Regional Winners

St Neot - Regional Winner 2004

The village of St. Neot is situated in a quiet valley on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall and has a population of about 400. It has already enjoyed great success in Calor Village of the Year^® as the overall winner of the South West and Western England region in the 2002 competition. However, rather than sitting back and accepting this achievement, residents have continued to work hard to further improve and develop the community and to make life in the village even better for all who live there.

There are 40 organisations that exist in St. Neot covering a diverse range of services and hobbies. Rather than operating as separate entities, all of the organisations work together extremely effectively to ensure that the interests of all residents are being met as much as possible. Villagers are fully aware that a great deal can be achieved through unity and this, along with successful attempts to gain outside funding, has resulted in the completion of a number of outstanding projects in the community. For example, in 2004 the St. Neot Doorstep Green was opened, providing a new garden and performance area at the heart of the village. It was completed after well over 2,000 hours of voluntary labour.

Indicative of the community’s desire to progress, a parish plan, which builds upon a previous parish appraisal, is currently in the final draft stage. This will form a basis for future action and sets out a series of actions and policies developed and supported by the parish. A key issue is the provision of affordable housing and a housing needs survey has revealed an ongoing requirement by local people. The parish council is currently working with a local provider to satisfy this demand, further extending the affordable housing scheme that already operates in the parish.

St. Neot is an isolated village, but this just seems to encourage residents to come together to create a place that is just about bursting with community spirit! They are not afraid to rise to a challenge and, more than that, actually enjoy coming together to achieve their aims.