pub, and several a social club that acts as a bar for residents in the evening. Wisborough Green is the only village with a tea-room.

Although it is attractive, the area does not have a strong tourist or visitor draw. It doesn’t contain any significant large historic tourist attractions and is less attractive to walkers than the downland villages to the south. Most of the villages have some sort of B&B accommodation (sometimes in the village pub), but only one facility is listed in the “Enjoy Sussex” Accommodation Guide. Hotels are limited to a Travelodge at Stane Street (north of Billingshurst), and one near Slinfold (both off the A29). Attractions within, or close to the area include:
Fishers Farm - a large farm based visitor attraction for children, which attracts some 140,000 visits each year
Wey & Arun Canal, accessible at Loxwood and the Wey-South path which runs north-south, between Billingshurst and Wisborough Green
Shipley Windmill and nearby Knepp Castle
Historic churches in certain of the villages
Pulborough brooks and The Mens (both important destinations for wildlife and birds)

It is noticeable that, unlike many other market towns on the area, there is no tourist information centre in Billingshurst, or any of the surrounding villages.

The Visioning Horsham report identifies a critical role for the rural area and market towns in developing visitor spend. Opportunities particularly exist around walking (for example town trails and nature walks, and also providing links from villages to the Wey-South trail)) and cycling, perhaps linked to stations, which in turn would generate retail and hospitality spend. There is also scope to build on the wider areas archeological assets, which include Bignor Roman Villa (located south-west of Pulborough and very recent finds in Pulborough itself.
Information, advice and public services
Billingshurst library is open every day (except Sunday), including late opening on Friday evening. Otherwise library services to the hinterland are provided as a mobile service (generally visiting fortnightly). On the periphery of the study area library services are available at Horsham, Southwater and Cranleigh, making the maximum journey to a fixed library service about 6-7 miles.

Face-to-face advice and support services within the study area are limited to a Citizen’s Advice Bureau in Billingshurst, open one afternoon a month. Otherwise, people can access services at Horsham, Southwater or Cranleigh.

Information about public sector services is provided through the parish office in Billingshurst. Other locations for information include the GP surgeries (health and related information), and - when it opens - the new Centre For Children will be an important location for family focused support.

The main channels for information about services within each parish are the Parish magazine, village notice-board and increasingly parish websites. All but three of the parish councils have a website (although Alfold website is under construction) and some are of particularly high quality, with a range of good information and links. However, websites (Loxwood is an exception) tend not to signpost to the sites of neighbouring villages, although some will carry information about essential services outside their parish (e.g. doctors surgery). Parish Plans indicate that, in some cases, a perceived lack of local service by residents results from a lack of information, and make a commitment to improve the provision of information to residents through the above channels.

The stakeholder interviews revealed that word of mouth and informal contact is very important. Village representatives interviewed felt that local people are aware of services, with information readily available.

Sharing of information between the villages is mainly through parish clerks - forwarding information and notices. This is an important channel, and partly depends on personal relationship between the parish clerks. The Billingshurst parish clerk shares minutes with neighbouring villages. Otherwise information sharing is fairly ad-hoc and depends on individual events and activities being advertised elsewhere by their promoters.

The local paper is a key source of information about what is happening in Billingshurst and in other villages. The library is also an important location for information about activities and services, with library staff facilitating the spread of information through their local knowledge.

Our research suggests there is more scope for sharing of information about events and activities between Billingshurst and the villages, and also between villages.

Communication from Horsham District Council is reported as good with lots of information being shared with the parishes.
Services and activities for the elderly
The study area is served by local authority day care services in Horsham and Cranleigh, with associated transport available. Day-care is also offered by the private nursing home in Billingshurst.

Within the study area, there are privately operated residential care homes in Billingshurst and Slinfold, with further private and local authority provision in Horsham, Petworth, Cowfold and Pulborough.

Billingshurst Village Hall hosts a fortnightly lunch-club, which is well attended and provides transport in from outlying areas (using the community mini-bus). This is funded by the District and County Councils. Several other villages indicated that they run regular ‘friendship groups’ for older residents. The parish representatives that we spoke to generally felt that older people were well supported within their communities. The presence of village shops and post offices in many of the villages will also play an important role.

Elderly people are the major users of community transport services, and in its Older People’s Strategy Horsham District Council identifies the need to promote awareness and use of these services, expanding opportunities, for example through greater use of its Dial-a-ride scheme for shopping trips and excursions. Other priorities identified in the strategy are for more fitness opportunities for the 50 plus age group, and raising awareness of opportunities for social, learning and leisure activities amongst this group through a series of “Life is for Living” events.
Services and activities for young people
The village of Billingshurst is relatively well-provided with youth club type facilities, with well-used clubs on The Weald site, at the village hall, as well as provision through the churches; in addition to the innovative and popular Billi-rox nights. Spin-offs from the village hall club have included a table tennis club and possible boxing club. There is also a possibility of further enhancing services as part of development at Station Road. The youth clubs are primarily used by Billingshurst residents, but do periodically bring groups of friends in from the other villages within The Weald school catchment.

Barns Green, Slinfold and Plaistow all have successful once a week youth clubs, and there are hopes of starting a club in Rudgwick. Wisborough Green have also identified the need for a club, but premises are an issue, hence are looking at organising use of community transport to other provision. Clubs are reliant on a range of funding - from the County Council (which typically will fund 2.5 hours a week for a youth worker) and District Councils; and also through Action in Rural Sussex.

In general youth clubs in the area (and elsewhere in rural West Sussex) are vulnerable and prone to closure. This is not about demand from users, but about availability of staff and volunteers, and the ability to survive when a key staff member moves on. There can also be problems with tight funding. The Youth Service does some work to bring youth club personnel together, to build a mutual support network and share purchasing opportunities, but resources for this are limited. If staff and volunteers were better supported and better connected with each other, a more sustainable range of facilities in the area might result. Stakeholders identified a problem with finding youth workers to run clubs - this is partly about travel times in the rural area linked with part-time hours, and partly a national problem (red tape puts candidates off).

Youth clubs tend to operate in the term time only, and the holiday clubs programme based at The Weald is reported as always fully booked, with un-met demand for additional provision, particularly in other villages.

Horsham District Council recognises that, with sports provision in the area recently enhanced, there is a need to focus on improving informal leisure opportunities for young people. The strategy commits to working with local communities to explore needs, identify solutions and set up new activities. A need to make better use of community transport is recognised, linking young people to facilities in other villages and Horsham.
Services for families
The audit has identified a reasonably large choice of registered child-minders in the area although, reflecting population concentrations, immediate options for those in the more rural areas are more limited. Most of the villages have a playgroup or pre-school provision, based at either the school or village hall.

Childcare (day-care) services in Billingshurst are well-used and will be much enhanced when the new Centre for Children completes in August/September 2008. This will bring a new range of parent and family support services and facilities to the village, and expand both day and before and after school places. After school activities at the village primaries and Weald schools also play an important role in providing childcare.

Users of existing day and after-school facilities are predominantly local (for example 87% of those who use Billingshurst come from the village). There are issues with extending use to the surrounding villages because of the costs of transporting children, coupled with predominant demand for short after-school sessions from parents.

It is anticipated that the new parent support services provided at the Centre for Children will attract in from the villages as well. We understand that there are also proposals for out-reach work with village play-groups etc, which may offer another means of bringing services like the library and health visitors to the rural area.

