Community Plans, Surveys & Information Grants

Batcombe Parish Council - Community Plan

Batcombe Parish Council have been awarded a grant to conduct a Community Plan of the parish, in collaboration with Thrive, to identify parishioner’s priorities on infrastructure, amenities and services. 

The aim of the project is to:

  • Identify parishioners’ priorities for parish amenities, assets and services.
  • Identify activities key to community health & wellbeing required by parishioners. 
  • Identify resources to support the above.


This will be the first public review in parish history and will serve to produce a Community Plan for the next five years. 

The outcome of this project will be a Community Plan that will:

  • Prioritise funding requirements and projects for community health and wellbeing. 
  • Identify devolved services that could be replaced by parish activities. 
  • Identify activities and events for village amenities and infrastructure. 

Beckington Parish Council conducted a survey in 2019 ‘Bettering Beckington’, however the Parish Council believe that a Community Plan will enable the Parish Council to continue focusing on evaluating the needs of the community, enacting key priorities, and develop a rolling programme reflecting the developing needs of the Beckington community. 

Key priorities that the Beckington Community Plan will focus on:

  • Improving the wellness of the community
  • Raising awareness of activities throughout the Parish 
  • Improving community spaces and community assets 
  • Prioritising the use of S106 money and Parish Grant Funding 
  • Improving traffic regulation for safer roads 
  • Developing new community services, based on the needs of parishioners
  • Improving culture and creativity in Beckington Parish Council 
  • Encouraging community participation in events 


The Community Plan will become a live document and programme of engagement, action, review and further engagement driven by Beckington Parish Council. 

Chard Town Council is launching KIND – the Knowledge, Information, Networking Directory – a central digital hub designed to support the health and wellbeing of all Chard residents by providing clear, easy access to local services, activities and resources. 

KIND will bring together: 

  • Local health and wellbeing services.
  • Community organisations and clubs. 
  • A digital calendar of events, ‘things to do’ and volunteering opportunities.

 

This large grant will support funding a Community Engagement Officer who will oversee the project and liaise with stakeholders and reception team members who will be available to support members of the public to use the directory. 

Key project aims: 

  • Improved awareness of and access to services. 
  • Greater social inclusion.
  • Improved local pride, cohesion and participation in community life. 

Charlton Horethorne Parish Council successful developed and created a Community Plan in 2016. The document has informed many policies throughout its life, however, much has changed in the parish and to ensure future relevance the Parish Council have received a grant to conduct an up-to-date plan. 

A Steering Group, to support the process, is being formed, and will consist of Parish Councillors and draw on the wider public for additional members, such as local businesses, local landowners and other local organisations. The Parish Council will work with an independent consultant with experience of supporting Community Plans to carry out the project. 

The aim of the project is to produce a plan that will have fulfil a minimum five year lifespan. The final document will provide an explanation of survey findings, detailing a breakdown of the responses to each question, and an explanation of how this translates into policy, themes or initiatives. 

Adventures in Your Neighbourhood is a series of community festivals in different areas in Frome and Chard. The project is all about focusing energy on specific areas of the town, and bringing local residents together through playful creative challenges. 

Three  ‘pop-up’ festivals will take place across neighbourhoods in Frome and Chard Town Centre and will all be co-designed by working groups of local people in each neighbourhood. 

Frome Town Council are collaborating with partner organisation Terrestrial (a Frome-based community arts producer) who specialist in collaborative projects to design and deliver Adventures in Your Neighbourhood. A key aspect of Terrestrial’s work is about supporting projects with people who don’t normally feel invited to lead their own creative projects. 

Project goals: 

  • Fostering social cohesion and better relationships amongst local neighbourhoods. 
  • Sharing participatory arts activities in places that don’t currently experience them.
  • Building confidence and wellbeing in young people. 
  • Supporting inter-generational play in outdoor spaces. 
  • Encouraging people to explore alternative areas in their hometown. 

 

Adventures in St John’s:

  • The first ‘pop-up’ festival involved the creation of an ‘Alleyway Gallery’ of portraits with photographer Alice Whitby featuring residents and shop workers. 
  • Terrestrial hosted a series of pop-up outdoor coffee morning and one-to-one neighbourhood interviewers, which led to a treasure hunt in the park. 
  • Terrestrial worked intensively with all eight Year 5 classes at Selwood Academy (200+ young people) to imagine a series of wild stories set in the local landscape, which are now being turned into a book with illustrator Jenna Herman. 
  • Local families were invited to donate unwanted shoes, artist Esmé Patey-Ford then hosted gardening sessions to plant into the shoes. 

Photos by Alice Whitby

This project involves a viability exercise exploring opportunities to expand community support services by working with nearby parishes to assess local needs, strengthen partnerships, and develop a sustainable plan for future joint services.

This seed grant will fund a consultant to liaise with the local parishes surrounding Martock to understand if similar community needs has been established in other parishes and how these parishes could collaborative to create a wider project sustainable beyond the grant. 

Milborne Port Parish Council have secured a grant to fund the staffing costs of a dedicated Project Officer to manage a number of projects that will positively benefit the health and wellbeing of residents in the parish. The Community Projects include: 

  • Community Hub (Village Library & warm meeting space
  • Community Sports Pavilion 
  • Youth Facilities 
  • Improvement to the Village Hall including developing an Emergency Plan
  • Improved dog walking paths/ footpaths & nature areas 
  • Plan for roof top solar panels on council owned buildings

 

The Milborne Port Community Village Survey received responses from over 300 residents and captured the expressed needs of the community in terms of Travel & Transport, Local Environment, Community Facilities & Services, Young People & Children and Housing. This funding will enable the Projects Officer to further develop the Community Plan into an action plan to implement projects and hand them over to community groups and volunteers for future running. 

Mudford Parish Council are working with Clout LTD, a well established social and market research company, to carry out a Community Plan of the parish of Mudford. 

Mudford does not currently have an active Community Plan, and the parish is projected to experience a substantial growth in its electorate over the next 15 years. Mudford Parish Council will therefore actively engage with residents to gather their views, through a mixture of methods, such as surveys, face to face or telephone interviews, as well as a Community Assembly, which Mudford Parish Council hope will attract broad participation from groups and individuals who are often underrepresented or overlooked by existing organisations. This inclusive approach is designed to ensure that a wider range of voices are heard and considered in shaping the future of the parish. 

Mudford Parish Council are developing a Community Plan Steering Group, which will consist of councillors, members of local groups and organisations and representatives from local faith groups and businesses. 

Mudford Parish Council aims to use the new Community Plan to define its future objectives and establish an effective communication strategy. 

What would you like to Search for?

Skip to content