This evening there was a meeting of the South Abingdon Residents Plan group – chaired by the Neil Boston, and attended by residents and councillors from South Abingdon.
On Saturday, at Reynolds Way shops, there will be a playbus, mobile skate park, free refreshments, information from local groups, and the start of the Planning for Real model for the area. The map based Planning for Real model has been used in other places to capture the aspirations of villages or part of towns – to find out what people want for their area and from that produce a plan for where they live.
As with all things it will only work if people get involved.
Where is advance notice of these meetings to be found? Hearing that they have happened doesn’t encourage participation….
I have to agree with Paul, we never seem to hear about these things until after the event.
…and I too would like to echo the above. I am all for things like this. Brilliant. But I’d like to think that I “sort of” know what is going on a round and about but the only place I am aware of this is from this very blog. I live on Caldecott Road and while I hope this initiative thrives…I’m not aware of anything about it (maybe Caldecott Road isn’t south enough)? I hope the people that they are trying to reach DO know about these meetings…as is said above, if no one feels involved…they are unlikely to get involved…
Got the leaflet through my door. Checked out the website which is completely empty of any content…. classic fail.
backstreeter, they differently need you to donate some photos for their web pages.
Have been waiting to see if anyone else commented since it isn’t really my area, but since they haven’t, just two observations:
i) the notice is actually inviting people to a meeting next weekend – so they WILL have a chance to have their say then
ii) there was a big open day about it in Preston Road Community centre in March which was very widely publicised around town beforehand
I would have thought that the project would also have been mentioned by canvassers in the local elections as all the councillors are/were involved.
Having said all of that, this is just another example of how difficult it is to publicise things in Abingdon: this one will go in the next update of the Abingdon Diary and i am sure the organisers will put it on the Abingdon Facebook – but it is so hard to know where people would like to get their information from – any constructive ideas gratefully received
I live in Mill Road and have never received any information about this group. What I know of it and its activities has come from this blog. It looks interesting, so I wonder why there hasn’t been a leaflet through my door or a notice in the local newsletter.
Different people organise their weeks differently. Some need only a few days’ notice; others need more than fortnight. A mix of notification styles is required, if a wider participation is being sought.
Paul
All South Abingdon Residents are welcome to attend the meetings. The whole of South Abingdon from the Marina to just the other side of the Ock is included. The South Abingdon Residents’ Planning Group web site address is: http://www.sarp.org.uk if people want further information about events etc. We want comments from people about what issues concern them or what they like about the area. Janet