The 2005 Parish Plan

What is the Parish Plan?

 

We hope that you will have already heard that we are setting out to develop a Parish Plan but in case you haven't, here is some background.

What are Parish Plans?

The Rural White Paper in November 2000, "Our Countryside – The Future" launched Parish Plans as a way in which local communities could play a greater part in determining their future. The aim is for local communities to think ahead, to say what they want doing in their own neighbourhoods and to work with others to get it done.

A Parish Plan needs to:
- reflect the views of all sections of the community;
- identify which features and local characteristics people value;
- identify local problems and opportunities;
- spell out how residents want the community to develop in the future;
- prepare a plan of action to achieve this vision.

Parish Plans link into district and regional plans being prepared, in our case, at Purbeck and Dorset County level. It is a key requirement that they be produced by the parishioners themselves rather than the parish councillors: everyone needs to get involved.

Why should we do a Plan?

We don't have to do a plan, it is voluntary. But if we don't, we should not be surprised to be told in future "Why didn't you say that when you had the chance?"

If we know what we want and what our priorities are, we will be in a much stronger position to make it happen. We will be able to fight for limited funds just as well as other parishes.

In short, we should do it :
to defend what we want to keep
to get action to change what we don't like
to make our ideas for new opportunities happen
to influence organisations with funding & resources that could help us
to avoid being victim of circumstances
to look after our children, the next generation to enjoy Bere Regis

What is the Steering Group, and who is on it?

A small group of volunteers has been set up to get the ball rolling. The members are currently Eddie Butterfield; John Cleave (Chairman); Jenny Clifford (Secretary); Glo. Curtis; Pip. Evans; Angie & Alan Lambert; Rob. Kennard; Julien Lightfoot; Adrian Moore; Gemma Sant; Candice Selby-Grace; with participation from councillors Chris Maunder and Jim Parsons. However, we want you, the Parishioners, to be in the driving seat and we take it as our task to make that possible.

As a start, we are using this questionnaire to get your individual views and also the views of any groups and organisations that would like to send in a group response.

We will analyse the responses, then give you the chance to decide what we take forward into detailed planning.

 

Return to the Main Parish Plan Page

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