Community Led Planning

Community Led Planning is a tried and tested approach that helps local people to explore the needs for their area, set priorities and plan actions. ACT provides independent facilitation, guidance and support to help communities work through the process and realise their aspirations. You can see completed plans on the Community Led Plans page.

Community Led Planning has a number of important characteristics:

• It is led, driven and resourced through grass roots action.
• The people working on Community Plans are volunteers, usually a mix of parish councillors and other local people.
• It involves extensive community participation and engagement, using a range of techniques, including events, meetings, questionnaires etc.
• It results in a credible action plan based on this community consultation.
• The action plan produced sets out how local problems and issues can be tackled, including actions which the community can undertake alone, and those which require partnership with local authorities or other agencies.

What we provide:

• Advice throughout the process by phone, email and in person (funding permitting).
• Guidance sheets, case studies, questionnaire guidance, workshops.
• Grant funding towards the cost of producing your plan.
• Contact details for relevant Local Authority officers, councillors and other key agencies.
  
• Consultation and Action Planning guidance.
  
• Feedback on your consultation plans, draft questionnaire, and draft action plan.
  
• Your finished Plan on the ACT website.
  
• Signposting to information and funding for delivering actions in your plan.

What we need from you:

• A named contact for your CLP and to be kept informed of your progress.
  
• A plan and budget for the production of your CLP.
  
• Contact relevant Local Authority officers, councillors and other key agencies at the start of the process.
  
• Use at least three different ways of consulting people in your community.
  
• Share your draft action plan with ACT and specific contacts at the district and county council, and any other relevant organisations.
  
• A copy of your finished plan.
  
• Feedback from you about delivery of your action plan; successes, challenges etc.
  

Some of the actions in Community Plans will need to be delivered in partnership with other organisations and we recommend building a relationship with your Local Authorities from the start of the process to make this easier.

Community Led Planning Grants

Community Led Planning groups can apply to ACT for a grant to support community consultation activity and production of the Plan. Contact us at ACT for more information and an application form.

• Westmorland & Furness - South Lakeland locality: Up to £1,500
• Westmorland & Furness - Eden locality: Up to £500
• All other areas: Up to £500
  
  

Neighbourhood Planning

Community Led Planning can cover anything which the community thinks is important. However in areas where local people have a specific interest in spatial planning, for example, where buildings should go and what they look like, or where open spaces should be protected, they could consider Neighbourhood Planning. Both processes involve widespread community consultation and a Community Led Plan can form a good foundation for Neighbourhood Planning. The key differences are identified in our Neighbourhood Panning guidance (see 'Relevant Resources' below)

Neighbourhood Planning Grant - Eden Locality

A small grant of £150 is available to communities considering Neighbourhood Planning in the Eden locality. The purpose of the grant is to support community groups, engaging with their wider communities, to decide whether there is a need for Neighbourhood Planning in their area, and identify any initial local planning and development issues that they would like to address. This initial consultation and project planning will be a good base from which the group can apply for additional national grant funding to fund the further work and professional advice likely to be required to complete plans. Contact ACT for more information.

Community Emergency Planning

Some communities are choosing to look at how they would manage in an emergency, by preparing a Community Emergency Plan. Although extreme weather conditions, such as flooding and heavy snow, are the most common emergencies which we face, there are a range of other emergencies that could occur within a community such as gas leaks, fires, and major traffic incidents. A plan helps people prepare for an emergency, organise neighbourly help during the incident, make appropriate links to emergency services and local authorities, and assists with recovery after the event. Visit our Community Emergency Planning page for more information.

Valley plans

ACT has worked with the Lake District National Park Partnership to pilot an approach to Valley plans. These are plans that focus on a whole valley, water catchment area. The partners in the plan are the communities and the major agencies that affect the environment and services delivered there. Much like Community Led Planning, the community takes a lead in identifying its own priorities, while also being informed of the priorities of the partner agencies. ACT piloted this approach in Borrowdale, Wasdale and Ullswater, working closely with the Lake District National Park who have developed this approach in Ullswater and have plans to work with other communities across the Park in the future. See these Guidance sheets on Community Climate Change:

Community Climate Change Adaptation 2013
Adapting to climate change in Ullswater 2013
Adapting to climate change in Ullswater (Print) 2013
Adapting to climate change in Ullswater (Web) 2013