A Parish Plan is a way of identifying a community's needs. It includes a concise action plan that prioritises the issues raised, and sets out how parish plan groups might work with others to tackle these.
Parish planning leads to direct action by communities to improve the way their local area and services are managed. Concrete benefits vary, but include:
- highway safety improvements
- village hall refurbishments
- planning permission for health facilities
- installation of IT facilities
- revitalised Parish Councils
Parish planning in Leicestershire is supported through the Leicestershire Rural Partnership, with practical support and advice provided by a team of community development officers at the Rural Community Council.
Within Leicestershire, 25% of parishes have published a parish plan. This is double the East Midlands average. Currently the RCC are working with over 30 parish plan groups within Leicestershire.
The involvment of service providers in the parish plan process is governed by our Parish Plan Protocol. This sets out the responsibilities of these service providers in supporting parish plan work, for exampe commenting on draft questionnaires, attending parish plan launch events, providing a full written response to the group and providing advice on how to deliver the projects identified.
This work is further supported through the County Council’s programme of Service Co-ordination Events. At these events service providers and members of the local community are brought together to consider opportunities to deliver outstanding actions within a parish plan. Service Co-ordination Events have also been held ealier in the process to support the development of action plans.
The RCC’s annual Community Consultation Seminar provides an opportunity to feedback on the successful delivery of parish plans and to encourage other communities to undertake consultation work. The annual report on parish plans is launched at this event.
In 2006 the Leicester Shire Economic Partnership funded an evaluation of the project. This independent evaluation highlighted the successes of the project and made recommendations for improvements. Amendments to the programme which are currently being implemented include;
- Opportunities to deliver consultation services within a number of parishes with related problems or inter-dependendencies
- Consultation within targeted communities (e.g. priority neighbourhoods)
- Offering communities a variety of consultation methods.
- Minor revision of the core questions provided to parish communities undertaking consultation.
- Improved monitoring of project outcomes
- Make best practice case studies available