Dartmoor National Park Authority
Community Planning
Community Planning is a process which enables public agencies such as local councils, primary care trusts, police, the national park authorities and other public, private and voluntary sector members to work with their local communities to plan and deliver better services.
Community Strategies
Community strategies are overarching documents which should guide all strategic and service plans for the area, promoting an agreed long term vision for improving the community's economic, environmental and social wellbeing.
As well as promoting a vision for the future, the strategies also provide an overview of what is currently happening within an area. They will identify cross-cutting priorities which require action at the strategic level, such as tackling affordable housing, social exclusion, access to services and health inequalities.
The intention is to make a real improvement to the quality of people’s lives based on the aspirations and needs of local people.
For more information on local strategic partnerships in your area and your local community strategy visit the website for Teignbridge, South Hams or West Devon (external site, opens in new window). You can also visit the Devon Strategic Partnership website (external site, opens in new window) for more information on the Devon Community Strategy.
Parish Plans and Community Appraisals
At a more local level, some parishes have developed their own parish plans. These plans recognise the features and local characteristics people value, identify local problems and opportunities and describe how residents want their community to develop in the future to provide the basis for an action plan for the parish.
Further information on parish plans can be found on the Community Council of Devon website (external site, opens in new window).
Communities in Action
Information on individual parish or other community plans can be found on a new website called Devon Communities in Action (external link, opens new window) This is a brand new resource for use by the public, community organisations and agencies which will increase access to information about community-led plans including parish plans, village appraisals and village design statements. It enables you to search for information on a geographical area or on a specific theme or issue, such as provision of skate park or village hall, and to see what your own community is doing and how other communities are turning their plans into action.
European Funded Community Programmes on Dartmoor
Between 2002 and 2008, Rural Teignbridge including the whole of that part of the district in the National Park benefitted from funding under the Teignbridge Leader Plus Programme. The programme was aimed at assisting rural communities in the rural parts of the district to improve the quality of life and economic prosperity in their local area. A key principle of LEADER PLUS was a locally developed strategy with decision making at community level by a Local Action Group. Over its life the programme provided £1.8m of assistance to 125 projects. The report of the manager on the activities assisted during the life of the programme and prepared shortly before its end can be viewed below.
LEADER+ Programme 2002-2008 Activity Report 
205Kb (PDF Help)
Greater Dartmoor LEAF
The spirit of the LEADER PLUS programmes has been carried through in the new Local Action for Rural Communities initiative. Part of the England Rural Development Programme, it similarly benefits from European funding and is aimed at encouraging environmentally sustainable projects which will bring economic benefit to the identified areas. A programme bid for the Greater Dartmoor area which includes the whole of the national park has been successful and the Local Action Group (Local Enterprise Action Fund) has £1.8m to spend on eligible projects over the life of the programme (up to 2013). The LEAF began awarding grants to sucessful projects in early 2009. The priority objectives in the Greater Dartmoor Programme are to assist projects that:
The programme strategy can be accessed from the link below.
Further details can be found on the Greater Dartmoor LEAF website www.greaterdartmoorLEAF.org (external site, opens new window) It is anticipated that the LEAF will begin awarding grants to successful projects in the early Spring of 2009.
More information on your local community.
Page updated 27 January 2010
