A PARISH PLAN gives everyone a chance to have their say about the future of their village covering issues such as housing, public transport, sport & entertainment, education, youth services, services for the elderly, policing, village services, road safety, village halls, and the environment.
A Steering Committee, representative of village life, was formed in 2003 to spearhead the project and  after three years hard work by nearly 100 volunteers, aided by a grant of £5,000 from the Countryside Agency, it was completed.
Six Focus Groups dealing with local government, parish facilities & services, over 60’s, young people, environment and local business & employers were formed and from their work the questionnaires were compiled with 82 questions for the household and 31 for a special young people's questionnaire.
Questionnaires were delivered to 672 dwellings in the villages. These were collected and the results collated into a Report and an Action Plan which was presented to the parish council at the Annual Parish Meeting on the 20^th April, 2006.
Over 84% of households completed questionnaires which gives the report real weight and authority and will help the parish council considerably in carrying out the Action Plan which has 61 recommendations. 

Highlights from the Parish Plan Report

• 562 questionnaires were returned – a return rate of 84%
• 1,363 people contributed to the questionnaires
• Exactly the same number of people (247) wanting better mobile telephone coverage as didn’t.
• The needs of cyclists and pedestrians should be better met
• Many people wanted better publicity for bus time tables and think that services should be extended to Ipswich & Woodbridge Stations and Heath Road Hospital
• Badminton, Yoga and Snooker were the top three new sports facilities people would like to see in Grundisburgh and many would like to see cricket played again on the playing field
• Approximately one quarter of respondents are active members of a place of worship in or out of the village
• 63% wanted a new village hall
• When asked “what do you like best in the village ?”, community, the village centre and facilities scored highly

High lights from the Young People's Report

• 135 questionnaires were returned.
• The average age of the respondents was 13years and 2 months - 55% male 45% female.
• 75% declared an interest in a Youth Club and 65% of these thought it would be appropriate to pay a small  membership fee. 
• Table Tennis was the highest suggestion with other sports e.g. snooker, pool, rugby and hockey featuring  highly. 13% suggested music and some computer games.
• Over 75% would use an all weather pitch and thought the best location would be on the playing field. It does  seem that improved facilities are needed for the middle and upper range ranges and all weather pitch may be part of the solution.
• Almost 75% were interested in “Flicks in the Sticks”.
• Young people would like more late and weekend buses and 80% would read a Young People's section in  the Grundisburgh & District News. 80% do not want to see more houses.
• The biggest issue seem to relate with “nothing to do” and being bored which accounted for about 33% of the replies and this seems to be exacerbated by frustration with the bus service.
• On the plus side several had friends here and liked the peace and quiet and friendliness of the village.

ACTION!!

The Plan gave the Parish Council very clear signals what parishioners want but set the Council an enormous task with 61 Action Points to take in hand.  To get the task down to size the council decided to adopt a priority list of those issues which seemed to be of greater importance to villagers. These are:

A new Village Hall

The Village Hall Management Committee called a Village Meeting on the 12th April, 2007 to explain its plans to build a new hall on land opposite the present Village Hall.  The owner will give one acre of land plus a substantial contribution from an enabling development dependent on planning permission being granted for housing on the field.   The present hall would be demolished and the site sold for housing. The whole process is being held up by delays in the District Council's Local Development Framework consultation process.  Nevertheless, the Village Hall Management Committee and the landowner of the site remain fully committed to building a new hall once this hurdle has been overcome.

To form a Grundisburgh Youth Committee and Youth Club

At a meeting 30 young people voiced their enthusiasm for a club. They said they simply want somewhere to go where they could meet their friends, giving them somewhere to go and something to do. Questionnaires they completed gave the kind of activities they would like the club to provide and, most encouragingly, over half said they would like to be part of the Grundisburgh Youth Committee to help in decision making and the running of the club.
This has now been achieved.  A £7,000 grant has been obtained from the Local Network Fund to start a Youth Club by the Grundisburgh Youth Committee and it has opened for  on Thursday evenings in the Village Hall.

Road Safety

A Committee has been formed to look at the Road Safety issues raised in the Plan. These include Horse Warning Signs and speed limits for Charity Lane. Extended speed limits on Stoney Road and a 30mph limit for Culpho. Improved visibility at the Playford cross roads and measures to stop vehicles driving through the Village Green ford.

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