The working groups have been running since mid-January and are now well into their stride. The groups are:
- Built Environment & Heritage
- Climate Change
- Economy
- Health & Wellbeing
- Housing
- Landscape & Biodiversity
- Transport & Travel
Their work is to:
- Identify the current issues and future aspirations (for each topic) of those who live and work in the parish.
- Explore those issues and aspirations, ways to address them and gather evidence to support any policies they may wish to recommend are included in the plan.
- Each group are preparing a ‘topic paper’ setting out what they have looked at and their recommendations.
These topic papers (and recommendations within them) will be used by the Steering Group to begin writing the neighbourhood plan which will in due course guide future development and activity within the parish.
To help our working groups prepare their topic papers, we expect to be launching a series of short consultations soon which will look at specific topics. They will focus on areas where we would like to know more about what our community thinks. Keep an eye on our social media and website for more information.
Here are just a few of the many ideas our working groups are looking at:
...developing arts & crafts workshops in local business parks, creating ‘hot desking’ business facilities, communal heating to help combat climate change, regeneration of existing brownfield sites, underlining the importance of and protecting local wildlife, flora and fauna, local traffic calming measures, improving connectivity between different areas of the parish... etc.
We are trying to make the most of all of the different grants and support packages available to us, to ensure that our Neighbourhood Plan is backed by as many experts and detailed research as possible. We are also working closely with many local governmental and non-governmental bodies to create the basis for a plan that is wide ranging in its scope.
We are so grateful to everybody who has given support so far, whether it is filling in one of our questionnaires, volunteering to be part of a working group, or liking and sharing our posts on Facebook. As mentioned above, we will be launching further consultations over the next few months and would hugely appreciate you taking the time to respond to them. It is of the utmost importance that this neighbourhood plan reflects the views and hopes of as many people in the parish as possible. Every single answer is of vital importance and the more responses we receive, the more robust our plan will be.