About us

Who we are

Wells Area Partnership is set up as a Company Limited by Guarantee (No 6020284) and has been funded by North Norfolk Community Partnership to give local communities more influence on the decisions that affect the development of the area and its services.

WAP Steering Group – 1st October 2007

Background

The Government wants local communities to have more influence on the decisions which affect the social, economic and environmental well-being of their local area. To meet this aim, the Local Government Act 2000 requires each local authority to prepare a “community strategy” which will be based on the aspirations, needs and priorities expressed by local people and organisations. Community strategies will be developed by partnerships of councils, public service agencies, voluntary organisations, business groups and local communities. The content of these strategies will reflect the views and needs of local people, which will be identified through community planning processes . The community strategies will then guide and coordinate the actions of local authorities, service agencies and other organisations.

In Norfolk, community strategies are being developed at three levels.

1. County - the Community Strategy for Norfolk is produced by the Norfolk Strategic Partnership, which includes Norfolk County Council,  district councils, county-wide service agencies, voluntary organisations and business groups.

2. District also has a district level strategy, which for North Norfolk is the North Norfolk Community Plan. This is prepared by the North Norfolk Partnership compromising of North Norfolk District Council and the service agencies, voluntary organisations and business groups within the district.

3. Parish/area Within North Norfolk, the towns and surrounding parish councils are also establishing their own Local Area Partnerships. Each Local Area Partnership will consist of the town council and the parish councils around it, working with the services, voluntary agencies, business organisations and community groups within that area.

1. The Local Area Partnership will identify local views and needs through various community planning processes, which will then be used to develop a local community plan for the area.
2. These local views will also be passed to the North Norfolk Partnership to contribute to the North Norfolk Community Plan.

The Local Area Partnerships therefore provide the means for their local communities to determine actions in their own locality and to influence decisions at the district county level which affect the services for their area.

How WAP fits into the ‘bigger picture’

WAP fits into a national network of ‘Strategic Partnerships’ set up by government, e.g. also at District and County levels. Local partnerships like WAP are found in other areas e.g. North Walsham, Stalham, Cromer, Sheringham.

In future these will all be required to develop ‘sustainability’ strategies. At present they are asked to conduct a ‘health check’ (identifying community needs) and then a ‘strategy’, showing what needs to be done to meet them. The statutory providers e.g. government funded agencies and planners are then supposed to base their services around meeting these needs.

How you can get involved

It is important that local community-based groups and organisations join in this partnership, so that they can all be included in the community planning process. This will help to ensure that community planning for this area considers the full range of local issues, local views and local needs.

See Join in to download a membership form