24 February 2025
Community Conversations Tue 25 Feb - Why should I attend?
In relation to our Community Conversations event tomorrow, Tue 25 February, the Community Association in particular is keen for folk to come and have a look at the draft Local Place Plan and see if they think the aspirations in it are a good fit for Stenness. We’ll also have reps from our Outdoor Community Space project (SOCS) unveiling the design for the renovation of the play area for the first time which we’re excited about after hard work fundraising, consulting on what the bairns wanted and spending quite a bit of time working on the equipment selection and so on.
The SOCS project will also have a concept design to get folk's thoughts on for the wider community space that we intend to develop at the back of the hall, which at the moment is basically a blank canvas with lots of potential and needs folk’s feedback on what elements they like or would change.
WHY SHOULD I ATTEND?
By turning up, even if you just want to understand what might be planned a bit better, you’re demonstrating that you care and are interested in what goes on in your community, be it in Stenness or wider.
You don’t need to feel that you’ll be under pressure to give your views either, if you just want to come and find out more about the topics on display, that’s great, even showing an interest in that way is really helpful.
You’ll also be able to take away email addresses for the main groups involved so if you like to take a spell to mull things over before you ask questions or put forward your views, you can get in touch to share those in the days after the event. For most of the topics presented on Tuesday night, this won’t be the last opportunity you get to give your views, but it probably is your best chance to speak to multiple folk at one time. Future feedback might be invited online via a survey or suchlike, which doesn’t give you that same opportunity to ask questions and gain a better understanding.
WHAT'S THE POINT - NOTHING SEEMS TO CHANGE?
We’ve all heard about grand plans for this and that, when nothing actually happens (sometimes because of funding, sometimes politics gets in the way, and so on) but to be honest if folk don’t turn up to events like these, don’t put forward their views and comments and feedback when they have the opportunity then we can’t demonstrate that there's any strong feeling for or against an idea. You can’t really assume that folk like or agree with that you’re doing if you’ve not got any evidence to back that up.
