Colebrooke is a small Mid Devon parish consisting of several hamlets to the west of Crediton. It is a good example of our maxim that no parish is too small or isolated to produce a community plan.
The parish council responded to one of our ‘encouragements’ to parishes to get involved with community led planning and we went along to a parish council meeting to explain the options, the processes and the potential benefits. The parish thought that the more holistic and less proscribed processes of a parish plan suited their needs, rather than the more development focused objectives of a neighbourhood plan. We were invited to help their embryonic steering group get the project underway.
We provided a toolkit, lots of advice and helped them organise a public meeting to get parishioners informed and enthused. The steering group worked hard to identify local issues and to consult with as many people as they could involve. They devised a survey and were rewarded by a good rate of responses. A second public meeting was held to inform the community of the results of the consultation process and survey. A draft action plan was provided for scrutiny and comment.
After nearly two years of work a comprehensive plan was published that covered community support; parish hall and local activities; communications and community engagement; highways, traffic and transport; housing; tourism and information technology.
‘Planning’ has been turned into ‘action’ with the formation of a number of implementation groups to bring the community’s plans to fruition.
Our Parish, Our Community, Our Plan
Together we are stronger.