The village of Silk Willoughby is an example of how Lincolnshire citizens have been involving residents in improving village life.

Paul Steer, Chairman of the Parish Council since 1987, explained that the village came up with the idea to create a community group that combined the talents and resources of the groups already looking after different aspects of village life.

The community group pooled the resources of the Parish Council, the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and the Village Hall Committee.  This was done to build on the good work that the groups were doing individually and to increase the social contact within the village.

Paul Steer said: “Our belief was that if we formed a community group, it would help bring people together, get more people involved in local decision-making and help raise funds for community projects.  It wasn’t just about improving the social life of the village – which it has done – it was about improving communication and understanding so that decisions that affect people’s lives could be made easier.

“Each group in the village still does its own thing.  The PCC still looks after the church and the Village Hall Committee still ensures that the village hall meets our needs, but things now get done much more easily.”

Take Part Lincolnshire, a joint initiative by the University of Lincoln and Lincolnshire Assembly aims to get more people involved in local democracy. As part of Local Democracy Week Take Part Lincolnshire has been encouraging Lincolnshire citizens to tell their stories about the different ways they are involving people in local decision-making and to learn from different experiences across Lincolnshire.  Case studies and news articles will be published in a new website www.takepartlincolnshire.org

Take Part Lincolnshire is part of the Take Part National Network and the Take Part Pathfinder National Programme.