Rolleston on Dove Parish Plan Production

Using extracts from various reports in Rollestonian amongst other sources this page is intended to provide a general account of what was involved in producing the plan.

Introduction by John Underhill (taken from Rollestonian - Winter 2001)

The Parish Council has agreed that an opportunity should be taken to produce a medium to long term plan for our village which should set out how we want it to improve over the next 5 - 10 years, a vision for Rolleston to guide its future development. This article is however not being written by the council and therefore in it "we" generally means you and me and them and "ours" means yours and mine and theirs.

Advantage is being taken of a grant offered by the Countryside Agency to research, prepare, approve and publish a Parish Plan. Every organisation should have an agreed plan simply to make clear what its real aims are and how it can progress to achieve them. This plan will have the additional benefit of making it easier to tap into existing funds for some of the improvements we might want.

The group that produced the Village Design Statement (VDS), delivered to each household three years ago, has been asked to undertake the task and the plan will be completed in a way similar to that used for the VDS.

The VDS records Rolleston as we see it now. The aim of the Parish Plan is to present a consensus definition of how we would want to see the village protected and improved, not just physically but socially, economically and environmentally. From this a programme of how and when changes can be achieved will be prepared for agreement. The plan should cover anything of relevance to the people of Rolleston.

The group working on the plan have already prepared and submitted an application for a grant to the Countryside Agency and this has been approved.

One of the first and perhaps the most difficult tasks that needs to be completed and one on which the real relevance of the plan depends, is finding out what our real problems are, how we would want to see them corrected, what other improvements we would want and the benefits we would expect from them. A questionnaire is perhaps the most convenient means of getting opinions from the whole village and we will be circulating one with a future Rollestonian. But who sets the questions? No doubt the council or the working Group could put the document together and the questions would cover a range of subjects of easily recognised concern, but what about the other subjects you would like considered and the questions you would like asked? We do want to use the usual ways of sampling opinion and hope to talk to village institutions and clubs such as Residents Associations, Parent Teachers Association etc. Most of the residents of the village don't belong to these organisations and although we don't need to talk to every individual we do need the opinion of the wider village. At this stage what we think we really want to do is just to talk to people. We don't want to ask specific questions with yes, no, or maybe answers, but to have a conversation about Rolleston and listen to your concerns. This would be a listening survey. Not to take up lots of time on your doorstep, but maybe to chat in the queue in the post office or at the bus stop. Once everybody has read the Winter Rollestonian and the Christmas festivities are over and you find someone in the paper shop trying to start a conversation with you about our village please join in because they will want to listen to you and the basis of a Parish Plan need to be what you have to say.

You can raise any topic you like to do with the village:- litter, dogs, housing, development, buses, taxis, shops, schools, leisure, pubs, libraries, pavements, cycle paths, recycling, health, trees, floods, refuse, amenities, industry, youth, age, mail, etc., etc,.

If you know already what you want included in the Parish Plan, even if you think someone else is bound to raise it or it's already in the WASP (Ward Action Service Plan), then please don't wait to be asked. Write it out on the form in the Winter Rollestonian, cut it out and leave it in the box in Starbucks News, the Post Office or Steve's or mail it. So that we can ensure we have reasonable representation from men, women, young, old and from across the village, please fill in all the boxes on the form.

To complete the survey we are going to need some help. If you would like to help and particularly if you like people, talking to them, and especially if you like listening to them, use the form or give me a ring on 815226.

I mentioned the WASP. The Parish Plan won't supersede it, but the WASP findings will be included, together with other existing information, in the appraisal from which the plan will be completed.

News:

Update Report - Rollestonian (Spring 2002) article

In the Winter 2001 issue of the Rollestonian we announced our intention to complete a plan to be supported by the Parish Council. Our first task has been to determine, from the widest village base that we could manage, the subjects that should be included in a village-wide survey. This is an important opportunity for us all, a bit like being given the chance to influence the content of the “Queen’s speech” for Rolleston!

