One of least deprived villages
File Shots - LAVENHAM Pictured: The Market Square
A parish council is aiming to give greater power to the people through a new initiative to help shape the future of a historic Suffolk village.
The authority in Lavenham is spearheading a Neighbourhood Plan to give the tourist hotspot more autonomy from Babergh District Council.
The parish has already drafted a list of topics the new framework should coverincluding housing, health and wellbeing, education, economy and employment, ecology and countryside, village access and communications, conservation, amenities and social activities.
The village is the first in the district looking to adopt such a plan and the move follows the implentation of the Localism Act, which shifts power to individuals, communities and councils.
Cllr Carroll Reeve, who is taking the lead on the plan, said that it would provide ‘greater influence’ on issues such as planning including the style, design, quality and density of a proposed development.
Residents must be consulted at every stage in the plan’s production to create an ‘evidence based document’.
Cllr Reeve said: “We’ve got quite an aged population and we would like to see more care in the community in Lavenham.
“We will ask questions around that because currently our elderly and infirm residents, once they get a particular condition, are moved outside the village and become isolated from their friends. There’s things like that which we can’t necessarily as a parish council provide but we can influence.”
Already more than 230 people attended a meeting at the village hall earlier this month to comment on the plans and expanded on some of the subject areas - suggesting faster broadband was needed.
More than 40 people have pledged to help with the plan by forming teams to look at each of the topics and create a questionnaire, which will be sent to every household asking people what they would like to see done in the village.
Cllr Reeve hopes the plan will be ready for residents vote on in about 18 months. It will be adopted if it gains the approval of more than 50 per cent of voters.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Fire crews extinguish trees on fire in Red Lodge
- BNI aims for £1 million business growth following launch in Bury St Edmunds
- Priory School gets gold star marking
- Police call for compensation claim not to detract from officers’ ‘hard work’
- Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner sets out priorities for local policing
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North west
