Parish planning

Parish, Ward and Town plans are documents produced by a community to reflect their priorities and concerns, and to set out a vision for the future of their local area. They include an Action Plan detailing how individuals, volunteers and local organisations will achieve the aims of the plan.

Parish, Ward and Town plans are a structured, inclusive way to get the voice of your community heard and to influence the decisions of bodies such as your local council.

This page gives the reasons why you should produce a Parish, Ward or Town plan and descibes what these plans contain.

The following pages describe how the plans are used to deliver actions, the parish planning process, and how to find out more.

Reasons to produce a Parish, Ward or Town Plan

“If you do not know where you are going, how will you know when you have got there”

As part of its policy of active citizenship the government wants to give more power to local people to decide what’s best for their own communities. As a community, the production of a Parish, Ward or Town Plan shows that you are taking your future seriously.

This exercise will give you the evidence to help inform policy making by a range of organisations, from the local council (at district and county level), police and health services, to voluntary organisations and local employers. It will also help you to develop and maintain effective working relationships with all those outside bodies that provide services to your community, now or in the future.

Benefits of producing an action plan

Parish, Ward and Town Plans, with your enthusiasm and determination, can help to make things happen in your community. An action plan can:

  • Give all local people, the chance and confidence to develop a vision for their community, identifying positive and negative issues;
  • Influence and inform other plans including Community Strategies and Local Development Frameworks;
  • Provide clear evidence of community needs and priorities for town and parish councils to plan their resources and effort;
  • Strengthen the town or parish council’s relationship with all sections of the community;
  • Help the community enhance its status;
  • Develop increased local voluntary action;
  • Create a real sense of community spirit, getting people involved and talking to each other;
  • Reinvigorate local democracy by stimulating interest in community affairs;
  • Gain funding for local initiatives by demonstrating you have been through a needs assessment with full community participation;
  • Highlight and encourage projects that need involvement and partnership working from other agencies.

What does a Parish, Ward orTown Plan do?

Parish, Ward and Town Plans are collective and participative exercises that reflect the views of all sections of the community and seek to make positive changes. The principal purpose of parish ward and town plans is to:

“… set out a vision of what is important, how new development can best be fitted in, the design and quality standards it should meet, how to preserve valued local features and to map out the facilities which the community needs to safeguard for the future. Plans should …identify key facilities and services, set out the problems that need to be tackled and demonstrate how distinctive character and features can be preserved.”

A Parish, Ward or Town Plan:

  • should aim to set out a vision of what is important to the community concerned;
  • identifies which features and local characteristics people value within their community and which should be safeguarded or supported;
  • can address any subject that is relevant to the people who live and work in the community, from employment, community safety and playgrounds to the design of new buildings and protection of hedges and ponds;
  • spells out how residents want the community to develop in the future;
  • identifies local issues, problems and opportunities that can be addressed;
  • provides a means to consider joined-up solutions;
  • includes a plan of action to achieve this vision;
  • promotes partnership building with service providers, volunteers and other organisations/businesses;
  • can take anything from 12-18 months to complete.

Downloads

Contact details:

Telephone:
01722 434568

email:
ascadden@salisbury.gov.uk...

Postal address:
Principal Community Development Officer
Community Initiatives
Salisbury District Council
PO Box 2117
Salisbury
SP2 2DF