THE results of our biggest ever public consultation are in and they reveal that the priorities of Stratford’s residents lie with young people and the most vulnerable in our community.
The consultation took place between August and October 2019 and during the process, almost 1,500 people participated by sharing their views and opinions. In addition to a written questionnaire, focus groups, workshops and one to one meetings took place with students from Stratford School, King Edward’s School and Stratford Girls’ Grammar School, community groups, charitable organisations and stakeholders. We also held a community event at Foundation House where a live illustrator captured peoples’ thoughts about living, working and studying in Stratford upon Avon.
As part of the survey, we asked if Stratford is a good place to live (91% of respondents said yes) and if Stratford Town Trust is important to Stratford upon Avon (88% of members and 71% of non-members agreed.) We also asked you to consider vision statements for the Trust and you unanimously chose ‘creating a connected and vibrant community’. You can read a full summary of the results here.
Sara Aspley, Chief Executive of Stratford Town Trust said: ‘We had a brilliant response to our consultation and as a direct result, we’ve been able to define our vision and make clear priorities for our strategy for 2021-2025. By listening to local people, we can benefit them in the best possible way. Once again, we’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part.’
Feedback from our members indicated that they would like to be more involved in our work and as a result, this year they will be given the opportunity to directly vote on a grant application at the Trust’s Annual General Meeting in July and also attend events especially for members.
We are keen to grow our membership to give it a louder voice and make it stronger and more representative of our whole community. Anyone over the age of 18 years living within Stratford upon Avon can join for free.