A Community Engagement Strategy for Wooler.

1. A Community Engagement Strategy for Wooler. Stage 3 Urban Planning Students, Newcastle University

2. Introductory Context • Our brief was to work with local pupils, to help produce a community engagement strategy for the Neighbourhood Plan area; with the aim of promoting intergenerational input to the Neighbourhood Plan. • This presentation includes the following steps in our process: • Research into the community, it’s needs and context • Engagement work completed to support the project, and outputs gained • Initial strategy ideas • How this can be delivered

3. Wooler, Northumberland with a ward population of 4,266 (2011 Census). Main issues we picked up on: Economic – (jobs) Housing – high cost of living, and lack of affordable housing driving young people out. Infrastructure – poor public transport links. Facilities and amenities – a lack of facilities particularly relating to leisure. Green spaces and tourism. Locational Context

4. Community profile • We decided to split the community into social groups, rather than simply demographics. • Some of the key groups/ areas to engage people were: • Churches • Businesses • School parents • Sports clubs and societies • Young farmers/ farmers • Pubs • Tourists

5. Engagement work so far… • Newcastle University students visited Glendale Middle School 2-3 times to work with students • A series of introductory activities looking at pupils thoughts of Wooler and their future aspirations • Main feature was a project surrounding Ferguson’s Yard, and exploring the pupils ideas for how it could be re-developed • Overall, students were really engaged and feedback suggested they really enjoyed thinking about Wooler, and what makes a good place

6. Outputs from EngagementWork • Posters • Cognitive Mapping • Ranking Exercise • Place Standard • Survey • Presentations on Ferguson’s Yard

7. Poster responses: what makes a good place? Food Emergency services No derelict buildings Bus station Shops Healthcare facilities Sports and leisure facilities Houses Family Parks and wildlife Tourist activities/information Good community and community activities Different races Friendly and kind people Different ages Different genders

8. Cognitive Mapping School The Garden Centre The Bus Stop The Chocolate Box Coop River The Caravan Park Plantation Public Toilets The High Street Park The Skate Park Derelict Buildings Fergusons Yard Forestry Football Field

9. Community facilities School visit: ranking of important features activity Car parking Healthcare Safety Schools Views and scenery Community Places to eat Shops Jobs Roads Public transport Parks and greenspace Housing Tourism

10. School visit: ranking of important features results

11. Place Standards

12. Place Standards • Assessed 14 aspects • Traffic • Housing & Community • Most Satisfied • Natural Space • Housing & Community • Degree of feeling safe • Least Satisfied • Influence and Sense of control • Traffic & Parking • Play & Recreation

13. Place Standards • Feel satisfied • Have good quality of natural spaces • Things needed to be improved • More leisure centres for young people • There are many derelict buildings • Some old buildings need maintenance • More public transport • Some of the public transport do not follow the timetable • Amenities and facilities need improvement. • E.g. cleanliness of public toilets • Safety • Some of the paths for cycling aren't safe have some holes may cause accidents. • More traffic light and zebra crossing • Needs more patrol and survives such as policemen and firemen

14. Survey results: Favourite Aspects Boxing Open spaces Caravan park The café Views/Scenery Glendale Hall Animals Riverside Stuff to do School Food Community Farms Co op The Chinese Park Countryside Milkbar Shops Chocolate box Friends/Family Track

15. Least Favourite Aspects Not enough/not a lot of shops Antique shops Pub Litter Top park Unused land Old school Not much to do/lack of facilities Not enough food shops Scary people School Derelict buildings Churches Don't have my dog here Bus station Busy Old house at the Peth No beach Parking Very empty No fast food places Fergusons Yard Rural The town No friends live here Too far from other places

16. Improvements • More facilities e.g. sports/leisure facilities, more shops and a supermarket. • Cleanliness- less litter, cleaner facilities, clean the town. • Get rid of derelict buildings. • Keep it a small village vs Expand to get more in.

17. Future Aspirations • Roughly 1/3 of students think it’s better to go to Alnwick for year 7 (6/20). • 1 student wants to do an apprenticeship, the others want to go to university and/or get a job. • Wide range of job aspirations; medicine, education, pilot, sport, engineering, arts & entertainment • 5 students think they can pursue their career in Wooler, 12 think that they cannot. • “not enough choice of schools and more opportunities within a city environment.” • “there are no places to audition here.”

