The people and the place
Local government reorganisation in 1996 saw Wiltshire County Council's responsibility for Swindon transferred to a new Swindon unitary authority. Discussions during the reorganisation raised concerns among officers and members at Wiltshire County Council about the remoteness of the Council from its communities. Senior Policy Officer, David Maynard, commissioned a study by local Wiltshire historian John Chandler to find out where the natural communities of Wiltshire lay. A Sense of Belonging, History, Community and the New Wiltshire was published in 1998 and looked at patterns of geology, shopping, transport, commuting, schooling and a range of other factors. It identified 20 'natural communities' in Wiltshire.
Meanwhile Keith Robinson, the Chief Executive at Wiltshire County was attracted by ideas being put forward by Robert Putnam in his 1995 book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Robert Putnam used the concept of social capital and argued that civil society was breaking down as Americans became more disconnected from their families, neighbours and communities. Keith bought a copy of the book for each of his chief officers.
At the same time, discussions about local priorities were taking place within and across three tiers of local government - county, district and parish/town councils and an idea emerged for a 'visioning' day in one of John Chandler's natural communities, Calne. Key players at this event included Ann Kingdon, the town council clerk, Nancy Bryant, county council cabinet member (and now chair of the Calne community area partnership), and community development officers from all three tiers of local government. Ann Kingdon said of the event. 'I was very, very sceptical but it was one of the most powerful community events I have ever attended.' This was the start of innovative community area partnerships in Wiltshire.
The innovation and the impact
In 1999 the first visioning day in Calne was a great success. Held on a Saturday in the town hall 120 people attended to talk through and dramatise the history of Calne and what the future might hold. The idea took off and similar events were held in other community areas across Wiltshire over the next three years.
The way the Council has defined and worked with communities to develop community area partnerships and plans is highly innovative. The work in each community area developed at its own pace but involved research with the community, the development of community profiles and issues and community area plans, many of which are now on their second iteration. The issues from these plans feed directly into service planning and overall corporate and community planning.
Customer satisfaction rose in Wiltshire between 2002 and 2005 by 11 per cent, bucking the national trend of decline. At the same time there were real and visible changes going on in communities. In Calne for example, two events, the Baton Challenge and the River of Light festival, showed the community visibly coming together and the development of community cohesion. The latter, an annual pre-Christmas event drawing some 7,000 spectators, involves local people in schools, senior citizen homes and across community centres making lanterns that are then floated down the river through Calne.
In Calne, a new CCTV system with a control room mainly staffed by local volunteers, and 'e-Calne' access points for those without access to the internet at home are also real outcomes for the community.
The Council has now developed its own assessment tool for community area partnerships - to assess the vibrancy of its communities - and is looking at the uses to which this tool can be put.
How did the innovation happen?
Wiltshire's innovative approach was built on the ideas of natural communities in 'A sense of belonging' and the ideas of Robert Putnam, but the changes really started with the first visioning day held at Calne in 1999.
Calne was a good place to start. The town is in the centre of the community, and the recent history of Calne, dominated by the effects of the closure of a local factory in 1984, meant that the community was looking for something to help rebuild itself. The first 2 hours of the day covered the community's experience of the last 30 years, and then the focus shifted to thinking about the next 20 years. Following the success of the Calne day, events were held first in Melksham and then over the next three years in all other community areas.
The vision day in Calne was followed up with local residents - with a summary of the day sent out to everyone who attended. But a number of changes to community development support in the district and county meant it took another two years before the partnership was formalised. This happened as part of putting a bid together for market and coastal town initiative funding - which was secured for a number of the community areas, including Calne.
Community engagement and research started with analysis of citizen's panel information at a community level. This was then supplemented with work by each community partnership. This in turn feeds into the development of community plans. Calne's second area plan was developed with the help of a secondary school which provided artwork for the calendar. Issues raised within each community partnership are fed into service planning - through each plan and through a summary of issues drawn out by community development staff. Wiltshire also has its own information management system, which pulls together much of this data at a local level.
There is a strong recognition within Wiltshire that all three council tiers have to work together and that they can each open different doors. In Calne, Mark Wilkins from the town council, Jane Vaughan from North Wiltshire District and Dave Roberts from Wiltshire County Council meet regularly to look at what is happening in Calne, what needs to be done and how barriers can be overcome.
In County Hall senior officers and members champion the language of communities. It is right up at the front of the corporate plan, and pictorially represented at the entrance to the building. In the view of the cabinet member for community and staffing, John Thomas, 'the community has better answers and solutions.'
What helped to get it started?
The innovation dates back to a desire to get closer to communities and build social capital. The backing of the Chief Executive and senior members and their ambitions for the county's performance on customer satisfaction were also key. Collecting evidence was important early on with John Chandler's, A Sense of Belonging, and customer surveys providing the foundations for community planning.
People were also given the freedom and the skills (for example, training in 'future search' techniques) to work with communities - lowering the barriers to participation. There was also a willingness to try new ways of working, for example, the vision days, a willingness to ask people what they think in an open way and a willingness to work with partners.
The Council looked outside for ideas, for example through the work of Robert Putnam and was prepared to seize an opportunity, as in 1998/99 when all partners, including Calne residents, became interested in taking community working forward. Since then, the County Council has sought to pick off particular services and get partners thinking about how they can work at the community level as and when opportunities arise.
What helped to keep it going?
Setting aspirations high, even beyond what can be achieved has helped to keep things going. It has concentrated people's minds on thinking ahead and finding ways around problems. Including some smaller issues that could be resolved within area plans has also helped people see that progress can be made.
There is a commitment to ongoing work across three tiers with support from senior managers and members. Importance has also been placed on sustained engagement with local people - 'the community isn't static and issues change. We need to find new ways of engaging to stop consultation fatigue' (member of the Calne Community Area Partnership).
The personalities in Calne also worked well together. They want to make things happen and are prepared to get their hands dirty or act strategically as necessary. The developing partnership involved people who were quite willing to focus on evidenced community issues and not political agendas.
What helped to share the learning?
Officers recognise the need to disseminate good practice between community area partnerships and there are 'learning networking days' held several times a year to help practitioners from across all community areas with this.
Wiltshire received Beacon status for its work with communities allowing it to access some funding to help with dissemination. It has hosted visits from other councils, which have been particularly interested in how Wiltshire has defined communities and how the links into service planning, cabinet and scrutiny are made.
However, it has been hard for some of Wiltshire's peers to identify the factors in their success which might be transferable: 'other people can't always grasp what it is that works about Calne - personalities in Calne have made it work… just doing it because you have to isn't enough' (member of the Calne Community Area Partnership).
Challenges along the way
There have been challenges along the way. These have included keeping local people interested when there seems to be a lot of bureaucracy, for example on bids for funding; getting some councillors out of the mindset that they've been elected, so they know best; and developing community working across all areas and across all services.
Wiltshire's Chief Executive Keith Robinson, while acknowledging the progress that has been made, feels he is not yet satisfied with the comprehensiveness of community planning: 'the involvement of services is variable but without all services being involved the issues can't be linked.'
What next?
That innovation engenders further innovation is also clear in Wiltshire. The Council is now piloting a project called 'Voice for Choice' that is seeking to provide a single institution of governance at a local level in each of the 20 community areas with explicit links into the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) and cabinet at district and county levels. The County is working with the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Young Foundation to help develop government thinking on neighbourhoods.
Keith Robinson believes that the approach taken by Wiltshire provides an important example for local government more widely: 'it's all about changing people's behaviour. If we don't achieve this [successful community area working], local government will collapse under the weight of expectations and cost.'