Burton Bradstock Parish Council

Reviewing the Parish Plan

Public Event September 25^th Report & Next Steps

Background

The Parish Council agreed in January 2010 to undertake a review process on the Parish Plan. The Parish Plan was developed in 2005/6 and has served as a guide to the Councils work for the last 5 years.

A Parish Pan Review Working Group has been established involving 7 Councillors – A Public event was held on September 25^th and this paper introduces the findings from the event and the next steps in developing a revised Parish Plan.

Parish Plan Public Event 25^th September

An open public meeting was held on Saturday 25^th September 2010 to give parishioners the opportunity to:

· See progress made since the 2006 Parish Plan,

· Discuss issues with Parish Councillors and outside organisations and

· Express views about current issues and future priorities for the parish.

Over the day some 160 parishioners attended the open event and the Council was grateful to the following outside organisations who were able to attend, put up displays and talk to parishioners: the National Trust, Environment Agency, Community Action Dorset, West Dorset District Council Rural Housing Enabler, Bridport Community Police and the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) team.

The write up from the event has been circulated with this report – In summary the key findings are:

· Traffic issues continue to attract the most attention and generate the most supported actions for parishioners,

· Affordable housing continues to receive support,

· Support had grown for a safe cycle route to Bridport, provision of youth facilities and for community renewable energy schemes,

· Actions that support local businesses and community health and safety are generally weak and could do with stronger engagement with local businesses and agencies to generate actions,

· The need for environmental actions appear poorly understood and would benefit from greater awareness raising.

The top 10 issues/actions as defined by voting at the open event were:

Issue/Action	Votes in Agreement *:
Reduce traffic speed through the village	75
Safe Cycle route to Bridport	74
Maintain services in the village to reduce car use	62
Footway through the village	31
Village Car park	29
Safe Pedestrian Crossing points	27
Develop community renewable energy schemes	22
Greater use of the school outside hours for IT and other educational training	17
Provision of affordable housing	14
Training days in repairing dry-stone walls	11

The top 2 issues/actions for each Parish Plan theme are:

Parish Plan Theme	Issues/Actions
Community Facilities	Increased coverage of Dorset news (10) A Youth Club for the Village (7)
Housing	Develop community renewable energy schemes (22) Provision of affordable housing (14)
Environment	Training days in repairing dry-stone walls (11) Identifying and building links between wildlife rich sites in the parish (6)
Traffic	Reduce traffic speed through the village (75) Safe Cycle route to Bridport (74)
Prosperity	Greater use of the school outside hours for IT and other educational training (17) Making local produce available (8)
Healty & Safe Communities	Homewatch operation in the Village (9) Flu clinics in the Reading Room (4)

The Parish Plan Review Working Group feel that despite a good turn out the open event did not reflect the full breadth of the parish demographic. The issues and actions generated remain consistent with the 2006-11 Parish Plan. There were few, if any new or large scale issues and actions captured on the day.

Many of the traffic related issues and actions are well known to the Council and many may be addressed through the B3157 safety improvement works expected by the end of March 2011.

The Working Group is keen to do more to engage both parishioners and outside agencies in developing a number of significant project ideas for consideration during the Parish Plan consultation process. Between January and March the Working Group will look to engage key local people and outside bodies in ‘conversations’ to help develop a number of significant and urgent actions for the parish.

Next Steps

The Parish Council to write to West Dorset District Council volunteering to take part in the ‘Vanguard’ pilot for the new localism approach to planning.

The Parish Plan Review Working Group met in November and agreed the following timetable of actions for developing a draft Parish Plan 2011-2016:

· December - Circulate a summary of the Open Meeting write up through an article in BVN, PC and BB websites and poster for notice boards (see Appendix 1).

· January - Hold an open event in the Reading Room to display the Open Meeting write up and gather additional views.

· January to March - Parish Plan Working Group to undertake ‘conversations’ with key stakeholders to identify and outline 5 ‘big ideas’ for the Parish that can be the basis for consultation through the draft Parish Plan.

· April - Draft Parish Plan to be presented to the Parish Council – Following any amendments the Draft Plan would be launched for consultation in May.

RECCOMENDATION 1: THE PARISH COUNCIL NOTES THE FINDINGS OF THE OPEN MEETING REPORT

RECCOMENDATION 2: THE PARISH COUNCIL AGREES TO VOLUNTEER THE PARISH PLAN REVIEW TO WEST DORSET DISTRICT COUNCIL FOR CONSIDERATION AS A PILOT SCHEME FOR THE ‘VANGUARD” PROJECT

RECCOMENDATION 3: THE PARISH COUNCIL AGREES TO THE WORKING GROUP TIMETABLE OF ACTIONS AND PROPOSAL TO LAUNCH A DRAFT PLAN IN MAY 2011

Sponsor: Cllr Dixon

November 25^th 2010

Appendix 1 – Communication the Parish Plan Open Meeting Report

Poster version:

Burton Bradstock Parish Council is currently reviewing the Parish Plan and have produced a report on the consultation meeting with parishioners.

The top issues and actions identified by parishioners so far are:

Parish Plan Theme	Issues/Actions
Community Facilities	Increased coverage of Dorset news (10) A Youth Club for the Village (7)
Housing	Develop community renewable energy schemes (22) Provision of affordable housing (14)
Environment	Training days in repairing dry-stone walls (11) Identifying and building links between wildlife rich sites in the parish (6)
Traffic	Reduce traffic speed through the village (75) Safe Cycle route to Bridport (74)
Prosperity	Greater use of the school outside hours for IT and other educational training (17) Making local produce available (8)
Health & Safe Community	Continue Homewatch (9) Continue Flu Clinics in the Reading Room (4)

Do you agree with these priorities?

Are there ‘big ideas’ that you think the Parish Council should be working on that are not mentioned here?

Get in touch: Fel_moore@hotmail.com

Full report on Parish Plan Consultation to date can be found at: (BBPC website)

Short Article:

Burton Bradstock Parish Council is currently reviewing their Parish Plan and have produced a report on the consultation meeting with parishioners.

The report identifies that:

· Traffic issues continue to attract the most attention and generate the most supported actions for parishioners,

· Affordable housing continues to receive support,

· Support had grown for a safe cycle route to Bridport, provision of youth facilities and for community renewable energy schemes,

· Actions that support local businesses and community health and safety are generally weak and could do with stronger engagement with local businesses and agencies to generate sound actions.

Over the winter the Parish Council will be undertaking more consultations with local people and outside bodies to develop a number of significant projects that will form the basis for a new Parish Plan to be launched in Spring 2011.

If you’d like to talk to the Parish council contact: fel_moore@hotmail.com

The full report on Parish Plan consultation can be found at: (BBPC website address…)