Text Box: Beaudesert & Henley in Arden Parish Plan 2004

 

Beaudesert & Henley-in-Arden Joint Parish Council

 

This document presents the objectives, methodology and findings of a project undertaken on behalf of residents of the Joint Parish of Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden. 

 

The Committee elected to steer this vital project for the community of Henley included Parish Councillors and other volunteers and functioned as a Parish Council Committee.

 

For detailed reading this document should be viewed alongside the reports on the 1999 Parish Appraisal and 2002 Village Design Statement.

   

 

1.   INTRODUCTION

 

1.1  General Objectives

 

It is the intention of the Joint Parish Council to achieve Quality Parish status and as such it will have to produce an action plan defining a basis for the future direction of its activities.  As a stage in this process, a Parish Plan is a document setting out how a community sees itself developing over the next few years and its findings are to be used in drawing up the action plan.

 

There are no rules prescribing exactly what should be included in or excluded from a Parish Plan. However, its central task is to use a democratic process to identify local problems and opportunities and to set out achievable aims, including a plan of action for the future. Its findings are to be established by consulting the community. It thus provides a vision of the future – where the Parish wants to be in five or ten years time - and forms a democratically-defined framework to inform local Council (Parish and District) agendas for the future.  With the Parish Council's endorsement it becomes automatically the "action plan" to which the Parish Council should be working.

 

1.2  Previous Studies

 

Two previous exercises relevant to this project have already been completed and their results and recommendations formally adopted by Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden Joint Parish Council, Stratford-on-Avon District Council and Warwickshire County Council.  The two documents are:

 

 

 

Both studies followed the appropriate process guidelines set out by Stratford District Council and by other government publications.  In the final analysis they proved to be complementary and in terms of many key issues, such as development, served to confirm each others' findings.  The adoption of both documents by Stratford-on-Avon District Council gives them both the status of Supplementary Planning Guidance for that Council.

 

1.3  The Parish Plan

 

In view of the solidity of the two earlier reports, the approach taken for the Parish Plan has been as follows:

 

a)     To determine statistically:

 

á      Whether or not the demographic characteristics of the settlement have changed significantly since the 1999 Appraisal and:

 

á      Whether or not the highest-profile issues have significantly changed relative to the findings of the Appraisal and the Village Design Statement..

 

b)    To identify changes in needs and wishes, for instance where former needs have been satisfied in the intervening time.

 

c)     Using widespread consultation with residents, to draw out an up-to-date view of what is of most concern to the community.

 

d)    To draw out a new list of actions and guiding principles to ensure that policy and its implementation are on track to satisfy the needs and wishes of an enlightened and well-informed community.

 

The testing of earlier findings is a method expressly suggested in Countryside Agency guidelines for situations where appraisals and/or design statements have already been completed.

 

Far from being simply the end of a Parish Plan project, this document is intended to provide a basis for the beginning of a sustained and focussed programme of action aimed at addressing the primary concerns of the community.  Section 7 of this report provides the framework for that programme.

 

 

2.  OVERVIEW

 

        The Parish Plan project concluded that the matters most in need of continuing supervision fall into two groups:

 

A.  Preservation and enhancement of the settlement and its surroundings in terms of character and safety and the preservation of a pleasant environment.

 

This has implications in the areas of building design and density, the use of land and the structural development of the town as a whole.

 

 

B.  Improvement in transport, security, education, child care, leisure, sport and health provisions.

 

Action in these areas will involve many agencies and the use of services not under the direct control of Parish, District or County Council authority. 

 

Progress under the above general headings needs to be supported by structured monitoring against the declared objectives of the Plan.  This in turn should provide a basis for routine reporting to the community in such a way that progress and problems encountered can be understood and shared.

 

3.  HISTORY AND CHARACTER OF THE SETTLEMENT

 

 

3.1  The Built Environment

 

Both the Parish Appraisal and Village Design Statement reports tackle this subject in some detail.  In essence, in spite of rapid post-war development the town has been able to preserve its general character as an historic strip market town with clearly-understood medieval origins. However, Henley is already strongly established as a dormitory town for people employed elsewhere (see 3.3 below) and there exists a threat of development pressure from the southward expansion of Birmingham. The High Street contains a rich and diverse mix of architectural styles and building materials, with a high proportion of listed properties spanning 600 years.  Situated, as it is, on an important through route, the town remains under tangible pressure from traffic, with the attendant problems of the availability and control of parking. 

 

3.2  Boundaries

 

Much of the town's built area, including the whole of the High Street lies within the Henley Conservation Area.  The Green Belt is defined by the railway line on the Western side.  The Eastern boundary is formed by River Alne in the Northern half of the town and by the existing built area in the Southern half.  Maps included in the Appraisal show the Conservation Area and Green Belt boundaries.

 

3.3  Population and Employment

 

Henley's population has doubled in the last fifty years and currently stands at about 3,200.  Simultaneously, certain types of employment, notably manufacturing, have swung away from the town. Three quarters of Henley's working population are employed elsewhere: conversely, three quarters of Henley's jobs are occupied by people who commute in from elsewhere. Businesses in the town itself are increasingly in the fields of financial and professional services. 

