Romsey‌ Citizens’‌ ‌Assembly‌

The Democratic Society

- Introduction

- Who was involved?

- Acknowledgements

- Executive summary

- 1. How the Citizens' Assembly was created

- 1.1 The demographic profile of the Citizens' Assembly

- 1.2 The role of the Citizens' Assembly Advisory Group

- 1.3 How other residents contributed

- 1.4 Sharing evidence

- 1.5 Sharing process; observers

- 2. How the citizens' assembly worked

- The work of the Citizens' Assembly

- 2.1 Day 1: A Romsey that works for Business and Planet

- 2.2 Day 2: A Romsey that works for People and Communities

- 2.3 Day 3: Creating Proposals for the Council

- 2.4 Day 4: Final proposals for the Council

- 3. The results and recommendations

- 3.1 Developing and refining

- 3.2 Final ballot vote

- 3.3 Recommendations

- 4. What did the assembly members think?

- Annexes

- Annex 1: discussion maps from resident workshops and bus user survey

- Annex 2: ‘why' the 7 priority outcome proposals are important: messages to test valley borough council

- Annex 3: the 5 priority success proposals that did not get presented to the council

- Annex 4: Innovation in Democracy Programme Support & Funding

- Building Capacity, Skills and Learning

- Funding

- Notes

Introduction

The Romsey Citizens' Assembly was formed to discuss the future of Romsey Town Centre.
Forty-two[1] residents broadly reflecting the population of Romsey and the surrounding Parishes met over two weekends in November to discuss the issues and question experts before coming up with detailed recommendations to present to councillors. They were:

Participants

Participants

Participants

Trevor, Romsey

Luke, Romsey

Linda, Romsey

Sharon, Romsey Extra

Lily, Romsey

Jim, Romsey

Stuart, Romsey

Viveca, Romsey Extra

Aleksandra, Romsey

Karena, Romsey Extra

Lara, Romsey

Julie, Romsey

Kathryn, Ampfield

Rory, Romsey

Chris, Romsey Extra

Rob, Romsey

Jean, Wellow

Cristeena, Romsey Extra

Susan, Romsey

Sarah, Romsey

Rhiannon, Romsey Extra

Rosie, Romsey

Chris, Romsey Extra

David, Romsey Extra

Sally, Romsey

Gemma, Romsey

Steve, Romsey Extra

Susan, Romsey

Catherine, Romsey

Nick, Romsey

George, Romsey Extra

Douglas, Romsey Extra

Doreen, Romsey

Kimberley, Romsey

Paul, Nursling Rownhams

Sarah, Romsey

Tim, Romsey

Andrew, Romsey

Melissa Jane, Romsey

Samantha, Romsey Extra

Michael, Romsey

Colin, Romsey

Kirstie, Romsey

This report sets out what the Citizens' Assembly did and what proposals they put to the council. We have sought to represent what people said and concluded as faithfully as possible without adding our own analysis or interpretation.

Who was involved?

Test Valley Borough Council

Test Valley Borough Council[2] commissioned the Citizens' Assembly for Romsey having been selected to participate in the Innovation in Democracy Programme. The Council has worked over a number of years to embed a culture of, and commitment to, place-based working that is at the heart of making well-informed decisions which reflect the needs of all communities in order to ensure not just those who shout the loudest are heard. This work forms one of the council's key strategic priorities and has led to the emergence of new partnerships forming at a community-based level such as Romsey Future. The council's most senior politicians and officers have supported the development of the citizens assembly and as a result, has invested significant resource from across the organisation to work with the Democratic Society and partners in co-designing the assembly.

Romsey Future

Romsey Future[3] sets out a long-term vision for Romsey. It is an active partnership of many groups and organisations working together to build consensus and deliver on shared ambitions. Through Romsey Future, partners are able to deliver projects, to attract funding, and to guide future policies and strategies. The strategic ambitions for the south of town centre in Romsey were first identified through Romsey Future resulting from consultation and engagement with thousands of residents.

The Democratic Society

The Democratic Society[4] (Demsoc) works for more and better democracy, where people and institutions have the desire, opportunity and confidence to participate together. They work to create opportunities for people to become involved in the decisions that affect their lives and for them to have the skills to do this effectively. Supporting governments, parliaments and any organisation that wants to involve citizens in decision making to be transparent, open and welcoming of participation. The Democratic Society ran the Citizens' Assembly - facilitating and designing the process by which the assembly members learned, considered and came to recommendations for the area around the Crosfield Hall and the Bus Station which delivers maximum benefit to Romsey. They also wrote this report.

