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Conference a great success

Released on 3 April 2007

Over 50 people came along Test Valley’s first Rural Mentoring and Parish Plan Conference on 28 March, including representatives of the Rural Mentoring team from Lincolnshire and South Somerset, together with Parish Councillors from many of Test Valley’s rural parishes.

conference

From left to right: Fiona Gould, Longparish Parish Plan Steering Committee

Bernard Sully, Corporate Director at est Valley Borough Council; Councillor Ian Carr,

Leader of Test Valley Borough Council; Giv Thornton, Community Action Hampshire;

Roger Tetstall, Chief Executive of Test Valley Borough Council; Councillor

David Bidwell, Kings Somborne Parish Council; Jenny Gammon, Improvement & Development Agency Mentoring Team.

The conference, hosted by Test Valley Borough Council together with Community Action Hampshire, marked the end of Test Valley’s part in the national Rural Mentoring Project. New guidance for preparation of Parish Plans was launched at the conference, developed by the Borough Council as a result of the Project.

The Rural Mentoring Project is a national scheme sponsored by the Improvement and Development Agency (I&DeA), involving twelve rural councils, with Test Valley being the only one from the South to be selected to take part.

The Project’s aim is to build the capacity of rural councils to act as community leaders, supporting the development of rural economies and communities. Parish Plans, which are a way of identifying common priorities through consultation, have proved to be a key way of achieving these aims.

Fiona Gould from Longparish Parish Plan Steering Committee and Cllr David Bidwell from Kings Somborne Parish Council were among the guest speakers, giving very interesting and useful accounts of why and how their respective communities had prepared parish plans.

Community Action Hampshire, which is the first line of support for those preparing Parish Plans, introduced the services they can offer, as well other forms of support such as the national ‘toolkit’.

In publishing the guidance the Council has taken an important step in encouraging and offering to support parish councils and other community groups to prepare parish plans.