Last updated 14:04, Monday, 07 July 2008

AN action plan to save Bootle from dying as a village is one step closer to completion.

A questionnaire has been issued to residents to pinpoint the exact needs of the community.

It asks participants how often they use current facilities and what developments they would like to see.

It also asks the question, what do you not like about Bootle?

The questionnaire is part of a regeneration project which was started after plunging pupil numbers at the village school and falling numbers of young families in the area prompted fears for the village’s economic future.

The document has been compiled by members of the project steering committee.

Trudy Harrison, from the steering committee, said: “It is all about giving power to the people.

“The local people will know their area best and they want to make it better.

“We have been assured by the Lake District National Park Authority that we will be listened to and it’s about time, too.”

The village has been the subject of a housing needs survey, to calculate the amount and type of new homes that need to be built.

Mrs Harrison added: “The survey we have just completed showed that only 14 per cent of the population in Bootle are young families.

“For a village to thrive, that needs to be more like 40 per cent.

“The whole point of the project is to ensure people that Bootle is an attractive prospect so they will move in. It is not just about bringing people in. It’s about keeping people in too.

“The questionnaires are about engaging the community.

“The Lake District National Park Authority has asked us to produce a community plan for the parish of Bootle. The plan is to inform and let the community have their say.

“We promise that the plan will not be a paper shuffling exercise, that is what we have always tried to avoid.

“One of the problems with Copeland is that the statistics show the average weekly wage is much higher than it really is.

“That is because it takes into account Sellafield workers, because it is all sent through the same office.

“A lot of them don’t live here, so the money isn’t coming back into the community.

“According to this we have money to spend, but we really don’t, so we aren’t invested in by the government.

“The children have also come up with a plan to build a safer cycling lane between Bootle and Bootle Station.”

Last month bosses from the Lake District National Park Authority, Copeland Borough Council and Cumbria County Council met to discuss the village’s action plan.

The same group is due to meet with members of the public and the project’s steering committee at Captain Shaw’s School in August, once results from the questionnaire have been analysed.