Sortition Foundation

The Sortition Foundation[5] promotes the use of sortition (random selection) in decision-making. They were responsible for recruiting people to take part in the Citizens' Assembly and introducing them to the process making sure they were comfortable to participate ahead of the first weekend. Their aim was to ensure the citizens' assembly was broadly representative of the local population.

The Innovation Democracy Programme Support Contractors

The Romsey Citizens' Assembly was supported by a range of organisations as part of the Innovation in Democracy Programme[6] (see below). This included Close-Up Research & Film[7], Involve[8], mySociety[9], The RSA[10] and Renaisi[11]. Close-Up Research & Film have documented the process of the Romsey Citizens' Assembly through image and film, with a film about the programme being released shortly. Involve provided design and facilitation support and guidance throughout the process. mySociety have worked behind the scenes supporting the work of the panel using digital tools, as well as digitising this report in various formats. The RSA have supported the communications about the Romsey Citizens' Assembly and hosted peer learning events for the full cohort of programme councils. Finally, Renaisi have worked with the UK Government to evaluate the programme and its effectiveness in innovating local democracy.

The Innovation in Democracy Programme

Test Valley Borough Council was awarded funding and support from the UK Government's Innovation in Democracy Programme to hold this citizens' assembly. The Innovation in Democracy Programme (IiDP) is trialling innovative models of deliberative democracy to involve residents in local government decision-making. It is supporting three local authorities to open up a key policy decision to citizen deliberation, complemented by online engagement. IiDP is jointly delivered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government. For more information on the support provided, please see Annex 1.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who was involved in making the Romsey Citizens' Assembly on the future of Romsey Town Centre happen, including assembly members, expert leads and contributors, facilitators, the support team, funders, advisory group members and contributors to evidence gathered ahead of the panel convening. Thank you also to the staff at the Royal British Legion, Romsey, for the warm smiles and great food.

Executive summary

The Romsey Citizens' Assembly brought together 40 randomly selected residents from Romsey and the surrounding Parishes during November to develop a set of recommendations for developing the area around the Crosfield Hall and the Bus Station in the South of the Town Centre to deliver maximum benefit to Romsey.

The work of the Citizens' Assembly, and the recommendations within this report, will be presented informally to Test Valley Borough Council's Cabinet and the Romsey Future Partnership in January 2020 followed by a formal report to Cabinet in Spring 2020. Councillors will then use these recommendations to help them decide what to do in the short, medium and long-term to improve the south of the Town Centre area based on what the Citizens' Assembly has recommended.

The Romsey Citizens' Assembly was asked to address a key question:

How do we improve the area around Crosfield Hall and the Bus Station to deliver the maximum benefit to Romsey?

In addressing the question, the Citizens' Assembly may also wish to consider the impact on:

- Accessibility to the town centre

- The appearance of the town centre

- How the area is used as a place to live, work and enjoy.

Meeting over two weekends, the Citizens' Assembly heard evidence, deliberated and made a set of proposals and recommendations to the council for achieving their vision for the South of the Town Centre.

Assembly members voted on their key priority statements (proposals), using a ballot process. The ballot paper question was, ‘To what extent do you support or oppose the following proposals for improving the area around Crosfield Hall and the Bus Station to deliver the maximum benefit to Romsey?'.

The results showed that all 12 proposals were well supported by Citizens' Assembly members, with 7 out of the 12 proposals receiving over 50% ‘strongly support' votes. Some proposals received opposition with ‘Green Town status by 2025' and ‘reduce the number of vehicles by half by 2025' receiving the most opposition altogether.

12 priority statement proposals ranked in order of total support (support and strongly support votes combined). Those highlighted received over 50% ‘strongly support' and were further developed into recommendations for presentation to the council:

- Make Romsey an attractive, vibrant town, a centre of excellence, including green spaces and wildlife corridors

- In Romsey there will be more green spaces in the town area that will enhance, protect and increase our natural environment, which includes the wild animals and plants

- Well-planned, connected accessible infrastructure (including travel, access, public spaces, education, tech and business) with good flow for transport and pedestrians to encourage business and tourists

- Make healthier living easier - design in more opportunities for healthy activities

- Improved transport infrastructure to encourage a sense of community - with viable options for moving around

- Community hub and green spaces that bring people together (across generations)

- Design the transport and parking with an integrated plan that includes walking, cycling, public transport and cards and think about all the different kinds of people coming into the town (parking, accessible, but still encourage bus use, especially by younger people)

- Attractive and diverse businesses and shops in flexible units with space for start-ups and local businesses to bring greater variety and more jobs

- Lots of things to attract people into the town centre that affordable and accessible for all which everyone living in Romsey knows about and can take part in

- Make Romsey the first truly green historic market town

- In Romsey we will reduce the number of vehicles in the town centre by half by 2025

- In Romsey we achieve ‘Green Town' status by 2025.

