Community Place Plans: Future Angus
Charrettes in urban and rural settings to co-develop community place plans and action plans for future change
Future Angus was delivered as two distinct ‘charrettes’ to explore and identify solutions to challenges in different locations and contexts:
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A community-led Place Plan focussing on the town centre and high street
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A conversation within and between rural villages on the Angus boundary which lack connection and services due to their location
Future Angus aimed to bring people into planning discussions, creating space for them to make decisions about their neighbourhoods and provide direction and actions for delivery by identified partners including local organisations, community and volunteer-led organisations and local authorities.
These charrette processes had a challenge to respond to: a high street failing to thrive or a series of communities with a lack of services - but the conversations were far more wide ranging. We discussed the possible futures and the fondly remembered pasts, the possibilities within the community as it already existed and the areas for growth and inviting in new partners, new community members and new businesses.
The produced plans were realisable, deliverable and identified responsibilities. These were not documents to be sat in a drawer but codesigned actions for activation at a range of scales.
What is a charrette?
- a public meeting or workshop devoted to a converted effort to solve a problem or plan the design of something
- a period of intense work, typically undertaken in order to meet a deadline
Urban Charrette
Future Forfar
Future Forfar was a programme of community engagement and participatory activity which shaped the local plan of Forfar with a specific focus on the Town Centre and High Street.
Through discussion and open public workshops a vision and principles for future development of public space, community resources and an approach to the future of the high street that is based in place and people, not solely retail.
New Practice brought on project partners: Willie Miller Urban Design and Nick Wright Planning, alongside key experts: Matt Bridgestock of John Gilbert Architects and Professor Leigh Sparks of Stirling University to run an intensive four-day 'charrette' as a pop up in the Future Forfar Cafe which featured live performances, an exhibition of Forfar's history and presentations on the future of the town with local collaborators.
A pre-charrette phase of one-to-one meetings, phone calls and drop-ins with local businesses allowed our team to begin framing engagement questions and ambitions for the town with key local organisations and community champions. This identified clear themes:
Attraction - how do we attract more visitors, investors and businesses to Forfar?
Better - how do we improve the town centre for the people of Forfar?
Public Spaces - how do we make physical improvements to the Town Centre and its outdoor spaces?
With this framing, the charrette itself produced an emerging vision from the hundreds of visitors, the thousands of ideas and experiences shared and the passionate conversations had. This vision was to create a Town Centre with more buzz, primarily by encouraging local people to stay in Forfar, visit the High Street more often and stay longer by: enhancing the existing and underlying features of the town; creating affordable town centre living and spaces for multiple generations; creating focus at local landmarks; and better communicating the existing diversity of local partners and community offers.
The Town Centre Action Plan is formed of ten illustrations that combine direct commentary from participants with the team's research and expertise to identify outcomes for the town and high street which are ambitious and meet the visions of the community.
Rural Charrette
Hear Here
Hear Here was the first polycentric charrette for Scotland and looked to test the charrette approach to a more dispersed rural area. The far South-West of Angus was chosen as it is both remote from Angus Council's central services in its Burgh Towns and its close proximity to other local authority areas: Dundee City Council and Perth & Kinross Council.
We delivered a charrette for these eleven villages as a week-long immersive travelling workshop visiting settlements across the study area to gather stories and data about their challenges before proposing a series of short-, medium- and long-term solutions for either, or both, the community and the local authority to action.
Our team undertook a pre-charrette research and conversation phase which collected thoughts and opinions of local residents to establish key themes for the wider participation of the charrette phase. In this location the pre-charrette phase identified four key themes of:
Transport & Roads
Service Access
Local Development
Digital Connectivity
A travelling exhibition and seminar workshop was supported by a static base at the Birkhill Millenium Hall for the full week of activity. With a focus across a number of settlements, villages and rural clusters it was important to provide opportunities for residents, businesses and visitors across South West Angus to engage.
The team were mobile across the boundary areas and help pop-ups in three additional locations: Lundie Hall; Liff Primary School and Fowlis Hall.
A budget allocation for 'quick-win' projects from Angus Council of up to £20,000 helped define the small and extra small outcomes of Hear Here and provided a route for their delivery by key community partners. We also identified a list of match funding opportunities specific to South West Angus during the development of the community place plan to support its adoption and delivery.
The Place Plan for South West Angus is formed of a series of diagrams which record community conversations and research to clearly show the issues and needs of the boundary area and develop solutions, outcomes and 'results' for each location within this dispersed community and a responsible organisation is identified for each solution embedding delivery mechanisms and future thinking into this Community Place Plan.
Client: Angus Council
Location: Forfar; Muirhead, Birkhill & Liff Community Council Area, including: Backmuir or Liff, Balrudder, Berryhill, Birkhill, Dronley, Flocklones, Fowlis, Liff, Lundie, Muirhead and Piperdam
Completion: 2015 - 2017
Collaborators: Willie Miller Urban Design, John Gilbert Architects, Nick Wright Planning, University of Stirling
Funding Partners: Making Places, The Scottish Government with Angus Council