This is the starting point of the survey now underway to create a Parish Plan for Barrow upon Soar.
The idea of a ‘Parish Plan’ is: to identify issues which are of concern to the community;
This is the starting point of the survey now underway to create a Parish Plan for Barrow upon Soar.
The idea of a ‘Parish Plan’ is: to identify issues which are of concern to the community;
to develop plans to address these concerns; and to present recommendations
for discussion and action. Many local villages have already done this or are
in the process of doing so. Our survey has financial backing from the
Countryside Agency, the Parish Council and British Gypsum. We are
grateful to them all for their support. and other official agencies are looking to Parish Plans 
and other official agencies are looking to Parish Plans as a way of
telling them what communities want. It is grass roots democracy in
action: we, the village, tell the authorities what we think are the
priorities for
spending their money! And there is a lot of money
available for grants if we have good projects
supported by evidence of local demand (the thousands
raised by the Millennium Group for the Fishpool Way "Millennium Park" is an example).
So, the Parish Council has encouraged a small group
of volunteers to carry out a survey of all village
residents and businesses. Our aim is to listen to your
views on how you think the village can be improved.
How can it become an even better place to live, work,
play and visit? There will be big issues affecting
almost everyone - such as traffic, housing, industry -
through to more personal things such as street
cleaning near you, services for older people, facilities
for younger people, street signs, shops, and the health
centre. Anything you have a view on will be of interest
as there may be other people with the same view and
if enough people all want the same thing then we
stand a chance of persuading the authorities to do it.
By the time this article appears in Barrow Voice, the surveys will be
underway. We have been sending invitations to samples of residents
and businesses to give us ideas they have for improvements. Don't
worry if you have not been approached, personally, so far. If you
have anything you want to tell us about, send it as soon as possible to
myself (address below) or drop a note into the Parish Council offices
marked "Parish Plan". They will pass it on. Make your comments
anonymous if you prefer.
In the New Year we will send a questionnaire to all households and
businesses. This will give everyone the chance to "vote", as it were, on the many suggestions made. The aim will be to assess the strength
of support for the suggestions made. After that, we will write a report
with an action plan which we hope will be widely discussed by the
village before sending it to the authorities with access to funding!
Please help make Barrow even better by getting
involved - send us your ideas, volunteer to help
distribute and collect the survey and, most importantly,
answer the questionnaire when it is circulated.
Arthur Gardner, Chair of the Steering Group, 95 Cotes Rd or
A.Gardner@jardin1.demon1.co.uk
