The Parish Plan is under review and will be updated before the 2021 census
Barton faces many challenges over the next few years on issues such as development, transport, crime and amenities. Members of the Parish Council attended presentations in 2002 on the Government’s Rural white paper, November 2000, entitled “Our Countryside 2 The Future” launching the concept of parish plans. Its official announcement came in July 2001, as a new initiative to help create a vibrant countryside for the future, to identify key facilities and services, to set out problems that need to be tackled and demonstrate how its distinctive character and features can be preserved. The preparation of a parish plan is one of the criteria needed to meet the new ‘Quality Parish Council Status.’ Parish councils with this status will get priority over those without when applying for grants. Therefore your parish council called a public meeting in February 2003 to explore the possibility of taking up this government initiative. Following the interest shown, a steering group was formed to implement the writing of a parish plan. A parish plan would be a general view by residents of how Barton might develop and what should be preserved over the next ten years. Such a plan supported by the village community would have a greater impact than the views of the parish council alone on issues such as transport, housing, local services and the environment.
The future
To be updated.
In late 2003 a survey was carried out to find out the views of residents as to how Barton might develop over the next ten years and what should be preserved. Of the 360 households in Barton at that time, 281 responded.
This survey showed that although the village had some younger families it consisted mainly of older people with 38% over 60 years of age. About one third of respondents worked in Cambridge.
The full results of the survey were published as the ‘Barton Parish Plan’ in September 2004 and may be seen here.
