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Not Too Late
July 2009 is lost and gone for ever. On 16th, 17th, 18th of the month we had our first Planning for
Real exercises, a crucial part of the Parish Plan process, and by now, we will be collating the
very significant information, ideas and opinions which those of you who came to them were
able to contribute. Because I’m writing this on the eve of the deadline for this edition of the
newsletter, I can only anticipate a very full and enthusiastic response to the invitation to take
part which we hope you will all have received. The success of a project which aims to express
the aspirations of the community as a whole depends on our reaching as many of you as
possible – and, vitally, on your contribution.
For all sorts of reasons, you may have missed our meetings. It’s not too late to have
your say. In August, we plan to visit, by invitation, established activity groups which have
meetings that month, bringing our travelling ‘road show’. We would, of course, not want to
monopolise such occasions and would be available, as required and unobtrusively, for
consultation and discussion; for example, we shall be at the Evergreen annual coffee morning
on 11th August when the more elderly members of the parish who had previously been unable to
come would be able to make their views known. If you belong to any other organisation which
would welcome such a visit please let one of us know. Equally, if you wish to talk to us as
individuals we’d be very pleased to hear from you, especially if you feel you belong to a group
which we haven’t identified yet by other means. And we are energetically looking to ways of
getting in touch with the young people of the villages, especially those in the secondary school
age range. This really is for you, too – don’t hold back.
All this is important in that during the month of August we shall be planning a
comprehensive questionnaire to be distributed to all those who live in Cradley and Storridge,
and what you have told us will form the basis of that. Copies will be delivered to every
household in the parish on the weekend of 5th/6th September. In order for the result to be as
accurate and representative as we can all possibly make it we’ll collect completed
questionnaires5 the following weekend, 12th/13th September. The parish, which comprises
Cradley and Storridge, both of which have extensive outlying areas, is big, the largest in
Herefordshire, and, good though our local knowledge and legwork are, we may not meet all our
objectives. If you don’t hear from us, please don’t feel slighted – give one of us a call and
we’ll see you get one. The experts say that we should be satisfied with a 50% response; we’re
aiming for much more than that. Please help us to hit the jackpot. This is Our Village
Our Future and Our Plan. Let’s all make it a good one.
Peter Diamond 018816 880367
So what’s the point?
In the middle of any project, it’s always worth standing back for a
moment to take stock – where are we now, what have we achieved, and where are we going;
that sort of thing. So I did a bit of counting this week. Just over a year on and the Parish Plan
has clocked up its 400th customer. That’s to say that about 25% of people in the Parish have
attended one or more of our consultation meetings starting with our adventure in school in
September when all the children and many of the teachers were involved in a study of ‘Our
Village; they conducted interviews, took photographs, prepared statistics and walked round the
village, in and out of a number of significant buildings, and prepared an extensive and
attractive exhibition full of models and articles which has been enjoyed more than once on
different occasions in both Cradley and Storridge. Since then, regular research groups have
met to explore a number of hot topics and their work formed the basis of the ‘Planning for Real’
exercises which proved so successful last month. 160 came to those four meetings; they
discussed, sometimes argued, pored over maps and stuck flags in locations where they hoped to
see improvements or change – excellent sessions. Beyond that, we’ve had meetings with the
representatives of over 40 voluntary organisations in the Parish, enjoyed the opportunity to
meet and hear the views of a large number of elderly, and other, members of the community at
the Evergreens’ coffee morning on 11th August and have plans, in the immediate future, to
consult more closely with the young people of the Parish and to visit all those who live in
Buryfields and the Leys.
The major stage of the consultation is yet to come. Advertised elsewhere in this edition is the
Questionnaire which goes out to every household in September. If such exercises produce a
return of 50% it is usually thought to be an exceptional result. On the evidence of the quality
and the amount of interest already shown in what we’ve been doing, we have every reason to
expect a much higher return than that. Please complete it; please return it; please let us know
if you haven’t received it or would like further copies. It’s quite a long document and we hope
you’ll find it worth doing. As a gentle inducement, and we don’t think you’ll really need one,
all completed forms (numbers only, no names) will go into a draw to be made on Wednesday 16th
September; the prize, a Singapore supper for two at ‘blue-ginger’ on 27th September generously
donated and, no doubt delightfully hosted, as ever, by Sue Lim.