Chart 1: Results of Day 4 ballot vote, shown in percentage %

On-going engagement

Members of the Romsey Citizens' Assembly have been invited to stay engaged with the council to support the implementation of their proposals going forwards. The council offered to convene assembly members before Christmas for a celebration event to discuss the next steps. The council have already invited assembly members to present their report to Councillors in January 2020 at a meeting with Cabinet members. Formal consideration of the recommendations will be considered in Spring 2020 alongside the proposed masterplan for the South of the Town Centre.

Members of the Citizens' Assembly will also be invited and encouraged to stay involved and play an active role in the wider Romsey Future network.

1. How the Citizens' Assembly was created

In September, letters were sent to 10,000 randomly selected households, inviting people aged 16 and over, to register their interest in becoming a Citizens' Assembly member.

The members of the Citizens' Assembly were recruited by The Sortition Foundation on behalf of The Democratic Society through a civic lottery sent to 10,000 postal points in Romsey and the surrounding Parishes. Households which received the invitation were able to register their interest in participating. The Sortition Foundation then randomly selected 50 individuals from the pool of responses who broadly represented a cross-section of Romsey's demographic profile in terms of age, gender, geography, occupation, travel frequency and ethnicity.

Figure 1: Invite package sent to 10,000 households

A final total of 42 assembly members completed the two weekends.

Assembly members were given £150 at the end of each weekend (£300 in total), to incentivise, retain and recognise their commitment and thank them for their involvement. We also covered the cost of childcare, care for those who had caregiving needs and all travel expenses.

A full on-boarding and induction process was carried out by The Sortition Foundation on behalf of The Democratic Society to ensure that assembly members experienced a safe, supportive and caring environment. The Democratic Society takes safeguarding, support and care responsibilities seriously and provided extra support to young people under the age of 18 and vulnerable adults to make sure individuals could participate equitably.

Most communication was carried out with assembly members by email and phone. However, for those without email, contact was made via post.

Test Valley Borough Council worked with officers from The Sortition Foundation and The Democratic Society to create and issue every panel member with an information handbook - which gave full information about the process including frequently asked questions.

1.1 The demographic profile of the Citizens' Assembly

The Citizens' Assembly was recruited to form a ‘mini-public' version of the demographics of Romsey and the surrounding Parishes. The assembly members were selected against 7 categories; gender, age, geography, occupation, travel frequency and ethnicity.

The pie charts below display the demographic profiles of the people Test Valley Borough Council serves using the latest available Census data. The Sortition Foundation were able to recruit assembly members to be broadly representative of the community by matching them to the demographics of the area.

Chart 2: Comparison of the demographic profile of the Citizens' Assembly and Romsey

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1.2 The role of the Citizens' Assembly Advisory Group

An independent advisory group was formed to work with Test Valley Borough Council and The Democratic Society in agreeing the overall shape of the evidence and appropriate content. Their specific tasks were:

- Advising on evidence for Romsey's Citizens' Assembly – speakers and where necessary materials – in terms of suggested contacts but also ensuring the evidence is fair and balanced.

- Acting as a sounding board for potential activities or decisions about the process or content.

- An informal ambassador and promotional role for the Citizens' Assembly both within and outside the borough of Test Valley.

The members of the Advisory Group were:

- Simon Eden - Southern Policy Centre

- Jacqui Evans - Head of Community Development, East Hants District Council

- Inge Aben - University of Winchester

- Marcin Gerwin - International expert in deliberative democracy

- Rachel Barker - EM3 Local Enterprise Partnership

1.3 How other residents contributed

Prior to the Citizens' Assembly, residents were invited to share their views about what they like and what they think could be improved in Romsey by completing an online survey or attending one of the lived experience workshops. The purpose of which was to enable the assembly to hear a range of views from across the town.

Four lived experience workshops were held with; young people, older people, disabled people and low-income groups. mySociety attended these workshops and collated the resident's comments to create discussion maps using a mind map software called Coggle[12].