There is likely to be some expansion in services for families through the Extended Schools initiative (see Education section above). However, there are issues with staffing and funding additional services within village locations.
Community groups, volunteers and community support infrastructure
The audit identified - for all the villages, including Billingshurst - active community involvement in organising, delivering and planning services. Interviews with parish representatives confirmed that this is the case. All of the parish councils but Kirdford have completed Parish Plans in recent years, involving consultation with local residents. Section 7 summarises the actions identified in these.

Parish representatives interviewed commented that a small core of local people tend to be involved in planning and delivering community services and events, but they were usually able (with persuasion) to draw in others as needed to make things happen. It was felt that any threat to services would bring out additional community support
“I would expect the community to rally round if our shop was under threat”

The key area where parishes identified problems in getting volunteers and skilled support related to youth provision. A number of villages have had problems in finding professional youth workers to run youth clubs (despite funding for posts being in place) and also volunteers willing to volunteer to run, take over and support youth clubs.

Otherwise some parish councils identified a need for skills to enable them to develop and maintain village web-sites (or someone with these skills to take this on). This is partly about the typical profile of people involved in village life, who are often older and retired.

Our research suggested that whilst there is little formal co-ordination of service provision within villages, this does happen informally, or possibly through the village hall management committee.

Whilst most services in the area are delivered using traditional structures, there are some examples of innovation in the area. Examples include a community owned shop in Slinfold; a village shop association in Kirdford who are trying to re-establish a village shop and Plaistow Communications which provides a village based Wi-fi service as there is no broadband access. These innovative approaches tend to be triggered by a threatened loss (for example of the local shop) or result from a perceived gap in service provided through traditional means.

In terms of advice and support to community groups and projects, stakeholders identified Action in Rural Sussex (AiRS) (the rural community council) as important. AiRS are also an important conduit to funding for community projects. The district and county councils are also important, both for direct funding and also for support and advice on accessing other funds. Large projects - like the Centre for Children and new sports facilities in Billingshurst - have involved close working between the local authorities, as core service providers, and community groups.
Financial, legal and professional and business services
Billingshurst has branches of three of the major banks and also a building society. There are no banking facilities in the other study area villages. Alternative locations for banks include Horsham, Broadbridge Heath, Cranleigh, Petworth and Haslemere. The maximum travel distance to a bank for study area residents is about 7-8 miles.

Billingshurst also contains the offices of several solicitors, insurance brokers, accountants and financial advisers. The peripheral centres (identified above) also provide a range of services. There are also a number of accountants/financial advisers located in hinterland villages (e.g. Ifold, Slinfold, Loxwood and Rudgwick). In practice, most of these professionals will travel to visit clients at their homes/businesses.

Other commonly used business services include commercial cleaning, catering, print/copy services and IT support services. All of these are represented in Billingshurst (or the close surrounding area), with several options in all but the first category.

The business stakeholders interviewed indicated that they like to source business and support services locally where they are available, of good quality and cost effective. They also like to source other supplies locally, but for specialist areas this is often not possible. Where businesses have moved into the town, or also have premises elsewhere, they often persist with established relationships with business service suppliers. There appears to be more scope to bring local businesses together to mutually support each other and source locally, hence more sustainably. The newly re-formed Chamber of Commerce is one useful avenue through which this might happen, particularly as interviewees indicated that many local supply relationships come about through recommendation and word of mouth.
Employment space
Billingshurst contains a range of industrial/office space centred on Gilmans Industrial Estate, Natts Lane; Daux Road and the area around the station. Advertised vacancy here is relatively low. Whilst this space was mostly built some time ago, opportunities to refurbish and upgrade are taken as larger units come free. For example, Franklyn House at Daux Road is currently being refurbished to provide some 8000 sq ft freehold serviced offices.

Billingshurst is the head office for a range of established manufacturing and services businesses, such as Hydrachem, Plasson and AJ Walter aviation. The importance of the aviation sector in the sub-region (because of Gatwick) is apparent in the general occupier profile for the area.

Move on space was an issue for several of our interviewees, who recognise they may not be able to expand and remain local. For example, one major employer told us that they are about to move to larger premises at Burgess Hill, and a smaller business envisages problems when they try to move later in the year. Billingshurst has also attracted new businesses where space becomes available - for example Global Financial moved from Horsham attracted by a unit with parking and the proximity to the station. Office space in the village centre tends to be occupied by professional services businesses.

Elsewhere in the study area there are small clusters of employment space, with more recent developments including Spring Copse at Slinfold, Rosier Business Centre (east of Billingshurst) and Old Wharf (Wisborough Green). There are also units in Alfold and in and around Kirdford. In all these clusters advertised vacancy is currently low.

The need for additional employment space in Horsham district is being reviewed through research and consultation to inform the Local Development Framework (which will guide future development). The Visioning Horsham report considers various scenarios for employment growth and related demand for additional employment space. The study concludes that much of the employment space required by 2026 will need to be accommodated in Horsham Town, and the north-east of the district close to the “Gatwick Diamond”. However:
“employment will also need to be provided in urban/rural areas across the district, driven by factors as small firms wishing to expand without moving too far…., small businesses wishing to locate in more rural areas and the need to ensure that local areas across the district remain sustainable places of employment”

This latter point is of relevance to Billingshurst which has seen recent housing growth, and potentially may see more.

The report goes on to state that:
“growth space for micro-businesses is a priority; particularly in rural areas...high quality space is important to match the quality of the environment”

The report identifies the importance of home-based business in the area. It suggests that there is scope for growing numbers of such businesses, and the potential role that developments like live-work units, or the provision of serviced meeting/business space might play in supporting this growth.

5.2 Travel to services

In terms of access to services the following public bus and train links are important:
Daily (not Sunday) bus services into Horsham from Billingshurst and the study area villages - except for Loxwod, Plaistow and Ifold and Alfold whose daily services are to Cranleigh and Guildford. These services also provide links between some villages and to Pulborough and Petworth. Frequency varies but tends to be two hourly (more frequent service links Pulborough to Horsham through Billingshurst, Brinsbury and Slinfold)
less frequent (twice weekly) buses from the villages on the western side of the study area to Worthing and Chichester.
rail service from London to Bognor Regis and Chichester/Portsmouth which goes through Billingshurst, and also has stations at Horsham. Pulborough and Crawley. The train link is an important attractor of both businesses and residents to Billingshurst.

This pattern of transport does not encourage travel into Billingshurst for services, and hence the innovative Billilinks service was recently introduced. This loops through the villages to the east and west, connecting them with the market town, and runs four days a week (4-6 times a day). The route is demand responsive (needs to be booked) and provided by taxi rather than bus. Our interviews with stakeholders indicate that the service is recognised as a valuable addition to the range of local transport options, although there is scope to improve use. Partly this is about raising awareness. It hasn’t, as yet, proved popular with young people - perhaps because of the need to plan and book use.

As in many other rural areas, the dominant mode of travel to services (outside of walking distance) is the car. Our resident’s survey found that 95% study area residents living outside Billingshurst travel to Billingshurst for services by car, with only 4% using the bus and 3% foot or bike.

Car ownership in the area is very high - 88% of households in Horsham district have a car and 48% have two cars. Whilst this means many can access a range of services, it also means that providing the regular commercial bus services needed for non-car users is an issue. Our research, and other studies highlight that those particularly affected by relatively poor transport access to services in the area are young people, and the elderly. All those without regular access to a car will be affected however, including those in one car families where the car is used by one partner to travel to work everyday.

