Lead Partner: Action in Rural Sussex
Description
Covering 323 square miles, Wealden is the largest district in East Sussex, and is home to some 143,000 people (2006 estimate). Half the population live in five main towns: Crowborough, Hailsham, Heathfield, Polegate and Uckfield. The rest live in villages and hamlets in some of the most attractive countryside in the South of England. Its many responsibilities include housing, planning, building control, waste collection, recycling, emergency planning and economic regeneration. With two-thirds of the district covered by the High Weald and Sussex Downs Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, as well as 34 conservation areas and over 2,500 listed buildings, Wealden has to place a high value on protecting the countryside.
The Wealden Links Project
The Wealden Links Project is led by Action in rural Sussex (formerly Sussex Rural Community Council) in conjunction with its partners: Wealden District Council, Wealden District Local Strategic Partnership and communities within Wealden District in East Sussex. The project is aimed at developing linkages between planning at different levels with the aim of developing more joined up approaches towards achieving both local and strategic aims.
The overall aim of the proposal is to investigate and evaluate how the Main Street Programme in the United States can be adapted and developed to be a model for community level engagement with the community planning processes and strategic partners. Members of the Partnership have experience and knowledge of the Main Street Programme following a study visit and are keen to explore how this can assist with the bridging processes between parish and Town plans and the Local Strategic Partnership including the Local Development Framework and the strategies of the individual partnership members.
The Main Street Approach provides a ‘resource team’ visit when there is an exploration of the current village / town plan with representatives from the community who are closely involved in the development and delivery of separate aspects of the action plan. Recommendations and feedback are given at the meeting and outputs are agreed for the coming year where all participants work together to further the needs of the village / town. The visit takes place over a day or half day and ends with a joint meal to celebrate common purpose and commitment.
The Wealden Links Project will explore how such a process and methodology can be adapted for UK community planning purposes and will identify a model or template that is appropriate and which will help make practical links between community action plans and community planning. The Wealden Links Partnership is also particularly keen to explore the role that democratically elected members of the District Council can play as community leaders and local representatives. The research will evaluate how sustainable and how effective this approach might be in creating real links between local village and small town communities and strategic partners. During the course of the research we will be discussing the ongoing findings with other LSPs in Sussex to ensure that a wider opinion is sought.