Agenda item

·         Place making- progress report

James Lamb, SBC Portfolio Manager

SECTION 1: SERVICE & PARTNER UPDATES AND CONSULTATIONS

          Place Making

4.1     With reference to paragraph 3.1 of the Minute of 26 January 2022, James Lamb, SBC Portfolio Manager was present to set out options for the Cheviot Area Partnership in supporting the development of community-led place plans in communities across the locality.  Over the past year, conversations had been continuing with Area Partnerships around:

·         How to develop a place making approach in each locality and across the Borders

·         Where to make a practical start

·         What the role of Area Partnerships should be in overseeing the implementation and delivery of place making in their communities

4.2     The conversation began in February 2021 with proposals being presented to the February 2021 Council meeting and continued in summer with a series of brief workshops facilitated by Scottish Futures Trust to gauge views on what place making means to communities and what the priority issues and ambitions were for the approach.  The output from the workshops was used to draft more detailed proposals which were endorsed by the Council in August 2021, with a view to further engagement and development with Area Partnerships over autumn and winter.  In spring of this year, a series of facilitated workshops were held to explore the subject in greater detail and to help shape local arrangements.  The focus now needed to turn to how practical support was given to communities in developing their place plans.

4.3     Across the five localities, different approaches were emerging reflecting the diversity of the area.  In Berwickshire, a short-life Place Making Working Group, comprising representatives from across local communities and organisations and was proposing an inclusive “opt-in” approach, initially seeking expressions of interest from Communities across the locality and chaired by community representatives, with Tweeddale taking a similar approach.  The remaining three localities being presented with option at the Area Partnership Meetings in June.

4.4     In all localities, with the exception of Tweeddale, there were also commitments to begin place making in the 4 target towns identified in the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal - Eyemouth, Galashiels, Hawick and Jedburgh this year.  Nationally agreed guidance from the Borderlands Place Programme and experience from the development of associated place plans (both locally, and across the Borderlands local authorities – Carlisle, Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway and Northumberland) could also provide models to guide place making elsewhere.   For Cheviot, this meant that there was already a commitment under the Borderlands Place Programme to support the Jedburgh community to develop a Town Plan and an associated Investment Plan.  As this was part of an agreed programme under separate governance arrangements, this was outside the scope of the options be presented.

4.5     Mr Lamb went onto summarise the points raised at the Cheviot Workshop held on 27 April 2022, which included - a broad understanding of place making – that it should be inclusive, community-led, extend beyond spatial planning and cover all aspects of life in a community – although the name “place making” was not seen as helpful; Recognition of the diversity of communities in the locality and that there should be no one-size-fits-all; Debate around the suitability of the Area Partnerships, as they were currently configured, in playing an oversight role; The importance of supporting rural communities and not just towns; Including all people in communities and in particular engaging young people in the process; The need to make this a hands-on, practical and creative process of engagement with walking workshops, maps and more active public engagement.  While there was some discussion over the role of the Cheviot Area Partnership in overseeing and directing place making, there was no clear steer from the workshop.  Similarly no clear steer emerged in terms of identifying of communities that wished to become involved.  Mr Lamb presented the three possible options for progressing place making as follows:-

Working Group Approach.  The Area Partnership establishes – and seeks initial nominations for – a working group along the lines of the Berwickshire/Tweeddale model.  In the meantime, while the Working Group was being established, SBC’s Community Engagement Team - on behalf of the Working Group – could seek expressions of interest both in terms from:

 i.          Those who wish to become involved in the working group

ii.          Communities that would like to become involved in place making (individually or combined with other communities)

SBC would provide support to the Woking Group in line with practice in Berwickshire and Tweeddale and share good practice across all groups.  The working group would make recommendations to the Area Partnership. 

Area Partnership Approach.  SBC – on behalf of the Area Partnership – seeks expressions of interest from local communities in becoming involved in place making and that those expressions of interest are brought back to the Area Partnership for consideration.  In effect, this route could follow the approaches in Berwickshire and Tweeddale with the steer coming from the Area Partnership rather than a Working Group.  However, the process could take longer due to the timetable of Area Partnership meetings.

Hybrid Approach.  That representatives from the Area Partnership work with SBC officers in an informal capacity in seeking expressions of interest from communities wishing to become involved in Place Making directly and working with those communities to formulate and support a viable approach.  Again, this could use emerging models in other localities.  Expressions of interest and proposals to move these forward would be brought back to the Area Partnership for consideration.  Following discussion, it was agreed to progress the Working Group Option.

DECISION

AGREED that

(a)          the Working Group Approach be progressed;

(b)          Nominations be sought from across the Community;

Draft terms of reference be drawn up by James Lamb.