Representatives from the workshops also had the opportunity to present their views to the assembly members on day one. In addition, a survey was completed with 19 Bus Station users and the themes of their responses can be found in the discussion map in Annex 1.

Figure 1: Discussion map of Crossfield Hall users

The discussion maps from all the workshops and bus the survey can be found in Annex 1.

1.4 Sharing evidence

Evidence was presented by a range of experts during each of the four days, alongside conversations with a number of local representatives from community groups, service providers and organisations sharing their experiences.

Evidence from expert presenters was recorded by Test Valley Borough Council's communications team and will be available online for viewing on the Romsey Future website: https://www.romseyfuture.org.uk/citizens-assembly

1.5 Sharing process; observers

Observers were present throughout both weekends and were able to hear the evidence giving and observe the process in action. They were not allowed to listen in to table discussions or approach members of the Citizens' Assembly in order to prevent interruption or undue influence. Observers were both individuals and organisations with an interest in the assembly question and/or process of running a citizens' assembly. There was a range of observers, who came from the local area and from national organisations.

2. How the citizens' assembly worked

The Romsey Citizens' Assembly met over two weekends (9th & 10th and 23 & 24th November 2019) enabling assembly members to take part in over 24 hours of learning, deliberation and decision-making. The process was designed by The Democratic Society, with the support and input from Test Valley Borough Council officers, the advisory group and Involve.

The work of the Citizens' Assembly

The Romsey Citizens' Assembly was made up of 50 residents, who together represented a typical profile of residents from the area, over 16 years old. They were recruited as a result of a civic lottery in which 10,000 invitations were sent out to households across the area.

They met together for four whole days, over two weekends in November 2019, at the Royal British Legion Club in Romsey town centre.

The process was designed by The Democratic Society and Involve, with input from an advisory group and Council officers. Each session was led by two experienced lead facilitators who managed the overall event: Mel Stevens (Democratic Society) and Chris Tuke (Democratic Society Associate).

Six tables had independent facilitators, with the addition of some council staff, who had been trained in facilitation techniques by Involve ahead of the first Citizens' Assembly weekend. The table facilitator's role was to stimulate thinking and dialogue and help record what was being discussed. They would then support the group to work up ideas into recommendations.

Assembly members sat according to a seating plan that was changed on each of the four days. This was to ensure they heard and engaged with a variety of views and perspectives from other Assembly members and to ensure a mix of demographics at the tables.

A range of expert witnesses were engaged and briefed on the methods and purpose of the assembly and spoke as expert witnesses. They presented relevant information and background to the assembly over the course of the two weekends, to help groups with their deliberations. Experts were also available to answer questions during group discussions.

In addition to the expert evidence, the Citizens' Assembly was informed about pre-event engagement with the wider community, notably views of children and young people, and residents' views on parts of the town. Data and feedback were displayed on the walls of the venue, for assembly members to look at during breaks.

A Romsey that works: in the themes of People, Planet, Businesses and Communities

The themes of people, planet, business and community were used as a framework for the assembly to enable them to explore the question from multiple perspectives. Both weekends were designed so that a range of outputs resulting from each stage of deliberation could feed into the work of the Citizens' Assembly in reaching a set of recommendations for the council.

Weekend one - Saturday 9th and 10th November - Day 1 & 2

The first weekend focused on the bigger question of how to improve a place and what does maximum benefit mean? The aim was to hear from a range of experts across a range of topics. This was to help explore the issues as Assembly members and provide the space to talk about what is most important when seeking to improve a place. This identified the top line principles and priorities that were developed the following weekend.

Table 1: Weekend one inputs and outputs

The inputs

The outputs

- Key themes highlighted

- Key principles explored

- Panel speakers

- Lived experience speakers

- Conversation guidelines

- Unanswered questions for all speakers

- Assembly description of what Romsey is currently like

- 12 key outcomes for Business

- 12 key outcomes for Planet

- 12 key outcomes for People

- 12 key outcomes for Community

- 12 priority statements (3 per theme)

- ‘Park’ post-its

Weekend two - Saturday 23rd and 24th November - Day 3 & 4 overview

The aim was to develop the ideas and ambitions agreed the previous weekend and apply to Romsey more specifically, in order to address the stated challenge of the Citizens' Assembly. This was a collaborative process with an added focus to deliver the maximum benefit for Romsey residents.

