Parish Plans were first introduced through the Countryside Agency’s Parish Plan Grant Scheme, part of their Vital Villages Initiative of the early 2000s. The grant programme enabled parish councils to apply for funding, to carry out community consultation, to gauge the views of residents on how the parish should develop or change (if at all), over a 5 to 10 year period. The consultation process was also intended to strengthen the links between a parish council and its community.
The Plan was seen as a tool for change and statement of parish intent and feeling. The Plan took into account district and county plans and linked in with these, where appropriate, as well as any other strategies.
The Parish Plan, completed in 2005, is now somewhat dated, and contains many initiatives that are outside the remit of Planning to deliver, but never-the-less remains a useful input to the Neighbourhood Plan.