So, beyond that .... what’s the point? We quite frequently hear thoughtful and not
unreasonable responses arguing that this exercise, and the one before it, are wasted effort
because they ask members of the community to address issues that they can do nothing about.
Planning is a matter for County approval, the state of the roads is in the gift of the Highways
Agency and speed limits are controlled not so much by local wish as by the Police who act only
when the number of recorded fatalities in accidents prompts them to do so. To some extent
The Parish Plan: They should ... and we will ...
With the last of the completed questionnaires now safely in, we can
confirma return close to 60% and that’s a real credit to everyone who took part. The strength,
enthusiasm and commitment of the whole community were evident throughout and we were
hugely heartened by that.
The consequences of such a success are now being played out in a lengthy and time-consuming
operation involving collating all the information you supplied – nearly 40 copies at 24 pages a
time, many of them not only bristling with ticks but full of ‘free’ comment in the boxes at the
end of each section. In recording and assessing all these responses we’re still enjoying the
momentum which the operation generated; while we do it, we hope you’ll be patient in waiting
for the considered results without losing sight of the energy which you apparently sensed while
the questionnaires were being pored over and thoughtfully completed. It will take time; we’ll
do it as quickly as we can and the full results will be made available to everybody, certainly by
the next edition of the newsletter in December.
It’s obviously too early to make any sort of judgement about how you responded. Quite a large
team of volunteers have each kindly agreed to process 30 copies and our immediate impressions
can only be partial. Nevertheless, I’ll chance an observation of my own. We’ve always been
aware that there are two sorts of issues which we’ve asked you to address. There are those in
which we are part-players whose contribution can never be more than contributing to and
gathering consensus, presenting a snapshot of village opinion – the sorts of things which we’d all
like, other things being equal. But they’re not equal and there are other partners involved in
the process of decision-making which may be responsible for the Parish of Cradley and Storridge
not always having its own way. But we can, and should, express our collective view and promote
it vigorously when such things are being debated and in the right places. These are the ‘they
should ...’ areas when ‘they’ are perceived to be all-powerful; government, both local and
national, is of course, the ultimate arbiter but there is a strong element of ‘we’ in the ‘they’ and
the Parish Plan is attempting to identify our view and articulate it. The second issue is much
more obviously about those things which we have complete control over. Many of the sections in
the questionnaire which we asked you to respond to addressed those concerns which will happen,
will get better, will change if we, as a community, take charge of them. Activities and
organisations don’t function without leaders and buildings don’t stay open without funding.
When we asked you, with some trepidation, to break the anonymity rule if you wanted to
volunteer help of any kind and in any capacity, we knew we were taking a risk. We needn’t have
worried. I’ve been struck by the number of respondents who have, by name, expressed their
willingness to contribute to the life of the villages in a practical way. That’s good for the future
of this community. In due course, we’ll be in touch with all those volunteers .
That’s the next stage; inviting any of you who have expressed interest - or who will still do so -
to take part in the next round of discussions initiated by the responses to the
questionnaire. And then on to the Plan; it’s an exciting time; come and join us. You
can telephone Sue Ronan (01886 884646) Peter Diamond
You said it; we heard it - The Parish Plan: Another Crucial Stage
First some facts ... 700 copies of the consultation document were
delivered; 412 of those were completed and returned. That represents a return of 58.71% In
addition, there were written comments amounting, when processed, to 25 sides of A4 sheets,
closely-typed; 130 respondents, who chose to waive their right to anonymity volunteered their
interest in the project and a willingness to help in a variety of different ways in the future.
These are all, of course, very positive results. Adding to those raw statistical data the weight
and intelligence of the answers which implied a considerable commitment in all those who took
part, the outcome, both in the sense of its process and product, was nothing short of excellent.
So, we invited you to have your say and you had it, loud and clear. In doing so, you set us
something of a challenge. There is, of course, nothing more irritating than being invited to
contribute to such a survey and then to hear no more about it or, worse still, no more
frustrating than when decisions seem to have been taken by others which diametrically oppose
or seem to ignore concerns which you have energetically expressed.
Of course, we all know that there are ‘as many opinions as there are men’; the questionnaire
confirmed that. We will never, all of us, achieve what we want and many of the issues involved
are too complicated to warrant easy solutions. That we can’t pretend to offer. What we can
aim to achieve is as wide a distribution of information as possible; you will want to know what
the community said, how widely shared or opposed were particular views and how these ideas
may be implemented or disseminated for further discussion in the future. From this evidence
and from other sources of information and ideas which emerged in the discussion groups and
through ‘Planning for Real’, the Parish Plan, with a series of clear actions will be defined and
energetically pursued.
