Community and Rural Strategy 2020

Proposal

Introduction

In the summer of 2019, Shropshire Council started work with a range of partner organisations to develop an evidence base and identify shared priorities. Workshops were held with town and parish councils, elected councillors, voluntary and community sector groups and organisations, and Shropshire Business Board to consider the issues most important to our local communities. The data, information and feedback obtained from across the county has been used to inform this draft Community and Rural Strategy.

Shropshire Council has listened to how local areas would like to work with Shropshire Council and the role they would like the Council to fulfil as an enabler, as well as providing direction and a strategic lead. Since starting work on the Strategy, Shropshire has seen significant flooding and the coronavirus pandemic. These events have had considerable social and economic impacts and highlight the importance of continued work to identify and respond to the issues that matter most to our rural communities.

The Community and Rural Strategy is a high-level framework strategy, setting out shared priorities. Other local strategies and delivery plans (for example the Leisure Strategy, Cultural Strategy, Libraries Strategy and Local Economic Growth Strategies) will provide, in more detail, how local facilities, services and programmes will be delivered.

This consultation aims to obtain feedback on the draft Community and Rural Strategy prior to its formal agreement and implementation. The consultation aims to:

• Build on the engagement work undertaken to date and allow members of the public and a wider range of local stakeholders to comment on the draft document.
• Share the draft document before it is finalised so that any gaps or concerns can be addressed before implementation.
• Build awareness of the new Strategy and communicate the vision, aim and priorities it contains.
• Present the shared priorities.
• Obtain feedback on the proposed delivery approach/ governance model.

The draft Strategy can be found under documents at the bottom of this page.

A survey is provided as a way of collecting feedback. Find the survey link on the ‘Get Involved' section of this webpage.