Facilities AuditLocal Councils
In June 2009 the Parish Council made the decision to perform an audit of the facilities in the village. The purpose of this was to assess the availability and current usage of community facilities in Witchford, to identify any gaps in provision and the need for additional facilities in the community.
A committee was set up and consultants appointed to perform the audit. This was funded by East Cambs. District Council. The work continued over the summer and completed by the end of October 2009. The committee’s recommendations were presented at the November 2009 meeting of the Parish Council. The conclusions of the audit are described in the report, which you can download in PDF format by clicking here. Please note that this is a large file and may take some time to download. A shorter summary is also available by clicking here.
The recommendation of the committee was that the Parish Council adopts the ‘focused’ approach, as detailed in the report from page 108 onwards and summarised as follows:
"The findings of the Parish Plan and the Facilities Audit have all pointed to a perceived need for improved facilities in Witchford, especially for young people. Focusing the available investment at the Village Hall will give the best chance of obtaining additional grant funding and therefore further increase the benefits to the village. Some of the additional uses to which the hall can be put are: community cafe, youth cafe, cinema, business incubator units, dances, plays etc. etc. Other general improvements that are required include new changing rooms, improved disabled access plus, of course, a full refurbishment of the premises"
The Parish Council has therefore proposed to focus spending on the village hall.