B - Preparation of Arnside Parish Plan
B. Preparation of Arnside Parish Plan
[Asterisks indicate documents available, on request, on CD-Rom.]
- early 2002: discussion of ‘Vital Villages’ documentation at Parish Council
- expression of intent forwarded
- enquiry sent to all village organisations and businesses: no opposition, sufficient support to justify pursuing the possibility of a Parish Plan
- the matter of a Plan raised from the floor at Annual Parish Assembly, April 2002: generally supported
- Parish Council commits fully to Plan and designates a member to set procedures in motion (May 2002)
- same member attends Cumbria Voluntary Action/Cumbria Rural Development workshop on Parish Plans (May 2002), and makes initial contact with Rural Community Officer
- Parish Council agrees (10 June 2002) to: (i) a schedule for applying for funding, preparing and presenting a five-year Plan; (ii) arrangements for beginning to establish a Steering Group and the holding of a first meeting, open to the public; (iii) a financial contribution
- July 2002: first public meeting - widely advertised - takes place: Chair of Steering Group elected; first members elected to Steering Group. (As anticipated, membership of the Steering Group – which stood mostly at 10-12 – was to change regularly over the twelve-month period, although five or six members remained throughout the whole planning process.)
- four full meetings of Steering Group, Aug-Oct 2002
- Parish Plan Open Day, 16 November 2002: around 300 residents attend; some 200 leave written comments*
- eight further meetings of Steering Group, Nov-Feb 2002-03
- Feb 2003: circulation of some 1200 copies of a questionnaire to all households in the Parish - questionnaire is 24 pages long, with 73 questions*
- Feb-March 2003: 599 questionnaires returned, covering 53% of Parish population
- eight further meetings of Steering Group Feb-June 2003
- transfer of results of each completed questionnaire onto a one-page grid;* transfer of results from grids onto a specially-designed database*
- interrogation of database and transfer of results onto a specially-designed spreadsheet*
- brief preliminary oral report on results of survey at Annual Parish Assembly, 24 April 2003
- recruitment and establishment of 5 ‘Task Groups’, corresponding to areas of opinion in the questionnaire results, a 6th area being covered by the Steering Group itself*
- preliminary printed report on selected results of survey made available to residents (May 2003)*
- early June 2003: Task Groups report back to Steering Group, which drafts Action Plan
- Parish Plan ‘Drop-in’ event, 21 June; around 130 residents attending, who
- are given a new document (with graphics) setting out full numerical results of survey*
- see a draft Action Plan
- have a last opportunity to make comments
- four further meetings of Steering Group July-August 2003, taking account of latest comments and information in revising Action Plan and drafting whole Parish Plan
- August 2003: Parish Plan completed
- August 2003: Parish Plan printed
- Sept 2003: leaflet summarising Plan is devised, printed and circulated to all Arnside households*
- 1 Oct 2003: public meeting to launch Plan and establish new Parish Plan Management Group to supervise and monitor carrying out of Plan.
