At the beginning of June we shared the Stone Conservative Branch survey, as they aimed to find out the views and priorities of local people in order to establish a plan to realise the potential of Stone.
[box type=”info” align=”alignleft” class=”” width=””]Background – Who / What is the Stone Conservative Branch
There are 10 local Conservative branches that make up the Parliamentary Constituency. The Stone Conservative Branch represent Stone Town. Some of the other branches within the constituency are Eccleshall, Fulford, Cheadle, Gnosall etc. The Stone Conservative Branch’s role is to represent the Conservative party in Stone.
A main part of their remit is to support and campaign for Conservative candidates at Town, Borough, Council and Parliamentary level.
There are currently no Conservative councillors at town, borough or county level representing the town of Stone, which the branch is looking to change come election time.[/box]
The survey has now closed, and over 300 people submitted their views to the online survey. The Stone Conservative Branch has said that the responses have thrown up some interesting information about Stone High St, local tourism, traffic issues, inward investment, cycling and the environment.
There was also a prize drawn at random for completing the form, and Jill Marron was presented with the £25 M&S voucher at the doors of Stone library. The venue for the handover was chosen as a symbol of the Stone Conservative Branch listening and learning from the people of Stone.
Steve Walley, Chairman of Stone Conservative Branch told A Little Bit of Stone what happens next:
“The response was overwhelmingly positive with over 300 people completing the survey. We also came in for some criticism which to be honest, we did expect. We’ll take that on the chin and my committee and I will work hard to show people that the Stone Conservatives are a positive force for the town and the residents.
We are now going to take some time to thoroughly review the data and we will be taking independent professional advice on how to use the information that came back. We then intend to produce a draft plan that outlines our long-term vision to help Realise Stone’s Potential. Our draft plan will be made available to local residents later in the year at which point we will be seeking people’s input.
One thing that has come back unequivocally from the survey is how much the people of Stone value the canal as a much loved and cherished local asset. Stone Conservative Branch share this passion for the canal and we want to explore ways to promote the canal and the tourism it brings to the town.
So, we are inviting local political parties -The Independents, Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Green Party- to come together and form a cross party canal promotion group and work together for the good of Stone. We look forward to a positive response so we can all start working together for Stone without delay.”
We’re looking forward to see the outcome to the survey results, back in 2017 we ran a similar survey, receiving over 1,300 responses which we fed back to the Town Council at the time.
