Many communities are creating Neighbourhood Plans, to make public their wishes and aspirations for their towns, villages and hamlets.

Ickenham has a strong identity and we believe that many residents would like to have more of a say about the future of the village.

We believed it was right to ‘kick start’ A local conversation about a Neighbourhood Plan, but that the Association should not be the group the lead the production of such a document.

Accordingly, at the Christmas Festive Evening in 2015, we took a table in the Village Hall and canvassed the opinions of hundreds of residents. We asked them what they liked about Ickenham, what they disliked and what changes they would like to see. We then convened a village meeting in March 2016, when around 100 local people decided that they’d like to have a go at writing a neighbourhood plan for Ickenham.

Since then, a new group, separate from the Residents’ Association has been formed, called the Ickenham Neighbourhood Forum.  It is working with several local groups (including the Residents’ Association) residents, businesses and the Council to write the plan, which  needs to go through consultation, examination and a local referendum before it can become a legal planning document, used by the Council to help decide future local planning applications.