Nocton Village Plan

The proposed Nocton Community Plan was held on the 20 April with over 40 people in attendance to offer their initial ideas and clarify what was actually being proposed and what involvement the Parish Council would have. Regarding the latter the Parish Council confirmed that they had no 'formal' involvement at this time and the meeting was being held to see if such a Plan was of interest to the community.

Discussion began with people explaining what they like about Nocton and what keeps them there. The general feeling was that people love living there because they feel their village is an attractive, peaceful, safe and tranquil place to live. Would you agree?
The discussion then went on to explore what dislikes there were and what improvements people would like to see in the future. These thoughts were more than varied and naturally depended on people's needs and what they liked doing in their spare time. Examples of this were that some would like to see a shop and café, some would like to have access to more recreational facilities and some would like the overall appearance of the village enhanced by planting flowers and using more traditional signage. It was clear that many people were unhappy about dog owners allowing their dogs to foul the footpaths and fields. The Parish Council is already mindful of this and had employed a Dog Warden to tackle non-compliant owners.

Overall it was felt the meeting was a very encouraging start to community engagement and they now needed to build on this to ensure that they hear from all members of the community before establishing the top priorities. Community Links is to support the venture with their expertise and experience in creating community plans which of course will include ways to bid for necessary funding.

A small group of volunteers formed a steering group which set their first meeting for 24 May to discuss how to engage more residents and to keep people informed of the progress being made.

If you have any suggestions, particularly if you already run group activities in the village, do please use the boxes set up in the Village Hall and the Post Office.

For more information on what a Parish Plan is go to:-
www.acre.org.uk/our-work/community-led-planning

Looking forward to hearing from you.