Developing a City Centre Area Action Plan
Objective
In January 2007 Spirals was asked to advice on how to engage with local communities to develop an Area Action Plan for a key part of the city. The City Council wanted to adopt an inclusive approach to ensure that local communities could influence key elements of the action plan. This work was in addition to the normal planning processes. The council was keen to have cost effective and innovative solutions.
Engagement
Spirals was commissioned to facilitate a series of stakeholder workshops. Spirals acted as an independent facilitator to enable local groups to influence the work of the City and County Councils. In total six meetings were held starting with comments on the draft principles for the area action plan.
The group received presentations from the City planning team, the County highways team, developers for a large mall and the local bus company. The group provided feedback on a range of proposals including:
• The 8 draft principles for the Area Action Plan
• Transport and Circulation issues
• Air quality issues
• Proposals for a traffic gyratory system
Result
The group proved to be very successful and provided a practical way to obtain feedback from local communities on key issues. The client was pleased that a cost effective solution had been developed to engage with local groups.
The use of an independent facilitator enabled the sessions to be run professionally and ensured everyone had their say. This was one of the examples considered for Spirals to become an approved supplier to the Planning Advisory Service.
Spirals was subsequently asked to work with the Development Control team to improve the service.
Ref: 00155