Yapton Parish Council

Area: 791 ha Population: 3,522 Council Tax Precept: £40K (equates to £30.60 per annum for an average Band D property)

Yapton is known as the village that “never closes its doors” – thought to refer to the days when smugglers making their way from the sandy beaches of nearby Climping with their contraband found plenty of open doors in Yapton to help them escape the pursuing excise men.

The name Yapton is thought to derive from “Eppa’s ton” – Eppa being one of two priests left in Sussex about AD 681 by the Bishop St Wilfrid, who brought Christianity to Sussex, to continue the work of converting and baptising local people.

Of historic importance to the initial growth of the village was the former Chichester and Arundel Canal, a remnant of which together with a canal bridge (Listed Grade II Building) survives in Yapton. The village even used to own its own railway station in the 19^th Century.

Although nowadays Yapton is a thriving rural village, it has still retained much of its charm with two conservation areas which include a number of listed buildings. Over the last 30 years Yapton has grown rapidly but the village remains an interesting and self-contained community. Centred around the King George V Playing Field, the recreational facilities include an enclosed play area for young children and a floodlit sports area for teenagers. In the village centre there is a small parade of shops from where there are panoramic views across the field to St Mary’s Church and the South Downs beyond.

Yapton is also well supplied with village services including two churches – St Mary's CE (a historic Norman church) and Yapton Free Church (a non-denominational chapel) - as well as a primary school, two public houses, a fine village hall featuring a commemorative Millennium clock tower and a variety of shops.

The Parish Council has been in existence since 1894. With relatively modest resources its members strive to provide an efficient, cost-effective and quality service for the people of Yapton to make the village a really pleasant place to live.