Welcome to the six monthly update on progress with community plans in the Forest. Momentum continues to grow within communities to develop a plan which clearly shows how local residents would like their community to improve over the next 10-15 years. You will probably notice that this edition is longer than the March one - there is so much happening we wanted to make sure all relevant information was reaching you.
Articles covered in this issue are:
- Spotlight on New Milton.
- Spotlight on Hyde.
- Community planning progress chart.
- Grants to support community planning.
- Community Facility Toolkit.
- Community Planning Framework.
- National Park Authority.
- Village Design Statement Guidance.
- Business skills training.
- Hampshire Area Action Teams.
It all started in 2002 with the formation of the New Milton Town Partnership and a commitment to develop a Market Town Healthcheck for the parish. A Healthcheck looks at every aspect of community life from the economy, to the environment, at transport and social life. This information, together with community consultation, led to an Action Plan outlining thirty projects that the community would like to see happen in the next 10 years. The Partnership has already made a 'healthy' start on these projects by attracting £240,000 from the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) for town centre regeneration, introduced a weekly street market and a visiting cinema is regularly showing films.
In addition the Partnership has just won a south east regional award from Actions for Market Towns for the work local people are doing to revamp the Ballard Water Meadows.
Further details of the towns' Action Plan projects can be viewed here.
2. Spotlight on Hyde
In February 2005 Hyde became the first parish in the Forest to complete and launch their Parish Plan. At the launch meeting, volunteers were sought for working groups to implement the recommendations of the Action Plan. Each work group includes a member of the Parish Council and a report on progress is published in the Parish Council Newsletter delivered to every household four times a year.
Some of the main achievements of the groups so far include:
- a report written and distributed to all households giving details of mobile phone and television reception in the area
- writing a Village Design Statement
- a Welcome Pack for new residents
- a programme of activities for young people including discos, barbecues, skittles
- a talk on Commoning and other aspects of Forest life and working parties to clear ragwort and rhododendron bushes
- a proposed pedestrian/cycle route to the nearest town researched for discussion with Sustrans and Hampshire County Council
- Two exhibitions of local history with a longer-term view to producing a book.
One of the most ambitious projects the community identified was affordable housing. Together with the Rural Housing Enabler and officers from the District Council a housing needs survey has been carried out and steps are being taken to find suitable sites. This proactive attitude has recently gained further recognition (and £1,000) as they were successful in winning the Housing section of the Community Empowerment Awards - South East Region (jointly organised by National Association of Local Councils and the Commission for Rural Communities).
3. Community planning progress chart
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Position chart for October 2006 | |||
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Completed a community plan |
Actively involved in a community plan |
Interested in starting a community plan |
Not interested at the moment |
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Hyde |
Ashurst |
Burley |
Bramshaw |
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New Milton |
Beaulieu |
Hordle |
Breamore |
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Brockenhurst |
Bransgore |
Lyndhurst |
Copythorne |
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Martin |
Boldre |
Totton |
Denny lodge |
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Sandleheath |
Damerham |
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Ellingham |
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East Boldre |
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Exbury |
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Fordingbridge |
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Fawley |
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Godshill |
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Minstead |
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Hale |
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Sway |
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Hythe & Dibden |
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Lymington |
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Marchwood |
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Milford |
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Netley marsh |
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Sopley |
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Ringwood |
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Rockbourne |
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Whitsbury |
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Woodgreen |
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4. Grants to support community planning
New Forest District Council has made a commitment to providing funding to help with the community planning process. The funding is available to help cover the costs incurred in the production of a plan eg printing, meetings, postage etc.
Six grants have been awarded since March this year to:
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Community Plan steering groups needing further funding for the process can now also apply to Hampshire Association of Parish & Town Councils for their small grant scheme. Contact them at HAPTC, St Thomas' Centre, 20 Southgate Street, Winchester SO23 9EF or 01 962 841699 for further details.
Through the community planning process it has been identified that many places have concerns over the community facilities in their village or town. These may be around the viability or condition of a building, is it being used to its full potential, are you looking for grants to expand the building, how do all the community buildings work together to meet community needs?
Funding has been obtained from Hampshire Rural Pathfinder to develop and print a Toolkit which can be used by management committees to take stock of individual or groups of community buildings. The Community Facility Toolkit has a step by step guide on how to gather information about the building and then analyse it to come up with a forward/business plan. This can then enable management committees to take appropriate action to ensure continuity of venues to meet community needs. If applying for grants the information gathered would provide strong evidence of need and forward planning by the committee.
