A SPECIAL open day was held to help boost support for a Village Design Statement project for the Odiham area.

More than 60 residents attended the open day in Odiham, which was organised to encourage people to get involved in the VDS initiative.

The parish, which also includes North Warnborough, is the first in the Hart District Council area to begin work on a VDS. However, the initiative, which provides better information for householders, planners and developers, has already proved popular in Basingstoke, where it has been supported by around 20 villages.

The idea behind the Odiham VDS is to supplement the Hart Local Plan, with guidance on the types of building that give the parish its distinctive character and the important spaces and views that local people wish to see preserved.

Phil Turner, a community planning consultant who has helped other Hampshire villages with design statements, gave presentations during the open day on what the process entails.

He explained that the Government supports the initiative as a means of involving grass-roots opinion in the planning process, and gave examples of the way that design statements had been helpful in past development proposals.

Hugh Sheppard, a member of the local VDS group, said: "To have 60 residents turn up on a Saturday afternoon when England were playing in the Rugby World Cup showed that many people really do care about their parish."

He added that printed questionnaires, which sought to establish the level of support for the project, were used up during the afternoon and that all of the feedback had been positive.