The CLT serves the Marshfield community. Without community support we are nothing. So we always make a big effort to listen, to be open, honest and fair. And we try to tell everyone what we are doing.
We welcome people who support us and we listen to feedback whether positive or not. We hope that people will want to join in and help. Others will just want to keep abreast of developments and maybe give us comment and feedback. We welcome your involvement, whatever form it takes.
Sometimes it’s difficult. The Marshfield community is smart and articulate. People have different, sometimes opposing, objectives. We have to embrace all that and form a concensus of what is thought to be good for the community as a whole. Whatever we do, there are always going to be people who disagree. But we hope that the principles of openness, honesty and fairness will help to defuse that.
This website is one element of that openness. The whole site is available to anyone with an internet connection; we publish everything about the CLT here and we encourage feedback from anyone in Marshfield.
There are other routes for communication. As we progress, we need to present our ideas for consideration by the whole village – residents, landowners, employers and special interest groups. We do that with open meetings. Local politicians (parish councillors, district councillors, the local MP) will need to be kept informed and funding agencies must be persuaded that we have a good case. The Parish Council is represented on our board and we regularly talk to South Gloucs Council.
We also use the parish council and post office notice boards, a column in All Around Marshfield and regular leaflet drops to keep people up to date. Local residents and others can participate in debating the issues by posting comments on this site, by emailing us, by sending letters to All Around Marshfield and by writing to us direct with comments and criticisms.
Finally, we also plan to organise workshops for those in housing need so that they can register their requirements and we can understand their issues.
Good communication is essential. Experience elsewhere has shown that the CLT approach, based on good communication, does lead to constructive discussions and to development projects that the majority of local residents can agree with and support.