The exhibition was a resounding success by any measure. Attendance (some 450 visitors) was unprecedented in the village for an event of this kind and we are most grateful to the head teacher, Mr James Bloomfield, for making the fine school hall available for our extensive material.

Visitors were able to view their village from a completely different perspective, both historical and topographical, and to consider the wide range of options available for the long term future of our village and its enhancement for current and future generations.

We would also like to thank all those who assisted in the production of the exhibition material and the exhibition aides who gave their time to engage with the public and guided them through a complex series of exhibits and issues, the result of some two years of research and analysis by the Neighbourhood Plan team.

It was gratifying to note that the event was conducted in a positive and pleasurable manner for team members and visitors alike and that the vast majority of people left the exhibition with a more up-beat attitude than they had anticipated. This augurs well for the future of our village and for the next steps in finalizing our plans.

We carefully monitored resident's attitudes to the array of information presented to them via a comprehensive questionnaire, which most people diligently completed for us. The key results of the "tick box" exercise (comprising 420 written responses) have been translated into a series of diagrams and charts.

See Neighbourhood Plan section for more charts.

The results of the survey are overwhelmingly skewed in favour of our recommended long term Master Plan Vision for Silverstone. Moreover, the virtual unanimity expressed by villagers can now be harnessed to eliminate harmful, unplanned, speculative development from our parish and to move towards a final Neighbourhood Plan which conserves the best of our inherited heritage whilst taking a pro-active approach to enhancing all of our village facilities for the future.

We also asked for general comments which may not have been covered in the tick box exercise and many respondents also completed this section of the questionnaire. We promised to reply to all types of comment in detail and a full, detailed Q and A schedule will be prepared soon for posting online.

Next Steps

We now need to consider all the feedback from the exhibition and to produce the final draft of the Neighbourhood Plan. This will be in the form of a lengthy written (policy) document supported by an evidence base, created from our in-depth research. Further liaison will be needed over the coming months with our planning policy advisers, SNC officers and key stakeholders.

The next public event, which we shall widely publicise, will be a village referendum on the Neighbourhood Plan. We hope and expect that residents will turn out in force to this event and give their resounding, formal support to the plan.

Silverstone Neighbourhood Plan Working Party