goods yard sidings established. The station fell victim to Dr Beeching's cuts and was closed in the 1960s. Community facilities Being a small hamlet Ram Hill does not have its own community facilities although the social facilities are available at Coalpit Heath Cricket Club in Serridge Lane. Social and recreational facilities are provided at Henfield Village Hall, Bitterwell Lake and the Newman Field amenity area in the adjoining hamlet of Henfield. The hamlet is well served with footpaths and cycleways. Governance The two tiers of local government responsible for administering Ram Hill: South Gloucestershire Council Westerleigh Parish Council Planning In the adopted South Gloucestershire Local Plan Ram Hill does not have a Defined Settlement Boundary on the Proposals Map and there are no sites allocated for new residential development. The hamlet is within an area defined as Green Belt and is located within the Forest of Avon area. There are also Major Recreational Routes in the hamlet. Environment Landscape Within the South Gloucestershire Landscape Character Assessment SPD the hamlet of Ram Hill is within an area defined as: Westerleigh Vale and Oldland Ridge – The Study indicates that Ram Hill, a colliery settlement, and Henfield are small dispersed/linear and clustered hamlets respectively, consisting of a mix of Pennant sandstone with more recent render and brick buildings, focused around a convergence of minor roads and lanes. Around the two settlements are scattered farms. The area of Ram Hill and Henfield comprises a largely strong, irregular rural framework with areas of woodland, mixed overgrown/clipped hedgerows supplemented with wire fences, defining regular shaped fields. The clustered settlement pattern and non-agricultural activities such as storage compounds, are reasonably well integrated as a result of this framework. Horse paddocks are however locally evident where hedgerows have become replaced with fences. Associated ad hoc home-made stables are also evident and atypical of a rural landscape. Large modern agricultural sheds are prominent within older farm complexes within this area. The small scale settlement at Ram Hill and Henfield is largely well integrated within the framework of hegerow trees and woodland. The area has a generally tranquil character, although the presence of stables and fences associated with the increase in land use change to "horsiculture". modern large farm buildings and storage compounds, can detract from this, visually eroding the rural character and resulting in removal or fragmentation of hedgerows. In places the recreational pressure for "horsiculture" with the