The Friends of Steeple Ashton

The Friends of Steeple Ashton was founded in 1972 to help preserve the architectural and scenic character of the village.

The society is open to everyone living in Steeple Ashton and from this membership a ten-person committee is elected annually at an AGM held in May.

The AGM is not as dull as it sounds. The formalities take very little time and this year we had a presentation on “The Civil War in Wiltshire” by Dr. John Wroughton a well known lecturer and writer on this subject. The evening was rounded off with refreshments prepared according to 17th century recipes.

The Friends work very closely with the District Council and Parish Council to understand the impact of proposed planning applications. The society then passes its comments to the District Council planning office. All applications are judged against the "Village Design Statement" that was drawn up by the Friends and the Parish Council in March 2001.

Copies of the Village Design Statement have been distributed to all homes in the village.