A scheme of twelve homes reserved for people with a local connection to Chalke Bottom has been refused after a campaign by the village chapter, whose members said they were "absolutely in favour of young people staying in the village" and objected to every part of the application that would have allowed them to.
The homes, on the edge of the village next to the existing 1970s estate that the chapter also objected to at the time, would have been offered first to people who grew up in Chalke Bottom. There are currently no people under forty living in Chalke Bottom. The chapter regards this as evidence there is no demand.
We're all for young people. Lovely. Marvellous. We just don't want them here, where we would see them. There's a whole country out there. Reading, for instance. My grandson's in Reading. He's fine.Col. (Retd.) Rupert Hasting-Fforbes, N.O.B., Chairman
Contacted in Reading, the Chairman's grandson Toby, 29, confirmed that he was fine, that he would have liked to live in the village, and that his grandfather "knows that, because I told him at Christmas, twice".
The village primary school is expected to close in 2027 for lack of children. The chapter has lodged an objection to the closure, and a separate objection to the school.
The Colonel's Christmas card list has been revised.