Shape My Llangollen stages another successful public event

* Shape My Llangollen volunteers busy during the 

public consultation exercise outside Home Bargains yesterday.

The latest in a series of public consultation exercises by the team of volunteers putting together Llangollen’s contribution to the county council’s next Local Development Plan was a big success.

Shape My Llangollen (SML) was formed last year at the behest of the Town Council to produce a 'place plan' for Llangollen.

The idea is that this plan, when approved and endorsed by the Town Council, will feed into the new emerging Local Development Plan being produced by Denbighshire County Council.

The plan will cover topics such as the natural environment, built environment, economy, and community and is a genuine opportunity for some grassroots democracy.

SML is therefore engaged upon a far-ranging consultation exercise contacting groups and individuals to seek their views on any issues which affect or concern them so that they can have an input into the plan.

Over the summer the team is hosting a series of consultation events to introduce themselves to the public and to get their views.

The first of these was held on May 7 at Llangollen Health Centre when throughout the day team members spoke to scores of people to gain their feedback.

The second successful session was held outside the Co-op store in Regent Street on May 13 when, again, SML gained lots of useful feedback from shoppers.

The third question-and-answer session was held outside the Home Bargains store, next to Aldi, yesterday, from 10am-1pm and 2-5pm.

During the course of the day the volunteers recorded answers to questions about what they love or dislike about the town from more 130 people, both young and not-so-young.

SML chair Phil Robinson said: "It was out busiest consultation session yet and we got some fantastic answers from the people who were kind enough to spare us a few minutes of their time.

"This feedback will be invaluable in preparing out final report by the autumn. 

"This was really an example of the people of this town having their say on some vital issues and I'd like to thank everyone who contributed." 

And for those people who haven’t been able to attend the week-day sessions SML will be holding a major meet-the-public event in Centenary Square on Saturday June 1, starting at 10am and continuing until at least lunchtime or possibly longer.

“I’d urge as many people as possible to come along and speak to our team members during the Centenary Square session because it's great to hear people having their say,” added Phil Robinson.

The questions SML is asking are:

1. What makes you happy about Llangollen?

2. What makes you sad about Llangollen?

3. What makes you mad about Llangollen?

4. How would you make Llangollen better?

5. How would you spend £10,000 for Llangollen’s future?

People unable to make it to SML’s meet-the-public sessions can fill in one of the question sheets which are available in the Town Hall office.

They can also jot down the answers in a reply to the posting about the health centre session on the Shape My Llangollen Facebook page.