 

 

 

4.        METHODOLOGY

 

 

4.1      Testing earlier surveys: 

 

Both the Appraisal and the Village Design Statement gave unambiguous views of what residents regarded as important for the future.  These subjects were those which displayed the highest degree of unanimity among respondents to the Appraisal questionnaire and they were in many instances supported by the findings of the Village Design Statement. 

 

However, for the Parish Plan project and recognising that time has moved on, it was felt that these views should now be tested to determine to what extent they were still truly representative of views now held.  This called for two types of question to be put to a sample of residents, namely:

 

 

 

From the Appraisal results the high-unanimity questions were extracted to construct a new, shorter questionnaire.  This new questionnaire had 22 questions, compared with the 74 of the original (1999) Appraisal questionnaire.

 

4.2  The test sample

 

With the guidance of Warwickshire County Council's Statistical Department it was determined that a sample of 100 residents (representing about 5% of the original respondent total for the Appraisal) would suffice to give a reliable indication of any swing in opinions about the salient issues raised in both of the earlier projects.

 

Candidates were selected by taking every twenty-fifth entry in the electoral rolls for Henley and Beaudesert.  The participants were thus randomly distributed across the town by virtue of the way in which the electoral register is constructed (by street, alphabetically), and there should be no bias as to the "type" of respondent.

 

The questionnaire was completed by these candidates during February and March 2003.

The numeric answers, comparing the Appraisal score for each question with the result for the Parish Plan questionnaire, are shown in the tables of Appendix 1.

 

5.  CONSULTATION

 

 

The Parish Plan committee has taken the utmost care to provide residents with opportunities to get involved in the process of preparing the Plan, or, at least, to ensure that their views are heard.  The main stages in the consultation process were as set out here:

 

5.1  Launch Meeting

 

A well-publicised launch meeting initiated by the Parish Council and attended by 40 people was held on 24 October 2002, to raise awareness and to canvass helpers. About thirty local societies were invited to this meeting by the Parish Council Chairman and many were represented. 

 

The meeting set out by way of a formal presentation the case for preparing a Parish Plan, outlining how the project could be funded and what the stages would be.   By means of a "game" in which syndicates attached ranking to a list of topics, a first useful guide was obtained as to the sensitive subjects in residents' minds. 

 

A list of 22 willing helpers was also recruited at the meeting and a working committee was appointed  to take matters forward.

 

5.2  Young People

 

In order to engage with the needs and aspirations of younger members of the community, committee members attended the High School, where views of pupils were sought.  A summary of the findings is included in Appendix 1 (ii).

 

5.3   Main Public Meeting

 

A second public meeting was held in September 2003.  Individual invitations were sent to all electors for this meeting – see Appendix 2 - resulting in an excellent response with 170 people present at the meeting.  Individual wishes were explored and recorded with a view to establishing anecdotal support for the final findings of the project.  

 

5.4   Surgeries

 

Subsequently to this meeting, ideas tabulated were listed and placed in twelve locations for residents to consider what had been raised and to provide an opportunity for comments.  Open "surgeries" were then held at the Blue Bell Inn to enable Parish Plan committee members to take final questions and note responses to issues raised.

 

5.5  Visibility

 

Throughout the project, local awareness was maintained with articles, notices of meetings and progress updates in each issue of the Parish Newsletter: an example is attached as Appendix 3.  Posters in the town were used to announce the main public meeting.

 

5.6  Specific observations

 

Comments made during public meeting and surgeries are summarised in Appendix 4.

 

5.7  Advice

 

Apart from the Countryside Agency's guidelines meetings were held with the Rural Communities Council to seek advice on possible bodies who might be engaged to help with implementation work.  These dialogues were very constructive and the agencies suggested are attached as Appendix 5.

 

 

 

6.  SURVEY FINDINGS

 

 

In this section the results of the sample questionnaire and comparisons with the 1999 findings are taken in sample question number sequence and reference should be made to Appendices 1which show the results in table format.

 

The paragraphs following highlight those matters which continue to receive a high degree of unanimity.  Only those key issues are incorporated into the Action plan set out later.

 

6.1  Demographics, housing, employment: questions 1 to 6 inclusive

 

The age and sex distributions for the 1999 Appraisal population and the 2003 sample are almost identical, with no detectable overall trend.  Similarly, household sizes remain little changed and with no general trend.  The level of housing need remains at a low level (1.5%) although clearly for those concerned this may be a serious issue.  In summary, the population is predominantly but not entirely home and car owning.  10% are residents of less than two years' standing and 9% have never lived anywhere else.  Just under half are employed: 10% are self-employed.  33% are retired, a situation reflected in some of the subsequent responses to questions about safety and security. 

 

6.2  Public transport: questions 7 and 8

 

Percentage responses confirm that views on this topic have not changed since 1999.

 

Bus services appear to be relatively little used for commuting to work but are used more widely for shopping and social or leisure transport.   Commuting by train is more common (8%) but still at a low level, presumably reflecting car ownership and use.  Better evening services to and from Birmingham are at the top of the list of young people's wishes – see Question 23 and later comments.