The West Sussex RASP report identifies three wards in the study area as amongst those with the worst access to public transport - Plaistow, Billingshurst & Shipley and Wisborough Green.

Given current travel patterns, it is unlikely that the area will see any significant improvement in bus travel services in the near future. Indeed background research to the Horsham Local Development Framework identifies that use of public transport in the area is low, and suggests that the provision of more and better public transport may not lead to greater use. Our survey of study area residents found that if public transport were better, 4% of infrequent users of Billingshurst would use the centre for services more and 6% residents of other villages would use the centre more.

The focus on car transport tends to favour those service centres with ample and free parking over those without. Billingshurst loses trade to locations like Pulborough and Broadbridge Heath for this reason.

Because of the limited reach and relatively infrequent bus service, community transport plays an important role in the area for non-car users - particularly the elderly and disabled and others who need to access essential services like doctors and hospitals. The area is served by a number of community transport schemes, mostly village focussed (although Horsham Area Community Car scheme and Age Concern also provide a general link to Horsham). The range of schemes can be confusing, but there is evidence that providers are beginning to work together better to list their services in local media (for example in the Billingshurst Parish Council newsletter). All the parishes are committed to maintaining community transport services, and improving awareness if services available.

Public transport to shopping for many locations is problematic and infrequent, hence the popularity of the services like the “sainsburys bus” for non-car users. Whilst this provides a valuable service to non-car users, it can also threaten more local spend. The innovative Billilinks service has been set up to provide similar access to shopping in the market town.

5.3 Service provision in peripheral centres

The pattern of use of services in the area is strongly influenced by the provision in, and proximity of, other centres. Most important to Billingshurst and its hinterland villages are:

Horsham (8 miles from Billingshurst village centre): market town providing a more extensive range of comparison and food shopping and retail services. Horsham also provides a hospital (but not A&E), leisure centre with swimming pool, district council offices and tourist information. Horsham is an important office centre, with an associated range of business services

Broadbridge Heath (6 miles from Billingshurst village centre): on the edge of Horsham and location for a large Tesco Extra with an extensive range of non-food goods and café and other out of town retail/DIY. There is also a leisure centre here. The Tesco store is currently being expanded

Pulborough (6 miles from Billingshurst village centre): small market town with a similar range of convenience and functional local shops and community services to Billingshurst, but also home to a Tesco Express and edge of village Sainsbury’s store.

Cranleigh (13 miles from Billingshurst village centre): small market town with a slightly stronger independent comparison goods offer and a small village centre Sainsbury’s store.

Guildford and Crawley (20 and 16 miles from Billingshurst village centre): major retail centres with a full complement of multiple retailers and department stores. They are also both major employment and entertainment centres.
6. Comparison of Billingshurst with Small Rural Towns in the Surrounding Area

As we are using Billingshurst as a model for a small rural town it is important to consider how ’typical’ the centre is. Below we compare important elements of service provision with other small rural towns in the area - Steyning, Storrington, Henfield, Petworth, Pulborough, Midhurst, Cranleigh and Haslemere.

Population and status Haslemere 16,000 Cranleigh 11,000 Billingshurst circa 7,000 Petworth 3,000 Other centres 4,000-6,000 n.b: All but Haslemere and Midhurst are officially defined as villages.
Education All have secondary schools, with the exception of Henfield. In Petworth and Storrington these are currently intermediate schools (10-13) only, and the Herbert Shiner Intermediate in Petworth is due to close in July 2008, merging into Midhurst provision.
Comparison retail Haslemere is the largest comparison retail centre with a good range of independent comparison shops and some multiple representation. Midhurst, Petworth, Steyning and Cranleigh all provide a greater range of independents for clothes and gift shopping than Billingshurst. Comparison provision in Storrington, Pulborough and Henfield is at a similar level to Billingshurst.
Food retail Pulborough has two food super-stores, Haslemere has a good sized Tesco. Storrington is soon to have a Waitrose; Cranleigh has a small Sainsbury’s store and Midhurst has a town centre Budgen with good parking and a Tesco Extra. Billingshurst’s Budgen is slightly small than Midhurst, and dedicated parking is much more limited The other centres have smaller supermarkets (e.g. Somerfield). All the centres provide a range of independent food shops (butchers, baker, fruit & vegetables, vintners, and usually a delicatessen and/or local food outlet).
Visitor/tourist draw Petworth and Steyning are small historic centres which attract visitors. Petworth is a specialist location for antiques. Petworth (Petworth House) and Midhurst (Cowdray Ruins and Castle) both have significant historic visitor attractions in, or on the edge of the village. Storrington is close to Parham House. Petworth, Midhurst, Steyning have Tourist Information Centres reflecting their visitor role. Haslemere has a local Visitor Information Centre.

Sports and recreation Cranleigh and Haslemere have leisure/recreation centres with pools (Haslemere is split between 2 sites). Storrington also has a pool and leisure centre on the edge of the village. Completion of The Weald facilities will bring Billingshurst provision in line with these centres. Midhurst has a leisure centre at The Grange with sports halls and a wide range of activities but no pool.
Essential services All the centres have GP surgery (some like Pulborough with some additional services); library (although limited opening in smallest centres), at least 2 banks, garage/car servicing.
Parking All the centres have free parking options, but securing a parking slot close to the shops at busy times can be an issue in all locations. The main difference between Billingshurst and better served competitors is that others have more dedicated parking for food stores, and there is a small charge for an element of Billingshurst’s parking.
Proximity to larger competing centres Billingshurst is slightly closer to Horsham (8 miles) than the other market towns are to their nearest higher order retail centre (most are 10-12 miles away). Haslemere is 16 miles from Guildford, perhaps accounting for its larger retail centre. None of the other centres are as close to a major out of town superstore as Billingshurst is (Broadbridge Heath).

7. Service Use Patterns for Billingshurst and its Hinterland

In this section we present our analysis of patterns of services use for the study area - identifying use patterns for Billingshurst, for the surrounding villages and other centres visited by local residents.

Our analysis of patterns of service use draws on the following survey elements:
A telephone survey of 350 study area residents carried out by Synovate during March/April 2008
A self-completion survey amongst pupils at The Weald School. This produced 144 responses.

Questionnaires are appended at Annex 2 and Annex 3 (pages 4 -14 of the annexes at end of this report).

7.1 Who visits Billingshurst for services?
Local residents
The proportions of residents who visit Billingshurst for services on a reasonably frequent basis are relatively high, of those interviewed:
the majority (94%) visit the town for services sometimes
about 75% visit more than once a month
almost half visit more than twice a week
64% at least once a week.

Analysis of frequent visits suggests that the primary hinterland for services is:
the parishes of Billingshurst and Wisborough Green
extending north-west to include Kirdford, Plaistow and Ifold and:
extending south-east to include Shipley and Coolham.

Billingshurst is the closest larger village centre both distance and time-wise for these locations.

