Devon County Council initiated the Young People's Planning Day as part of the process of developing the Sherford New Community in a manner which challenges the conventional approach to development, and ensures it becomes an exemplar sustainable community.

As part of the engaging all sectors of the community in the planning of Sherford, the Planning Day enabled local young people to have their voices heard about aspects of the town relevant to them.

The aim of the Young People's Planning Day was to engage a diverse range of young people from the local communities around the Sherford Valley in the designs for the New Community, and in particular those spaces which they have the greatest interest.

The day was used by the developer to gain young people's ideas on:

The Planning Day was organised by the Devon Youth Service and involved short presentations by the design team and organisers to provide background to the project.

This was followed by a short visit to the development site to give the group a better understanding of the scheme. Workshops allowed groups to generate ideas on how to design the spaces and what to incorporate into them.

Over 20 young people attended the event from a variety of areas, including Plymouth, Ivybridge and the South Hams. The Sherford Young People's Planning Day showed the critical importance of engaging young people at an early stage in planning for major strategic developments, to ensure they feel 'ownership' to the outcomes.

Young people wanted to be involved not only in the design but also in the governance and management of Sherford. The ideas produced will require a series of jointly agreed actions to be implemented to ensure children and young people are central partners in the future development of Sherford.

Young People and Children

Devon County Council
Gareth Bradford (Strategic Implementation Officer), tel. +44 01392 382104

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Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Citizens' participation