A Parish Plan

'A unique opportunity for a community to play an active part in determining its own future’ (Suffolk Acre).


‘    Syleham Millennium Cross and Church Lane

Syleham Parish Plan

Syleham's Parish Plan was published in July 2009 and, already, some local interest groups are developing.  A new craft group is expected to commence early Spring 2010 and  Syleham residents have been invited to join with Wingfield & District Gardening Club and Wingfield History Group.  The Plan has also been adopted by the Parish Council and priorities currently identified and under investigation are:

    Transport - residents are being consulted on a Suffolk County Council initiative which could provide an 11-seater bus, with disabled access, to serve local villages.  Survey forms have been delivered to each household.

    Re-cycling facilities - the potential site would be the car park of the Village Hall.  Residents and interested parties will be invited to participate in a survey before decisions are taken and an appropriate questionnaire is currently being drafted.    

    Oil-purchasing scheme - enquiries are being made with a view to offering cost savings.

    Footpath survey - residents are invited to volunteer to take part in a survey, to establish what maintenance and improvement might be required.

    Household waste - residents are urged to make use of the facility at Brome, which is open from 8am to 5pm to end March and from 8am to 6pm to end September.  Items accepted include green waste, household and car batteries, fridges/freezers, tetra pak cartons and electrical goods, but not wood or plastics.

History of the Parish Plan
       
Parish Plans, setting out how  villages might (or might not) wish to develop and the action to be taken to achieve the vision,  have proved to be influential in guiding not only parish councils but also district and county councils in the decisions they make. At a public meeting held jointly for residents of Wingfield and Syleham in April 2007 both communities decided to go ahead with a Parish Plan.  To save on cost, a joint steering committee was formed, including members from each parish, and much of the work was done together

 

Two fun events held during the summer of 2007 provided an opportunity for residents of both parishes to indicate  issues of local importance and these formed the basis for the questionnaire which was sent to all households during  January and February 2008.  There was an excellent return rate.
 
A presentation of the findings was given at the Village Hall on the morning of Saturday 19th July 2008 and approximately 31 residents of Syleham visited the exhibition-style event.  People were impressed by the quality of the presentation and spent  time studying the display panels or browsing through the brochures over a cup of coffee.  The Steering Group worked together on this event, with the Wingfield display taking place in the afternoon, but then reached the stage where the Wingfield and Syleham members worked largely independently on producing their respective Parish Plans.

Wingfield and Syleham have both now produced their Plans,  Syleham's being distributed early in July 2009.  The  Steering Group hope that residents find their Parish Plan an attractive and informative document and they are grateful to the people who have assisted with the research.  

To promote further action, the Steering Group arranged a drop-in coffee morning on Saturday 31st October at the Village Hall.  This was well  attended:    voluntary groups are taking forward some of the issues in which there was particular interest and the Parish Council is pursuing  others. 

 

    Black Horse Hill/Church Hill, Wingfield Road


Most residents cherish the tranquillity of their parish and want to see it preserved.


Further information will be posted on this website as available. Meanwhile, enquiries can be made  to Syleham Parish Clerk click here