Communication Policy
The Sutton cum Lound Parish Plan issued in February 2011 identified communication, or the lack of it, as a particular problem for the Parish Council. The following results came out of the Parish Plan Questionnaire in the previous year:
- The vast majority of people had no idea how the Parish Council funds were spent.
- The village was split almost 50/50 about how well the Parish Council publicises activities with a large proportion of respondents wanting a newsletter highlighting the current issues, or the minutes being published in By The Way or on the village notice boards.
- The format of meetings was also an issue for some, with suggestions that the meetings be more informal.
- The biggest majority of people did not know how the planning system works in the parish.
The outcome was a requirement for the Parish Council to produce and implement a Communication Policy to address some or all of these issues.
Over the past few months the Parish Council has produced, reviewed, and now issued its Communication Policy which describes the ways in which the council will communicate both internally between council members, and externally to the residents of the Parish. This is the first step; some things are already being done, but others will have to be put in place to further improve communications. These will be addressed in due course.