The 2023 Parish Plan

The first iteration of a Parish Plan for Whaddon was prepared in 2005 and was followed by a second version in 2013.  Each edition of the Parish Plan was prepared following a detailed questionnaire circulated to all households and businesses in the parish.  The Parish Plan is a live document that needs to be periodically reviewed and updated to ensure it continues to be relevant to the needs and aspirations of residents in the parish.

In 2022 a small working group was set up by Whaddon Parish Council and tasked with preparing a new Parish Plan for Whaddon.  Once again, this new Plan draws on the views of parishioners who responded to a fresh questionnaire over the summer of 2022.  Before drafting the questionnaire, the working group invited parishioners to suggest issues and ideas that they might like to see included. The working group also consulted South Cambridgeshire District Council and met with one of their officers to discuss the content of the questionnaire and what questions might be used or adapted from a model prepared by SCDC. 

Exactly 100 responses were received from adults over the age of 16, and 19 responses were received for the parallel children's questionnaire.  These responses were then analysed and their content used to inform the drafting of a new Parish Plan.  The final draft of the 2023 Parish Plan was considered and endorsed by the Parish Council at their meeting on 17th April 2023.

The 2023 Plan includes a review of the recommendations set out in the 2013 Plan, most of which have now been addressed.  The recommendations set out in the new 2023 Parish Plan include some that have a high cost and could only be delivered with the cooperation of adjacent Parish Councils and the County Council.  It is highly probably that some will take longer than the life of this Plan to bring to fruition.  Others fall outside the remit of the Parish Council to deliver and will require volunteers from within the community to step forward to assist in their delivery. 

The 2023 plan is available on this web site!

The Working Group responsible for preparing the 2023 Plan were:
Malan Peyton (Working Group Coordinator)
Anita Birch
James Bridges
David Grech
Joanna Hart
Suzanne Hill
Sue Sentence

The 2013 Community-led Plan aka Parish Plan

Whaddon Parish Council decided late in 2004 to set up a committee to produce a Parish Plan for the village. Such plans should be redone every five years or so, and so in 2012 proposals were made to repeat the exercise in 2013.

The 2013 plan is available on this web site!

The aim of the plan is to help the village plan for the future, by obtaining detailed views of those who live in Whaddon. Links to the 2005 plan will be found below.

This page presents the background information to the new Plan following information supplied by the present Steering Group. Contact information is in the Steering Committee tab below.

If you would prefer to read the information in a PDF file, follow this link.

Background

In 2001 the then government devised the concept of parish plans and in 2006 the Whaddon Parish Plan Steering Group circulated a very detailed questionnaire. This enabled us to publish a very comprehensive plan which was well received by most villagers and public bodies to whom it was submitted and thus enabled our Parish Council to prioritise many of the issues that villagers felt needed to be addressed.

The Parish Council takes the lead in providing the village with what is wanted and when external help is needed it must seek to convince either South Cambridgeshire District Council, the County Council or other public bodies for resources, all in competition with other communities in the local area. A properly researched village plan is an important tool when dealing with external public bodies. 

A new name

This process is now called a Community led plan and is under the guidance of a Steering Group who, on behalf of the Parish Council, have reviewed the last plan and produced a new questionnaire. It is hoped that this will provide a snapshot of the village as it is in 2013 and reflect how villagers would like to see Whaddon develop in the next 5 years.

Community Led Village Plans are designed to last for 5 years and thus a new one is overdue. Our new questionnaire is more concise than before as we don’t want to burden residents with a lot of irrelevant or repetitious questions. Of course, Whaddon is a rural village with a small population and there will inevitably be limitations on what is realistically possible. We have, therefore, also tried to avoid questions that might produce responses which are simply not achievable.

Our main objective in producing a new village plan is to allow you, the people who live in Whaddon, to decide how you want the village to develop in the future and to set a range of objectives or targets with priorities where appropriate. Please be assured that this is not just another piece of petty bureaucracy. You will be able to see in the new plan that is produced, that many of the objectives set back in 2006 have been achieved and, for most residents, Whaddon is a better place in which to live.

The answers in the Questionnaire will be analysed and will form the basis of the 2013 Whaddon Village Community led Plan.

The village plan is important and to put together the best possible product the Steering Group needs your help. We need you to put aside 15 minutes or so to complete the questionnaire as accurately as you can. The more residents in the village that do so, the more we can reflect a village-wide picture of Whaddon and the views that people hold on where we should set our sights.  We hope you will help.

The 2013 Plan group

• Lee Ginger (Chairman), lee.ginger [at] btinternet.com (01223 208077)
• Ian Blood
• Hayley Coningsby
• Gemma Coningsby
• Kate French
• Mike Monks
• Randall Scott
• Nick Shaw

Whaddon Parish Council decided late in 2004 to set up a committee to produce a Parish Plan for the village.

The aim of the plan is to help the village plan for the future, by obtaining detailed views of those who live in Whaddon.

Printed copies of the plan have been distributed to every house in Whaddon; copies in PDF format are available here.

The Parish Plan 1.6 mb (PDF with lower resolution graphics, best for screen viewing)
The Parish Plan 2.7 mb (PDF with print resolution graphics)

See the document for credits to those involved.

Updates

In September 2008, the Parish Council reviewed the plan, and produced this summary of progress.

As of Summer 2009, the council is very pleased with the progress that has been made. It has been drawn to our attention that a new plan should be drawn up every five years, so in 2010 we shall be undertaking the procedure again!