Community consultation
There are many benefits to communities carrying out their own consultations, and rural communities in Gloucestershire use a variety of means to gather opinions.
Over 90 rural parishes in Gloucestershire have either completed parish and community led plans or are currently working on them and many more have completed feasibility studies and other forms of consultation.
GRCC advisers are available to help and encourage communities to carry out inclusive, robust and high quality consultations and develop realistic action plans.
Here are a few examples of what’s going on in rural Gloucestershire at the moment. In all these examples, community members volunteer their time to plan, organise, carry out and follow up consultations.
Siddington success
“We are delighted by the excellent response to our recent household questionnaire. 79% of households responded and a public meeting was held to celebrate this and move the process forward on the 7th July 2009. At this meeting, members of the community worked in small groups to focus on developing actions around the following 4 themes: the environment, traffic and pedestrians, services and facilities and community life” said Malcolm Moseley, chair of the Siddington Parish Plan steering group. It is hoped that the completed plan will be the Christmas present to the parish. More news about the plan can be found on www.siddington.com/villageNews.htm
(1,292 population / 566 houses)
Northleach Charter Fair: 27 June 09
Town Council – consultation on issues of the moment, including a number of issues coming out of the Town Plan such as increased greening of the town, traffic and parking, plus feedback on the achievements so far.
Emergency Planning Group – consultation regarding the householder plan and emergency toolkit.
Steering group on the increase
Steering group numbers swelled in Brookthorpe as a result of the Parish Plan interactive event held in the community on 17th June 2009. Headings on flip chart sheets around the room helped to capture thoughts on topics including health, leisure, housing, young people, environment and crime. Cheese and wine served at the event helped to feed minds and make ideas flow. By the end of the evening, seventeen more people had put their names forward to help or be part of the steering group which is great news. “The group will be concentrating on reaching more members of the community. They will look gather these thoughts and develop a household survey to get down to the ‘nitty gritty’ of how the issues raised could be tackled” said Angela Burlow from GRCC, who is advising the steering group.
(395 population / 139 houses)
Cotswold District Core Strategy development - Open Space, Sport and Recreation Study
Cotswold District Council’s Forward Planning Team has appointed a consultant to carry out a District-wide Open Spaces, Sport and Recreation Study.
The study is a vital part of the evidence base needed to guide the development of the District’s future planning policy. It will establish local views and aspirations regarding local open space, sport, recreation and play provision, set locally derived standards for this and apply these standards District-wide to create a framework for practical action.
A comprehensive consultation involving local people, and relevant organisations, will take place to find out local attitudes towards current provision, as well as their wishes for the future. These focus groups will take place in early December as follows:
- 7th December, at 6.30pm, Moreton Area Centre
- 8th December, at 6.30pm, Cotswold District Council offices, Cirencester
The Forward Planning team would like to encourage all parish and town councils to help with this study by responding to the survey sent with the invitation.
For further information, please contact Tiina Emsley at tiina.emsley@cotswold.gov.uk ext 3547.
