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Community involvement

kppd
Sat, 08 Oct 2016 12:03:45 GMT

Engagement in this plan needs an understanding of local democracy.

kppd
Sat, 08 Oct 2016 12:20:47 GMT

As I just stated, for our community to realise what this plan is, means we need to be educated and involved. I come from the Castlederg/Aghyaran area. I would like to know what has been done to educate community groups that this web page exists, and what engagement workshops have taken place in my community-which involved an express invitation to all community groups. I don't see any publication of the community group/general community involvement measures enacted by our Council. In England community planning already shapes the local development plan (in the form of neighbourhood plans). It may not yet be that case here in Northern Ireland, but it is going in this direction. What this means is that community groups and indeed community individuals who are a part of this plan consultation-will be able to suggest ideas to the plan which represent the ordinary folk who cannot log on to this website or do not understand the purpose of this plan. These ideas are wide ranging e.g. local heritage sites significant in a community area (from the viewpoint of the community and no t from the viewpoint of strategic/council planning bodies). I am concerned that individuals in our council area do not realise the importance of this consultation. This plan will shape our local future. In England there is also express concern that community groups are made up of the usual folk that do not necessarily represent all of the community. This can be seen in the lack of comments here on this website. What novel ideas has our council taken to involve and engage all folk of the community? e.g. In London Planning Aid helped engage young adults in a neighbourhood plan consultation by creating a free disco event and asking all attending to first fill in a questionnaire at the disco entrance before going in. We may not want this, but there are other opportunities e.g. posting educational notes on facebook community forums of which there are many. I know that Aghyaran and Castlederg both have community facebook pages. I am concerned this consultation will pass by the participation of all.

kppd
Sun, 09 Oct 2016 19:52:14 GMT

I am particularly interested in knowing what the council have done to ensure the participation of community individuals. For instance have they created a survey involving a leaflet drop?