ABERGELE PLACEMAKING PLAN
Project Brief.
The Abergele Place Plan (APP) is a project led by Conwy County Borough Council designed to give local residents and businesses a direct say in shaping the future development of the town. The project is based on similar principles to England’s Neighbourhood Plan process. Supporting the normal round of workshops, seminars and public consultations is a custom-made web toolkit, developed by WPP partners Blue Fox Technology and Artychoke, that helps to publicise and promote the Plan as well as invite direct participation in the consultation process via the Web and social media.
The Place Plan toolkit is part of the latest range of upgrades made to Blue Fox Technology’s OpusMap software which is currently in use by a number of Local Authorities in England and Wales in support of their Local Plan and planning policy development programmes. OpusMap‘s new toolkit enables planners and policy makers to harness the global reach of the Internet to engage with residents, businesses and key stakeholders at a very local or neighbourhood level.
The Place Plan toolkit provides a range of integrated features for publishing stand-alone Place/Neighbourhood Plans that includes:
- web page creator and document publishing
- real-time interactive mapping,
- polls and surveys,
- social media integration
- registration and subscription system
- comment and response tools
- analytic tools for tracking user numbers and activity
The toolkit’s versatility and flexibility means that new and/or successive Place/Neighbourhood Plan websites can be set up quickly and easily as and when they are required, meaning that the Councils and the public alike can enjoy continuity and consistency in how such Plans are promoted and how stakeholders participate in them. The toolkit’s range of features for supporting and monitoring participation via the Plan website provides useful data for stakeholders to identify the issues and outcomes that matter most, thereby building a macro view from the microcosm of each Plan.
Key project features
- OpusMap‘s Place Plan toolkit can be used by either by the Council or by individual Neighbourhood Plan committee members or both in collaboration to create and maintain a Plan website
- toolkit taps into the potential of the web and social media to reach out and engage the public in Plan making, saving time and resources in the process
- registered users can comment on specific Plan details and policies submitted by the plan makers, ensuring legitimacy of the process through direct participation and consultation
- no limit to how many Plans are published by OpusMap‘s Plan Plan system