The expert witnesses presented information about opportunities in Romsey and explored what has been in development through the master planning process so far. By the end of the weekend the assembly produced recommendations for improving the area around the Crosfield Hall and Bus Station and to deliver the maximum benefits.

Table 2: Weekend two inputs and outputs

The inputs

The outputs

- Conversation guidelines

- 12 key outcomes for Business

- 12 key outcomes for Planet

- 12 key outcomes for People

- 12 key outcomes for Community

- 12 priority statements (3 per theme)

- Walk and talk evidence sessions

- Expertise from Nexus and Test Valley Borough Council

- 12 priority statement proposal posters

- Voting results showing levels of support

- support priority statement proposals

- Recommendations presented to the council

2.1 Day 1: A Romsey that works for Business and Planet

The morning involved an introduction to the Citizens' Assembly of Conversation Guidelines, with any additions, followed by agreement from attendees. There was a focus on what has been developed already at the Council and how the Assembly connects to it, e.g. Romsey Future Partnership. Cllr. Adams-King was delighted to open the Citizens' Assembly on behalf of the council.

Welcome to the Citizens' Assembly

- Councillor Nick Adams-King - Deputy Leader and Chair of Romsey Future

Councillor Adams-King welcomed Assembly Members to the Citizens' Assembly and thanked them for taking the time out of their lives to take part. He shared aspirations that the council and Romsey Future have to involve communities.

Hearing from lived experience experts

There was a table exercise to explore what Romsey area is like. Three things that are good and three things that are not so good were fed back to the Assembly from each table. The table groups then rotated around ‘zones' hearing from ‘lived experience' presenters

- Including everyone - Jo Topley (Romsey Food Bank Manager)

- Disability Forum - Sally and Ian Whatmore

- Older people's partnership - Barry Prosser, Lilian Brimlow and Crosfield Hall user - Judith Houghton

After lunch, the first panel presented as expert witnesses:

BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE & TECHNOLOGY PANEL

- Adam Clemett – Chamber of Commerce & Local Business owner

- Mark Edgerly – Romsey Town Centre Manager

- Max Wide – Connected Catapult

The second panel presented as expert witnesses:

PLANET PANEL (environment, habitat, heritage)

- Chris Esplin Jones – Romsey & District Society

- Graham Smith – TVBC Planning Policy

- Peter Baird – Perkins & Wills Urban Design

- Alison Barnes – CEX of New Forest National Park

Following each presentation, participants were asked to share key points and questions, prioritising one question to ask speakers during the Q and A.

Panel speakers Carousel - Each speaker then had about 5 mins at a table, answering questions, exploring in more detail things the table wanted to know.

Success for Romsey in Business and Planet (table exercise)

The assembly then worked on their table exercise, to build a vision for the future of Romsey regarding Business and Planet. The aim was for tables to arrive at two lists of outcomes they would like to achieve (one list per theme), and then agreed 2 key outcomes they would prioritise for each list created. Tables then fed back briefly to the group.

2.2 Day 2: A Romsey that works for People and Communities

The first panel presented as expert witnesses:

PEOPLE PANEL (wellbeing and health)

- Abbie Twaits – Public Health Hampshire

- Tracy Daszkiewicz – Lecturer in public health & Director of Public Health (Wiltshire)

- Rachel King - Director & Dr Stuart Ward - Clinical Director for Eastleigh North and Test Valley South CCG

There was a break and reflection for Remembrance Day.

The second panel presented as expert witnesses:

COMMUNITY PANEL (civic Society and volunteering)

- Hollie French – Test Valley Borough Council

- Jane Dodson – Locality

- Sam Paulton - Romsey Community School

Panel speakers Carousel - Each speaker then had about 5 mins at a table, answering questions, exploring in more detail things the table wanted to know. Then it was lunch.

Success for Romsey in People and Community (table exercise)

The Assembly then worked on their table exercise, to build a vision for the future of Romsey regarding People and Community. The aim was for tables to arrive at two lists of outcomes they would like to achieve (one list per theme), and then agreed 2 key outcomes they would prioritise for each list created. Tables then fed back briefly to the group.

The next session was called ‘Free Roaming Graffiti Artists' - working on the total 48 priorities from the assembly process so far. The 12 priorities for each theme of People, Planet, Businesses and Communities were displayed on four tables. Assembly members had time to ‘roam' around and add any thoughts by writing on the sheets of paper - this ensured that participants could comment on any of the key priorities that were being developed.

