DOES MINSTEAD NEED A COMMUNITY PLAN?

MARCH 2008

What is a Community Plan?

The Government believes that a Community or Parish Plan should help a local community have more control of its own environment. To work properly it needs the support and contribution of all sections of a community to lay out a shared vision for the next 10-15 years; and it should contain a detailed action plan for achieving this vision. Thus to succeed it is up to the community as a whole to define the issues to be tackled by a Community Plan.  A number of parishes in the New Forest are developing Community Plans, but by no means all. Topics covered include such issues as Community Safety, Environment, Leisure, Children and Young People, Older People and Transport, but different topics may be appropriate to particular parishes. Other New Forest Parishes are still considering the value of a Community Parish, while a few have decided not to proceed for the time being.

Some Pros and Cons of a Community Plan

The process of preparing of a Community Plan should bring all parts of the community together and act as a catalyst for taking new ideas forward. As it would represent the views of the whole community, it might facilitate access to funds from various sources. A Community Plan would also be likely to have some influence on decisions taken by the District Council and the National Park Authority, even though it would have no legal standing. It could provide a sound basis for producing a Village Design Statement in conjunction with the Planning Authority (the NPA), which should give the local community a greater say in the nature and quality of future developments in the parish. On the other hand, some might see a Community Plan as just another layer of bureaucracy which would have little impact on a community that already works quite well. In addition because Minstead falls under the ambit of the National Park Authority and mainly lies within a Conservation Area it is already subject to quite stringent regulations about what can and cannot be done.

The next stage.

If in the weeks following the Annual Assembly on 26th March there is a strong level of support from across the community for the idea of a Community Plan, the Parish Council will seek volunteers to help with the process. A Steering Committee would then be set up to seek the broad spectrum of opinions and views concerning the social, working and environmental issues within the parish. These ideas would be used to form the basis of a plan which would then be produced with wide consultation and with the help and advice of the NFDC and NPA.

What can you do to help?

Whatever your view, please let us know what you think so we can decide whether to proceed or not. You can do this by contacting the Parish Clerk as follows:

Mrs E.A. Green
1 Barleycorn Walk,
Cadnam,
Hants.
SO40 2LY.
Tel. 023 8081 2981
E-mail: liz.green@minstead.gov.uk

COMMUNITY PLAN UPDATE

JUNE 2008

In the weeks following the Annual Assembly on 26th March no strong views about the need or otherwise for a Minstead Community Plan have been forwarded.  The Parish Council has decided therefore to put the idea in abeyance for the time being but to review it again if local opinion changes.