History of the Partnership

How we started

The  process began at the Parish Council’s Annual Parish Meeting in May 2007 where volunteers were sought to prepare a Parish Plan. Several people attending the meeting volunteered, and subsequently formed the “Parish Plan Steering Group” working independently of, but liaising with the Parish Council. Funding – from DEFRA – was arranged by the Parish Council with assistance from Cheshire Community Action.

The Steering Group adopted a ‘best practice’ process, identified by Cheshire Community Action - who have worked with other groups to advise on the production of Parish Plans throughout Cheshire. Over the first year the group worked to put together and distribute a questionnaire (which can be found in the Further Information section of this website). In order to arrive at the right format and set of questions the group gathered and evaluated background information from a wide range of sources, for example:

• Ideas from the Steering Group

• Pilot Survey interviews with over 60 residents to help determine what were the real issues of interest and/or concern

• Issues raised in previous surveys (conducted by other groups)

Understanding what the community want

Due to the size of the village it was not practical to conduct a face-to-face survey (as had been done in smaller parishes in Cheshire) – so instead Have Your Say questionnaires were hand delivered to the homes of residents (2500), local businesses (100) and to a number of people who work in the Parish but live elsewhere (35). We received back 536 completed Questionnaires from residents (over 21% of those sent out) and 27 from non-resident employees.

Over a period of two months, during the summer of 2008, the data was collated and analysed in detail, providing a valuable database of statistical information; this was subsequently used to identify key issues and help develop our conclusions and proposed actions. By Autumn 2008 we were able to publish a summary of the high level findings in the quarterly Parish Council Newsletter.

Consultation

These findings and actions were refined over the following 6 months. In order to test whether we were on the right track, we embarked on a process of community consultation.

• In late April 2009 we published the Holmes Chapel Parish Plan Update and Consultation document which was delivered to every household in the Parish. At about the same time we created our Parish Plan website where residents could find more, detailed information about the Plan, as well as giving the opportunity to email comments to the group.

• In May we set up a display in the Public Library, and we also attended the three public events (listed below), outlining our preliminary findings and inviting comments and support.

  • The Holmes Chapel Village Fair, organised by the Victoria Club

  • The Annual Parish Meeting, organised by the Parish Council

  • The Holmes Chapel Today exhibition, organised by a small local team and coordinated by Cheshire East Council

Time Line

May 2007

• Parish Plan idea first floated by Parish Council

May 2008

• Questionnaire distributed to all households

May 2009

• Consultation events

December 2009

• Plan launched

November 2010

• Agreed to widen remit and become Holmes Chapel Partnership