Nettlecombe Parish Plan

Why do we need a Parish Plan?

The Government’s Rural White Paper 2000 provided rural communities with an opportunity to influence their local environment, in the form of a parish plan. These holistic documents comprise the socio-economic and environmental issues of a community and their proposed remedies.
Parish plans give everyone in a community the opportunity to influence the development of their surroundings.

The parish plan gives the Parish Council a mandate to work towards improving the life of Nettlecombe residents and to respond to the future needs of the parish, by identifying needs and proposing socially based projects we can possibly attract funding to help achieve these objectives.

What will the Plan be like?

Like most parish plans ours will start with a description of the parish as it is now. This will include things like some relevant local history, the geographical and social nature of the Parish – Nettlecombe is unusual in that it is quite scattered; it has no village at its heart. A lot of the demographic detail to be used has been obtained from the Parish Questionnaire, in which you doubtless participated.  The questionnaire has also revealed some concerns of parishioners, which we can incorporate in the Plan.

The whole of the plan will be lavishly illustrated with photographs and maps, both old and new. The editorial team are particularly interested in gaining access to historical maps and photographs which depict the parish; if you have any or know someone who has we would like to hear from you.

A portrait of our parish as it is now – 

The first section of the plan will present a portrait of the parish:

• The geographical environment, built environment and land use
• The history of the parish
• The people of the parish, their work, interests and concerns
• Visitors to Nettlecombe, tourist attractions & accommodation, the FSC

The future of our parish – 

The second section will concern the future of our parish:

The original purpose of parish plans was to influence local development within the Local Development Framework as defined by the area planning authorities. For Nettlecombe parish this is the Exmoor National Park and West Somerset Council. Their development policies make it unlikely that there will be any building development within the parish, so the emphasis of our plan is focused on social and environmental development, and we have evolved a list of aims, some of which are long term, but others are already being realised:

This website is one proposal within the plan. Already up and running, it is still in its infancy. It is a resource for locals and visitors alike; part notice-board, part directory.

It depends on local participation for its success, so parishioners need to be aware of its existence and to be encouraged to use it.

• A welcome card delivered to all new residents giving important local contacts and drawing their attention to the website.
• Encouraging more use of the EMN Hall, an under-used local amenity, and promotion of the church building as a venue for suitable secular
• events
• Improvement of the broadband service in the parish, currently inadequate for the needs of people working in the parish
• Find an open space for communal summer activities, as we have no village green or recreation ground. To develop and maintain our footpaths.
• Speeding and anti-social driving has been identified as a particular concern to parishioners. We are currently seeking to re-establish the Speedwatch scheme, and interest has also been shown in a Neighbourhood Watch scheme, which is also under investigation.
• Fly-tipping is a concern, it is annoying for land owners and walkers and it spoils our parish. The plan will encourage and facilitate reporting of fly-tipping through the website.
• We are investigating the feasibility of a local drop-in centre with broadband access for those who do not have it.
• We are investigating the feasibility of a first response team in each of the hamlets
• Keeping parishioners informed about the plan through the parish website, parish notice-boards and the Pathways church magazine.

The Nettlecombe Parish Plan and its steering group is a continually developing thing; the published document will state how its progress is to be reviewed and continued into the future.

The participation of all parishioners is encouraged; if you have a view to express or would like to become involved in the future development of the plan get in touch through the parish website, the Parish Council, Pathways or direct to a` member of the steering group.

Please clink this link to view our Parish Plan