Client Wealden District Council
Addison and Associates undertook a series of workshops were held with key stakeholders in Wealden to develop a common vision from the evidence base, objectives and priorities for the authority to inform alternative ways forward in an area resistant to growth.
A series of three facilitated workshop events for members and LSP partners prior to undertaking the regulation 25 consultation in April 2009. The key aims of the workshops were to facilitate members understanding of the evidence gathered and its implications; increase ownership of LDF core strategy content by increasing participants understanding of the value of the process, and to involve them in the identification of key issues, options and strategies, and the process of identifying the preferred way forward.
Each workshop focused on a different aspect but together they built towards the development of a spatial vision as follows:
· Workshop 1 Evidence and its implications overall and spatially
· Workshop 2 Debating possible spatial options
· Workshop 3 Clarifying the vision and developing spatial options
Through this series of workshops, all those involved have assisted in developing elements of the core strategy - from expressing wishes and desires in Workshop 1, to the production of a coherent vision and basis for objectives through Workshops 2 and 3/4. These last workshops enabled participants from each group to contribute to the narrowing down of the spatial vision and seeing that expressed in terms of a range of development options. It is the intention that these options will be further refined and elaborated upon prior to the next phase of public consultation scheduled for the summer 2009.