"Parish Plans give an opportunity for everyone in your community to make themselves heard. They provide a way for you to say if you want more open spaces, more effective public transport, affordable housing, better access to health care, a chance to buy local produce at local shops and to choose how your community helps everyone in it to relax and make the most of their social and leisure time.

A Parish (or Community Plan) sets out how community action can meet local needs, can help to prioritise resources and can provide important information to help influence the policies, decisions and actions of others. Parish and Community Plans belong to the community, to be delivered by that community or in partnership with other agencies."

Who has produced a Parish Plan for Hunsdon , and how?

The idea of asking a community to identify and prioritise its needs is not new, and Hunsdon (and many other villages and towns) has on previous occasions conducted surveys to gather views and gauge opinion.  Around 2004 central government recognised the benefits of this form of community involvement and set out a framework for preparation of Parish Plans.  Over the next few years a 'best practice' for undertaking a Parish Plan has emerged - the 'PARISH AND COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT' describes the process in detail.

In 2006 Hunsdon Parish Council concluded that it should prepare a Parish Plan, and press-ganged(!) a small Steering Group of Hunsdon residents to prepare a Parish Plan. A grant of £1500 was given by East Herts Council to cover costs. The Group first prepared a consultation leaflet, based on the results of the 2004 survey, to be delivered to every home. A special contribution was made by the Village School. The Village Fete 2007 was again used to promote and consult on ideas for the Plan. An analysis of responses received was used by the Group to prepare a Draft Plan. This was summarised in a further leaflet delivered to each house and discussions were also held with school children. The Draft Plan was then presented to a Village public meeting on 4th December 2007. The outcome of the meeting, attended by 200 residents, was overwhelming approval of the Draft Plan. It was later adopted by the Parish Council in January 2008.

So what is in the Plan?

See for yourself; read the four-page, colourful summary here* and / or the detailed text here.

* Please note the section about our community inadvertently neglected to mention some of our village groups - Hunsdon Ducklings, Over Three Score Club, Tennis Club and Scrabble Club to name a few

What happens next?

The Parish Plan is a ‘work in progress’. It is regularly discussed and reviewed by the Steering Group and the Parish Council when updating and appropriate revisions are made. By 2009 progress is being made on traffic studies, a BMX track, regeneration of the Good Neighbour Scheme & Welcome Pack, and a local housing needs survey. The Plan has also been used as a basis for comments on the East Herts Local Development Framework and the Review of the Regional Spatial Strategy.