Keyworth Village Plan
launched at public meeting
On 17 September about 130 people gathered at a public meeting in Keyworth Village Hall to hear presentations about the proposed Village Plan, to ask questions and to vote on whether to go ahead with a plan.
The meeting was anchored by Chris Mills and addressed by Tony Kemmer (Keyworth Parish Council) and Carola Jones (Nottinghamshire Rural Community Council).
The audience were told that a Village Plan would enable the community to enhance its sense of identity, to focus on the things that made Keyworth a good place to live in, to identify potential threats to the community, and to clarify the community's response to opportunities or problems which affected them generally. There would also be the chance of accessing resources from councils or agencies if a properly agreed Village Plan was in existence.
Normally such plans are referred to as "parish plans", but earlier discussions in Keyworth had revealed that "village plan" would be appropriate in view of Keyworth's strong sense of identity as a village.
It was stressed that the plan is not owned by the Parish Council (or any other council) and is not being led or developed by the Parish Council. The only way that the plan can be successful is for the community to own it and to bring it into being.
The meeting voted by over 95% to go ahead with a plan. There were only 3 abstentions and no votes against.
After the meeting, 70 residents signed up to a list of volunteers who could be called on to take the plan forward. The next step is to convene a steering committee and to appoint a small team who would actually put the plan together.