The final session was then working in four groups, to sort through the additional comments, and to refine the 12 priorities per theme, into 3 priorities per theme.

These 3 newly refined priority outcomes per theme were then presented back to the room by tables, with some of their reasoning behind it.

Finally, assembly members were encouraged to write themselves a postcard reminder to help them remember what they thought was important from sessions 1 and 2 for reviewing at the second weekend.

Any people, or topics, which members thought were missing could be raised by members with their table facilitators, to help address gaps for days 3 and 4.

2.3 Day 3: Creating Proposals for the Council

After a recap of the previous weekend from the lead facilitators, Romsey Citizens' Assembly were reminded of the aims and the timeline of how their recommendations would be shared with the Council. Assembly members were encouraged to play an active role in presenting their work as part of this process and were reminded about what had been agreed the previous weekend - the key outcomes and 12 priority statements.

This weekend was aimed more directly at the assembly question and to further develop the 12 priority statements from weekend one.

Focusing on the South of the Town Centre

The first panel presented as expert witnesses:

- Graham Smith – TVBC Planning Policy - Where and why?

- Zena Foale Banks - Nexus - What people have said about this area to date?

The Walk and Talk

The assembly spent some time on location, looking at the key locations that have been discussed. There were four different locations with some of the experts there, to share their thoughts and insights. [10 mins chat at each location].

Members had the 48 key successes to take on the tour if they wanted. Locations were:

1. The Hundred (High Street)

2. Crosfield Hall

3. Bus Station and Fish Lake Stream

4. The Marketplace.

After lunch, the Assembly then focused on the final 12 priority outcome statements that were agreed at the first weekend. Zena Foale Banks - Nexus, presented how, as master planners, they review and test ideas in order to help the assembly think through a range of considerations for their top 12 priorities.

- Guidance on how we get/refine the shopping list

- The balance/choices planners have to make

- Making it work- delivery / does the proposal stack up

Zena and Graham were then available for the rest of the afternoon, as the assembly explored how to determine what is needed to bring maximum value to a place, what is needed to make it a reality, or if it is a feasible option.

The assembly began working on the first 6 of the 12 priority statements. This was done using a planning template, to draw everything together to make specific proposals, which would achieve the agreed priority outcome. There was one randomly allocated priority per table.

After some time the table groups moved around the room, in order to have a short time to comment on the developed proposal for each of the other priority statements in progress.

Each table then fed back to the wider group on the priority they had worked on, covering the first 6 proposals.

2.4 Day 4: Final proposals for the Council

The first main session of the day was for the Assembly work on the second 6 of the overall 12 priority statements. This was done using a planning template, to draw everything together to make specific proposals, which would achieve the agreed priority. There was one randomly allocated priority per table.

After some time, the table groups moved around the room, in order to have a short time to comment on the developed proposal for each of the other priority statements in progress.

Each table then fed back to the group on the final 6 proposals. This completed the Assembly's work on the 12 priority proposals.

Voting on the 12 priority proposals

The assembly members were given a brief time to remind themselves about the proposals, having contributed to all of them at some point, and then issued with ballot papers to vote on the following:

‘To what extent do you support or oppose the following proposals for improving the area around Crosfield Hall and the Bus Station to deliver the maximum benefit to Romsey?'

Over lunch, Ballots were collected, and the results counted and then presented to the panel at the beginning of the afternoon. This enabled participants to see the strength of support against each of the proposal and also to see that there were some different opinions.

Figure 2: Planning template

The proposals that received the strongest levels of support (over 50% ‘strongly support' vote) were focused on for the next exercise, where the assembly was then invited to roam around the tables to add their views on why they thought these were important and what impact they would make.

The table activity was then to work up a final presentation to the council representatives of the shortlisted proposals. A panel of officers from the council listened and responded to what they had heard and had an opportunity to ask a question. This panel comprised of:

- Roger Tetstall- Chief Executive

- Andy Ferrier – Corporate Director

- Graham Smith – Head of Planning Policy and Economic Development

Due to the restrictions of Purdah, elected Councillors were unable to take part in this session.

Roger Tetstall - CEX - final reflections

The day ended with final reflections from Roger Tetstall, CEX Test Valley Borough Council. Council officers then inviting assembly members to a celebration event in December to talk more about their recommendations and to agree the next steps in how the council and its partners will review and implement the recommendations. This was well-received by assembly members.

The lead facilitators thanked the group, there were final evaluations to complete and a group photo.

