Overview of Yapton Parish
To contact the Clerk of the Council, Andrew Gardiner, please click on the following email link: mailto:clerk@yaptonpc.gov.uk or telephone 01243 859141. Office hours - the Clerk is currently working from home - available on most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9.30am to 12.30pm. At other times telephone calls and messages will be acknowledged and dealt with as soon as practicable.
Area: 791 ha Population: 3,522
Council Tax Precept: 2023/24: £86,050 (equates to £47.36 per annum for a Band D property - an increase of 0.0% over 2022/23)
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 Clymping 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.
The village incorporates the hamlets of Bilsham and Flansham. Bilsham is a single street settlement, which includes Bilsham Chapel; a 13th century deconsecrated former chapel now used as a residential dwelling. The hamlet of Flansham, situated southwest of the village centre, is notable for its quiet seclusion and rural aspect despite close proximity to the edge of the Bognor Regis built-up area. 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 19th 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 40+ 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, a popular skate park, a range of outdoor exercise equipment, together with 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 doctors' surgeries and a pharmacy, one public house, 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.