Reaching Jaywick Action Plan

Summary and project action plan

Reaching Jaywick is CoastNet’s name for a programme of work to address some of Jaywick’s problems by making the most of its strengths – its strong community and its seaside location.

CoastNet is an independent charity which specialises in working in coastal places with coastal communities. We already work with children from Bishop’s Park College and from time to time with the Martello Tower, the Brooklands Community Centre, and some of Jaywick’s elderly residents.

Click here to download the summary and action plan in pdf.

The Reaching Jaywick project has four elements.

It will support existing community groups to work together and provide resources to enable them to join forces and have a greater impact. A survey of community needs will take a very practical approach to identifying improvements and activities that the community can do themselves, rather than having to rely upon others. Volunteers will be provided with appropriate training, leading to certificates of achievement in a variety of work-related skills. A committee of representatives will oversee the organisation of a Jaywick Festival, which will build upon the events already held each year, and will help to raise Jaywick’s profile as a place with potential.

A community planning process will be led by CoastNet to identify physical improvements in Brooklands and Grasslands, and The Village areas. This process will also look at the housing issue in Jaywick, in a new way. CoastNet propose to involve residents in designing a house for Jaywick - one which suits the very special and difficult conditions here: small plot size, need for low cost, flood risk and so on. The purpose of this task is to inject new thinking into the planning of Jaywick’s future. It won’t solve the housing issue, but it may influence the eventual solution.

A ‘Clean and Green’ team will be brought together to undertake the physical tasks identified, which might include beach clean-ups, installing dog waste bins, making small gardens and parks. We know that some groups already work on similar projects, and we hope that Reaching Jaywick will help them to do more and for longer by providing additional resources. For some of the tasks we will encourage the involvement of unemployed people from Jaywick and support them in achieving simple qualifications.

Throughout this programme we will work with children and young people in Jaywick to document the community’s activities in film and sound, as we already do with children from Bishop’s Park College. This work will involve reaching out to the elderly and infirm to record their memories of Jaywick and to make a permanent record of them for future generations. Again, we will enable those involved to gain certificates for simple skills.

At its end we aim to have helped the community through this project to be come more active in improving Jaywick as a place to live, with more volunteers of all ages taking part. We will have provided funding and support to make new public spaces and to improve existing ones, and we will have promoted new thinking regarding housing in Jaywick. We will have made a special effort to involve young people, the elderly and infirm, and the longterm unemployed so that they remain active members of the community.

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