Community Planning

Involving rural residents in community planning

The Theme

Community planning processes, whereby policies are shaped according to local priorities and visions created by local partnerships from public, voluntary, and business sectors, have or are being introduced in various forms throughout the UK. The vitality and effectiveness of these new local partnerships and strategies will inevitably vary from one area to another, depending on the quality and application of energy, resources and commitment. A key issue is the degree to which they successfully engage local residents in the community planning process.

In England this issue was researched in some detail with regard to rural communities via the Bridges project (Countryside Agency, 2004) which investigated and developed the linkages between community-led Parish Plans/Market Town Action Plans and the development of Community Strategies through Local Strategic Partnerships. More recently, a partnership of agencies in the South West region of England commissioned similar research with a particular focus on the links between community-led plans and the spatial planning process (An Exciting Future for Community Plans, July 2006).

This Carnegie Rural Action Research project continues to develop these `bridging` links by working with several local partnerships throughout the UK. These partnerships (see below) have first-hand experience of community involvement, are highly motivated to make `bottom-up` engagement work, and are well placed to `show the way` - as well as reporting on the problems and blockages which need to be tackled at a regional or national policy level.

The story so far

On 1st March 2006, Carnegie invited Expressions of Interest for the Rural Community Involvement Theme. Applications were assessed through a range of criteria, including in particular:

• Experience in facilitating rural community involvement
• Knowledge and understanding of community planning processes
• Willingness and capability to reflect on their practice, and to “map those crucial elements and components which had made their work on the ground so effective.
• Ability to link their work with a reflection on policy, specifically identifying how policies need to change at local, regional and national levels, in order to work with models that are community-led.

In England, selected partners were invited to a workshop in Birmingham in mid April to present and discuss their project plans. Selected applicants from the rest of the UK were met separately by Kate and/or Trevor. All selected applicants were then invited to submit detailed, costed applications for consideration by the Carnegie Committee at its meetings in September and November. In September 2006, at the RARP Annual Convention, further discussions were between the shortlisted partners, and the areas of commonality between the streams of work explored. We also started to plan the next stages.

We can now officially announce the final list of RARP Rural Services partners, following the Carnegie Trustee's meeting on the 7th/8th November. They are as follows:

• Action in Rural Sussex

• Action with Market Towns – ‘Yorkshire and Humber Market Towns’

• Caithness Partnership (Caithness Voluntary Group)

• Cornwall RCC

• Devon Heartlands Community Partnership (North Tawton Environmental Trust)

• North West RCC

• Oxfordshire RCC

• PLANED

• POWYS

• Rural Community Network NI

• Tipperary Institute

What happens next?

Most of the partners have already had a chance to meet at the Theme Workshop and /or individual meetings, and the Annual Convention. This has enabled initial links to be made, discussions to be had, and explorations of areas of overlap and synergy to be identified. We are aiming very much for an inclusive, participatory approach to the action research as a whole, and therefore one of our main priorities is to foster and maintain this exchange of knowledge and experience between the partners.

Our intention is to organise a workshop in mid 2007 to report progress, exchange experiences , and identify key issues. Later at the RARP Annual Convention in 2007 there will be opportunities to share and exchange these experiences with the other RARP theme partners and consultants.

Consultant

Trevor Cherrett has experience of rural policy and practice at national, regional and local levels, including 20 years on the `front line` working with a Rural Community Council. He is currently Head of Planning, Housing & Transport at the Commission for Rural Communities. His team is focusing on the development of policies for delivering affordable rural housing and sustainable rural communities, both involving local rural people in the assessment of needs and creation of community-led plans and initiatives.

Have your say

We value your views and experience in relation to this Theme, so please feel free to use the forum to post any comments, questions or suggestions for essential reading for this theme. Many thanks!