Community Involvement

A personal viewpoint

I was interested to see the editorial observation from Dunston Dossier for June 2013.

An extract reads: "The last time most residents took an interest in the role of the Parish Council was when there was a plan to build a massive dairy on Dunston Heath. Even the most committed Parish Councillor’s enthusiasm will soon be dampened when there is little or no support from residents for the routine work they do on your behalf".

This prompted me to think about our village and I feel there are certain parallels to Nocton... this doesn't just apply to Parish Council activity though. Whilst there is often a low turnout for Council meetings - those that attend village meetings happen to be the same familiar faces, many of whom are already engaged in running our local village groups.

In general, people do appear to have a surprising apathy to what is going on... and where there isn't apathy, there are blatant attempts to obstruct progress.

Why is this the case I wonder?

Our Parish Council in Nocton are making strenuous efforts to change things for the better, with only token support from certain village groups.

Each Committee has a tendency to work independently of each other, without a synergistic approach for the better good of the community. More disturbingly, there are rumours of certain Committees seemingly intent on disrupting others ambitions. There is also a tendency in certain quarters to make snide remarks against those who are trying to improve things. All of which can be very destructive to community harmony.

One such example of 'working in a silo' relates to events for this weekend. There is the concert in All Saints Church on Saturday evening and also 'The Big Lunch' event on Sunday, yet where was the collaboration to jointly advertise these as a 'weekend of events' for our village?

I also understand there has been minimal collaboration and some confusion between the organisers of 'The Big Lunch' and the Village Hall Management Committee about the availability of equipment for the activities on Sunday.

All groups and organisations in this village should be aware of their individual responsibility to the greater good of the village, whilst retaining focus on their own individual objectives.

With our current fragmented approach to organisation, is it any wonder that few volunteers come forward to help and that meetings aren't particularly well attended?

This insular behaviour has to change if we are to make progress.