18. Rural Suburban City • More people • More opportunities • Area is not too crowded to start a business • Beach, arcade, shops, activities • Compact • Quiet/peaceful • Countryside • Views • Farming • Relaxing • Nature/Wildlife • No noise of cars • Fresh air • Privacy • Open space • Safe • Less congested • Fun • Lots of jobs • Lots of supplies • Lots of people

19. Vision for Wooler - Feedback from the Students from Glendale Middle School • ‘22% of residents in the Glendale Community are satisfied with their sports and leisure facilities (2008).’ • 8 out of the 10 student presentation groups had the idea of a‘Leisure Centre’. • The Leisure Centre will be accessible for all ages. • For tourism purposes the building should be eye-catching so it stands out.

20. Previous examples of good practice relating to community engagement. • Haddenham - Buckinghamshire • Tarset and Greystead - Northumberland

21. Haddenham Key Stages of Consultation, as identified in their Consultation Statement. • Types of Consultation included: • Questionnaires • Village newsletter • “Wonderwall” • Discussions • Voting cards and comments • Workshops • Surveys • Posters • Comment cards • Presentations

22. Tarset and Greystead 5 stages of consultation Initial Community Consultation - To highlight key issues which were important to the community. 2) Leaflets, Questionnaires, Interviews, consultation event and letters. - To facilitate understanding of the neighbourhood planning process and to target specific community groups. 3) Vision and Objectives Consultation - Copy of the document distributed via website, Village Hall notice board and local newspaper. 4) Consultation on Emerging Policy Areas and Proposals Maps - Open evening, questionnaires, public meeting. - To give Steering Group confidence to proceed with policies. 5) Consultation on Pre-Submission Draft - Copy of the document sent to each resident. - Consultation event, letters, drop-in events publicised though newspaper, updates on website, door to door delivery of information, village hall displays

23. Strategy ideas • Series of long and short term events to engage the whole community using a variety of methods. • Continuous engagement: updates, opportunities to share ideas • Early stage: engaging community groups, statutory bodies- draw out common themes. • Mid-stage: bring groups together, detailed discussions of issues raised. • Collaboration:bringing the ideas together, large scale events, opportunity to get professionals involved. • Late-stage:feedback on draft plan, amendments, ensuring community values

24. Options for Funding • ‘My Community’ • Receive grants and technical support to help you complete the Neighbourhood Plan • Grants of up to £9,000 • OR technical support package + additional grant of £6,000 • Grants can be for; developing a website, putting together a project plan, undertaking a local survey, developing your evidence base or hiring a planning expert. • Only complex groups can apply for the larger funding package. A complex group includes one which is undertaking an assessment of sites intending to allocate sites for housing or mixed development, or run by a neighbourhood forum, or planning on proposing a higher allocation of new housing than the local development plan requires. www.mycommunity.org.uk

25. Options for Funding • Awards for All • £300-£10,000 grants for grassroots and community activity that aims to improve life for local people and neighbourhoods. • Applying body must be a community or not-for-profit group, parish or town council, health body or school. • The grant can be used to fund activities that benefit the community including; hosting an event, activity or performance; running training courses; setting up a pilot project or starting a new group. www.biglotteryfubd.org.uk/global-content/programmes/England/awards-for-all-england

26. Potential barriers • Potential barrier – Local Plan still emerging, could cause problems further down the line • Potential barrier- data out of date, housing need, population, infrastructure information not consolidated. • Potential barrier - time availability of members of the community particularly those that don’t follow a “typical schedule”

27. Priorities for Action Short Term Long Term • Plan out a timeline of key actions that need to be undertaken. • Begin informing people of the aims and objectives of the process. • Begin open dialogue with consultees. • Start reaching out to key community groups, such as those identified above. • Make sure everyone is kept up to date with the plan’s progress • Begin planning group activities • Begin looking for who you may want to help once drafts have been created

28. Monitoring and Measuring “Success” • Monitoring is an important part of ensuring an engagement strategy works well and can be used to measure the success of the community engagement • The following could be used to help monitor the level of engagement in Wooler: • Range of consultations and methods of consultation undertaken • How many people are coming to events, and what information are they sharing? • What is the level of response to any questionnaires or surveys? • Are groups integrating? Are all groups engaging in dialogue or have any “dropped off”?

29. Rounding Up Intergenerational Communication Enjoyment Involvement Variety Engagement MutualLearning

30. Thank youDoes anyone have any comments or questions?