Community Led Planning
An introduction to Community Led Planning
The government wants local communities to have more control of their own lives, to say what they want doing in their own community or parish and to work with other organisations to get it done.
Community Led Plans give an opportunity for everyone in your community to make themselves heard. They provide a way for you to say if you want more open spaces, more effective public transport, affordable housing, better access to health care, a chance to buy local produce at local shops and to chose how your community helps everyone in it to relax and make the most of their social and leisure time.
CCD is here to help you undertake a Community Led Plan and to ensure that it is robust and inclusive, so that it is effective in achieving your needs and acts as an influence on the strategic policies within your Local Authority and partner organisations.
Read on for information on the background to Community Led Planning or click on one of topics below:
• What is a Community Led Plan?
• Support for Community Led Planning
• Resources for your Community Led Plan
• Community Led Planning in Devon
Background to Community-Led Planning
Since the 1970’s, over 4000 communities across the country have produced a Community Led Plan, albeit under a number of different names i.e. Parish Plan, Neighbourhood Plans, Market Town Health Checks etc.
Their wide spread and continued use suggests that they really can make a difference to the communities that choose to go ahead with them.
The Governments Perspective
The Government is increasingly recognising the role of Community Led Planning in empowering citizens. Recent official guidance refers to Community Led Plans on a number of occasions, whilst many local authorities have chosen it as their strategy for understanding and responding to the needs of local communities.
The Government’s November 2000 Rural White Paper stated that Parish Plans should “identify key facilities and services, set out the problems that need to be tackled and demonstrate how distinctive character and features should be preserved”. Even more recently in the Communities in Control: Real People Real Power paper 2008, the government has stated its commitment to empowering citizens so that they can “take control and ownership over the decisions, forces and agencies which shape their lives and environment”. All political parties now realise the benefits this can bring in terms of revitalising democracy, building strong and cohesive communities and spurring on local projects and enterprise that improve local places.
