Buckland Mill, Dover

Project Type: Statement of Community Involvement

Client : Gilcrest Homes & SEEDA

INTRODUCTION

This Statement of Community Involvement is a record of the work undertaken by the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation on behalf of Gillcrest Homes and SEEDA in consulting local residents with a pre-planning application for the redevelopment of the Buckland Mill site in Dover.

This work has taken place over the months of June and July and has taken the form of:

Contact work / meetings with key individuals and organisations.

An audit of existing community facilities

A series of consultation events / opportunities.

Two Stakeholder Workshops.

PURPOSE OF THE COMMUNITY CONSULTATION

The consultation was undertaken in order to:

Raise local residents’ awareness of the plans for the redevelopment of the Buckland Mill site and to afford them the opportunity to comment on those plans, including the idea of a Healthy Living Centre – likes (pale green flags) and worries (pale pink flags) – and

To enable local residents to put forward their own ideas for the proposed Community Facility.

HOW THE COMMUNITY CONSULTATION WAS UNDERTAKEN

During the course of the contact work we were able to ascertain that Buckland, St. Radigunds and Tower Hamlets were all served by substantial community facilities.

The Ark, located in Noah’s Ark Road in Tower Hamlets, is a faith based organisation which offers the community: a church; education and training facilities; facilities that are used by agencies and groups; and space for seminars and conferences. The Ark is also one of Dover’s Children’s Centres; is used by Homestart for sessions with young parents; and offers pre-school provision through “Happy Feet”. The Centre has a busy schedule of activities and is well used by local residents.

Triangles Community Centre based at Poulton Close in St. Radigunds offers a wide range of activities for all ages with facilities which include a large hall with kitchen, small hall, multi-purpose room with kitchen, clinic room / small office, crèche room and sensory room. SureStart have offices within this Centre from which they offer a range of services and activities not only to those using the Triangles Centre but also at other centres such as Buckland Community Centre, the Discovery Centre and Old Park Community Centre. The Centre is also used by other groups and agencies to provide services and activities e.g. YMCA who run the Youth Activities; and the Children’s Centres. The Centre also has Children’s Centre Status. A full programme of activities is offered throughout the week – Monday to Saturday – including such activities as: Rainbows (for girls aged 5 – 7); Youth Activities (music, art, etc.); Yoga (Kent Adult Education Course); Play Link (drop in for parents and children run by the Children’s Centres); Parent and Toddler groups; Lunch clubs; Youth Café; and the St. Rags Tea Dance.

The Centre Manager, Susan Wilson, is also working closely with a number of partners to look at expanding to offer sport and recreation facilities which would include a Sports Hall, a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA), a community café and safe outdoor open space.

St. Andrew’s Church Parish Centre. At present a planning application is lodged with the District Council for the provision of new facilities which will provide a range of activities for all ages.

Note: the Buckland Mill development site lies within the St. Radigunds Ward.

Buckland Community Centre on Roosevelt Road Buckland is a large community building comprising of a large hall, kitchen facilities, office and small meeting room. The Centre is only open when in use by groups or agencies e.g. SureStart run a parenting skills course; a Parent and Toddler Group; and a Healthy Eating Course. Just outside the Community Centre is a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) and close by, located as part of the local shopping parade, is Crosslinks (a faith based organisation) which provides a parent and toddlers group, after school club, coffee mornings, and family outings.

River appears to be well served through a number of local venues and facilities: the Village Hall; the Parish Church Centre; the Methodist Church Hall; and the Recreation Ground which includes, amongst other facilities, an outdoor bowls green.

In order to ensure that as many local residents were able to participate fully high visual, participative techniques were used. This involved using a large scale annotated plan mounted onto polystyrene together with coloured flags and pin boards. The coloured flags included:

“I like these plans because ….” which were pale green

“I am worried about these plans because …” which were pale pink

Prewritten and blank idea cards in a range of colours – pink for community facilities; dark blue for the local economy and education; light green for leisure activities; and dark green for the environment.

Using the flags local residents were able to “show” us on the model how they felt about the plans – if they liked them there would be an abundance of pale green flags; where they were placed and what was written on them would indicate if there were particular features they liked. If they were “worried” again this would be plain for all to see by the number of pale pink flags on the model.

The coloured “Idea” and blank “Your Idea” cards were used by local residents to put forward ideas for the proposed community facility; and to put forward ideas for other elements of the plan, e.g. the River Walk and the Mill Buildings.

The process was taken to local people rather than expecting them to come to us. Through the initial contact work, we identified a number of key locations which were well used by local people and we offered opportunities to participate that spanned different days of the week and different times of the day – morning, afternoon and evening. Full details of the schedule of events are listed under Section 4 following.

A Media event, held at Buckland House on the site, was organised and took place on 11^th July at which representatives from local newspapers and radio stations were briefed on the development proposals by Gillcrest, SEEDA and CTM Architects. They were also provided with details of the launch events for the consultation process.

At the end of the period of public consultation two Stakeholder Workshops were held at Buckland House. Stakeholders were welcomed by Deborah Barnes of SEEDA and heard presentations from Gilcrest Homes, CTM Architects and the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation. Participants were asked for feedback on the proposals.

CONCLUSIONS

The engagement process has gathered the views of 496 local residents (recorded information on age, gender, ethnicity pin boards).

The process has reached out and engaged with the communities of the Wards of Buckland, St. Radigunds, Tower Hamlets and River.

The engagement process has demonstrated a high level of support for the overall scheme – 80% of all comments and ideas placed on the plan were “like” or positive.

Key features such as the integration of Church Path into the development; the creation of the River Walk and access to the river; the retention of the Mill Buildings / clock tower and Buckland House; the mix of housing; the retail / restaurant facilities; informal and formal open spaces; and the proposed Community Facility also received high levels of positive support.

Key concerns, representing 11% of all comments, focussed on density and parking issues; existing anti-social behaviour and how the design could help to tackle this; possible flooding; ability of infrastructure to cope e.g. schools, road networks, health services etc.; integration within the site and integration of the development within the wider community; access points; affordable housing; and sustainability of retail units.

A quick audit of existing community facilities in the geographical areas closest to the site has identified that Buckland, St. Radigunds and Tower Hamlets are served well by large Community Centres. Buckland also benefits from a Multi Use Games Area; and the Triangles Community Centre in St. Radigunds are developing proposals to expand to offer sports facilities and a community café.

The proposed Community Facility received a high level of support with suggestions falling into 3 broad categories: a Healthy Living Centre; a Children’s and Young People’s activity centre; and a multi functional centre for use by all ages.

Analysis of the pin board responses has shown that local residents from the closest geographical areas would use the proposed facilities e.g. the new community centre, the improved pedestrian and cycle routes, the retail units and the restaurant.

For more information on this please contact NIF on 01952 590777 or email admin@nif.co.uk