Residents of Ballater will be able to create an action plan for the village’s future at the Victoria Hall on Saturday 2nd May.

Local residents and businesses have recently responded to local housing and community surveys as well as last month’s Ballater Blether drop in consultation and the Youth Café.

This information has now been analysed and the strong response (greater than 40%) has highlighted more than 140 issues and concerns of a short, medium and long term nature which now require to be prioritised and planned with the help of local people.

Ballater residents are invited to give an order of priority for action on these issues combined with discussion on how these can be implemented at the second Ballater Blethers meeting on Saturday.

This will not be a drop in meeting and will start at 10am prompt. A two hour programme is planned to set priorities for action and complete facilitated discussions on how to implement them.

Following the meeting, an action plan will be compiled and published which will form the basis for securing funding for short, medium and long term projects for Ballater.

Some actions have already been taken about short term issues raised so far. The Ballater One Voice Our Future (BOVOF) Working Group, which has organised the Blethers, is urging residents and representatives of local businesses and organisations not to miss this chance to contribute to an action plan for Ballater.

Representatives from public agencies, local groups including young people, people with disabilities, voluntary organisations and local businesses are all being invited to participate and are asked to confirm their attendance to contribute to the discussion.

Saturday’s event will take the following format:

•  10am – 10.30am
  Setting priorities for issues that arose from the recent community consultations – housing, local economy, education and training, health and sport, community facilities, services and environment.
• 11am – 12.30pm
  Discussion of prioritised issues and how implementation can be achieved through action by the community itself and other organisations or agencies as required.

Tea, coffee and sandwiches will be available throughout the Blether.

Robin Blyth, Chairman of the Ballater and Crathie Community Council said: “Following on from the strong response to the recent community surveys I urge those who live and work in Ballater to come along and see what people have said so far and help decide the priorities to make a difference to the future of Ballater.”

Anyone wanting to get further information or to confirm a representative of an agency or organisation will be present to add to discussion, phone Gillian Sinclair on 013397 55467.