We did receive responses that had been posted in the boxes in the shops and at the Post Office, but not as many as we had hoped for. However, this has been well compensated for by listening to people at village institutions and particularly listening to parents, relatives and friends who were waiting to pick children up from school.

A proper analysis of all the comments and ideas has still to be made, but some of those most commonly heard were:-

Dog fouling - Perhaps the most commonly raised issue, most strongly expressed by those dog owners who do clear up. Obviously we don’t have to wait for a Parish Plan to deal with this and we have already passed it on to the Parish council as something that needs dealing with now.

Village identity - The need to prevent further development damaging the separateness, uniqueness and essentially rural character of Rolleston.

Education - Both Primary and Secondary schooling was frequently raised, but diverse and in some ways conflicting wishes have been expressed.

Traffic - There have been similar variations in comments made on road traffic issues but a fairly common wish is to keep speeds down, keep heavy lorries out and parked cars off pavements and verges. There is a lot of concern for the pedestrian and the obstruction of pavements.

Three items sometimes linked together:-

- The need to compensate for the facilities lost with the closure of the college site.
- A need for facilities for youth activities, physical and social, in the village or at least on this side of the Dove plain.
- A wish for safe cycle paths through and out of the village.

Our next objective is to complete the preparation of a detailed survey to be circulated with the summer issue of the Rollestonian. In the meantime many thanks to all who have helped us so far especially those who sent in their opinions and ideas. It is not too late to add your own views. Your own wishes are important in helping to get the Parish Plan correct so please use the page out of the last Rollestonian or just write them on any piece of paper and post them in the boxes in Starbuck’s, the Post Office, Steve’s or the letter box at 72, Meadow View.

John Underhill

(Back to News items)

Update Report - Edited version of Rollestonian (Autumn 2002) article

There has been a 30% return on completed questionnaires, one of which was posted in France. This may not sound very large but actually compares well with the WASP survey which also had a 30% return At that time this was considered to be unusually good. The Parish Plan Questionnaire was considerably longer than the WASP and asked you for much more careful consideration and decision making, so we feel that the village has responded very well indeed. Thank you.

The recording and analysing of answers after the official closing date of 31 August will take at least a couple of months - during this process it will be possible to feed in any late returns. So, if while reading this you remember that you meant to fill in and return your Questionnaire you could still do it. We will be pleased to receive it. If you can’t find it, just ask for a new copy at Starbuck’s Newsagent shop.

John Underhill (Rolleston Village Design Statement Group)

(Back to News items)

Questionnaire Results - Reported in Rollestonian (Winter 2002)

Thank you again to all who took time to complete and return the questionnaire, not least the respondent who took time out from a holiday in France to complete it and find a post box. We finally received 453 replies, a 33.8% response. Understandably not everyone answered every question but overall the questionnaires were conscientiously answered and the comments were constructive. Every street was represented except for one or two where there are only a handful of houses. The returns from a street are generally proportional to the number of houses in it. So we believe we have a very good representation of public opinion.

We have completed our first basic summary of the data. Effectively this is a simple count of all of the yes and no answers and the score for those items that we asked you to rank or to give priority. We will reproduce the questionnaire adding these results against every question that was asked and display it on temporary notice boards at a number of sites around the village. The boards will be erected shortly after the delivery of this Rollestonian and will remain in place until 15th January 2003. The notices will be located on the wall at Starbuck’s Newsagents and on the railings opposite the church and we expect to have others on Station Road near Walford Road, in the collecting area of the school in Chapel Lane and possibly near the junction of Beacon Hill and Beacon Drive.

Separate copies are being made to village institutions, and the data is already available on the village website and can be down loaded. Anyone who does not have access to the internet and has a particular need can request a copy from John Underhill tel:815266.

Not surprisingly perhaps the subjects that seem to have produced the most comprehensive response are primary education, the need for a youth club and defining and protecting our rural village environment. The question, however, which produced the most decisive response with over 98% yes rate was “should overgrown hedges be cut to keep pavements clear?” This was followed by a 95% yes vote for “should people be encouraged to use off-road parking more?”

