Author: Geoff Turner

Having had a first pass at categorising the comments that were added to the Neighbourhood Plan questionnaire, we are now moving onto the next stage which will be to prepare the draft plan. This will involve gathering all the evidence, answers and comments from all stages of the process and turning it into a set of policies to be approved.

We had the first Steering Group meeting of 2021 last night, and as a part of that we drew the 3 prizes (one per parish) from the survey responses. The winners will be notified in due course. We now move on to phase 2 of the Neighbourhood Plan, which is to turn all the information we have gathered over the last couple of years into policies to be applied across the parishes.

The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a prosperous and virus-free New Year.

We now have the first draft of the survey results and will be looking at them over the festive period.

Stay safe, everyone.

We now have the first draft of the survey results. Too early for general distribution yet, but the steering group will be looking at this over Christmas and the New Year and considering how this will affect policies.

Have a brilliant Christmas despite the restrictions and a prosperous, virus-free New Year from all of us in the Steering Group.

The survey now being closed, the results are being entered and compiled, so that we can take your views into account when the neighbourhood plan policies are written. Thanks very much to everyone who has participated. We had 159 responses in total, which is not a bad rate of return.

The deadline for survey returns has now passed, but while we wait for the last postal responses to trickle in you can still fill it in online for a couple of days. We have had a great response so far, but a few more will make the results even more meaningful.

The survey is now live! If you look on the Home page, you will find a link to a separate page that has the information sheet and a link to start the survey. Or you can follow the link below. Please note, that as we are not allowed to collect personal data (including logins), it is not possible to save the questionnaire and complete it later, meaning that it will have to be completed in one sitting.

Please fill it in, it is the future of your parish that is at stake!

Please note that responses are requested by the end of October, but you may be able to still enter them for a very short while after that, as we wait for the last postal responses.

The BIG QUESTIONS survey

The surveys have now starting hitting the mats of all residents of the three parishes. We would urge everyone to fill this in, as the wishes of as many residents as possible give us the best chance to produce a plan that will encompass the views of all and influence any planning decisions going forward.

Well we now have the survey back from the printers. It will take us a little time to address and stuff envelopes, but they should be arriving with you soon.

Although we are sending everyone a printed copy which can be filled in and returned, it will save your Parish Councils’ money if you fill it in online, both through smaller postage costs and less manual data entry.

Also, remember that there is a separate slip included to enter into a draw that could win you £100 supermarket voucher (one per parish). The slip is separate so that the surveys can be compiled anonymously.

It will soon be your chance to have your say on the future of your parish. The more survey returns we get, the better will be our understanding of your wishes. Remember that when the plan is written it becomes a legally binding document that any planning decisions have to be based on, both at parish and county level.

Well, the steering group had their first meeting last night since lockdown, albeit a virtual meeting. It has been decided that now is the time to start the ball rolling again. Shropshire Council’s Local Plan and the government’s white paper on planning were discussed, and it was decided to put to the full group the prospect of printing and distributing the household survey, and to hold an event (outdoors) in each parish to both publicise and explain the survey to parishoners.