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The
Parish Plan for Little Marlow
Introduction
The Parish Plan for Little Marlow has been produced by a Steering Committee of volunteers drawn from the village, from Residents Associations, from schools and churches and many of the other bodies that represent people who reside, work or visit the area. The committee have widely consulted interested parties by holding an Open Day at two venues, by running a well-attended stall at the Village Fete, and by a consultation questionnaire that was delivered to every householder in the Parish. Analysis of the feedback (See DATA section) from those meetings and surveys has enabled the committee to ascertain the views of the community on how they want the village to develop over the foreseeable future. Whilst considering those views the committee have kept in mind three important issues: The Culture of the village; the beliefs, values and behaviour of the residents. This has not been an easy task as the Parish is split up into several – Abbotsbrook, Burroughs, Fern, Little Marlow Village, Coldmoorholme Lane, Well End, Winchbottom & Westhorpe – each independent and each with its own priorities. In considering the Built Environment, which includes both the existing structures and those proposed for the future, full recognition has been paid to the fact that the majority of the Parish is in a conservation area and lies within the flood plain of the river Thames. Finally, the Natural Environment, which includes consideration of the surrounding countryside with particular reference to the designated County Park alongside the Thames. In analytical terms, these three elements could be considered separately, but, of course, in reality each is dependant on the other. They interact to produce the community, as we know it. The success of the village over 35 centuries reflects the harmony twixt man and nature. It is that continuing harmony that your steering committee is seeking to nurture to provide a thought-out Parish Plan to cover the next decade or so. The
Creation of The Parish Plan. A Steering Committee representing the whole parish was recruited to respond to the Countryside Agency’s initiative to give local communities a greater say in their future and to take greater control over their own affairs. The support for the plan ranged from keen enthusiasm to one of caution that it would merely be ‘yet another talking shop’. The first challenge was to find a way of involving all the residents. The committee did this in two ways: firstly by holding an Open Day on 26th June 2004 at two venues, the Village Hall in Little Marlow & the Abbotsbrook Hall in Well End. Both events were well publicised by a leaflet drop to every household in the Parish and mention in the local press. The running of a stall at the village fete in August 2004 followed the Open Day. Residents and visitors were encouraged to consider the following issues: housing and future developments, traffic and public transport, services and policing, the environment and any other local issues which concerned them. Our tactic was to persuade guests to write their comments on ‘post-its’ and stick them onto display boards; in management terms, a brainstorming exercise.
Little
Marlow Pavilion The response was very encouraging if only to confirm the views of the committee who, after all, had been drawn from all sections of that community and many had resided in the area for considerable time. It demonstrated that the residents were passionate about their village, concerned about the natural environment and were vociferous against external forces that might impose unwarranted change in their area. Of particular interest, was the designation of an area as a Country Park. Secondly, the committee designed and produced a questionnaire (with a separate one for the under 18’s) based on the replies and comments made by residents at the Open Day & fete. The questionnaire was delivered to every household in the Parish and response was moderate. By the published closing date of 20th October 2004 about 12% of households had replied. Interestingly, replies continued over the next month and it was more gratifying to discover that we ended up with over 16% response by the end of 2004. Worryingly, that response seemed unbalanced and the committee were not keen in using the data collected; it seemed weighted too heavily towards the elderly. The committee were concerned that people in the 20-40’s age group were not properly represented in the results. It was decided that further research was necessary to validate our data. Roger Fisher was tasked to obtain a demographic profile of the Parish from Wycombe District Council and when that was compared with the results of our survey the two were found to be fully in tune. The data has been published elsewhere in this Plan (Section Three, Data) The results of the Open Day and fete day, together with the analysis of the questionnaire survey, have been fully integrated in the preparation of the Parish Plan for Little Marlow. Initial
Steering Committee Members: John Brownridge (Chairman), John Anderson (Secretary), Geoff Fitchew (Treasurer), Richard Boas, Bernard Burger, Philip Emmett, Roger Fisher, Julie Hall, Clive Innocent, the Rev. Sue Irwin, Michael Phillpots & Patrick Walmsley.
Summary - Introduction - Section 1 - Section 2 - Section 3 - Section 4 - Section 5 - Section 6 - Section 7
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03/07/2007 WebWork by Jonathan |
