Work areas

Community Planning

Community Planning is a powerful tool to co-ordinate local decision-making, but it is also a complex and politically delicate process. We can help authorities to find their way through the minefield of political support, partnership development, community involvement and Community Strategy development.

We offer:

• Facilitation of partnership development.
• Training and capacity building at Member, Officer, Partner and Partnership-level.
• Design and facilitation of community consultation and involvement processes.
• Advice and support for integrating sustainable development into community planning. This can involve the use of specific tools such as sustainability appraisal, Local Area Agreements, and capacity building.
• Support in strategy development

Some examples of our work include:

Promoting Sustainable Communities through Local Area Agreements

We prepared a guidance pack on Promoting Sustainable Communities through Local Area Agreements for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. A reduced version of the pack was included in the ODPM's new toolkit on Local Area Agreements. We are currently providing training for Government Offices on this topic, and also providing support on sustainable communities for three local areas that are negotiating LAAs during the 2005-6 negotiating round.

Sutton Partnership

We designed and ran large consultation events for the Partnership in the London Borough of Sutton in 2002 and 2003. Within the 2003 event we created a process for the participants to examine the links between the Partnership themes, and how they could be addressed. After the events we produced a report feeding back the results to the Partnership, and making recommendations on the next steps.

Mainstreaming Sustainability through Community Planning and LSPs in England

We have worked with WWF and IDeA to develop Resource Material for use by Local Authorities and their partners. The aim is to help them make the most of the Community Planning process and Local Strategic Partnerships to promote sustainable development. This is part of the Mainstreaming  Sustainability resource pack available on IDeA Knowledge.

North Warwickshire Borough Council

We designed and facilitated community involvement for the early stages of the Community Planning process in North Warwickshire. This included running Member workshops, co-designing and facilitating a youth involvement evening and a cross-stakeholder visioning day. We have facilitated both Voluntary Sector Workshops, and the Inaugural Partnership Meeting, in the initial stages of the development of the Community Partnership (the North Warwickshire LSP).

Kensington and Chelsea Partnership

We designed and facilitated a workshop for the Partnership, focussing on practical actions for integrating sustainable development into the community strategy.

Hertsmere LSP

We designed and ran a training event for partnership members to define the roles and responsibilities of LSP members and to look at ways to develop the partnership.

Huntingdonshire LSP

We designed and ran a workshop for the Partnership to agree a vision and identify practical actions to take it forward.

The Countryside Agency and Hertfordshire County Council

We ran a large conference on community planning in rural areas. We followed up this conference by undertaking research and analysis of the development of community planning in rural areas in the East of England, and wrote six studies of six authorities.

Community Planning and Neighbourhood Partnerships in Stevenage

We worked with Stevenage Borough Council to support the Community Planning process and the development of the LSP and a Neighbourhood Partnership on the St Nicholas Estate. This has involved facilitating member workshops as well as the initial public workshop in St Nicholas.

Cambridgeshire Learning Workshops

We worked with Cambridgeshire County Council to run a workshop for Community Planning teams, and their Partnerships, to come together and share experience and to learn from each other. Key topics include representation, effective community involvement and reducing rather than increasing bureaucracy.

For more information contact

Emma Cranidge
01706 817347
ec@cagconsult.co.uk