Borough Life Summer 2006: Growing together
Ten townships across the borough give the people who live and work here an important opportunity to help shape the future.
They give a local perspective on improvements that are needed and in leading and planning local projects and regeneration.
Each township has its own manager and co-ordinator and it is their job to work with elected councillors and local residents to develop more opportunities for local people to have a say about what’s going on in their area.
Each of the townships also has its own forum, made up of a number of agencies, organisations, councillors and local groups. The forums are an important sounding board for local opinion, and have helped draw up local action plans reflecting a long-term vision for a township’s future.
Action plans have been developed around the following themes.
- Community safety
- Local economy
- Education and training
- Environment
- Health
- Leisure and recreation
- Neighbourhood development
- Traffic and transport.
These issues and priorities set by local communities are reported to major public services and then written into the Community Plan for the borough. This plan brings together all the challenges facing the borough and the goals we hope to achieve by 2010.
The importance of the Community Plan is that it is based on hard evidence from local townships - brought together with statistics and local perceptions (such as the information we get from the Citizens Panel).
Councillor Chris Ready, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Communities says: “Townships are absolutely vital for the council to make sure that it is listening to and talking with local people about the issues that really concern them.
”Township forums are not council committees - they are local partnerships where elected councillors sit together with local people and other agencies as equals. Our local action plans reflect that partnership approach.
”We try to be realistic about what we can achieve - but we’re also very ambitious. Local people can really make a difference. Everyone has some knowledge and skill to bring to this work.”
Last summer we used a special supplement in Borough Life to report back on the priorities that had been set by each of the townships. This year we are providing an update on the progress made in the 10 townships, as well as some information about other initiatives we have completed throughout the borough.
We invited a group of young reporters from the borough’s LINC youth newspaper to attend one of our forum meetings and their fascinating report is printed on the centre pages.
We have also produced new maps showing the township boundaries - so you can see in which area your own community sits.
If you want to get in touch with your local township team then please use the contact details we’ve provided.
Please keep this supplement, and use it to get in touch if ever you want to have your say.