Community Involvement

Why involve local communities?

Citizens and communities want a bigger say in the services they receive and in shaping the places where they live. The best councils and councillors already work closely with citizens and communities. We want this to be the case everywhere – for people to be given more control over their lives; consulted and involved in running services; informed about the quality of services in their area; and enabled to call local agencies to account if services fail to meet their needs. Reference: Department for Communities and Local Government - Strong and prosperous communities, The Local Government White Paper. Presented to Parliament by The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government by Command of Her Majesty, October 2006 Crown Copyright

How Bluesky Environmental Solutions can help you get the community involved

Our services include:

• Community consultation - True consultation is not simply about telling people what you intend to do. It is a process of exchanging ideas and opinions and jointly developing the best possible options, solutions and proposals. This is why consultation should take place at an early stage in the development of the plan. Ideally, the proposals that appear in the first draft of the management plan will have emerged and been refined through some form of consultation.
• Community ownership - Consultation can also be the beginning of long-term involvement and ownership. By engaging in a genuine two-way dialogue with customers and local residents, you will acquire a far more accurate picture of what is expected, helping you to develop proposals and methods of delivering your services that the community and visitors to the site will welcome and support.
• Friends of Groups – The method for setting up these groups is as varied as their members. Some groups form as a result of a catalyst, sometimes in opposition to proposals to develop or change the use of their local area. Others form from a group of residents who are concerned about their local area and want to become involved in improving wildlife habitats and recreational facilities on the sites. The one thing that all these groups have in common is a membership who are keen, dedicated and want to improve their local area. Friends of groups usually demonstrate a professional approach with regard to the partnership working either with an organisation or local authority. They have an organised committee with chair and a constitution. This often enables them to apply for funding which is not available to the partnership organisation.
• Other community groups and associations – For example, schools, residents associations, community groups and parish councils can play an active role in the community management of local facilities. Local schools can use sites for environmental education, simple habitat creation and pond-dipping. Parish Councils and community groups can be encouraged to participate in clean-up schemes, path clearance and vegetation control, small scale planting schemes even autumn seed and cutting collection events to grow native stock that can be replanted on-site in later years.
• Local user groups – Such as dog walkers, walkers, cyclists, bird-watchers and joggers can all participate in site improvements, even if it is just eyes and ears on the ground. By engaging these users you have a communications link for them to report issues such as, vandalism, fly-tipping, graffiti, site damage and other anti-social incidents. Because of the type of activity they undertake, such as dog walking or jogging, they are on site most days and until they are informed they often do not know how, where or who to report their observations to.
• Local angling clubs - Could be engaged to assist in the partnership management of local fishing facilities. This partnership approach has proved very effective in Stoke-on-Trent where the City Council have formed the City Waters Forum. The Forum which meets on a regular basis involves local angling clubs, wildlife organisations, the Environment Agency and the City Council in the management of 18 local fishing facilities. The group formed in 1999 and have had a variety of funding successes from a number of funding bodies for the improvement of local angling facilities.
• Community artists – We work in partnership with a number of community artists that can involve your local community through, design workshops, “have-ago” workshops and even the implementation or construction of the final piece. They specialise in a variety of mediums including, ceramics, metal, stone carving, timber and willow weaving. Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Measuring Success

Measuring success can be done in a number of ways and a few examples are listed below:

• The number of community partnership management schemes currently supported by the organisation and the numbers of abandoned groups in recent years.
• The number of practical community improvement schemes implemented on sites. Local communities can participate in simple conservation tasks, such as vegetation and litter clearance, step building and bulb planting.
• The number of participants attending local guided walks and events.
• The amount of funding secured from community partnerships.
• Following successful engagement, a reduction in the number of complaints regarding the management of greenspaces and associated problems.
• Positive publicity in the local media.
• Increased confidence within the membership.
• New and transferable skills learned.
• Less vandalism

Our advisors have vast experience in community engagement and the benefits this will have on your scheme. Please contact us should you wish to discuss any aspect of community involvement further.