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Report of meeting on Thursday 26 June 2004 About 40 people attended the meeting held in the Hungerford Corn Exchange to inaugurate the 2010+ Market Town planning initiative. Those who attended were those who had expressed an interest in becoming involved and helping with the planning process. After introductions on the progress all attending were split into working groups and discussions went on and further meetings set up. The Steering Group The Steering group is made up of 9 people as follows with the following main roles. For each study group the chairman of that group is represented at the Steering Group. Mansil Morgan: Town Councillor, Chairs Steering Committee. Richard Hudson: Town Councillor, Ad hoc assistance to transport group as short on people, internet and web site coordinator, process and programme coordinator. Nick Furr: Town Councillor, Publicity officer and has been assisting with the Environment Group. Jack Williams: Advisory assistant, experienced with previous planning exercised in the town. John George: Chair of Environment Group Noreen O’Grady: Chair of Economy Group Chris Scorey: Chair of Social & Community Group Tryrell Bossom: Chair of Tourism Group [added later] Chris Dodd: Transport & Accessibility Chairman (will carry on for now, subject to work commitments) Working Group Members These will be entered here when known. We are currently especially short on Transport & Accessibility members so if you are interested please let Richard Hudson know about this (01488 681419). We are also a bit short on Tourism members and if this is of interest please ring Tyrell Bossom on 01488 684808. There may also be spaces on other groups. Whatever, we hope that you will be involved in some way and look out for a survey form landing on your doormat later in the year. Notice of next forum in the Town Hall The next Town Planning project in the Hungerford Corn Exchange is on Thursday 25th October 2004 at 7.30pm . The main order of business will be to inform all attending the progress to date. By then we should have the Snapshot completed and a draft emerging vision. More details will be available nearer the time. Draft Programme The draft programme is attached with some meeting dates. It includes 9 main phases as follows: Phase1: Start up …we have done this Phase 2: Community Audit / Snapshot….we working on this now Phase 3: Emerging Vision: (by end October) ..we are starting to think about this Phase 4: Detailed Analysis by Work Groups and Survey (Oct to end Feb). This is the main work period with the survey to every household, the analysis of this and the healthcheck. Phase 5: Produce the Vision Statement (end March 05) Phase 6: Proposals, Solutions and Partnerships Phase 7: Promote & Publish Plan (end May 05) Phase 8: Implementation of Proposals & Partnerships Phase 9: Review & Monitoring of Proposals & Partnerships Previous information At the Annual Parish meeting of 2004, members of Hungerford Town Council introduced the public to their intentions to embark on a plan for the future of Hungerford which will encompass a broad spectrum of local issues and not just conventional land use planning matters. The project will be called 2010+ because it will form a framework for Hungerford's future up to and beyond 2010. It is expected to be completed in 2005 and will focus on the five years thereafter. The need for such a plan has been clear for some time now, and initially it was the Councils intention to produce a Parish Plan in the same way as many other local towns and villages. On further investigation though, and having discussed the project with a number of advisory bodies, it was felt that Hungerford needed more than a conventional Parish plan may be able to provide. Hungerford has a unique position in West Berkshire as a Market Town, providing a hub of services to some of the smaller surrounding villages and thus should perhaps not take too parochial a view of the impact our future direction may have on others. The catchment areas of our emergency, medical and education services go well beyond our Town boundary and as a small commercial centre, our shopping facilities, business services and transport links provide an amenity outside of just our own community. With all good plans, a clear understanding of the current situation as a foundation to work from is a pre-requisite and the first stage of the process will be to conduct a formal “Health-Check” on the town. This is a structured process designed by the Countryside Agency through its Market Town initiative and has been made available to us as a template to follow. One important point that the Council members made about 2010+ was that it would not be purely a Council project and that it needed to have public ownership in order to encompass every facet of the town and which would represent the interests of the whole community. And Finally: Its Your Plan……..What’s Your Vision for Hungerford? Its your Plan. We want any views you have and we will be trying to contact you about various issues over the coming months.
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