Visits from Loxwood, Slinfold, Rudgwick and Itchingfield parishes are less frequent, with these areas forming the ‘secondary catchment’. In general residents here are closer to one or other of Horsham, Broadbridge Heath or Cranleigh than to Billingshurst (all bigger centres in terms of shopping). Frequent visits from Alfold residents are limited, suggesting it is too distant to fall within the Billingshurst catchment.
Figure 7.1: Source and frequency of visits to Billingshurst
Parish of residence % at least once a week % at least twice a week
Billingshurst 95 82
Wisborough Green 80 77
Kirdford 72 29
Plaistow 60 35
Shipley 61 38
Loxwood 40 23
Itchingfield 38 19
Slinfold 41 19
Rudgwick 26 18
Alfold 13 0

Other visitors
It can be expected that, given the size of the centre and proximity of other service centres, the study area residents will be the source of the majority of trade and service use in Billingshurst. For example, research recently completed by The Welland Partnership of 12 market towns in the east midlands found that on average 80% of a town’s trade came from within a local (6 mile radius) catchment area. However, the village can be expected to attract some visits to use services from residents from outside the telephone survey area. The following was indicated by our research:

Local workers - whilst the locally based employers that we spoke to draw many staff from the immediate area, there are elements of in-commuting from locations like Brighton, Horsham and Chichester. Employers commented that some of their staff would use ‘lunchtime services’ like the post office, banks and bakers/cafes, but that the limited number of shops meant that the town centre was not otherwise a major destination:
“there’s not a lot to go in for”

Walking distance is an important factor here, with many of the centre’s businesses on the southern edge, from where it is as quick to access Pulborough superstores by car as to walk into Billingshurst Village Centre. Employers indicated that a majority of employees tend to drive to work. The Village Hall is an important meeting venue, used particularly by county level public services (e.g. West Sussex County Social Services and the Primary Care Trust). It is likely that an element of these visitors will make some use of other services.

Passing trade - Billingshurst has most scope to capture passing trade travelling to or from the east of the village (A272), otherwise through traffic is routed around the by-pass and there is no significant signposting to indicate services available in the village in the by-pass. There is no formal analysis available of the level of passing trade captured by the town and our own analysis focussed on residents. We did however ask service operators about passing trade and visitors. Retailers in general commented that trade was predominantly local, however one retailer did comment that
“people stop off in the town to use the toilets and then may come in and use the café…we have customers who, once they have done this and know we are here, plan to break their journeys here on other occasions” .

Visitors - the relative lack of historic or tourist features in the village, coupled with the limited number of comparison shops, means that Billingshurst is not a visitor destination (in the way that other small market towns like Petworth, Midhurst and Steyning are).

Specialist service users - where services do not exist in the peripheral centres, visiting from further afield is more likely.

Families of Weald pupils - because the school is popular with catchment residents, only a limited number of places go to pupils from out of the catchment area (which is broadly the same as our study area). These pupils are more likely to travel into the centre by car, as the school will not have to provide bussing for them. Our survey amongst Weald pupils suggests that an element of additional service use by these people is likely.
Age, social class and working status
Analysis of frequent visitors by age, social class and working status suggests the centre attracts a broad spread of people from across its resident types. Similar proportions from all the age categories visit more than once a week, although very frequent visits are more common for those above retirement age. Frequent visitors (more than once a week) are as likely to be working as not-working. Those in the highest qualified and remunerated group (AB) are slightly less likely to visit more than once a week than other social class groups - perhaps because of the higher level of out-commuting to work by this group from the area in general.

7.2 Defining Billingshurst’s retail hinterland
Origin of shoppers

Figure 7.2: Percentage of sample households visiting Billingshurst to purchase:
Parish of residence Main food Additional food items Locally produced food Household items Clothes or presents
Billingshurst 30 84 73 85 35
Wisborough Green 35 90 71 84 58
Kirdford 29 76 48 71 10
Plaistow 10 75 55 70 25
Shipley 23 54 54 62 23
Loxwood 12 54 42 62 17
Itchingfield 3 39 36 30 6
Slinfold 19 56 48 52 11
Rudgwick 3 30 33 39 24
Alfold 25 12 0 12 0
All parishes 20 65 54 65 26

Billingshurst does not feature as a dominant food shopping centre for many residents, even within Billingshurst parish itself:
overall, only 20% of households visit for a main food shopping trip
only 5% of the whole sample identified that they visit Bilingshurst and nowhere else for their main food shopping.

These figures are not surprising given the lack of a major superstore. The majority of those people who rely on Billingshurst as their main food centre are over retirement age.

The strength of the offer for household items (e.g. Austens) is reflected with - in general - similar proportions of households visiting Billingshurst for household items as for “additional food items”. For some parishes - Shipley, Loxwood, Slinfold and Rudgwick - this proportion was actually slightly higher. Thus these shops act as a draw to shoppers, who might otherwise not come for food shopping. The lack of clothing and gift shops (identified through the audit) is reflected, with only small proportions of people visiting to buy these, even amongst very local residents.
Competitive shopping centres
For main food shopping the most important competitive centres are - not surprisingly - those with superstores and most accessible. For the sample as a whole:
47% visit Horsham, 22% visit Broadbridge Heath and 18% Pulborough
Cranleigh attracts 7% households and a further 14% also visit a range of other centres (like Chichester, Guildford and Crawley)
2% said they visit their local village or farm shop, and only 2% said they use the internet for main food shopping.

Destination choices reflect proximity, with Cranleigh, Guildford and Godalming drawing more shoppers from the northern parishes, and Chichester from Wisborough Green and Kirdford. For those places which are relatively remote from superstores (e.g. Kirdford, Plaistow) and with a range of relatively equidistant options, a greater range of centres are visited.

Only 12% of the households surveyed do not visit any centres other than Billingshurst for ‘additional food items’ (to top-up their main food shop). Again proximity is the key factor influencing destinations:
farm and village shops are important - used by 20% overall and more than 25% households in locations outside Billingshurst and Wisborough Green
otherwise people visit Horsham (33%), Pulborough (12%), Cranleigh and Broadbridge Heath (each 10%)
a wide variety of other centres were also mentioned (e.g. Chichester and Guildford) but only by a small percentage in each case.

Interest in purchasing “locally produced food” is growing nationally, and 80% of households identified that they bought this somewhere. This proportion is very high, and although the question asked referred to “locally produced food” it is possible that some interpreted this as including, for example the local baker or butcher (who may sell a variety of local and non-local produce). The main competing centres for locally produced food were the local villages and farm shops. One quarter of all households said that they visited their local farm or village shop for this, and a further 15% named specific villages. Hence as much as 40% of the sample may be sourcing local food from village or farm shops elsewhere. The other key locations mentioned were Horsham (17%), Cranleigh and Pulborough (both 5%).

Despite its popularity for household goods, Billingshurst is again - for most households - only one of a number of centres visited. Only 8% said they didn’t go anywhere else to buy these items. The larger centres are important for these items - 65% households go to Horsham, 20% to Guildford and 8% to Crawley. Cranleigh, Pulborough and Chichester also all attract more than 5% each. Internet shopping was only identified by 3% of households.

The main centre for “clothes or presents” is Horsham (used by 70%), followed by Guildford (38%) and then Crawley (14%). Only 2% identified internet shopping.

Whilst Horsham is the dominant alternative centre throughout the study area, Guildford is as important for residents in the north and western parts of the study area (Loxwood, Alfold) and Cranleigh’s influence is also felt more strongly here.