Other items where a clear preference is expressed are:

· For co-operation with other councils
· For financial assistance for setting up and supporting a youth club
· The general satisfaction with pavement maintenance and lighting apart from clearing up leaves
· For the Parish Council to encourage Sustrans
· For providing off-road parking at the shops and for preventing parking at the Post Office where it is already prohibited
· Fireworks are the greatest noise nuisance

When the results are published we will all feel that some simple generalised conclusions are obvious, however, a bit more work has to be done before we can properly define clear and useful conclusions from which practical recommendations can be made. Dominant among these is the need to properly absorb, understand and group your many comments. Realising this we could not expect to present every issue in a way that reflected every individual point of view we deliberately left plenty of room for personal comment on every questionnaire. The advantage that has been taken of this is very satisfying and it is important that we take time to understand and use it properly, to weigh the results of the yes/no questions before we compile conclusions and recommendations for a report.
John Underhill

The initial analysis of the questionnaires is now complete and the preliminary findings can be read here.

(Back to News items)

Update Report - Rollestonian (Spring 2003) article

The details of the responses to the questionnaire are still available on the village website. The notice boards that were erected around the village, and left in place for over a month during the Christmas and New Year period, have now been removed. We were, unfortunately, unable to find a suitable site around Beacon Hill and Beacon Road junction or near Walford Road. Contrary to sceptical forecasts, only one of the four boards was damaged sufficiently badly to cause it to have to be removed. Anyone who would like their own copy, for further group or individual research, please call 815266.

The raw information provided by the questionnaire is extremely useful and it is gratifying to see that the Parish Council has already started work on the ways and means to achieve some of the more clearly defined and supported issues. These are mainly related to the limited facilities for youth in Rolleston.

The Village Design statement Group will provide the Parish Council with a fuller report before the Parish Plan can be finalised. We are just completing a sift through the extensive individual comments made in the questionnaires, many of which offered useful and constructive suggestions. We are in the process of completing our report and are aiming to have it available for circulation to each house in the village during May. We will pass the draft of each section of our report to the Parish Council as it is completed, so that they can agree a draft Parish Plan, to be available for distribution with our finalised report.

We are suggesting that once the Report and the Draft Parish Plan have been circulated there should be a public meeting for comment and discussion before the Parish Plan is finalised. This could, of course, be after the elections on May 3rd in which case agreement and arrangements would be for the new Parish Council to make.

John Underhill

(Back to News items)

Update Report - Rollestonian (Summer 2003) article

Villagers should have received their copy of the Village Design Statement Group’s report on its appraisal of the Village. It may well have been delivered with the summer issue of Rollestonian.

The report is the Group’s assessment of how we Rollestonians see ourselves and what our wishes for the village are. It tries to identify where we fall short of meeting those wishes and makes recommendations on how they might be achieved. It has been compiled from various sources of information, but principally from the answers and comments in the questionnaires that you returned to us.

The report is not itself the Parish Plan. It is our report to you and the Parish Council of our findings and what we believe you want in the Plan. The newly elected Parish Councillors already have copies of our report as the basis from which they will compile the Plan. We would hope that they would adopt all our recommendations. However they must assess the priorities from the strength of village opinion, the availability of funding, the constraints of time etc. and may on occasion feel that there are other interpretations of your responses that should be considered. When they have compiled and published the Parish Plan a public meeting will be called to allow you to endorse or challenge the items in it using, if appropriate, the appraisal report as support.

John Underhill

(Back to News items)

Draft Parish Plan - Parish Council Public Consultation Meeting (September 2003)

Enclosed with the Autumn 2003 edition of the Rollestonian villagers received a copy of the draft Parish Plan prepared by the Parish Council. A public meeting was held on Monday 15 September (in the Methodist Schoolroom) to discuss this draft and allow villagers an opportunity to pass comments. About 30 people attended the two hour meeting. The Parish Council will now go away and prepare a Parish Plan.

(Back to News items)

Return to Parish Plan Home Page

© This site was created by Richard Bush

Last updated: 30 January 2004