Draft plan drawn up for Shropshire village referendum

Woore Parish Council held a consultation event this week ahead of submitting its draft plan to Shropshire Council.

The neighbourhood plan was put together after a questionnaire was delivered to residents earlier this year.

The replies were analysed by a third party, the consultants Cheshire Community Action Group, and presented in a document.

More than 80 per cent of the respondents said they would like to see a better mobile phone reception and 70 per cent said they would like faster broadband.

Also almost 50 per cent of the people who completed the survey felt that there were facilities in Woore that need improving.

They included needing a larger cemetery, further retail, better parking, and improved sports and medical facilities. The most popular suggestion for a new facility was a community garden, with a basketball court and skate park being the least favoured.

Stephen Clifford, co-vice-chairman of Woore Parish Neighbourhood Planning Team, said: "We want to thank all the residents of Woore Parish who came to the drop-in session on the neighbourhood plan in the Victory Hall.

"We were able to display the results of the big questionnaire, demonstrating the breadth of response and the statistics which support inclusion of particular policies in the draft plan, which we were able to discuss with those attending.

"We expect shortly after the next team meeting on November 8 to be able to put a draft plan to Shropshire planners for comment, prior to formal consultation on this, and submission to the appointed inspector for scrutiny.

"All being well the plan will put forward for approval in a referendum of residents in late summer 2018."

Mr Clifford said other issues raised by the consultation will be forwarded to the relevant organisations.

He said: “A large number of other issues which are beyond the scope of a planning document, but clearly of great significance to residents, will be passed to the relevant bodies such as the parish council, the police, or Shropshire Council.

“These include such issues as bus services, speed limits and speeding vehicles, road and footpath maintenance, street lighting, community events and medical provision.

“The Woore Parish Neighbourhood Plan must concentrate on land use issues, as it will be used to help determine planning applications, but residents’ other views collected in this exercise must not be ignored.”