The Penzance Parish Neighbourhood Plan will take centre stage at the PZ EXPO event being held in St John’s Hall next week as part of the ongoing public consultation on the Plan, which began on 24 October and runs until 30 December.
The PZ EXPO runs from Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 November, 10am – 5:30pm, at St John’s Hall. Members of the Community Link Group that helped develop the draft Plan will be on hand at the EXPO alongside town councillors, to explain what it means for residents and businesses.
Already, residents have been sharing their views on the Plan at a series of community drop-in events around the Parish – in Penzance, Heamoor, Eastern Green, Alverton, Newlyn and Treneere – with other drop-ins in Paul, Gulval and Mousehole over the next few days.
Cllr Stephen Reynolds, town councillor for Heamoor & Gulval and a member of the Community Link Group, welcomed the response from residents so far: “We’ve already had hundreds of residents visiting our community drop-ins and giving us valuable feedback. It’s really impressive how much people know and understand the issues facing their communities and appreciate what the Plan will do for them.”
The EXPO will be an opportunity to engage with an even wider audience, including schools and businesses as well as local residents. Once the consultation period ends, the Community Link Group will consider all the comments received when finalising the Plan before it goes out to referendum next year.
“It’s all too easy to be cynical about consultations”, commented Cllr Reynolds, “but everything in the Plan is based on what the community told us. That’s why we need people’s feedback to make sure we get it right – not just for our own generation but for future generations too.”
Penzance Council will also be using the EXPO to gather initial public feedback in two other areas that really matter: culture and young people. It’s a great chance to help shape what goes into the new Culture Strategy and Youth Strategy which the Council is starting to develop, and we are especially keen to hear what young people expect from their council.
Cllr Joan Beveridge, town councillor for Penzance East explains “Culture is about people expressing what’s important to them and about them, through the media of the arts; language, painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, music, cinema and the theatre. There is massive scope for the creative sector in Penzance to support the town’s economic growth, it already contributes nearly 10% to the town’s economy with room to grow, and best of all, it’s good for our health and wellbeing.”
Alongside the Penzance Council stands at the EXPO will be a presentation of the investment projects that are going ahead in Penzance and Newlyn with funding from the Town Deal and Future High Streets fund.
Residents and businesses can view and comment on the Neighbourhood Plan online, or pick up and drop off a paper comment form at The Centre, Newlyn; The Kings Arms, Paul; Costcutter, Heamoor; St John’s Hall, Penzance; Solomon Browne Memorial Hall, Mousehole; or the Penzance Council Offices.