News & Events

Updating Community Plans: Report from the South Somerset Market Towns Investment Group meeting

The Market Towns Investment Group (MTIG) in South Somerset meeting on the 13th May focussed on Community Led Planning and may be of interest to our Members from outside that district.

A number of towns have expressed an interest in refreshing or updating their Community Plans, and after some small group work, those attending came up with the following as the priority issues for Community Led Planning;

1. Bridging - how the issues and projects get taken up by Local Authorities and Agencies (or don't), and how they influence strategies and policies at LA's and LSP's.

2. A lack of capacity in the Town Partnerships and Town Councils to implement the projects identified in Plans

3. The complexity of local Government structures and dealing with these.

These findings are not any surprise at all; anyone involved in Community Plans will recognise these as the main frustrations.

During the following discussion, mention was made of the lack of formal status of Community Plans, the expectations among a community of what a Community Plan can achieve, and how the information in them can be used to influence Spatial Planning issues (ie Planning Policy Officers) if produced the correct way.

If we can find a way to make the implementation of Community Plans more effective and less frustrating for those volunteers involved, there may still be value in doing them. It's a good thing that MTIG is addressing these issues now, but this could have started in 2006.

To read more about MTIG, see below.

MTIG Background   MTIG Terms of Reference   SS MT Vision Plan

To read SMTF's recent guidance and commentary on community planning situation in Somerset towns, click here: Refreshing Community Plans

Created on May 19th 2010

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