Stroud District Council have supported the production of community plans since they were first promoted in the Government’s White Paper ‘Our Countryside: the future’ in 2000. Since then, the Stroud District have gone from having no community plans, to now having over 80% of parishes who have either completed a plan or are currently producing a plan. This map shows the progress of community plans across the District.
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Map showing progress of community plans (PDF 309KB) - 26/11/2009
There are generally two types of community plan, depending on the size of the community; Parish Plans and Market Town Health Checks.
Both Parish Plans and Market Town Plans are similar in scope in that they have a) robustly consulted the community and assessed the needs, wants and wishes of the community and b) have a resulting ‘action plan’ which structures project work to improve the quality of life for local residents.
The main difference between a Parish Plan and Market Town plan is they are produced at different levels of intensity, depending on the populations involved and levels of community activity. Market Towns have a formal ‘healthcheck’ process to go through which requires them to address specific questions on economic, environmental, social and community matters. Parish Plans are structured for smaller communities, so are therefore a little more flexible in their approach.
Community plans are produced and owned by the community themselves. Resulting projects are taken forward by interested community representatives in partnership with their Town or Parish Council and other local organisations.
Our partners, the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC) provide direct advice and support Parishes to produce Parish Plans. GRCC’s website provides more information on their Parish Plan support services and also has a special Parish Plan Database of action plan projects.
Market Towns producing community plans are supported by Glos Market Towns forum and Action for Market Towns.
Your community will inevitably change over time. How your parish presents and promotes its needs and aspirations to its wider community and its service providers, can inevitably impact on decision making and subsequently how change is managed.
Stroud District Council may be one of many service providers mentioned in your community action plan. We have a range of services that can help and support the development of policy or project work. To help you find the appropriate officer to contact for specific strategic advice and/or project help, Stroud District Council have produced an ‘officer directory’. This directory was produced in the spring of 2009. Download the Officer Directory document below. If you experience technical difficulties with downloading this directory, please contact us on the details provided below.
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Officer Directory (PDF 5493KB) - 30/03/2009
We advise that your community planning group maintain effective working relations with Stroud District Council throughout the process, so that you can identify and realise opportunities as they develop. We will also be pleased to comment on your draft action plan before it is adopted. You may contact Stroud District Council’s Regeneration Service in the first instance; email regeneration@stroud.gov.uk or telephone 01453 754325.
Stroud District Council also support the Parish Plans forum which is a meeting of community plan representatives, held around 2-3 times per year, aimed at providing networking opportunities amongst community planning groups, relevant professionals and providing advice on best practise. For more information on the forum contact your GRCC Stroud area rural advice team member on 01452 528491.