7.3 Defining Billingshurst’s Hinterland for Other Services
Origin of other service users
Figure 7.3 shows the services most commonly accessed from Billingshurst:
column two shows the proportion of all study area residents who access each service from Billingshurst
column 3 shows the proportion of “service users” (i.e. those who indicated that they access this service from somewhere) who access the service in Billingshurst)
column 4 summarises the origin of users. Percentages quoted are the proportions of the sample of residents in the relevant parish who access the service from Billingshurst. It is important to interpret this information in the context of the sample distribution - about one-third of the sample interviewed identify their closest village as Billingshurst, reflecting the 33%% share of the study area population within Billingshurst parish.

The core catchment for most non-retail services provided in Billingshurst is the parishes of Billingshurst and Wisborough Green. The other parishes which are most dependent upon Billingshurst for a wide range of services include Plaistow & Ifold, Kirdford and Shipley. This reflects both proximity, and service provision in these villages - Kirdford, Ifold, Coolham and Shipley are amongst the less well-served villages.
The services with the strongest draw throughout the study area are banks, waste recycling and restaurants and cafes. However, all the services draw a small number of people from throughout the study area. For doctor’s services, the majority of users are Billingshurst residents, reflecting the general pattern of registering with your ‘catchment’ service.
Figure 7.3: Billingshurst: Catchment for Non-retail services
Service % survey sample who use Billingshurst % service users who use Billingshurst Catchment summary - % parish residents that the service attracts by parish:
Waste recycling 67% 74% >80% from Billingshurst, Wisborough Green and Plaistow; at least 30% from most other areas
Post office 57% 58% 96% from Billingshurst, 86% Kirdford (no local facility); >33% from Slinfold, Itchingfield, Shipley and Plaistow
Banks 54% 56% >75% from Billingshurst and Wisborough Green; >30% from all other parishes except Rudgwick
Restaurants, pubs and cafes 52% 61% 75% from Billingshurst, elsewhere varies from lowest 27% Rudgwick to highest 55% Plaistow
Library/information services 44% 94% >65% Billingshurst and Wisborough Green; >40% from Kirdford and Plaistow
Doctors 43% 43% 93% from Billingshurst, but people also travel from Itchingfield/Barns Green, Slinfold, Shipley and Wisborough Green
Hairdressers 30% 37% Predominantly Billingshurst, but some travel from most other areas
Car repair/servicing 26% 30% Predominantly Wisborough Green and Billingshurst, but some travel from most other areas
Dentist 26% 27% Predominantly Wisborough Green and Billingshurst, but also important for Shipley, Kirdford and Plaistow
Vet 25% 50% Predominantly Wisborough Green and Billingshurst, but some travel from most other areas
Social activities and clubs 25% 42% Strong local focus (Billingshurst) but also a relatively strong draw from Shipley
Sports and fitness activities 22% 47% Predominantly Wisborough Green and Billingshurst, but travel from across the study area in small numbers
Accountancy and legal services 16% 27% Primarily come from Billingshurst then Wisborough Green, Plaistow and Kirdford. Tend to be older residents (65+)
Training and education classes 13% 62% Primarily Billingshurst, Wisborough Green and Plaistow, but people come from across study area.
Business services 12% 29% Predominantly Billingshurst and Wisborough Green. Limited from elsewhere
Social activities for children 11% 58% Billingshurst and Wisborough Green, Shipley and Kirdford, but small numbers from across the study area.
Childcare 4% 50% All from Billingshurst
Competing centres
For each service, interviewees were asked first about their use of Billingshurst, and secondly to identify where they went for this service if they didn’t go to Billingshurst. Reflecting our comments above, sourcing from the other study area villages was important - particularly for post-office, doctor (where surgeries exist at Loxwood and Rudgwick), also restaurants/pubs, car repair, hairdressers and social, sports and services for children like playgroups.
The key competing centre outside the study area is Horsham, which is a destination for all types of service, and Cranleigh is also important. Figure 7.4 compares the relative importance of Horsham as a service destination with Billingshurst, and illustrates that some service users will choose to use a larger, slightly more distant centre for some services that can be found more locally. This will partly be about service differential (e.g. Horsham provides a greater range of business services). For non-differentiated services, like the post office and library, service users are more likely to opt for the closest option. Patterns of working are also likely to play a part, with service users accessing services like hairdressers or the gym at lunchtime or after work.

Figure 7.4: Comparison of Horsham and Billingshurst as non-retail service centres
Service % study area residents sourcing in Horsham % study area residents sourcing in Billingshurst
Dentist 30 26
Vet 11 25
Bank 23 54
Accountants/legal 16 16
Post office 6 57
Business services 16 12
Library/information 14 44
Restaurants/cafes etc 16 51
Hairdresser 18 30
Car repair 15 26
Sports/fitness 13 22
Social clubs and activities 13 25
Training or education classes 4 13

Otherwise there is evidence of small numbers of residents visiting a range of peripheral centres, both large centres and market towns - including Brighton, Chichester, Haslemere, Guildford and Godalming for a range of financial, business and personal services like banks, business services and hairdressers and also for social activities and clubs and restaurants etc.

7.4 Use Patterns for Village Services

Study area residents were asked to identify their nearest or local village. All those identifying a centre other than Billingshurst were then asked whether they used their nearest village for a range of services (Figure 7.5).
Those villages with the best provision of services tend to attract the greater proportion of residents, and here the proportion of residents using the village for services was often as high, or higher, than the proportion of Billingshurst ‘villagers’ who access these services In Billingshurst:
over 90% of those residents who identify Plaistow, Rudgwick or Loxwood as their nearest village use the village for local services
Rudgwick and Plaistow, along with Alfold, attract the greatest proportion of local residents as shoppers. Here, over 50% of residents said they used the village for a ‘main food shop’ and over 65% to buy local produce
Rudgwick and Alfold attract the highest proportions of users for social and sports/recreational type services, involving about half the village residents interviewed (a similar proportion to ‘villagers’ in Billingshurst using such services there).
Shipley, Kirdford and Itchingfield tend to attract smaller proportions of users across the range of services (although Kirdford has a particularly high rate of villagers using arts/cultural activities in the village)

Non-service users tend to be older (75 plus), or from the 18-24 age group, and from less well-off (social class DE) households.

Figure 7.5: Use of villages (other than Billingshurst) for services
Used for: by % interviewees who identified a nearest village other than Billingshurst
Occasional food purchases 67%
Pub/café 66%
Post office 64%
To buy local produce 56%
Occasional non-food purchases 44%
Main food shopping 35%
Arts and cultural activities; social clubs & activities; sports & fitness clubs & activities Each between 20 and 30%
Training & education classes 12%
None of the specified services 13%

7.5 Impacts of Work Patterns
Workers and non-workers
Almost two-thirds of the interview sample told us that they worked (43% of the total full time and 21% part-time). The majority of the remainder were not working (whether retired or for other reasons), and 1% were currently studying full-time. Non-working people proved more likely to make very frequent visits to Billingshurst.

Older and non-working people are more likely than working people to use Billingshurst for the following services:
Main food shopping
Library, information and advice
Accountants, legal and business services

These trends probably reflect a greater level of service use generally and - for older people - less need to do a major supermarket shop.

The patterns for village service use do not support the common perception of an older, retired clientele. Proportions of both non-workers and people aged 65 plus using each village service were generally slightly lower than for the sample as a whole. The only exceptions were use of the post office and use of the village shop for main food shopping (as oppose to incidental shopping) by the 65-75 age group (both slightly above the sample average), and, not-surprisingly, the use of social activities and clubs for older people.
Impact of place of work on use of Billingshurst services
Interviewees were asked to identify where they work so that we could investigate the impact of work location on local service use. Figure 7.6 summarises.

