Background The concept of a Parish Plan has its roots in the Government Rural White Paper: The Future – A Fair Deal for Rural England.

Early in 2008 the Winscombe and Sandford Parish Council arranged two consultative meetings to ascertain if there was an interest within the Parish to elect a committee of volunteers to prepare a Parish Plan. The Plan would culminate in an Action Plan which would reflect what issues affect people in our community and what they would like to see done about them in the future. The response to the Parish Council initiative led to the formation of a Parish Plan Steering Group to take this work forward and to look ahead over a 5-10 year period.

Membership of the Steering Group A Steering Group has been formed and membership details are on the website. Please contact any member of the Steering Group as appropriate.

Purpose of the Steering Group The Steering Group decided that, initially, it would be necessary to publicise the existence of the group and its aims and then to collect comments and data about the views and needs of the community which it serves.

Work undertaken so far Information and views have been collected and analysed from the initial Parish Council questionnaire; the two Parish Council Meetings; the Millennium Green Fair in May; the Sandford School Fete in June; the Open Gardens Day in June and the Winscombe Michaelmas Fair in September.

The Parish Plan has been publicised in the Parish Magazine and in the local press. In October a leaflet providing information about the Parish Plan and a series of consultative meetings in Sandford and Winscombe was delivered to every household (over 1800) in the Parish.

Future Plans Consultative meetings:
23 October at Winscombe Community Centre at 7.30 p.m.
27 October at Winscombe Community Centre at 3.00 p.m.
29 October at Sandford Village Hall at 7.30 p.m.
Guest speakers from Community Action and representatives from other local Parish Plan Steering Groups will address the meetings.

Focus group leaders will commence consultations with the younger generation; business people; the elderly; clubs and societies and other residents.

The Steering Group is already aware of many of the macro issues which are of concern to parishioners including: village amenities; environmental issues; facilities for the under 18’s; transport; travel and traffic; shopping; communication; housing and community safety. It is anticipated that the focus groups and the public meetings will raise other more detailed issues.

The information gained from the public meetings and consultations will be analysed and used to construct a comprehensive questionnaire which will be circulated to every property in February/March 2009. The final Parish Plan will be based on the responses to the questionnaire and will be presented to the Winscombe and Sandford Parish Council and to North Somerset Council during the late summer of 2009. It will be widely distributed within the Parish. It is anticipated that the Steering group will then become an implementation monitoring group.

The Parish Plan Section of the Parish Council website will be updated on a monthly basis.

Correspondence for the Parish Plan Steering Group may be addressed:
C/o The Parish Clerk, Parish Council Office, Winscombe Community Centre, 11 Sandford Road, Winscombe, BS25 1JA or directly to individual members of the Steering Group via their email address.