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Your Parish Plan in the Making |
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The Steering Group and Activities The design, implementation, analysis and publishing of a survey of the whole parish is a substantial task. The Parish Plan Steering Group is a team of volunteers that have been working together on the task since February 2006. The group, independent but working with the Parish Council, holds monthly meetings at the Queen Elizabeth Village Hall. New skills, contributors and fresh ideas are always very welcome (see below). National and Local Government Backing Worstead Parish Council, Norfolk Rural Community Council and ultimately the Government through Defra (the Department for Food and Rural Affairs) , are all sponsors of the development of Parish Plans. These bodies believe that rural communities need stronger, more effective voices; more democratic influence over the governance and development of their community. A Parish Plan, compiled and maintained by the whole community, is a highly favored element of that stronger voice. Grants, advice and assistance are provided; your Steering Group is glad to be working closely with Carolyn Heydon from Norfolk Rural Community Council. The Parish Council (10%) and Defra (80%) have awarded grants to meet the costs of the Plan, it's compilation and publication. A small additional funding (10%) will be needed to complete the task. Phase 1 - The Pin Board Events A survey of the whole Parish, without prior knowledge of the key issues and concerns in the community, would result in a very large and un-focused set of questions. The Pin Board Events, held in the QE Hall and Meeting Hill Day Care Center during September, were designed to identify the key issues that need to be addressed in our survey and ultimately within the Parish Plan. A summary of the events, the polling method and the results is available as a .pdf download. Visual Survey Summary (211kB).pdf This rather larger file includes appendices containing plots and records of all the data collected. Visual Survey Full Report (3.3MB).pdf Interim Parish Plan Out of the Phase 1 results it is hoped that an initial set of actions, an interim Parish Plan, will be defined. The steering group, the Parish Council and other community groups will work together to initiate response to the Phase 1 data and apply the findings to existing routine decisions and priorities (planning applications for instance). Phase 2 - The Whole Parish Survey The challenge of Phase 2 is to gather the views of the whole community and to interpret and reflect these in the Parish Plan. It is expected that this will involve a questionnaire based survey of every individual (approx 900) within every household (approx 390). Phase 3 - Compilation and Publication of the Parish Plan The data and the resulting action plan belong to the community as a whole. Whilst the Parish Council will no doubt take a lead role in managing the Parish Plan, it will be community groups and individuals that drive many of the actions forward. The collected data and action plan must therefore be published and be accessible to all in the community. The Plan will therefore be published as a booklet, delivered free of charge to every home in the Parish. Naturally, the booklet and supplementary data will also be published here on the community web site. Phase 4 - Action and Maintenance of the Parish Plan Publication of a Parish Plan is only the beginning. A Parish Plan should then become a live document, updated as the needs and desires of the community are addressed and change. In addition to regular review and updated It is expected that further community surveys (more events and questionnaires) would be necessary every 5-10 yrs Your Parish Plan Needs You ! - Feedback and Getting Involved The volunteer Steering Group, as ever overloaded by work, family and existing community commitments, needs strengthening for the Phase 2 task. Survey design skills, spreadsheet and database skills and, as you can see, web and community communication skills are particularly valuable, but any and all enthusiasm for your Parish Plan will be welcomed with open arms. Please contact Mark Ashcroft, Chairman of the Worstead Parish Plan Steering Group. We also welcome your feedback on these web pages and the Phase 1 results here published. Mark
Ashcroft, Honing Row, Worstead |