The Parish Plan
This was completed early in 2005 (copies available from the Parish Council) and confirmed the consensus to maintain the parish more or less as it stands today. Essentially, people were happy with their existing lifestyle, enjoyed country life and wanted the minimum change. It is a village of incomers with 64% having arrived in the past 15 years and 10% in the last year. Almost a third of those eligible for work were self-employed. The population is skewed towards middle age with 35% in the 40-50 age group but only 18% over retirement age.
Perhaps in response to the isolation of the parish, technology has caught up with us and no less than 75% of households said they had a computer and 84% of these use the internet.
Car ownership is high with only 3 households not having a car. A 53% majority have two cars and one household has six! Consequently few people (<5%) had transport problems.
Alongside this "modern" lifestyle, there is a clear appreciation of the countryside and a determination to protect and maintain the environment.
The village was united in its attitude to development. Over half (54%) did not want any new housing and a further third (33%) wanted no more than 10 new houses in the next decade. A minority (6%) wanted more than 15 dwellings.
Those against more tourism outnumbered those in favour by more than 2:1 and slightly less than that ratio were against the introduction of more light industry. Some other points:
75% supported the idea of special nature reserves with 15 volunteering to help
Dunchideock is a village looking for more cohesion. It is geographically spread out and for many there is a desire for more village activities with a number dreaming wistfully of both a village pub and shop.
Communal services, such as electricity, water, postal services, and refuse collection were all satisfactory. Only the attention to the roads, particularly in winter, attracted a critical reaction (60%).
As well as the responses to the 63 questions, there were some 400 specific comments and suggestions. Many of them proposed improvements to the environment, the roads and to the Parish Council (though overall it was thought to be doing a good job) and of course aired particular irritations and difficulties.
Several groups are now progressing the Actions that emerged, for example: