Parish Plan
This is a document, which is compiled from feedback received from local residents that reflects the vision for the Gurnard Community for up to 15 years from its conception.
It not only focuses the minds of the Community and will obviously draw it together as the process progresses, but can also most usefully serve as “evidence of need” should grant funding be required for any venture or project in the future, provided it is included in the Parish Plan.
An application was made to the Countryside Agency in November 2002 for funding to carry out the project, but it took until February 2004 for the application to be approved!
£4950 has been awarded, and the project officially got underway on 3rd March 2004, with the first meaningful meeting of the Steering Group.
Most Steering Group meeting reports are available to download from the Documents page.
A second meeting was held on 22nd March 2004, and the focus at this early stage in the project was to profile the Parish Plan in the Village. Hopefully, interest has been cultivated amongst the residents so that now that the consultation process has kicked in properly, most folk have some idea of what it’s all about and why it’s being carried out!
This was achieved in the first instance by face to face conversations, as well as having a presence at Gurnard Primary School at the May Queen Procession event on Saturday 1st May 2004.
Secondly, there was an exhibition at Bucklers View Residential Home in Worsley Road on 6th November 2004, and about 150 people attended. The purpose of the exhibition was to give the opportunity for residents to "get up to speed" with progress made so far and also to allow them some additional input to the process. The results of the Camera Project consultation exercise were on display, as were some superb examples from the children at Gurnard Primary School on suggested designs for the Village nameplates. The Steering Group has since analysed the results of the Camera Project. The 1st questionnaire was delivered to every house in November 2004, and analysis of the 155 responses received is almost complete.
Thirdly, the Primary School children are helping out, as part of their "Citizenship" education, with a "Planning for Real" exercise. During January, February and early March 2005 children from Years 3 and 4 were making a map of the central part of the Parish, and also constructing models of buildings etc. to place on the map. This was completed in time for the residents to come along to what was a "hands-on" exhibition on 19th March 2005, where they placed ready-made flags on the map to show where they would like changes/additions/improvements made. There was also a re-run of the photographic exhibition to support the event, and it proved to be both informative and a bit of fun, with about 150 residents attending, as well as the Island's MP, Andrew Turner, who also enjoyed the cake stall! It is hoped to include some of the photos taken at the exhibition here is due course. A re-run of the Planning for Real exercise also took place at the May Queen event on 7th May 2005, which completed the consultation process. The Steering Group employed the services of Seymour Communications in June 2005 to assist it with coordinating all the information and preparing for the final publication, which is the current project. The last full Steering Group meeting was held on 4th January 2006, and the printed document was delivered to the Parish Council on 27th January 2006.
The Parish Council will be officially launching the "Parish Plan" at the Annual Parish Meeting on 25th April 2006 (7.30pm - at the Methodist Church Hall), and it is hoped many residents will come along to hear how it will be used. A HUGE vote of thanks goes to the Steering Group members listed below, who gave up a lot of their time over the 2 year period to produce this 1st class document. The finished document is now posted on the Documents pages of this website in 3 parts, and the delivery of hard copies to all households commenced in March 2006, and this process was completed in mid-April. It is anticipatesd that the Parish Plan will be reviewed in 2011/2012.
The Steering Group membership was:
Gurnard Parish Council Gurnard Parish Council Gurnard Community Partnership All Saints Church Gurnard Primary School | Gurnard Sailing Club Marsh Road Residents Association Gurnard Scouts & Guides Brenda Schofield (293308) |
