MORE than 250 Stondon villagers attended a consultation to give their views and opinions on future plans for the area.

The Planning for Real Day was held at Stondon Lower School to allow people to air their ideas on how the village could be improved.

It comes as preparation for the final village plan, expected to be issued in Spring of next year, which will identify residents’ views and wishes on the direction of the village.

Areas which were focused on included leisure facilities, employment, transport, crime, environment, health, housing, and facilities for younger and older residents.

“The event used a map of the village and hands on participation to help people put forward and prioritise their ideas on how it could be improved,” said steering group chairman Kevin Smith. “Over 1,000 comments and ideas were made and these will be used to develop a village plan questionnaire which will be issued to every Stondon resident and business later in 2011.”

Youngsters got involved too, with a variety of activities on offer to entertain them.

There was also a design a logo competition, where children from both Stondon Lower School and Derwent Lower School entered.