Spondon Village Improvement Committee

The Village Improvement Committee - past, present and future

Since its formation in September 2001 as a sub-committee of Spondon Community Association, the VIC has set out on an ambitious series of activities to achieve its aims. Put simply those aims are:

	To propose and implement enhancements to Spondon village which will benefit the residents of, businesses in, and visitors to, the village
	To raise funds by its own efforts or to seek other sources of funding which will enable those changes to take place
	To liase with the City Council and other statutory bodies to review any changes they propose to the village environment
	To seek the views of the residents, businesses and visitors on any proposed changes

We have taken it upon ourselves to give a “positive image” for Spondon, countering some of the negative views that still appear. With help from local businesses and residents we can already claim a number of successes:

	Revision of the Spondon history trail, with plaques on notable buildings, waymarking and information boards. See the page here.
	Working with Council officers to start much-needed renovation work on the Village Hall site. This is part of our "Cleaner, greener Spondon" campaign which, helped with our campaigns in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008!
	To mark our success in Britain in Boom 2005, the Spondon councillors obtained Area Panel money to get "Welcome to Spondon" signs installed (seen to the right)
	A number of highly successful events since we started - these helped give a positive image to Spondon in the local media (instead of them just quoting "the Spondon pong"!). The events also helped us raise funds to support our other activities but also helped to encourage the lively community spirit that already exists in the village.

Our current projects include:

	Working in support of Derby & Sandiacre Canal Society on Spondon stretch of canal - the Spondon Linear Park
	Improved street furniture (litter bins, cycle parking, village entrance signs etc.)
	Improved lighting for Village Hall car park
	Siting of the clock donated to the village by Severn Trent Water - this now has its own page

Most importantly, however, we want to implement the wishes of those living, working and visiting Spondon! You can e-mail us by clicking .

VIC projects

As well as the series of events mentioned above. the Committee is engaged on a number of longer-term projects which are in various stages of completion:

	Revitalised Village History Trail - now complete
	A Cleaner, greener Spondon - after our success in East Midlands in Bloom in 2004, we followed that by winning Britain in Bloom in 2005, then East Midlands in Bloom again in 2006 and 2007. Following that, the Committee decided not to enter again for the time being
	Reopening of the Derby & Sandiacre Canal - due for total completion in 2012(!) but we plan to see local results earlier than that.
	Working with the developers of the planned marina to reinstate the Severn-Trent clock.
	Refurbishment of the old cemetery on Chapel Street as a sensory garden.

For more on each of these, follow the links.