 

6.3  Development: questions 9 to 12 inclusive

 

The sample confirms the 1999 finding that there remain very strong prejudices against:

 

 

The Village Design Statement set out residents' collective views about the need to retain the unique character of the town's historically mixed buildings. Factors such as density, design, the use of building materials, signage and roadside details and the impact on visibility of the surrounding countryside are raised as being of real significance in the acceptability of any further development. 

 

Any large-scale development in prospect should be rigorously tested against the criteria expressed by the community.  On the face of it the prejudice against large scale (perhaps confused with "heavy") industrial – and to a lesser extent office or commercial – development flies in the face of the wish to retain and attract employment – see Question 13 and 14.  Anecdotally this appears to be because Henley has never been a natural home for heavy industry – still viewed by many as characterised by smoke-stacks. 

 

6.4  Factors affecting the environment: questions 13 and 14

 

This covers many subjects but all are factors bearing on the quality of life in and around the town.  Results for both questions are a close fit with views expressed in 1999. The wish to retain the character of the settlement is reflected in the higher scores under this heading – 84% support for protection of the countryside (which tallies with the views on the Green Belt), 62% support for provisions for recreational activity and 57% support for local employment. 

 

Other important factors under this heading include the impact of traffic (its reduction in volume and speed, provision and control of parking), public transport services and pedestrian safety. 

 

6.5  Local Information: question 15

 

Opinions on this subject are little changed.  Over 70% of respondents feel that information available about what is going on in Henley is adequate or good – to the credit of the Parish Council and other local organisations. 

 

6.6  Services: questions 16 to 18 inclusive

 

Under the heading of emergency services there is a widely held view that policing has far too low a profile to be effective against the common minor irritations such as vandalism.   This is confirmed to a moderate extent by the questionnaire results which record that only 14% view policing as wholly satisfactory. 

 

Retail and other High Street services – banks, take-aways, the Library, the Market, the Post office, pubs, restaurants and shops are routinely or occasionally used by between 70 and 96% of respondents.  A desire for further shops has been raised during consultations but it is acknowledged that the intitiative for these would depend upon the retailer.

 

There continues to be widespread support (76%, much as in 1999) for the view that the Market is good for Henley. 

 

6.7  Education and Child Care: question 19

 

There remains a moderate level of support for better evening class provisions for adults and for after-school clubs, as in 1999

 

6.8  Sport and Leisure: questions 20 to 23 inclusive

 

Participation in local sport remains a minority (27%) activity.  80% of respondents – as in 1999 – said that they would make regular or occasional use of a public swimming pool if one existed.

 

A majority (74%, much as in 1999) wished for more open leisure space.  It is not clear to what extent this reflects a lack of knowledge about open space improvements made in the last four years (the Riverlands, the Jubilee Play Area).

 

The views of teenagers have been carefully canvassed as described in 5.2 above.  By far the most widely-expressed wish was for better evening bus services to and from Birmingham.  This was followed by better sports facilities (but existing facilities seems to be under-used – see above) and more frequent access to the Youth Club and provision of a coffee bar and skateboard park.  The last of these is the subject of a well-advanced project.   The approval ratings for these subjects confirm the 1999 result.

 

7.  ACTION PLAN

 

7.1  Preface

 

This section sets out a framework for the Parish Council's Action plan with an assumed horizon of five years.  The content of the Plan is drawn from the salient subjects and questionnaire results in Section 6 of this report.

 

It is worded in such a way that it forms a draft statement of intent which the Parish Council can, after careful consideration, publish as its Action plan.

 

Some of the tasks listed here could be placed under other headings – for instance the retention of employment sites relates to employment and to planning. 

 

The Parish Council will continue to welcome the support and assistance of volunteers on working parties set up to tackle the tasks implicit in the Plan.

 

7.2  Information: monitoring and reporting to the community

 

The Parish Council will put in place a monitoring process by which the Council can present to the community an up-to-date statement of the progress made towards the declared objectives.  This reporting process will be:

 

 

 

 

 

NB. The design of this procedure is critical: once established its format and frequency should not change. 

 

7.3  Planning, the environment and the use of land

 

a)     The Parish Council will resist green belt erosion as a fixed and permanent policy

 

b)    It will strive to protect open space within the boundary of the town and to stand against further backland or riverland development within the existing town boundary.

 

c)     It will strive to ensure that new development receiving consent is truly need-driven.

 

d)    In considering planning applications (at whatever stage)  the Parish Council will ensure that the design criteria set out in the Village Design Statement are automatically referred to and as far as possible enforced in respect of planning - the use of land, building style, colour, density and height, the town's structure and access to open spaces and signage.

 

e)     The Parish Council will encourage an appropriate level of social housing in new developments.

 

f)     The Parish Council will exert influence on the content of the next Local Plan and next Structure Plan to ensure that the above criteria are reflected.

 

7.4    Employment and business

 

a)     The Parish Council will press at all times for the retention of existing employment sites for employment purposes.

 

b)    It will seek to encourage and attract business and employment to the town and to support the facilities which make the town an attractive location for businesses, including those in the retail sector.

 

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