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track and field starting line
Survey Monkey: have your say here
Today (Monday 10 December), Pevensey Parish Council begins a three year plan to talk to the community
The plan will enable them to decide how best to manage the limited resources we have as a parish. The plan is being seen as a best practice example of what can be done in these critical times to support communities.
The Pevensey Bay Journal commented, “there is so little money that Pevensey Parish Council has to offer for community initiatives, with the plan, because of the constraints on them. First impressions suggest a difficulty in seeing how a plan can do anything other than spell out a bleak message. But maybe, that is what makes the publication of the plan interesting.
“The decision, for example, to include all residents in the process, both in print and online, is the right starting point.
“In addition, the decision to move from a very small grant funding offer to the community on an annual basis, to a new process that could include a degree of partnership with some local initiatives, is positive. New community projects would offer the possibility of some kind of catalyst. What we need in the parish is new initiatives with a public purpose, that become sustainable.
“There is no money, maybe that is the point. At critical times, when services at all levels are under such pressure that they break, there have to be new ways of doing things if local communities are to survive. The three year plan emerging from Pevensey Parish Council can be seen in that light.
“If only one or two sustainable initiatives emerge as part of this process, then what is about to be delivered will be something of long term value”.
Talking about the initial stage of the process to form the three year plan, Parish Council chairman, Peter Lowton said this morning, “Pevensey Parish Council is under significant financial pressure because of reductions in Government Support & in some East Sussex County Council services
“The council has reduced its precept (part of the council tax) over the past 5 years and wants to keep its part of the precept as low as possible.
“The Parish Council is therefore writing its first 3 Year Plan in order to take a longer term view of the financial challenges facing the council
“Have Your Say! Help Pevensey Parish Council Focus on What’s Most Important to You
“We can then decide how best to manage the limited resources we have & focus not only on what a Parish Council must do but also on what’s important to you.
“Thank you and Seasons Greetings”
The approach being taken by Peter Lowton and his volunteer parish council team is being seen as a radical move to include people and their views about what will happen next in the parish over the next three years.
Options for people to choose in order of priority include;
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The way in which Pevensey Parish Council is approaching the question of what to do in these deeply troubled times, both for the country and for parish councils across the land, is being seen as having the hallmark of excellence.
There is a possibility that what is emerging is a flagship parish council initiative that will be talked about beyond the boundaries of East Sussex.
So much is collapsing at all levels of Government.
Will we have a Government after the vote in Parliament over Brexit tomorrow (Tuesday 11 December) for example, will East Sussex County Council declare bankruptcy in the next two years?
There is an inevitability that pressures and challenges at the local level will come to parish councils, without money they have to find ways in which local communities can be supported, survive and flourish.
That process begins by listening to what local people have to say about the circumstances in which they live, and that is exactly what this parish council is doing, starting with this survey.
However absurd things may seem in giving local people the opportunity to decide if the small sums available should be spent on grass cutting or a pedestrain crossing or
What we can see with this approach is that the work is bringing attention and hope.
For example with
All of these things are possible, best manged on an accountable basis by the parish council, with trust and trusteeship, in partnership with local stakeholder bodies, bringing money and hope to our small communities in the next few years.
Held over three days in Bournemouth next year, from 2-4 July 2019, the Local Government Association holds a conference providing plenty of opportunities for delegates to engage in a range of sessions on how innovation and good practice can deliver the best local public services for communities.
The conference will be holding policy discussions on subjects ranging from sustainable funding, adult and children’s social care, as well as local government in a post-Brexit world.
The three year plan being implemented by Pevensey Parish Council would fit in the agenda options as a small case study and textbook example with what can be done in a local parish.
The Lottery Grant that has been awarded to the parish council for their work with play equipment could be the first of a number of grants that over the next three years, could bring some small sustainable foundations to vital key services here.
Perhaps we are beginning to see an approach with a number of initiatives that will bring hope and positive attention to our small coastal communities.
All of this work begins by listening to what local people have to say.
The three year plan invoked by Pevensey Parish Council today is both pioneering and visionary.
The survey about personal priorities can be completed here.
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Survey Monkey: have your say here
