THE results are in from the Camelford Neighbourhood Plan survey and they show residents want more shops in the area.

The town-wide survey saw 425 responses from the residents of Camelford parish. This equated to about a third of households in the area and 18% of the towns adult population.

The results of stage one of the public consultation, were announced at an open meeting on Wednesday, October 7.

The Neighbourhood Plan scheme was introduced by Central Government under the Localism Act. It will run until 2030 with the aim of giving some local control over planning to communities — whether that be residential, business or recreational.

Once completed the plan will be put through a local referendum. It will then hold a statutory weight and will become the first point of call for any planning applications or development issues that arise in the future.

The most sought after resource by the residents of Camelford appeared to be new shops, with 77% of responders saying they felt ‘large retail developments’ were very important to the future of the area.

With 26% of people suggesting employment in the town could be increased with the addition of a new supermarket.

Areas that were thought to need improvement in the Camelford area were the range of shops, with 94% of people surveyed agreeing that it needs improvement, and 78% wanting the support and premises for small businesses to improve.

The secretary of the Neighbourhood Plan Committee Claire Hewlett said: “Over 40 people attended the meeting in Camelford Hall, which considering it was the same night as the [BBC’s] Great British Bake Off final, was very good indeed.

“The presentation of the results was followed by a very thought provoking discussion on the future of our area.”

Several of those who attended the meeting wanted to be more involved with future discussions and left their contact details and were invited to attend a meeting on Thursday, October 15 where small working groups were set up to discuss solutions to the issues raised by the survey.

The aim of Thursday’s meeting was to break down the process of stage two of the Camel­ford plan and look into the issues raised by the survey results.

There were about 16 people in attendance with a few apologies for absences bringing the total of interested parties up to 20. The members split off into five working groups each looking at a different aspect that they will work on for the next couple of months.

The groups will be looking at: housing; transport; community facilities — these include things like health and well being and leisure and sports; employment — looking into the town centre and ways to bring in more trade and also the possibilities of allocating land for the creation of new business parks; landscapes and recreation — which includes looking into environmental issues such as footpaths and green infrastructure around Camelford.

Following this there will be a ‘Vision meeting’ on November 2 in Camelford Hall at 7.30pm — as with all previous meetings this is open to the public. Residents, and anyone who feels passionately about helping Camelford progress, is welcome to attend.

The meeting will see attendees help establish what Camelford’s unique selling points are and how they are to emphasise their assets.

The survey highlighted areas in Camelford that residents felt were precious to the parish and showed issues that need further develepment. This will allow the working groups to clearly devise plans going into the future to help Camelford get back on track.

Camelford has struggled for a long while with gaining its sense of identity and establishing where it is going.

The ‘Vision meeting’ will hopefully aid in the process of setting out a plan for where Camel­ford is going and how it’s going to get there.