3. The results and recommendations

A variety of outputs and results were created over the duration of the 4 days, each informing the next discussion and activity ending in the final recommendations to the council.

3.1 Developing and refining

The results are shown here, in the order that the Citizens' Assembly undertook the discussions and activities.

On Day 1, assembly worked on their tables to talk about the current situation in Romsey Town Centre. This resulted in two lists of ‘great' and ‘not so great' for the Town Centre.

Each of the 6 tables worked to identify the top 3 from each list - those bolded below.

Table 3: Romsey Town Centre great and not so great list (top 3 from each table in bold)

Great

Not so great

- Crosfield Hall

- Recycling

- That there is some parking

- The Petshop :)

- Recycling facilities are useful but its position isn’t very helpful

- The stream has potential to be an asset

- Aldi

- Recycling point next to Aldi

- Crosfield Hall - great space to hire/for community events + provides town centre car parks - community asset central bus station/transport hub

- The way out {of Romsey}

- Food Festival

- Beggars Fair

- Lantern Parade

- Well lit at night (I run at 5am!)

- Pubs allow dogs

- Facilities

- Community involvement

- Welcoming atmosphere in the centre

- Good community feeling

- History

- Town has a defined centre/meeting space

- Interesting historic town

- A sense of history through the ages

- Look of the town

- Size of Romsey

- How each space links together

- Keep Crosfield Hall! (good facility)

- Wide variety of shopping opportunities

- Parks

- Butcher! Baker! Hardware Shop! A lot of local independents

- Market

- Easy to get into nature

- Parks and open spaces

- Walking routes to villages + riverside + parks

- Crosfield Hall location is good for access + proximity to centre

- Great public transport links to nearby towns/cities

- Bus station location good access to town

- Need bus stops somewhere central not necessarily by stream

- Bus routes to surrounding towns + cities

- Walks

- Walking

- Being able to walk everywhere

- ‘Real’ centre: defined centre, good facilities, friendly community feeling

- Parks + walking

- Transport links

- Wisdom House/Labyrinth

- King John’s Garden

- Safe environment for families

- Deli cafes

- Food/pubs

- Centre of town easily walkable/flat

- New area in centre (used to be roundabout)

- Mill stream and Memorial Park

- Parks

- Park and access to river Test

- Waterways

- Flowers

- People

- Waitrose

- Shops

- Independent shops

- Good variety of shops

- Compact - easy to get around__

- Scale

- Street events; Beggars Fair, Food Festival

- Abbey

- Old

- Market town

- Free parking after 6pm

- Romsey Show

- Romsey Rapids

- Safe and family-friendly

- Different areas to walk along river/canal

- Lovely community feeling

- Public transport

- Good transport links

- Schools easily accessible

- Generally quiet, peaceful

- Bradbeers and variety of shops

- Pubs

- Shopping area

- Good range of local shops

- Love being able to walk to all the local shops

- Quaint streets and buildings

- Romsey Abbey

- Historic character

- River Test

- Merer Way Fields

- Memorial Park

- Lovely Abbey and parks

- Easy access to the countryside on foot or by bike

- An excellent leisure centre, bus station and youth centre

- Activities good - town hall

- Lots to do for all ages

- The market

- A good range of pubs and coffee shops

- Lots of individual shops of different types

- Train station with regular trains to nearby towns

- Romsey Old Cadets

- Good sport facilities

- Great amenities - plaza, hilliers

- Community spirit - family friendly

- Romsey Abbey

- Schools fantastic - give children lots of opportunities

- Open spaces - lots of great conservation areas

- Excellent range of activities for the retired

- Closeness to nature

- Good cycling routes

- The town centre

- Neighbours “taxi” service

- Great events - lantern parade, market, Mayor’s Picnic, murder mystery (Crosfield Hall)

- Carnival and Beggars Fair

- Sense of community

- Green spaces

- Countryside

- Memorial Park

- Diverse mix of green spaces and high street

- Free parking after 4pm and weekends

- Main high street is good

- Safe

- Not enough parking

- Overall appearance

- Traffic congestion

- Tiny/difficult parking

- Location of toilets

- Poor signage for parking (smaller car park)

- Dominated by flats, recycling bins, antisocial activities, rubbish in stream

- Back of shops don’t look presentable

- Amount of green spaces

- Back of manned police station

- Traffic (wider area)

- Bad brewery site (wider area)

- Can we consolidate the two smaller car parks?

