What is a Town Plan?
A Town Plan is produced after consultation with the entire community about how they would like their local area and services managed. A Rural White Paper in 2000 set out the government's plan for the countryside. It was originally intended that only smaller parishes would have their opinions recognised; more frequently towns have been encouraged to become involved in this process.
What are the advantages of Stotfold having a Town Plan?
- It gives the community a stronger voice and encourages involvement
- It will enable the Town Council to make decisions representing community wishes
- It provides evidence of need and will be used as a focus for influencing local authorities and service providers
- It can encourage community backing for specific projects
- The Action Plans focus on immediate needs, as well as projecting longer-term aims (up to 15 years ahead)
Who has led the Town Plan initiative?
In the initial stages the Steering Group comprised two Town Councillors and thirteen volunteer members of the general public. As time progressed, other residents joined to help create specific Focus Groups, plan and deliver the questionnaires and assist with analysis of the resulting data.
How will the Plan be actioned?
The Plan has now been adopted by the Town Council and regular monitoring will take place. The Council welcomes residents to join the Town Plan Action Implementation Group who work towards assisting identified partners in implementing identified actions, and the Council may also choose to form task groups that will involve residents in consultations towards implementing the Plan.
Adoption of Plan
The Stotfold Town Plan was formally adopted by the Town Council on Wednesday 7th October 2009. The full Plan and identified action points have now been published and distributed to the relevant authorities and organisations. All households have received a copy of the Town Plan Summary document, which outlines the main actions proposed.
The Town Plan Summary document can be downloaded from the link below, and the Full Town Plan can be downloaded by clicking on the blue links at the bottom of the 2nd page in the Summary document.