Village Plan

Introduction

An Open Meeting was held on 24th September 2007 in the Hamilton Room to introduce villagers to the process of preparing a Village Plan and to gather up their ideas and concerns about the future of the village.

Twenty seven villagers attended, and a Steering Group Meeting arranged for October.

The Steering Group consisted of John Foreman, Richard Grassly, Bernard Hawkins,Martin Higgins, Peter Jenkins (V. Chairman), Chris Meade, Keith Masson, Sarah Pearson, Paul Potter, Sarah Price, Gill Sperrin (Sec), Ian Wilson, and Karen Wilson (Chairman).

Comment Boxes were placed in the Post Office, Church, Dolphin, and School, and initial comments collected in February 2008. An exhibition featuring the 10 main areas of interest was mounted in May in conjunction with a photo competition featuring the Good, The Bad and the Ugly parts of Betchworth.

A draft village questionnaire was prepared and distributed parish wide in October 2008. Initial capture of the data was completed in January 2009 and analysis then commenced. The initial conclusions were declared at the Annual Parish Meeting in April 2009 and formally presented to the parish by an exhibition in the Village Hall in June 2009. A detailed report and an Action Plan prepared. This latter item was distributed to every household in the Parish in December 2009 and formally presented to the Parish Council in February 2010.

A number of ensuing actions have then been undertaken or set in motion by the Village Plan Steering Group, and/or the Parish Council. Foremost amongst these was the Housing Needs Survey conducted in June 2010 by Surrey Community Action, and is due to be presented to the Parish Council in January 2011.

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