One overwhelming message from the questionnaire, reiterated directly in individual comment
and implicitly present throughout, was that the complexity of our social organisation requires a
more sophisticated system of communication than we have at present. One very simple
example ... frequently answers asked for the provision of services of all kinds which are already
offered within the parish. Frustrations with, for example, planning procedures or ignorance of
the agendas for Parish Council meetings would be easily allayed were more precise and more
widespread information available about what we collectively are and what we do.
That’s a general point. We’re delighted that the Parish Council is taking a lead in developing
its own website, easily accessible and pleasant to use, full of up-to-the-minute information
about meetings, both past and to come, details of planning applications and results and all sorts
of other useful information about what it is, what it does and who is responsible for what. We
didn’t ask questions about the number of parishioners who have access to a computer and
those who use one regularly and to suggest that this form of communication will
The Parish Plan – Marking Time
We’re into the summer, the schools go on holiday next week and July
and August are months where the vigorous life of the community takes a break from its
usual round of events and meetings – though the August Diary of Events at the end of the
last Newsletter remains busy with social opportunities.
This comparative lull coincides with the conclusion of a major phase in the development of
the Parish Plan and the start of the next, perhaps even more challenging, stage. The
draft Review and Action Plan are at the moment being considered by the various, relevant
departments of Herefordshire Council. They will read and comment on what we have
found and recorded; with our Parish Council they are our partners in implementing what
our Plan has recommended and it is important, of course, that we all agree on how we
proceed in making it effective. At this stage, the residents of Cradley, too, many of whom
have been instrumental in formulating these ideas through the consultation process, are
warmly invited to read the draft documents and pass on their comments before we can all
accept it as broadly representative of what we would like to do. They are available on
www.cradleyandstorridgepp.org.uk and there is a ‘Forum’ page there which allows you to
pass on your views directly and even stimulate debate with others who can reply on the
same page. There are hard copies which can be consulted at the usual outlets, the Post
Office and Stores, the Butcher’s, The Church, the Village Hall and the Surgery; in the first
instance, you can respond to these by telephoning Sue Ronan at 01886 884646 or leave a
written comment at the Post Office for collection.
By the end of July, we plan to distribute to every house in the parish a document which
summarises the major findings of the Plan. If you don’t receive yours by the middle of
August, please telephone Sue who will be coordinating the distribution.
On September 28th, 7.30 p.m. at Cradley Village Hall we will hold an Open, ‘Launch’
meeting. This will have two aims; the first to present the Plan formally to the parish and,
with that, to complete the process of consultation which began two years ago – on that
occasion, we will look forward to your final, considered comments about the process and
what it has thus far achieved; the second will be to explain how we, all of us, Councils and
Community, can contribute to the implementation of the Plan and to reconstitute the
teams of volunteers who will be essential to our carrying it out successfully.
Have a good summer break; please find time to do the reading and the responding; huge
thanks for all your contributions so far; we’ll anticipate an equally whole-hearted support
for the next exciting stage.
The Parish Plan
Mid-August and there’s a ‘Back to School’ feel in the air and a touch of autumn in the garden.
To date, we have had no promised response from Herefordshire Council to the Draft Plan we
completed at the end of last month but we have, nevertheless, produced a summary of the
document which has gone to every household in the parish with the latest edition of the
‘Reporter’. If you haven’t received yours, or would like further copies, please telephone Sue
Ronan who will be pleased to help (01886 884 646). As I write we are experiencing some
technical delays in getting the new website up and running and I hope, by the time you read
this, they will be resolved. Have a look at it at www.cradleyandstorridgepp.org.uk – it’s user-
friendly and packed full of any sort of information that you are likely to need. In the
meantime, I know many of you have been looking at the hard copies available in the villages
and passing on your comments – please keep them coming.
I mentioned last month that we are holding a Public ‘Launch’ Meeting on Tuesday 28th
September in Cradley Village Hall at 7.30 p.m. The objectives will be to
(a)
present the Plan formally to the parish;
(b)
seek further comment and recommendations at this final stage of the
process of consultation which began nearly two years ago;
(c)
invite you to join in the processes of implementation which will be
crucially important in the months, and years, to come.
