Pathfinder community engagement pilot

As part of Buckinghamshire Pathfinder Wycombe district piloted a project to see how it could improve public consultation. The Pathfinder Wycombe district community engagement pilot ran from April 2008 - April 2009 and sought to:

• Make it easier and simpler for communities to engage with the whole public sector.
• Develop and strengthen community engagement and partnership arrangements based on geographical communities within the Wycombe district.
• Focus on actions and service improvements to meet local priorities.

The full evaluation has now been completed under Bucks Pathfinder, a number of changes have been made including:

• Moving the Community Engagement work under the Bucks Strategic Partnership (BSP), rather than Pathfinder, as this is more about integration rather than efficiencies.
• Different operating approach for Wycombe district between partners.

Our joint approach is based on the following features:

1. Parish and Town Councils to take on the role of identifying local priorities based on engagement with their local community. This could draw on community appraisals/parish plans or other existing arrangements, and focus on progressing two or three key issues at a time.
2. Neighbourhood Action Groups (NAGs) to be left as Police-led problem-solving groups, but linking with and through Town and Parish Councils as appropriate.
3. Recognition that a different approach of working through District and County Councils was proposed.
4. Local Community Partnerships to be developed in multi-agency arrangements belonging to all three tiers of local government, focusing on two or three issues at one time which relate to the whole of their geographical area. Single parish matters to be lead by the individual Town or Parish Council under point 1 above.
5. Support given for joint training sessions with County and District Councils. The District Council agreed to look to progress the automatic invitation of all Town and Parish Councils through Wycombe District Association of Local Councils (WDALC) to relevant member training sessions.

Plans for next year

Our plans for the next year are:

• To continue to develop our approach and refine it in light of experience
• Formalise the arrangement between partners on how we work together
• Ensure we continue to focus on actions
• Making closer links with the Safer and Stronger Partnerships under the BSP