Promoting Sustainable Communities Through The Planning Process
Ashford is a fast growing town,
facing all the challenges and problems this entails. When the
Government decided that the town should be a regional growth area –
doubling the population in 25 years - the challenge got even
harder!
- There are several features that are central to our approach –
whatever level of growth you face they are relevant:
- Leadership and a partnership approach that has inspired our
partners, politicians and the community
- Genuinely inclusive and innovative participation to tackle
challenges from individual sites to doubling the size of the
town
- Sticking to the agenda to create a high quality, sustainable
community through each stage of the process
Ashford is keen to share its experience in promoting
sustainable communities. Using the links below you can find out
more about masterplanning and community design workshops.
Better Place-making
Working with the Princes Foundation, English Partnerships and
CPRE we piloted the design workshop – an intensive workshop, often
spanning 2 or more days, involving residents and stakeholders from
all sectors.
The objective was simple – a determination to go back to first
principles about what makes places work; gain wide agreement to
those principles and what they mean in practice; and get the
commitment needed from agencies of all sorts to play their part in
delivering better places.
The outcomes have been startling. There is widespread consensus
and shared understanding between developers and landowners; local
communities and politicians; and service providers of all sorts
about how to make better places and stronger communities.
Since 2001 we have taken all major schemes in Ashford through
design workshops. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive; all
parties have been ‘winners’; the process of handling major
development is much improved and, crucially, the results are much
better places to live and work in.
So successful was this approach that we decided to use it to
masterplan a doubling of the size of the town over 25 years – then
the fun really began!
Sharing our Experience
As a Beacon Council we are committed to sharing our experiences.
We will tailor what we can offer to what you feel you need but
there are two main areas where we are most likely to be able to
help; tackling your growth agenda and creating better places using
design workshops.
Tackling your growth agenda – how to embrace a
growth agenda working with local politicians and the community
Target Groups:
- Chief Executives, management teams, leading councillors, LSP
members and other community representatives in areas facing
challenging growth targets.
What We Can Offer:
- Tailored day workshops for small groups to an agenda of issues
most relevant to you -workshops based in London, Ashford or your
home authority;
- Follow up mentoring relationship to share experience and learn
together with selected authorities – establishment of a peer
exchange network.
Creating better places using design workshops -
by making the community and all stakeholders part of the design
process from the outset on key sites and masterplans
Target Groups:
- Planners, urban designers, housing and related
professionals
- Lead planning councillors
- LSP members, amenity groups, voluntary sector and parish/ town
councils
- Landowners/ developers and house-builders
- Public agencies and service providers
What We Can Offer:
- Intensive day workshops for small groups from interested local
authorities (including where appropriate community partners and
developers);
- Web based, self-help pack for those wanting to roll out the
design workshop approach;
- Speakers for events targeting the house-building/ development
industry;
- Follow up mentoring relationship with selected authorities –
possible establishment of ‘facilitator exchange’ scheme
Further Information
If you are a...
- Planner, urban designer, housing and related
professional
- Lead planning councillor
- LSP member, amenity group, voluntary sector and parish / town
council
- Landowner / developer and house builder
- Public agency and service provider
You may find our Masterplanning Ashford's Growth
webpage and Toolkit for community design
workshops useful.
You can also visit the following websites:
You can also email the Head of Planning
and Development or telephone 01233 330239.
This webpage was updated on
1/31/2008