Placecheck
Background to Placecheck
Placecheck is an award winning community engagement method being
used by Perth & Kinross Council. Placecheck was developed in
the late 1990?s by the Urban
Design Alliance (UDAL). This successful scheme has been
implemented in many places across the UK from neighbourhoods
wanting to improve their local streets and open spaces to whole
settlements getting involved.
Placecheck is a simple way of getting communities to identify
what they like and don't like about where they live. Communities
identify and work with different partners and also take action
themselves, to improve their environment.
Perth & Kinross Council have adopted Placecheck as an effective
method of community engagement. This method fits very well into
our
Placemaking Guide which encourages distinctive,
attractive, welcoming places with active citizens and civic pride,
where people come first and cars second. The method also embraces
our
Community Engagement Policy where we follow the
Government's 10
National Standards For Community Engagement focusing
on inclusion, encourage participation, listen and give
feedback. Another useful link is to the Living Streets
Charity which promotes making the streets you live, work, shop and
play in safe, attractive and enjoyable spaces. The "Recalim Your
Streets Toolkit" can be dowloaded from the Downloads section.
The Placecheck method was trialled in
Errol and
Dunning and was found to be successful in effectively engaging
communities on public space issues. In view of the heavy
demand on resources, it was decided to give one community per
year the opportunity to participate in the Council run Placecheck
process. Communities had to have around 2000 residents.
Criteria was developed to ensure suitable settlements are
selected in a fair and transparent way. Scoring assisted with
prioritisation where several communities demonstrated a need for
Placecheck. All submissions were assessed by a working
panel.
Areas that submitted a bid to host a Placecheck event were
Aberfeldy, Alyth, Bridge of Earn, Comrie, Coupar Angus,
Invergowrie and Kingoodie, Milnathort, Oakbank and
Stanley.
Milnathort and
Bridge of Earn were selected for a Council run Placecheck in
2010 and 2011.
Community Process and Training
It is important for communities who want to be involved in
Placecheck to be fully committed to the Placecheck process. It is
also important that there are community members available to assist
with the running of the events. The process although very rewarding
and beneficial to the community is also time consuming and the
community needs to be committed to taking forward issues that are
identified.
Training is available for groups who would like to run a Placecheck
in their area. A sample agenda can be downloaded from the downloads
section.
The Placecheck process usually takes place as follows:
- The initial Placecheck event usually takes place in a venue and
at a day and time that is suitable for involving the majority of
community members
- Participants include local community members and
representatives from organisations who work in the community.
- The process starts with groups doing a walkabout, with cameras
and questionnaires to record their views about the quality of the
environment and areas for improvement.
- After the walkabout, group discussions take place to agree
short, medium and long term priorities for the area.
- After the initial Placecheck event, further meetings and
workshops are held to work through the priorities and consult
further on projects identified.
- Funding is identified and improvement works carried out in the
area.
