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Contact Us
email@southminster-sift.org.uk
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are SIFT? How were you chosen?
Members of SIFT are all volunteers from the community who attended the first village appraisal group meeting back in May 2006. They were formally elected onto the committee at the SIFT Inaugural General Meeting in November 2006 by Southminster residents.
Why should I get involved?
This is about your village; the place where you live and possibly work. It is a chance to say what you like and don’t like and what could be done to make Southminster an even better place to live.
What will this cost me?
Getting involved costs only a little of your time. It will not cost you any money.
Isn’t this what the Parish Council should be doing?
The Parish Council has been involved all the way through this process and actively supports SIFT and has adopted it as a sub-committee of the Parish Council.
Is this coming out of the rates?
No, it isn’t coming out of the rates. There are several areas for grant-funding which SIFT can access to pay for things like the questionnaires, the website, and the final Parish Plan document.
How long will this take?
Experience from other villages has shown that it can take anything from a year to two years to produce a Parish Plan. We have already completed our first year and are on target with our questionnaire and website. There is no strict timescale and the next stage is dependent on the number of responses we get from the questionnaires. The final Parish Action Plan document should be submitted to the Parish Council during 2008.
What’s the point? Nothing will come of it.
That is what people in other villages said but they were wrong. Once the Parish Action Plan is produced it is sent to the Parish Council with recommendations for action. We don’t yet know as at October 2007, what our recommendations will be until we get responses from the questionnaires. Other villages which have been through the process have had recommendations adopted by their Parish Councils.
I’m OK but what about people who aren’t on the internet?
We can provide paper copies of questionnaires and other documentation. We also try and keep people up to date with what is happening at local events, through newspaper articles and notices. The Annual General Meeting will be held in November and this is also a chance for people to come and find out in person what is happening.
Will you really take notice of what young people say?
Yes! That is why we have developed a young people’s questionnaire – we want to hear their views and ideas.
Wouldn’t you be better trying to improve what we already have, rather than looking for new things to do?
Well, the results of the questionnaires may say just that and be specific about the things we already have which need to be improved. It isn’t up to SIFT to tell residents and businesses what needs to be changed, it is up to the residents and businesses to tell SIFT what they want to happen and that might include new ideas for the future.
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