As of the 1st of July we have a new website.
Please go to http://www.sonning-common.org.uk/ and update your bookmarks
News
9th July - Only ten days until the Inspire '08 event; posters are going up and a web page advertising the event has be set up on http://www.sonning-common.org.uk/inspire08.
16th June - Planning for the Youth event on the 19th of July 2008 - Inspire'08 - is now well underway.
7th June - Sonning Common School Summer Fair - where the planning group had a stand.
23rd May - Email can now be used to contact us, the address is ideas@sonning-common.org.uk.
Sonning Common Community Plan
Like most villages and parishes throughout Oxfordshire, and more widely within England, the community of Sonning Common has started preparing a community, or parish, plan.
Having launched the plan, at an event held at the Village Hall last October, we are now in the middle of the third stage of the planning process, that of Developing a Project Plan. This is where a strategy, budget and programme on how to develop the plan and how to consult the community is being devised. In essence, we need to determine what we, as a community, want in, and from, our village. The next step is a Community Consultation exercise where the whole village is invited to express their views and opinions. This will be followed by the actual drafting of the community plan.
At present we are looking at three aspects of our community, with another set to be looked at later. There is a working group responsible for each particular area; they are:-
Transport - to identify the needs, concerns and ideas for improving traffic flow and safety of the roads within the village for both pedestrians and drivers. This group was present at the On Your Bike event in May to talk about traffic concerns.
Children/Youth - to help young people in the community (up to the age of 18) to identify their needs, ideas and concerns. We are presently organising an event for the young people of the community (11-19 years) called inspire 08 that will provide a multitude of activities as well as an opportunity for the young to register their points' of view about the community.
The Village Centre - to identify the needs, concerns and ideas for improving the centre of village. This group was present at the Sonning Common Primary School Summer Fair, showing some of its ideas at and doing a questionnaire.
Each group is preparing for the community consultation by gathering information and testing out ideas to be considered. After the community consultation the groups will consider the feedback and produce a short action plan detailing what is being proposed and why, who each action needs to be carried out by, when that might be, how it might be implemented and the cost associated with it. Most importantly each group must demonstrate that the actions it has identified have the support of the local community.
Apart from the work of the working groups there are a number of general activities that are taking place including talks and discussions, getting articles into local magazines and papers and liaising with other relevant organisations. As well as all this, another event is being planned for the business community, called the Big Business Breakfast. This aims to get specific input from the business community within Sonning Common.
To help create a useful plan we are working with the Sonning Common Parish Council, the South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) and the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC). In addition to this we are liaising with the Peppard Community Plan Group who are also preparing a Parish Plan, Chiltern Edge and Sonning Common Primary schools, the EDGE youth club, the Police, the Sonning Common Society and the Womens' Institute. We have also received money, as either donations or grants, to help fund the process.
[TO DO: each of the above needs a link]
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