Background to the Parish Plan
In 2003 the Parish Council was becoming increasingly aware of
the requirement to understand the needs and aspirations of the
residents Copdock and Washbrook. Government Departments and
Local Authoritiesincreasingly asked questions regarding those
needs, and it was imperative that if the Parish Council wanted to
be part of the LocalAuthority decision making process, we would
need to know more about our own Parish based on factual evidence.
Therefore the only way forward was to produce a Parish Plan.
The Parish Council facilitated a Public Meeting in October
2003. This was well attended and under the Leadership of
Suffolk ACRE theobjectives of a Parish Plan were Explained together
with the methods to be employed inits production. A Steering
Group of 11 volunteersand two Parish Councillors was formed and
with funding from theCountryside Agency their work began.
The first consultation was in the form of letters to all
businesses,sports and social organisations of the village,asking if
they would like any particular questions to be included in a
proposed
Questionnaire. With only one or two exceptions the results of
this exercise were disappointing.
Nevertheless, the Steering Group pressed ahead and produced a
Questionnaire which was circulated to every household in the
villages. Due to the hard work of the volunteer distributors
and collectors, a 66% response of valid returns was achieved.
When judged by national
standards this was a good result and gives the Report credibility
when addressing future plans affecting our villages.
The analysis of the answers given in the Questionnaire resulted
in an Action Report which was distrubuted to each household in the
village.
It is not the remit of the Copdock and Washbrook Parish Plan
Steering Group to take action itself, but it can identify the
appropriate organisations to undertake those actions that you
consider important.To this end an Open Meeting was held in the
Village Hall on Friday20th and Saturday 21st May 2005, to allow the
villagers to decide which of the proposed options should be pursued
and what priority should be given to each proposed action.
THE ACTION PLAN
Click here to view The Action
Plan