Hermitage villagers exhorted to get involved

Residents, councillors and members of community groups (pictured) gathered at Hermitage Village Hall to introduce their “ambitious” plan.
Based on a survey of residents, the plan aims for the village to become a stronger community, safer, healthier, greener and more prosperous.
The village has grown in recent years, with two new housing developments, and the plan says that the village “appears to be made up of distinct areas with little or no cross socialisation.”
It also says that there are strong feelings that the village has seen enough development, but there was support for the provision of sheltered housing and starter homes. The parish council is also resisting residential development on brownfield sites, and wants to encourage business opportunities instead.
The plan also highlights the serious concerns over traffic with regard to parking, speeding and noise, and there was a call for faster broadband.
Steph Tinsley, who has lived in the village for three years, said: “I think it’s nice to see the plan. We have had two big new developments and I think it’s started to separate the village; we hope this plan will bring it together.”
Mrs Tinsley, who works at the village pre-school, added that Hermitage was “really friendly with a great community spirit”.
Bunmi Sowande, who runs the village Facebook group, said that he was concerned about a growing amount of antisocial behaviour, but added that the police were on top of it and did a great job, and that the community was good at reporting crime.
The chairwoman of the Hermitage Village Vision Group, Margaret Goodman, said: “It’s an exciting time for Hermitage. The plan represents what people have asked for and it now needs the volunteers to make it happen.
“It’s ambitious with many aims, the main one being to get villagers involved in new courses and hopefully this will show them that there is room for everyone to help.
“Come and get involved in the community and make it what you want it to be.”