Tracey says: ‘Speak up for Clough!’

With funding support received under the Village Renewal Measure, which is being part funded under Axis 3&4 of the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 by the European Union and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Clough Community Association is holding the village’s first Planning for Real day from 2-9pm in Clough Primary School’s Assembly Hall on Tuesday, May 31.

Tracey Gregg, Secretary of the Community Association, said: “We received funding from Ballymena Borough Council to enable us to employ consultancy firm, Mentor Economic Developments Ltd to help us prepare a new development plan for the village. We chose Mentor because they use a very innovative community consultation tool called Planning for Real. In recent weeks the consultants have been working with our local primary school children to build a large three dimensional model of the village and we would like to thank Mr White and the boys and girls for all their help.

“The model is going on public display and people are asked to come along and view the model. They are then invited to browse through some 400 different idea cards covering everything from education to traffic, from health to crime and safety and from the environment to community facilities and to place their selected cards on the model to indicate their views.

“The great thing is that no-one has to stand up and speak so it is very easy to make a contribution. We have also been conducting a household survey as a second way of gathering opinion from local residents. Our Association is delighted to have this opportunity because we need a plan to help us look for funding to develop our village.

“Our chances of securing funding are greater if we can demonstrate that we have the support of the people of the village so we certainly hope as many people as possible, of all ages, will come along, see the children’s work and take the opportunity to put forward their views and opinions. It only takes a few minutes to attend but it could have a long term effect on our village.