Figure 7.6: Telephone survey sample, place of work
Place of work Number (%) respondents who work there
Billingshurst or Wisborough Green 37 (17%)
Other survey area (local villages, home) 29 (13%)
Horsham 27 (13%)
Peripheral market towns 23 (11%)
Major sub-regional centres (Guildford, Brighton) 13 (6%)
London 13 (6%)
Other 35 (16%)
Flexible/variable location 9 (4%)
Don’t know/refused 7 (3%)
Home-workers 35 (15%)

The profile of those who work outside the study area (“out-commuters”), in terms of place of residence (nearest village) is similar to that for those who work inside the study area, hence it is possible to compare frequency of visits for these two groups of people (Figure 7.7). We have also looked at the pattern for those (35 people) that identified that they worked from home.

People who work in Billingshurst are, not surprisingly, more likely to use this centre for services frequently than those who don’t work there. However, analysis of place of residence of those who work in the Billingshurst shows that the majority (71%) are very local - identifying either Billingshurst or Wisborough Green as the nearest village to their home (the others identified Barns Green, Rudgwick or Slinfold).

The analysis suggests that that where people are working locally, they are more frequent users of their ‘small market town’ (Billingshurst) for services. Rates of frequent use are higher for both those employed within the study area, and those study area residents who work from home.

Figure 7.7: Frequency of visits to Billingshurst for services by place of work
Visits to Billingshurst for services % residents who work in study area % residents who work elsewhere % residents who are home workers
More than 4 times a week 22 17 20
2-3 times a week 35 28 37
Once a week 18 17 23
Twice a month 8 10 11
Once a month 7 10 0
Occasionally 3 12 3
Never 7 6 6

Analysis at a service level (Figure 7.8) indicates:
similar proportions of out-commuters and local workers accessing services like hairdressers and social activities and clubs in Billingshurst
smaller proportions of out-commuters accessing services like banks, library, car repair and servicing and sports/fitness activities - suggesting some elect to use these services near their place of work
home workers in general display a similar pattern of usage to local workers, although there is some variation (for example a greater proportion use the post office in Billingshurst, and smaller proportion use the banks).

The patterns for shopping show that:
a much smaller proportion of out-commuters use Billingshurst for a main food shop, but a greater proportion sometimes use the centre for all other forms of shopping than local workers
a large proportion of home workers use the centre for top-up food shopping, and also to purchase household items.

Figure 7.8: Use of selected services in Billingshurst by work location
Service type Used by % those who work in study area Use by % those who work elsewhere Used by % home- workers
Retail
Main food shop 33 14 26
Additional food items 54 67 89
Clothes and presents 13 33 6
Households goods 56 64 69

Non-retail
Post office 36 61 71
Bank 69 53 57
Library 49 39 45
Hairdresser etc 33 34 34
Car repair and service 39 26 37
Social activities and clubs 25 28 20
Sports/fitness activities and clubs 30 24 26

Impact on use of village services
We also compared use of village services (excluding Bilingshurst) for people who work within and outside the study area. No impact on the proportions that use the shop and post office was suggested, and indeed a greater proportion of those working elsewhere said they use the village pub than those working locally (Figure 6.9). However, a slightly smaller proportion said that they used village based social clubs or activities. The sample size and spread for the village based home-workers is not robust enough to enable analysis for this sector.

Figure 7.9: Use of village services by place of work
Use nearest/local village for % who work in study area % who work elsewhere
Occasional food 82 82
Post office 82 83
Non-food 51 56
Social clubs/activities 41 33
Pub/cafe 74 84

7.6 Service use patterns for young people
Information about service use patterns by young people was gathered through a self-completion survey for pupils at The Weald School. The survey asked young people about which services they used, and where they accessed them. It also investigated the potential impacts of the new swimming and sports facilities on use patterns, and the extent to which the fact that pupils attended the Weald led to greater use of services in Billingshurst by their families.
Shopping patterns for young people
When asked which centres they usually visit to buy clothes or presents, none of the young people identified Billingshurst (despite some 30% of the sample living there). For clothes this is unsurprising as there are no clothes shops for young people. In general young people visit the same set of centres as their parents (as indicated by the household survey), however, Crawley is a much more significant shopping location for young people than it is for the adult sample.

Figure 7.10: Usual shopping locations for young people
Location % sample using for clothes/presents % sample using for CDs, music, DVDs, electrical equipment or books
Horsham 74 55
Crawley 56 37
Guildford 17 12
Chichester 5 3
Worthing 3 0
Other 13 18

One quarter of the sample of young people indicated that they buy clothes and presents through the internet. Only 4% didn’t identify any centres.

Usual shopping centres for CDs, music, electrical equipment or books were similar to those used for clothes, although only 70% sample indicated a physical shopping location for these. This perhaps reflects the importance of internet shopping, with 59% sample using the internet to buy one or more of these items. A handful of young people also indicated that they used smaller centres like Pulborough and Broadbridge Heath for these items.

The young people were asked whether they had bought anything in Billingshurst in the last six weeks. Some 70% said that they had. However, most commonly this involved purchasing food or drink. 25% had bought other goods in the village, most commonly cards or presents followed by sports goods. The majority of those buying non-food goods live in Billingshurst or Wisborough Green, although the survey suggests some travelling in by young people from the surrounding villages to buy sports equipment.
Not surprisingly, the young people who hadn’t bought anything in Billingshurst in the past six weeks tended to live in Horsham or the surrounding villages and rural areas, rather than in Billingshurst itself.

Those young people who hadn’t bought anything in Billingshurst were asked why not. Most commonly this was because they never visited, or said they lived too far away (50% of non-visitors); others said they don’t like the centre, that there were no shops to visit there, or that they prefer to go elsewhere.
After-school clubs
The Weald School plays an important role in providing extra-curricular activities for students, with just under half of the sample attending some form of ‘after school’ club. Most popular were sports clubs, with 36% sample involved in at least one after school sport session. These include a wide range of sports, most popular being team sports and also badminton and tennis, followed by dance/gym and athletics. Otherwise the young people indicated that they attend homework, IT/engineering, music, health, youth and art activities after school.
Place of residence did not noticeably influence involvement in after school clubs, with late buses running on club nights.
Other sports and social activities
Half of the sample of young people attend some form of sports activity other than school clubs. Locations for sports activities are varied, with Billingshurst an important centre, used by one-third of those who take part in out of school sports. Locations for activities indicate involvement in village sports activities and clubs in the larger villages, as well as activities at sports centres in Horsham and Broadbridge Heath. Most commonly young people appear to use their nearest sports option.

Some 35% of the sample of young people attend youth groups or regular social activities for young people. Again the trend is to use the closest facility to home.

The survey suggests that the new swimming pool at The Weald site will be an important draw for young people. Over 70% said that they and/or their family would use the new facility at weekends/evenings. Only 18% said they wouldn’t - the rest were uncertain. We also asked if they thought their families would combine a trip to the pool with a trip to shops, cafes etc. in Billingshurst. Whilst many were uncertain about this, 30% said yes, many of whom live in the hinterland villages and are not currently frequent visitors.
Impact of the secondary school on service use patterns
The survey sought to establish whether the fact that the young people in a family attended the secondary school in Billingshurst had any impact on the family use of Billingshurst for other services. Whilst many respondents were uncertain about this:
one-third felt that it did cause their families to make some extra visits for services like shopping, bank, post-office and library
one-quarter felt that it did cause their families to go to Billingshurst, rather than other locations, for sports, social or entertainment activities or clubs
however, few felt it led to a significant increase in such visits, perhaps reflecting the fact that most pupils from outlying areas come in by school bus.

