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The Brandeston Parish Plan

It is quite clear that local authorities are under pressure to develop a strategy for the future of the region which will accommodate an increase in housing and infrastructure, but this must be seen to have been arrived at through consultation with the present population. This means there is now a unique opportunity for a village like Brandeston to express its views clearly, concisely, and with authority of its parishioners, and so directly influence the development policies which will be applied here in the future. To do this, of course, the village must present a view which has been obtained by genuine consensus. Developing a plan is optional however, but if Brandeston chose not to do so then it is likely to be viewed by the authorities as apathetic about its future development, and our Parish Councillors would then have little ammunition in their future negotiations on our behalf.

Parishioners agreed at the meeting of 16 April 2007 that the idea of developing a parish plan should be explored further, and from the 17 villagers who volunteered their skills to assist in the project, a Steering Group was formed on 27 June to advance further.

The process to be used has yet to be defined but will include canvassing all villagers (surveys/public meetings, etc) on their feelings about the future of Brandeston and publishing these as they coalesce into a formal plan which is essentially a statement of how parishioners see the future for their village.

Parish Plan Update - 13 August 2008

Nick Holland-Brown

The Steering Group has been working hard progressing the Parish Plan. A draft document, prepared by Nick Hayward has been considered and modified by the Steering Group and Action Plans have been derived. The third version of the draft is now in circulation to the group and it is hoped that it will be ready for presentation to the Parish Council later this month or early in September. Following that, it will be presented to the village at a meeting to be arranged in October or November prior to publication and circulation in December.

Brandeston Parish Plan

Open Evening

Thursday 29 May 2008, 20:00

Brandeston Village Hall

Now that the Questionnaire has been completed, analysed and presented formally to the village at the Annual Parish Meeting on 14 May 2008, the next stage in the process of deriving a Parish Plan was to provide an opportunity for villagers to examine the results in detail and add any final comments. This was conducted as an Open Evening on 29 May when the data was presented and the steering committee members were available to answer questions and take note of further points.

The committee provided wine and sandwiches to encourage an enjoyable social occasion – for which Brandeston is always noted!

A number of additional points/issues were raised and these have been recorded and included in the overall summary.

The next stage is for the committee to review the statistical results, extract the key issues for Brandeston into a formal report together with an action plan on what needs to be done by whom. This report in draft form will again be presented to the village before finalisation and delivery to the planning organisations.

Meetings on this subject are open to all villagers and the minutes are available in the foyer of the village hall and on this website.

Nick Hayward

10 June 2008