The wonder of a ponder!

This week, Lynette Lawson-Tyers is captain of the blog. She wanted to talk about a project she is involved in, working with Barnes Community Association and the Barnes Town Centre Manager.

"Just who is responsible for the creation and sustainability of thriving town or village centres?  Is it all down to the Local Authority?  

Barnes has grabbed the proverbial bull by the horns and leapt into action, with Emma Robinson, Barnes Town Centre Manager at the helm!

Back in Oct’13 over 300 people participated in the Big Barnes Ponder. The Ponder was an opportunity for residents, councillors, community groups and businesses to come together and create a Shared Future Vision for Barnes.

Comments, ideas and aspirations were mulled over, resulting in a focused list of key issues such as the river wall, connecting the common to the river and supporting local shops and businesses. 

I felt really priviledged to be a part of this day, the atmosphere was buzzing and I was amazed at the range of inspirational ideas that residents came up with, such as replacing some of the concrete flood defence wall with glass so that you can see the river. (JA: Something like this..?)

Since then, Emma and her team have been busy harnessing all of the local enthusiasm to establish Action Groups to manage these emerging projects, enabling Barnes to retain its vitality and continue to make it a strong, stable and desirable place.

Town Centres are not only a focal point, but are central to an area's sense of identity. They belong to and should support everyone, and their management is central to the prosperity and well-being of the whole community.

So it would appear that in truth, everyone is responsible for their town centre becoming and remaining a thriving hub of community activity.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Barnes continue to develop, and the impact the Ponder and all these fabulous ideas will have.  If we can all keep up the momentum, then some of these projects will happen, and others will be a work in progress.  The challenge is, of course, to keep the momentum up!  Exciting times are ahead for Barnes."

A vision of the future...?

“The future is not an inheritance, it is an opportunity and an obligation.” Bill Clinton

Perhaps it’s a little brave (and embarrassingly cliché) to use a politician’s quote to start this post, but I was really attracted by the opportunity and obligation that ‘Teflon Bill’ refers to here. It is particularly relevant to our activities this week. The team has been a part of some great examples of local people and groups making the most of opportunities to improve their areas for future generations.

Prince Charles approves...

I have been attending the Prince Charles endorsed Enquiry by Design Ham Close visioning events. There is a huge opportunity for Ham on the table through our Uplift programme, so it’s worth spending time on getting it right. I’d describe the process as being a little slow ,but very authentic. ‘Slow’ may sound critical, but (and I do love a terrible analogy) for me it was like instant vs. fresh brewed coffee - both are coffee, but one is simply better. 

What I mean is that, whilst slower, taking this participatory approach gets a better result for the community. Whatever the outcome from the process, it has been thorough and I've heard some really interesting things about Ham's history, present concerns and ideas for the future. The outcomes will be grounded (no coffee pun intended) in grassroots, local input.

Lynette has been involved in similar things in Barnes. She told me it was great to see so many local residents turn up to support the Barnes Ponder Community Meeting on Monday evening.  Lots of great ideas were formed on how to take the Ponder outcomes forward, including suggestions of having a sensory garden in one of the parks.  She’s really looking forward to working with Emma and the Barnes Town Team, the Barnes Community Association and local residents to turn their ideas in a reality.

I’ll finish with a suggestion for any people involved in community engagement to read a blog post from Kate Goodall. Quite amusing, and top tips to remember when we are asking people what they want. It can be a dangerous, and misleading question! 

http://kategoodall.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/cogitation-cogitation-cogitation/

(Thanks to Tom in our comms team for the link to this… I’ve always thought it was a cog.)