8. Strategic Context for Service Delivery

In this section we review the strategic context for:
delivering sustainable services in small market towns and their hinterland areas in the south-east, and particularly West Sussex
delivering sustainable services to people within the Billingshurst study area, and from Billingshurst and the other study area villages.

8.1 Regional context
Regional Economic Strategy (RES) 2006-16
The RES sets the context for economic policy in the region and as a headline document guides public sector and local authority funding and priorities.

It identifies as a priority “investment in the economic viability of villages and markets towns”. These strengthened market towns are envisaged as:
being hubs for rural enterprise and training
attracting increased private investment
places where key services are retained and developed to serve the needs of the surrounding area
providing affordable housing.

The RES identifies “Sustainable Prosperity” as one of its three themes, and under this a set of actions to support sustainable communities - centred on ‘green issues’ and also supporting the role of the voluntary and community sector to identify and respond to needs. It also identifies a set of Key Actions for Rural Areas. Those more pertinent to this study include:
supporting small rural towns to become capitals for their surrounding hinterlands
supporting local focussed community based businesses (e.g. village shops)
recognising the importance of micro and home-based businesses and social enterprises to support the rural economy and services
providing a business advice structure for rural businesses
developing new models for collaborative service delivery and maintenance
ensuring the skills to provide services in the rural community
ensuring sites for rural enterprises
affordable housing.
SEEDA Small Rural Towns Programme
This programme was developed in partnership with the Countryside Agency and South East Rural Towns Partnership and launched in 2004 to provide funding (up to 2011) to a range of projects in south-east small rural towns. The funding has also supported the work of the South-East Rural Towns Partnership and County Co-ordinators to work with communities within market towns to help them develop a vision, plans and projects. The funding took forward work initiated by the Countryside Agency to support small towns and villages to come together to carry out a “health check” and develop subsequent action plans. The funding under the programme has now largely been committed. In Billingshurst it has supported the development of the Centre for Children.
LEADER programme
The south-east LEADER programme offers an important opportunity to take forward projects to provide, maintain and enhance sustainable services in the rural area. LEADER money originates from Europe through the Rural Development Programme.

At the time of writing, we understand that approval has been given for funding for a LEADER programme for the Sussex Downs and Low Weald area (which encompasses Billingshurst and its hinterland). The proposed programme contains relevant priorities around:
local food and produce - including supporting retail and local food/produce based businesses and services is rural areas
supporting micro-business and the services for the visitor economy
developing community hubs and the innovative and sustainable delivery of services to the local community
connecting rural communities - supporting communities to become involved in developing cultural, built and environmental heritage

The programme also has a focus on supporting the development of services which involve use of renewable energy technologies.
Rural Access to Services Programme (RASP) 2008-2010
The purpose of the SEEDA led RASP is to contribute to securing the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) target to improve the accessibility of service for people in rural areas. West Sussex partners have been developing a programme, the first stage of which was submitted to SEEDA early this year. The first stage submissions have involved identification of “needs and wants”, from which a range of projects will be developed.

We understand that the RASP will bring some £100,000 a year to West Sussex which will support innovative approaches to bring people to services and services to people, and particularly projects related to community transport and rural service hubs.

8.2 West Sussex context
West Sussex Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS)
The current Community Strategy (2004) will be replaced by new Sustainable Community Strategy from October 2008. West Sussex Local Strategic Partnership is currently consulting on this. The priorities and themes of relevance, identified in the consultation document, are;
A better place to live: services and facilities to match growth in population and businesses; local sourcing/local produce; reducing car journeys, improving ‘green infrastructure’ of the area
Opportunities for all: flexible and affordable land and premises for business; childcare and caring facilities to support working people; careful consideration to rural towns, access to services, transport and affordable housing in the rural area
Better health for all: participation in communities for older people with healthcare and social and leisure activities; sports, leisure and recreation activities for young people
Staying safe: education, training and employment opportunities for young people

The SCS is important because it will lead local partners in preparing action plans, investment programmes and implementing the second Local Area Agreement (LAA2).
West Sussex Local Area Agreement (LAA)
The LAA sets priorities and targets for the allocation of local authority (County and District) funds which originate from central government, to which other funding streams also align. Priorities for 2008-2011 are provisional at present, and - of relevance to sustainable rural services - include:
participation in volunteering
adult participation in sport
young peoples participation in positive activities
reducing numbers of 16-18 year olds not in education, training or employment
supporting vulnerable people to live independently
affordable homes
adult qualifications
access to services and facilities by public transport, walking and cycling.
West Sussex Rural Strategy 2007
This document provides strong support to the concept of well-served rural towns and communities. Amongst its 17 objectives, the following are particularly relevant:
ensure rural West Sussex is an excellent location for business to thrive in
provide and encourage investment in small rural towns so they can be sustainable and viable places for businesses to locate
improve transport and communications infrastructure
improve access to services and facilities
ensure small rural towns evolve as service hubs for service delivery and availability
improve access to healthcare
improve access to key services and community facilities, within their own communities, through outreach or accessible by public and community transport
provide opportunities for young people
maximise the role that older people can play
West Sussex County Transport Plan/Accessibility Strategy 2006-16
The Accessibility strategy is incorporated within the Transport Plan and also feeds into the Sustainable Community Strategy. The strategy identifies four key themes as follows:
access to education
access to healthcare - including health centres, clinics, dentists, pharmacies and hospitals
access to food shops - including local convenience stores, shops and local food producers as well as major food retailers
access to work

The document identifies a need to focus activity on preventing social exclusion and disadvantaged groups and areas, improving accessibility and affordability of travel to key services and a wide range of transport solutions including public and community transport, highways, cycling and walking.
West Sussex County Strategy 2005-9 and Corporate Plan 2008-9
The County strategy guides the medium term delivery of county services, and will be relevant for the coming year, with a new strategy then developed. The document identifies a number of key priorities. Of particular relevance to rural areas and centres are commitments to increase:
use of council and community leisure services
production and purchase of local produce
opportunities for young people
funding and services to support vulnerable people (e.g. elderly and disabled) who are not in residential care.

Annual targets and priorities for county activity and spending are set out in a Corporate Plan. The plan for the current financial year includes a number of key targets of relevance:
increasing public engagement and community participation in countryside activities
increasing bus use and user satisfaction with the service
supporting social enterprises
more sustainable transport to school
implementing the sustainability action plan.

With respect to adult services the corporate plan priorities include:
extension of individual budgets so more people can exercise choice over what services they receive and where
working with partners to deliver a network of community based services, through grants to increase direct access and implementation of the POPPs programme. Through the POPPS programme West Sussex have secured £3.5m targeted at providing services so that older people are able to stay living in non-residential care in their communities. The funds will support local teams working together with older people to provide a single point of information about services, to identify gaps and develop provision to fill these gaps

Children’s services will have a focus on a broader range of vocational training. Communication service priorities include developing the library network, outreach services and range of service offered through libraries.

