Committee

 

Introduction

The Hope Committee is a group of volunteers who live and work in the town of Stanford le Hope in Essex. Starting out as a group concerned with the decline of Stanford le Hope especially with the amount of shops being closed. It contributed to an air of decline we wanted to do something about. So at a public meeting the Hope Committee was born to regenerate the town and – as the strap line says – put the Hope back in Stanford le Hope.    

That was back in 1997 and the early days of the Hope Committee were a struggle but soon the hard work began to bear fruit and there were positive changes in the town. The Hope Committee began to be influential.

Thurrock Council began to take note of the work of the Hope Committee and regularly came to us to gage opinion and introduce initiatives that affected the town.

When Thurrock Council wanted to pilot a scheme for local democracy it chose the Hope Committee, along with a group based in nearby Tilbury, as the delivery vehicle for the scheme. This proved very successful.

This scheme has now evolved into the Area Governance scheme where local groups have a budget from the council to spend on their area. These local groups are called Community Forums and the Hope Committee was appointed the Community Forum for Stanford le Hope.

After some years acting in both roles it was decided in November 2006 that the two strands of the Hope Committee become separate, but harmonious, groups to better fulfil the needs of the community.