Berkshire Groups Benefit from Neighbourhood Planning Champions

Arlene Kersley from CCB and
Geoff Botting from Woodcote NP

On Thursday the 30th June, Woolhampton Village Hall was overrun by Berkshire residents thirsty to learn about Neighbourhood Planning.  CCB's Rural Housing Enabler, Arlene Kersley organised and ran an Introduction to Neighbourhood Planning training session with support from  the West Berkshire Adult and Community Learning Fund.

The event was oversubscribed and in the end had 27 people from all over Berkshire attend.

Two Locality Neighbourhood Planning Champions shared their knowledge and expertise, Dr Geoff Botting the Chair of the Woodcote Neighbourhood Plan which was made in March 2014, and Arlene from CCB who is a member of the Hurley and the Walthams Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group in RBWM which was submitted for examination earlier in June.

The session was very well received and it is hoped that a number of different groups might have come away with the inspiration to initiate Neighbourhood Plans in their own parishes.

Delegates said after the event:

"(the session) gave me the information I needed and encouragement to carry on"

"Bite sized chunks presented by experienced presenters, a good balance of  presentation and discussion, was very useful to have an interactive approach and share issues with the other participants."

If there is sufficient demand, Arlene will run a further session later in the year, so do complete the CCB training survey at:  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CCBTrainingNeeds if you would like to express an interest in Neighbourhood Planning training.