The priorities for the environment and economy service mirror the commitments of the Rural Strategy around continuing to promote the importance and enhancement of the countryside and rejuvenation of the rural economy by:
improving managed workspace
implementing the Small Rural Towns Programme
encouraging and supporting homeworking
supporting vibrant rural communities
promoting local food and produce.

8.3 District context
Horsham Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Development Framework
The current Core Strategy for the Local Development Framework identifies a number of spatial objectives, of relevance are:
to provide for businesses and employment development needs, particularly existing local businesses
to meet the diverse need of communities and businesses….to promote community leisure and recreation, and to assist the development of leisure and cultural facilities
to enhance the vitality and viability of Horsham town centre, and the centres of smaller towns and villages…provide choice in modes of transport.

Horsham District Council (HDC) is at the early stages of consulting on their new Sustainable Community Strategy, which will in turn feed into a review of the Core Strategy for the Local Development Framework. As part of this work they have commissioned a recently completed “Visioning Report” which reviews future challenges and changes and potential implications for the district.

The Visioning Report identifies a number of challenges and associated policy recommendations of relevance to the sustainable services agenda, these policy responses include:
review infrastructure and identify points of weakness (with respect to accessibility for the least mobile and more deprived 5% people)
expand community transport and free/reduced travel for older and younger people
support youth services and the district’s night-time offer
ensure sufficient services for older residents, particularly in rural areas, so they do not become isolated
sustain infrastructure using major rural settlements as hubs for services and facilities for residents
sustain infrastructure using major rural settlements as hubs for services and facilities for home workers and businesses - including space for meetings and technology infrastructure
support diversification of rural economies, particularly around tourism
improve and integrate transport with work/training opportunities
affordable housing
promote tourism, and provision of accommodation
ensure infrastructure (parking etc) can support growth in visitor numbers
complement rather than compete with Crawley’s retail offer - through niche retailing, retain and attract a core of wholesale, superstores and multiples
create conditions for independent/smaller retailers to thrive.
Horsham Draft Corporate Plan 2008-11
The corporate plan will guide activity and investment by the council over the coming three years. It reflects priorities identified in the Economic Development Strategy to support local businesses and rural communities. It also reflects the priorities identified in the Older and Younger People’s strategies. Of particular relevance are commitments to:
work with stakeholders to develop and implement town and village centre strategies...to maximize economic viability and sustainability…and enhance town’s roles as hubs for services and social activity
develop a programme in 2008-9 to deliver improvements to larger villages and enhance economic viability
encourage provision of small business units
encourage provision of more visitor bed spaces
improve public spaces to meet resident and visitor expectations
increase economic activity across the district’s larger population centres
work with parish councils to develop more play and informal recreation for children and young people.

HDC support the work of a Town Centre Manager to work with communities across the district’s towns/larger villages to help develop and implement plans to strengthen their centres.
Chichester Community Strategy (CCS) 2006-16
The CCS covers the westerly parts of our study area - Wisborough Green, Kidford, Plaistow & Ifold and Loxwood. The priorities of particular relevance include:
provision of a range of high quality housing, including affordable housing
ensuring access to services for rural residents
community involvement and community development
extending the role of schools and colleges as a resource for the wider community
cultural activities and facilities
facilities for young people.
Chichester Interim Sustainable Community Strategy 2008
Although the CCS runs to 2016, this was re-visited in 2008 in order to inform the 2nd Generation of Local Area Agreement (commencing June 2008). The resulting Interim Sustainable Community Strategy includes the following relevant themes:
improve equality of access to essential services by improving transport links, find alternative ways of delivering services
enable communities to shape additional public, private and voluntary sector services that are locally relevant
ensure that all communities have a reliable infrastructure, including good transport links, broadband connectivity, good energy and water management ensure that older people and vulnerable groups have knowledge of, and access to, services
develop innovative ways of providing learning opportunities to everyone
ensure local access to leisure and health facilities
support rural communities by promoting and encouraging the innovative use of community facilities such as village halls, post offices etc.
support Parishes in the development of their Parish plans as a means to deliver local aspirations, and encourage high levels of volunteering and social action.
Chichester Corporate Improvement Strategy 2006-2011
This document identifies specific priorities for action by Chichester District Council. Of relevance to the western study area are priorities to:
improve quality of life and independence for older and disabled people to live at home by expanding support services like the Community Handy-person scheme
increase opportunities for use of public transport
develop cycling and walking routes and links to them from the villages
ensure provision of sports and leisure facilities and activities
develop and implement a Visit Chichester initiative to encourage visits to the district
improve the quality and range of arts festivals and community based arts projects that serve the rural villages.

8.4 Local context
Bilingshurst Parish Plan
Billingshurst Parish Council is currently consulting on their Parish Plan. Analysis of the comments received back from consultation activity indicates that the following, which relate to services, are the dominant local priorities currently:
parking charges - residents feel that new parking charges (introduced by the private landlord of Jengers Mead) are not appropriate and are concerned about resulting congestion in the free car park and on residential streets (66% respondents)
parking provision generally (50% respondents)
access to hospital and particularly A&E services from the parish (44% respondents).

Other common issues raised with respect to services were:
too many takeaways
access to dental services
lack of youth clubs and other facilities for young people
lack of a local burial ground
local access to adult education/evening classes
lack of day car
lack of public open space
Billingshurst Community Partnership Action Plan 2008-2012
The latest BCP action plan has been created through a consultation exercise and involved a variety of stakeholders in Bilingshurst, including the Parish Council. The plan identifies projects for BCP to promote and pursue under five key area. Those of relevance include:

Youth projects:
continue to promote and support TAG and Billi-Rox youth activities
improve communication between young and older people
engage young people in community work and volunteering
Environment, sports and recreation
litter reduction
encourage local traders to take more pride in retail streets
encourage involvement of young people in environmental projects
further develop Jubilee Fields sports facilities and progress project to provide a garden at former cricket ground

Local economy
facilitate Chamber of Commerce or business association
create a tourist information centre in village hall and create strong visitor identity
tourist/visitor information and events - signs and notice boards, town guide, web site, local exhibitions and promotional activity

Centre for Children
support completion and successful launch of this facility

Arts and culture
encourage performing arts and cultural events throughout the year, and promote them
Hinterland Parish Plans
Annex (pages 15-16 of the annexes at end of this report) summarises the issues and actions identified in parish plans (where they exist) for the other study area parishes.

The common issues identified relate to:
raising awareness of village facilities and opportunities
raising awareness and promoting use of community transport
lobbying to improve public transport
activities for young people
more sports activities and adult education options
information and infrastructure to encourage cycling and walking.

8.5 Funding opportunities
The strategic focus on the needs of rural areas is encouraging, and these can be expected to influence public funding in the years ahead. The area’s local authorities have played an important role in funding service enhancements in the study area in recent years, and continue to do so. The key documents which indicate future funding opportunities and priorities through local authorities are the West Sussex Local Area Agreement and local authority Corporate Plans. As Billingshurst remains a focus for potential housebuilding, funds originating from S106 agreements with developers are likely to continue to play a role in supporting services infrastructure developments in the village.
With funding under the Small Rural Towns programme largely committed, the main opportunity for accessing project funding via SEEDA will be through the South Downs and Low Weald LEADER programme, which was recently approved. Also of importance is the Rural Access to Services Programme. Annex 5 (pages 17-19 of the annexes at end of this report) describes these, and other, project funding opportunities which have potential to support development of sustainable services in the study area.