The launch event for the Blewbury Neighbourhood Development Plan on Saturday 8th March was a resounding success! With attendance numbers hitting 200, we had an extremely busy and successful launch. Villagers, made up of youngsters, the elderly and everyone in between, came to hear about the project, and air their views on a number of different aspects of the village.

We kicked off with an excellent supper, followed by a short fun quiz on Blewbury led by Elphin Lloyd-Jones.  Discussion groups then followed; tables were hosted by facilitators who took notes on firstly what people liked/disliked about the village at the moment, and secondly their opinions on what Blewbury should look like 20 years on.

The second half of the evening saw Dermot Matthias, Chair of the Steering Committee, introduce representatives from the villages of Woodcote and Drayton who spoke candidly of their experiences in producing their plans.  It was really valuable to listen to the experiences of other communities, particularly so that we can avoid making similar, time-consuming mistakes.

The event was finally wrapped up with a particularly vocal Q&A session where there were plenty of queries about the operation of the plan and also some interesting insights provided. A report will be produced from the facilitator’s notes and this will be available on this website in due course. If you were not able to attend this meeting, fear not. There will be more events as the plan progresses and many more opportunities for further discussions!