I think we’ve all found the whole project to be of considerable value in examining the
strengths of the community we live in and in identifying the challenges which rural parishes
have to negotiate in what promises to be an exciting and changing time ahead. Come and
join us as we set out on the next stage, add your voice and, if you can, offer your energies and
expertise in helping us move forward. We’ll look forward to seeing you there.
Peter Diamond
that is true; these are complex matters involving many different interests and obligations and,
anyway, it’s obvious that, in a pluralist society, we can’t all have what we all want all the time.
That apart, I would argue that already we can see the benefit of a process which invites people
from all sections of the Parish to meet and talk together about what involves them as those who
live and work in the community. Already we have seen developments directly resulting from
the good work of the previous Plan – the introduction of the 30mph limit and the establishment
of a Youth Group, for example. Already the Parish Council, together with the Parish Plan
recommendations, is initiating significant conversations with the County about flooding and
road safety. The consensus view of the Parish as a whole which the Plan aims to gather
provides a significant tool in our supporting or, indeed, questioning proposals which come from
outside without the same stamp of lived experience. The reverse must be unacceptable -
especially in a Parish as lively and concerned as this one is – that developments will otherwise
happen here, to us, without our indicating any kind of interest. The Parish Plan will express
your view, loud and clear; the Parish Council will work energetically to make it heard and
effective in the corridors of power.
One other thing .... something we have learned in putting this programme together and in the
processes of consultation that we are now undertaking, is that much of what we identify for
scrutiny or change is not so much a matter for ‘them’, that is the local or even national
government or an equally remote body, but for ‘us’. If we feel that there are things to be put
right, then many of the solutions are to hand. It is, after all, our newsletter, our Parish
Council, our youth club, our village hall. And, I’d say, without wanting to get too preachy
about it, our community responsibility – if you believe that such a concept is important. If we
want a flourishing scout group or a ‘drop-in’ centre, are we willing to help to fund and to run
them? The questionnaire tries to drop in a nudge or two in that direction, as well.
The debate’s open and running. The questionnaire invites your views of whatever sort. Please
join in; the more, the better. It’s becoming a bit of a mantra now ...
Our Say ... Our Future ... Our Plan And it’s a good one.
Peter Diamond
provide immediate solutions to our contradictions of communication in no way ignores the
needs of those who either don’t have such facilities or the confidence to work with them. It
was significant that of the 412 returns, three only were completed on-line. Nevertheless, this
may be a recommendation to an electronic future which should be taken further. Large
numbers of respondents said that they knew about the CAPS facility in the Village Hall and
many of those that they would use them in the future. This resource is first class,
unthreatening and very helpful – if in doubt, give it a try. The Parish Plan group are convening
a new Communications group to research all the possibilities and will report soon.
And, immediately, this issue identifies our problem. The ‘findings’ document is as long as its
original – 24 pages of statistical evidence –and there are almost as many pages of comments
which have already been abridged to edit out repetitions and other redundancies – copies of
the full original returns are available on application. To repeat the distribution/collection
service as before would be costly and difficult. And we do want everyone whether they took
part or not, to have access to these documents if they wish. So, here is what we propose ...
Any whose particular interests have been directly involved in sections of the
questionnaire –the school, the church and major organisations - will have their own
copies, sent electronically.
There will be copies at the usual centres of interest in the villages – the village halls,
the churches, the British Legion for consultation when these places are open.
Cradley Village Hall will be open for this purpose on Tuesday – Thursday mornings,
10.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m. 1st - 3rd December and the mornings, at the same times, of
Tuesday – Friday, 15th – 18th December. Beyond that, it may be necessary to repeat
the same arrangement early in January.
There will be an open meeting in Cradley Village Hall on Monday 18th January at 7.30
p.m. at which full details will be presented, reviewing progress so far and our
expectations for the future as we go into the preparation of the 2010 plan.
The website has the names and contact details of the parish plan group who will
willingly answer your questions; and, given the large number of others who are
involved, it’s likely that you will already know someone who can help immediately.
There will be more information available in the next edition of the Newsletter. Meanwhile, we
shall be getting in touch with all those who, through the questionnaire, kindly volunteered
their time or their expertise to assist in taking this project forward. Support from the
community is excellent and progress very positive. There’s still much to be done and plenty
of opportunity for others to be involved; come and join us.
Peter Diamond
