Duchy seeks St Weonards residents' views on the future of their community

The Duchy of Cornwall estate is working with St Weonards Parish Council in Herefordshire to seek local residents' views on how land can be used to meet the housing and other needs of the parish.

Herefordshire’s Core Strategy 2011-2031 has identified that housing growth is needed, and that it will help ensure local facilities such as schools and shops are sustained long term.

The Duchy was invited by the Parish Council to jointly host a community engagement workshop for local people on March 11-12th. The workshop encouraged residents to consider the character of their area, what they liked about it, and its essential qualities of place.

The Duchy employed The Prince's Foundation for Building Community to run the workshop. The Foundation is an independent charity that has created a BIMBY toolkit. This toolkit enables communities to engage with the planning process and to work positively with planners and developers to create what they see as ‘Beauty In My Back Yard’ (BIMBY). 

The toolkit is the first of its kind and provides practical support for groups of local people to carry out a series of workshops using an online guide and templates. These templates are drawn together into a unique BIMBY Manual, reflecting the work and input of the local community.  A BIMBY Housing Manual is a professional report that not only specifies the community’s vision for good quality local housing but supports it with industry standards and details. The toolkit itself is available free on the BIMBY website - https://www.bimby.org.uk/

Designers from The Prince's Foundation for Building Community are now creating a draft plan for St Weonards, which residents will review during the next stage of the community engagement process in May.