Many see only traffic chaos, ruined landscapes and lumps of concrete, and mourn the loss of their favourite walks. They say most of the trust members enthusiastically engaged on the current bridge project do not even live in Loxwood.

The latest project by enthusiasts of the Wey and Arun Canal Trust (WACT), who eventually want to see the 23-mile canal completely reopened, has been to take the water under the B2133, Loxwood's main road through the village. This has meant complicated plans to build a bridge across the road and villagers have had to put up with traffic lights and single-line traffic on their busiest road for six months.

There was even more frustration at the start of work in January when the road was actually closed for five days.

Loxwood Parish Council chairman Alison Sanderson feels the project is happening whether villagers like it or not and she is trying to be positive.

"The traffic lights have stopped the lorries and we were trying to get lorries banned through the village anyway. They are so dangerous, it's only a matter of time before someone is very badly hurt or killed."

But she cannot help echoing the feelings of disgruntled villagers: "The negative side is our walks have been altered, they have set about so many trees with their chainsaws."

The trust says it will replant all along the canal, but it won't bring back the landscape in the lifetime of those living there now.

"We accept the trust want to do this, but to keep hearing it will be the best thing that has happened to Loxwood for a long time is counter-productive to their case - most people just see it as an inconvenience," said Mrs Sanderson.

When villagers are told it will bring tourism, they say that just means even more cars. They don't believe their shops will benefit because they are quite a walk from the canal.

Like it or not, the £1.5m project is fast taking shape in the centre of Loxwood and WACT members are daring to think about the day the water flows under the road.
Behind the Onslow Arms pub there has been a picking-up point for some time and the Zachariah Keppel narrowboat is kept busy taking visitors on trips up and down the two or so miles currently navigable.

Loxwood farmer Peter Foulger, is chairman of the trust and the canal runs through much of his land. He has also provided headquarters for WACT.

"Whatever you think of it, it's a huge achievement," he said. "It's really exciting and the biggest thing the trust has ever been involved in. I think it will bring good to the village, you need something vibrant to keep a village alive – you need pubs and attractions."

He added: "We have never felled trees when it was not necessary and we have replanted trees and a hedge – we have put back as much as we have taken. There has been a lot of disturbance at Loxwood, but nature will come back and it will look good."

He said there would be many good points for the village when the canal section was complete, although he admitted trade would probably mostly benefit the pub. But villagers would also be able to enjoy walking and cycling on the upgraded footpaths.

Just 35 years after the original canal was completed, Loxwood found itself at the centre of another talking pointing in 1851 in the shape of John Sirgood. The controversial preacher and his followers from London set up their Dependent Brethren Chapel in Spy Lane and changed the face of the village. They opened a shop in what is now the post office and stores and later expanded in the Combination Stores where they sold everything from clothes to food to furniture.

Members of the sect quickly dominated life of the village with their popular stores, but when younger people did not come forward to take the place of the elders, it died out. Alf Goodwin, the last of the leaders in Loxwood, died at the age of 89 in 1996.

By then the shops the Dependents had run had been taken over by others. Loxwood is lucky it still has a post office run alongside Loxwood Stores. Unusually for a small village, there is also still a butcher and Loxwood also boasts a hairdresser as well as a doctors' surgery complete with pharmacy.

Loxwood School is thriving in a village which still has enough young families to support it, although the 1960s building needs some modernisation. North Hall, is on the other hand in the words of one villager 'past its sell by date'.

Once the pride of Loxwood, it is now subject to debate about how best to refurbish the fading community facility, although it hosts the parent and toddlers group, the Women's Institute, yoga, line dancing and badminton.

The Loxwood Sports Association runs the impressive pavilion and both cricket and football are played on the pitches around it. Stoolball, squash and snooker, too, all have their place in the association. But in common with many other areas, sportsmen travel in and out of Loxwood to take part in their favourite activity.

Len Milsom, chairman of Loxwood Society, has lived in the village for 24 years and watched it grow. Much controversy there has been about housing – press cuttings spanning more than 30 years bear testament to some of the fights.

Loxwood Society itself was born around ten years ago, out of concern over the development of Loxwood Farm at the top of the hill: "We were successful in getting a better layout," said Mr Milsom, "in delaying it and in ensuring there were developers' contribution funds for the school."

The society's latest concern has been over a further development, at Hall Hurst Farm for another 20 houses in the centre of Loxwood.

"Chichester District Council was so keen to get houses built they took little or no notice of what the parish council wanted and a lot of us went to the development control meeting at Chichester and voiced our opposition."

There were some concessions, but the development is to go ahead.

Originally a farming community, Loxwood now has many retired people who used to work on the land and a number who, thanks to new technology, can work from home. It has also been dubbed 'Little Gatwick' for the number of airline pilots and staff who have come to live there.

"The old stagers support their own groups," said Mr Milsom, "but generally it is the new people who have taken up the job of trying to preserve it. If we get an issue like Hall Hurst Farm, we get 75 people to a meeting. We don't do anything now, except when there is something to jump on in a conservation sense, because that's what people in the end are really interested in."

Ongoing problems are car parking and speed of traffic. Villagers constantly point out the need for parking space when every new housing development raises its head. But probably the biggest issue threatening the long-term future of Loxwood is the proposal to built 2,600 houses at Dunsfold Park just three miles away.

Mr Milsom said if it happened, the impact would not be immediate, but gradually it would result in one enormous connurbation.

"It would be the beginning of the end – 20 houses at Hall Hurst is a normal type of development for a village. Dunsfold Park would be a complete change of strategy for the whole area."


Parish: Loxwood
Population: 1,800
Parish precept: £28,000
Parish council chairman:
Alison Sanderson
School: Loxwood Primary
Shops: Loxwood post office and stores, John Murray and Son Butchers, Just Hair
Pubs: The Onslow Arms
Churches: St John the Baptist, Emmanuel Chapel
Facilities: Loxwood Surgery, North Hall (village hall), Pavilion and playing fields

Hitting the headlines...
May 1991: Phil Collins opens Loxwood Primary School fete
January 1997: Oasis pop star seeks home in Loxwood
March 2004: Parishioners fight to save Sir Roger Tichbourne pub
May 2008: Skull and bones likely to be of woman who disappeared seven years earlier



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