Hay Together

This is going to be another of those long posts - but bear with me, because this is important.
There has been one meeting already of this new group, called by Gareth Ratcliffe, and this second meeting, last night, was broadening out the original base of local groups and organisations.
It's all to do with Localism (though the Localism Act doesn't apply in Wales) and a new Community Plan. And to have a Community Plan, you have to involve all of the community, or as much of it as you possibly can.
So at this meeting, at the school, there were representatives of the Cricket club, PC Thomas from the police station, St Mary's Church, Elizabeth Haycox as a bookseller and for Hay Castle, Fairtrade, the Screen at Hay, Transition Towns, the WI, Scouts, CRAP (the parking group), Hay First, Jump4Timbuktu, the Chamber of Commerce, Plan B, Dial-a-Ride, Community Support, PAVO, and the Town Council - and Gareth, our County Councillor. There may have been one or two others that I missed, too!
Over the course of the meeting, it was suggested that there were various other groups in Hay who really ought to be involved in this new process - some had been invited and hadn't come along (such as a representative of the booksellers, and the Festival) and some hadn't been thought of originally, like the Bell Bank Club.

There were two chaps there who had been brought in as guest speakers - they have worked with communities, mostly in England, to work out what that community thought were its highest priorities, and then to work out how to reach those aims. They said that there is usually some sort of catalyst to get people to want to work together - if everything is going along all right, nobody is going to turn up to a meeting to discuss a plan for the future of the community. But if there is some sort of outside threat, or something urgent that brings the community together, then people are ready to sit down and talk seriously about what they want for that town.
In Hay, obviously, the catalyst is the need for a new school, and what is the best way to bring that about?
Steve and Jeff, the guest speakers, talked about making a framework for the future, but remembering that some issues were urgent and had to be tackled as the plan went along. They stressed the need for good record taking, and for keeping everything as open and transparent as possible, all the way along the process. Eventually, the community plan would have to be presented to the County Council, or Welsh Assembly, or other outside bodies, and it has to be something that they can't pick holes in or ignore. As Localism Network Consultants, they can also provide technical help and support, as well as knowing of examples where an idea has been tried before, and either worked, or not. They said that community plans work best where the local Council is involved - but it mustn't just be the local Council; it has to be as many other local groups as possible. They said that one of the problems that communities face is the sense of powerlessness in the face of decisions made elsewhere that affects them directly, and this can often lead to NIMBYism, and a resistance to change. Working together on the problems, instead of dwelling on the negative aspects, can often be fruitful and good for the community in the long run.

The immediate issues for Hay were identified as 'Plan B' (which is short for all the controversy surrounding school/supermarket/etc), CRAP (the problems of traffic and parking), and the sports fields.
These come with added implications that link into other local concerns, and the idea of the community plan is to identify those links so that everything works together, rather than every little group going off in a different direction and trying to re-invent the wheel. There's more chance of something happening if everyone pulls together than if lots of little groups are trying to do their own thing.
To this end, the important word is COMMUNICATION!! Groups need to talk to each other, and know who each other are. In Hay, we are lucky to have WyeLocal, and the new Hay TV, and there was some talk of the Festival providing a space for community ideas this year.

At the moment, Community Support are trying to put together a complete Directory of every group in Hay. One single list of all the groups just doesn't exist - and they are trying to make one. So it's very important that anyone who belongs to a group, of whatever sort, in Hay, should GET IN TOUCH with Community Support and make themselves known. The office is by the Dentist's, and they are open Monday, Wednesday and Friday. When they have a list, they will make sure it's available (for instance in the Library).

It was generally agreed that the most important thing to focus on to start with is the school. Gareth said that he had got a promise, in full Council, that Hay would have a new school by 2015 - but the Cabinet had said nothing about how it would be funded, or where it would be built. That's where it comes down to the people who have already been working hard on the problem with Plan B, and anyone else with an interest in the future of the school - and that includes people from the surrounding villages where their schools are going to be closed by the County Council.

So that the people of Hay don't waste any time going round in circles, not knowing what the next step for the town should be, the guest speakers suggested that they should give a Workshop, which would provide a space for everyone to work out how best to proceed. It would take half a day - and would cost £2000.
However, as one of the Plan B people said, better to spend £2000 now than £40,000 further down the line on consultants or whatever other advice was needed because the basic ground work hadn't been done. Looking round the room, various people suggested that, with so many groups already represented in the room, each one wouldn't have to stump up very much money to make it to £2000 - and it would show how determined the people of Hay are to get something done. PAVO, and the Chamber of Commerce and the Town Council - and even the Welsh Assembly, can also offer grants for work like this, so it was seen as something quite achievable.

One other matter which adds urgency to the whole project, of course, is the up-coming local elections, and Plan B have just organised a meeting of all the candidates for the election at the Parish Hall on April 25th. It's not just a Plan B meeting - it's for everybody to come along and ask the candidates whatever they want to ask.

The meeting ended with five or six people volunteering to form a small committee just for the purpose of making the Workshop happen. When that is done, they will disband, and be replaced by whatever comes out of the Workshop. This group will be led by Gareth Ratcliffe, with the chap from the cricket club, and Mary Fellowes, and a couple of others involved. The first step will be getting a letter together by Monday to present to the next meeting of the Town Council, to ask for some money from the Recycling Fund.

So that's where it stands at the moment. Could this be the dawning of a new era for Hay?