Two officers from North Ayrshire Council share their experiences of using the Place Standard tool to involve local communities in setting the strategic priorities of new Locality Partnerships for six North Ayrshire localities (Arran, Garnock, Irvine, Kilwinning, North Coast & Cumbraes and The Three Towns). This initial strategic, area-wide approach then led to a more place-based focus at settlement scale for Kilwinning and the Three Towns of Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston.

Lessons Learned

The tool was used successfully and widely endorsed for setting high-level priorities to address inequalities

The iterative use and re-use of the tool progressively focussed attention on hyper-local community issues 

The prioritisation exercise was useful as a prelude to focus at settlement scale, including providing briefing for design charettes (community-led design)

The quantitative perceptual data gathered complimented the use of quantitative data such as Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), health and crime data

Impacts have been systemic, including: achieving buy-in at senior management and political level; incorporation in plans, policy and actions; setting up an annually repeating process and highlighting tangible projects and initiatives for the Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs) to deliver