Parish Plans
From Norfolk RCC
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Contents |
What is a Parish Plan?
A Parish or Community Plan sets out how community action can meet local needs, can help to prioritise resources and can provide important information to help influence the policies, decisions and actions of others. Parish and Community Plans belong to the community, to be delivered by that community or in partnership with other agencies.
It is a process by which the whole community can voice their opinions on what actions they wish to see taken in their local area in the future. The plan when completed may highlight actions that can be taken by community members, be used to influence service providers such as your local authority, and act as evidence of need when applying for funding. Parish & Community Plans can be produced by any size of community and neighbourhood including those in urban areas.
Parish and Community Plans should:-
- be comprehensive, considering all aspects of local life including social, economic and environmental issues of concern to the community.
- involve the whole community; everyone should have a chance to have their say and get involved in producing a Parish Plan.
- be based upon information provided by community participation, surveys and research.
- involve Local Authorities with the process
- be focused on creating an action plan with a clear statement of Who? What? Why? and How?
Parish Plans lay out a shared vision for the community over the next 10+ years and contain a detailed action plan for achieving this vision. It is up to the community to define the issues to be tackled by a Parish or Community Plan.
Why do a Parish Plan?
Communities everywhere are constantly changing.The government wants local communities to take more control of their own lives, to say what they want doing in their own neighbourhoods and to engage with other organisations to get it done.You cannot prevent change, but what you can do is influence it. Parish or Community Plans help your community to make change happen.They mean an opportunity for everyone in your community to make themselves heard.
Doing a Parish Plan
A steering committee should be set up to see the process through and the fist step is to consult the community on their views and opinions. Open meetings provide the opportunity for people to give their opinions and ideas – often by participating in hands-on activities, such as mapping with flags and prioritisation of actions with coloured stickers. Special activities and events for those who are harder to reach can be organised. Often these initial consultation events are used to develop the questionnaire that forms the basis for the Parish Plan. Brief guidance on this can be found on the page Questionnaire design
Parish Plan Evaluation
A study into the effectiveness of parish and town plans in Broadland, carried out by Broadland District Council and Norfolk Rural Community Council, has shown the commitment and enthusiasm of Broadland’s communities for identifying and addressing their own needs.
The research for this study was undertaken in late 2007/ early 2008, when twelve representatives of past and present parish and town plan steering groups were interviewed and asked questions relating to the process of producing the plan in their community, as well as any outcomes that may have arisen as a result of its production.
A parish or town plan is a document that sets out a vision for how a community wishes to develop and the actions that are needed to achieve this vision. They are generally quite wide in scope, looking at many different subject areas, and they are developed by a steering group of volunteers, drawn from within the community.
The study shows the commitment of volunteers, as well as the wider communities themselves, in terms of planning for their own future, often in very innovative ways, and taking steps to ensure that those plans are progressed. It also highlights that parish plans are attracting unprecedented interest in Broadland at the moment. The number of plans currently being developed is almost double that of those being progressed a year ago.
However, the report also shows that there are certain aspects of producing a parish or town plan that need more forethought, resources and commitment than others. This includes issues such as early publicity and marketing, early contact with relevant service providers, assessing the skills needed for different parts of the process etc.
The report also includes specific recommendations for public sector organisations and other service providers. These include the need for a new, dedicated parish plan funding scheme, the need to recognise the potential of parish plans to influence policies/ strategies etc., and the need to provide networking opportunities between communities, amongst others.
Broadland District Council and Norfolk Rural Community Council will now be working to ensure these recommendations are explored, not only internally, but with partner organisations such as Broadland Community Partnership and other local, regional and even national bodies.
For more information, please contact NRCC. Alternatively please visit the Parish Plan section of the Broadland District Council website, where a copy of the report can be downloaded, at: http://www.broadland.gov.uk/1792.asp .