Colton Parish Council Community Plan
Date of Publication: August 2024
Review Date: July 2025
Communities, Wellbeing and Resilence (CW&R)
Respondents told us that the provision of local services, such as buses, shops, post-offices, GP surgeries and schools, is extremely important, especially to meet the needs of families and the ageing population.
They also said that protecting the special character of our area, our local heritage, the local landscape, and the area’s peace and quiet are extremely important for the community and its wellbeing. See section 2 for more detail regarding CPC’s environmental priorities.
Respondents expressed concern about weaknesses in the infrastructure resilience, including reliability of power availability, mobile signal coverage and broadband speed. All of these are particularly important for the safety of our residents and visitors as well as for supporting remote working, reducing social isolation, and retaining a viable percentage of permanent residents.
Rusland Show at the heart of the community
A. Our relevant Powers
- To provide financial assistance via our community grant fund for work that is for the benefit of all parishioners.
- Acquire and maintain land for the benefit of the community and
- Acquire, provide, and furnish community buildings, such as village halls.
B. Our priorities based on what you told us:
- To approve community grant applications that enable our communities to thrive, that reduce social isolation, that enable communities to develop resilience (e.g. for the development of community hubs to support local people in the event of extreme weather)
- Work proactively with other local bodies and forums where resources allow (e.g. adjacent Parish Councils, transport action groups etc.)
- Provide insurance and maintenance funds for defibrillators located across the Parish.
- Support appropriate applications for farming diversification to keep our farming heritage vibrant and sustainable.
- Continue to work closely with schools to ensure that the Parish is inclusive and attractive to young families.
C. What we can support the community to do and how.
- Work to promote community resilience during extreme weather events via use of public buildings and village halls that can act as support hubs during extreme weather and other emergency conditions.
- Support local broadband champions to work proactively on behalf of the community in expediting fibre to the property (FTTP) connectivity in the Parish.
- Join with the community in campaigning for the preservation of crucial local services, such as care support for those with special needs and maintaining a doctor’s surgery in this rural catchment area.
- Encourage more local groups to make full use of village halls for activities by assisting the individuals and community groups that use these to promote the available facilities and events to aid community cohesion and help to reduce social isolation.
- Support the installation of additional defibrillators where needed.
- Promote courses to enable residents to increase their range of communication and computer skills.
- Promote local activities and events to encourage community participation and reduce social isolation.
- Work with the community to identify Assets of Community Value (ACVs) and where appropriate apply to register (or apply to renew the registration) these for the benefit of the community
D. What we can seek to influence other agencies to do and how:
- Lobby our Unitary Authority Councillor, relevant industry bodies and our local MP for:
- improved fibre to property (FTTP) broadband access across the Parish and improved and reliable 4G mobile connectivity
- Planning controls on the volume of second homes, Airbnb properties and holiday lets to prevent the hollowing out of our community (also see the section on housing below)
- Improved public transport links.
- Proactively maintain direct discussions with North West Electricity regarding issues over the reliability of our power supply