 The
Process of Producing the Plan
Steering Group & Village Engagement
The process started with a public information stall at the Village Fayre held
at Heathlands School in June 2005. This was followed up by a drop in workshop
style event (July 2005) part hosted by the Borough and Parish Council in the
John Lampon Hall. At this event names and addresses of interested
villagers were recorded and an open evening held in October 2005 to begin
establishing a committee to oversee the plan’s production. A committee was
established in November 2005 and adopted a constitution at the public meeting in
February 2006.
Since this time a number of public engagement activities have been carried
out overseen by the operating committee, known as the Steering Group. These
activities are listed in the appendix but have included village surveys, village
fayre information stands, use of the Village Bulletin newspaper and the Village
website.
Collecting Views and Aspirations for the Village
Like all plan processes it is important to establish an evidence base of how
people in West Bergholt view their village and their community and what they see
as priorities for the future.
A community workshop was organised in July 2005 at which villagers held a
brainstorming session on their likes, dislikes and ideas for improvements within
the village. As a result of the success and interest generated the West Bergholt
Parish Plan group was formed by a number of volunteers from the village.
The results of the initial public meeting were discussed and it was agreed
the best way to gather evidence was to develop several questionnaires. Over the
course of a few months meetings were held involving a core of volunteers who
drafted:
- a household questionnaire covering all the
issues raised at the public meeting - this was distributed with the local
village bulletin to all the households in the village in September 2006. The
local Co-op, Ashes store and the GP surgery kindly acted as drop off points
for the completed questionnaires. To encourage a good response rate a
completed questionnaires were entered for a prize draw. Several dedicated
villagers then spent many hours inputting the findings into a data base from
which the analysis has subsequently has taken place.
- a business questionnaire which was sent
directly to the 52 known businesses operating within West Bergholt with a
stamped addressed envelope for its return
- a questionnaire for all the social groups and
voluntary organisations operating in the village which was directly
posted to them with a reply paid return envelope
- a youth questionnaire which the local state
schools agreed to distribute to all their pupils aged 11 to 16 years of age
from West Bergholt – the schools kindly collected the completed
questionnaires on our behalf
In addition those children aged 5 to 11 years of age attending Heathlands
Primary School were consulted through their School Council as to what they would
like to see happening in the village.
The reports of Survey are attached as appendices to this document.
In order to establish priorities for the many issues and ideas generated by
the various surveys a further consultation was undertaken in Spring 2008 to
determine which areas of the plan should be pursued ahead of others.
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