The Toolkit is currently being piloted in two communities to make sure it is usable and works. There will be a launch event mid February which all parish and town councils will be invited to; this will include a session on how to use the Toolkit and an opportunity for the two pilot areas to share their experiences.
Further details will be announced in January.
6. Community planning framework
If asked what is the most important function of a community plan all groups would say 'to make the projects that the community has identified as being needed actually happen'.
When the community plan is finished, the Action Plan will list a variety of projects. Some of the projects the community or Parish Council can make happen but others will need the support of, or input from, other organisations.
New Forest District Council has now agreed a Framework for considering Action Plan projects in relation to its service planning regime. This will be done at the draft plan stage and it is vital that you involve the Community Planning Officer to guide you through the process. The aim of the Framework is to do a 'reality check' on those projects that may need NFDC support to determine -
- Are we the right organisation to be involved?
- Are there any other agencies that should be involved?
- Does the project match departmental priorities?
- What are the likely costs of the project
- What is the timescale for supporting the project
The Framework does not guarantee funding but it does guarantee consideration of your project and if NFDC cannot help you will be given advice on alternative sources of funding/support.
April saw the official start for the New Forest National Park Authority as the planning authority for the National Park. New Forest District Council has responsibility for local planning issues outside the National Park. Both planning authorities have agreed that the Community Planning Officer will cover the whole district directing planning issues to the relevant organisation. For most parishes this will be straightforward but for those straddling the boundary officers from the Council and National Park will agree appropriate involvement.
8. Village Design Statement Guidance (VDS)
NFDC/NFNPA guidance on developing a Village Design Statement will be available in November. The guide will highlight key aspects of a VDS, explain it in relation to the new Local Development Framework and advise on doing a Sustainability Appraisal. When finalised, the VDS guide will be sent to all parish and town councils and will be available on the Community Planning webpage.
Solent Skill Quest (SSQ) works in partnership with businesses, schools, colleges and communities in Southampton and South West Hampshire. Their Services to Business team work with local employers and other organisations to address skills shortages and visit employers helping them to identify training needs and find local solutions for their needs. They offered their services to market towns in the Forest and were quickly snapped up by Hythe & Dibden, Fordingbridge and Ringwood as part of their Market Town Healthcheck projects. The SSQ staff look at retail patterns and usage in the town and come up with recommendations for improvements and offer training to support the recommendations. Further information on SSQ can be found on their website.
What are HATs?
HATs is an acronym for Hampshire Action Teams and is a new way of working for Hampshire County Council focused on supporting its Councillors to add value at a local level.
We have been undertaking a review of our democratic structures and processes and have found several areas for improvement which we are now working on. Perhaps the biggest gap in the way we have been working has been the lack of coherent support of the local role of Members, which was an area which was supposed to have grown with the changes to Cabinet style decision making.
HATs are an attempt to put that right by taking a flexible approach to local working which recognises that a 'one size fits all' approach will not work as our communities are so diverse. We were very concerned that whatever we did should enhance the Councillors' community representation role by helping them to engage effectively with communities and also that whatever system we put in place should:
- Be focused on action rather than just talking.
- Add value at local level rather than duplicating what others were doing.
- Prioritise activity on the basis of evidence (both community perceptions and hard data).
For this reason we are experimenting with some different approaches by starting with the District boundaries as building blocks. We have established 7 HAT areas with the potential for some to operate in clusters on a continuous basis and others to group together when appropriate. Each HAT will have as its core the County Councillors in that geographic area and will invite other people to work with them on an issues basis.
What will HATs do?
Whilst there will be some consistent activities across each HAT, like relating in a more coherent way to the Local Strategic Partnerships and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and recommending local priorities in relation to some County Services, the intention is that each will also develop its own focus and programme of activities.
In order to find out what these priorities should be, each HAT, once it has finished its Induction (which is starting in October), will be looking at the information we already hold about their local area as well as undertaking a listening process with local people and representative groups. We anticipate that the Listening process will happen in January 2007 for each HAT centred around a Listening meeting and priorities will be setbased on what it learns to be the priorities and opportunities in that area.
In order to achieve all the above it was obvious not only that they needed effective officer support but also that they needed to be well linked into and aware of work other local partners are doing to avoid duplication. To assist with this we have appointed four HAT Coordinators who will work with these groups and will need to develop effective local networks.
For the New Forest the chairman is Cllr Nigel Clarke and the Coordinator is Sian Campbell.
For further details on community planning or any of the information in this Update contact:
Penny Velander
Community Planning Officer
New Forest District Council
Appletree Court
Lyndhurst
Hants
SO43 7PA
Telephone 023 8028 5342
Email Penny Velander