- Key entry points to the north - under railway bridge

- Traffic flows around town centre

- Town approaches have traffic problems

- Bottle neck when m/way closed

- Tidy up the bypass vegetation

- Footpath along the bypass needs urgent repairs

- Crosfield

- Flats near Crosfield Hall - appearance

- Car parking can be difficult + likely to become worse with more development

- Pavements not improved - shared spaces!

- Expensive place to shop for clothes etc.

- Range of shops

- Too many charity shops

- Need for middle range shop - M S Food or Sainsbury’s Local?

- Sitting outside in centre - breathing exhaust fumes

- Traffic in Romsey centre

- Hard to cycle safely into town

- Needs cycle routes to Wellow etc

- Appearance/maintenance

- Traffic

- Expensive shopping/range of shops

- Public transport

- Strain on health services

- Not enough adult education stuff

- Too much traffic in town centre

- Lack of diversity

- Abbey not integrated into town

- Not enough electric car charging points

- Not enough facilities for the youth of Romsey

- Not enough arts, culture, + corresponding creative energy

- No changing spaces for disabled persons

- Can only pay by cash at car park meters

- Parking

- Not enough resident parking in Broadwater Estate (Banning Street)

- Parking for large cars

- Car park spaces are too small and awkward

- Vacant Brewery site since 1989

- Brewery site not developed

- Flats on Broadwater Rd

- Charity shops

- Too many charity shops

- Cafes

- Coffee shops - too many

- Lack of housing for single people

- Cycle access

- Walking + cycling infrastructure - not enough

- Hidden waterways

- Not enough access to stream

- Getting too big - too many houses being built__

- Overgrown cycle paths

- Not enough cycle routes

- No buses after 10.30 - no taxis

- The canal is a state - too overgrown

- Too many care homes

- No lighting along canal

- Broken paving stones

- Expensive to live in

- Too many estate agents and hairdressers

- Not enough variety of shops

- More variety of shops - places to eat

- Not enough disabled parking on market days

- Overstretched doctors

- Congestion into Waitrose car park

- Lorries unloading back of Boots - not great for disabled parking

- Low bridges causing traffic problems

- Traffic in The Hundred

- More help for deprived people in the town - e.g. struggling young families or the isolated elderly

- Lack of parking

- Empty shops

- Dangerous kerbs in shopping streets. Falls common due to changes in pavement level

- Roads and through traffic

- No taxi rank e.g. taxi service has to be pre-arranged, no emergency taxi available

- Over development around the Abbotswood area

- The development around Palmerston Statue

- Too many real estate agencies

- Excessive building

- More shops would be useful to fit age ranges

- More local employment would be good

- Canal path good but could now include central waters

- More job opportunities for all ages (16+)

- Poor transport infrastructure

- Traffic congestion__

- Too many car parks

- Too many traffic wardens

- Financial constraints - closure of so many small independent businesses

- Too many charity shops

- Poor connection between railway station, Plaza, Crosfield Hall etc to centre

- You never know where the 66 is gonna go

- No pavement in Newmarket Place

Assembly members created long lists at their tables of outcomes they would like to see under the themes of Planet, Business, Community and People. This work was informed by the presentations delivered by speakers over Days 1 and 2 of the Citizens' Assembly.

The final session on Day 2 involved assembly members roaming around the room and adding comments, thoughts and symbols to the 12 outcomes for each theme which were laid out on tables on large ‘graffiti walls'. The 4 graffiti walls were then given to 4 groups of assembly members to work on and refine the long lists of priorities into 3 priority outcomes per theme. This resulted in a combined set of 12 priority outcomes developed by assembly members. You can see the results of this work in the tables below.

Table 4: Outcome for Romsey Town Centre statements (3 priority outcomes in each list in bold)

PLANET

BUSINESS

- Roof gardens and beehives

- Improved designed waterways (redeveloped) as a tourist feature

- Urban greening - growing plants on buildings

- Green city - incorporating waterways and urban habitat such as pollinator plants

- Make feature of the Fishlake and Tadburn streams

- Disabled access - more accessible town for all people inc. those with low mobility

- Romsey has greener access in and out of the town

- Charge points for electric vehicles

- Reducing the need to drive into town from outskirts - cycle paths and accessible routes

- Selling produce from green space e.g. beehives selling honey

- Better connectivity

- Better flow of people

- More emphasis on pedestrians

- Pedestrianising the town centre will reduce pollution

- Need mem.park and green spaces in the town

- Waterway enhanced

- Encourage use of renewable energy make more sustainable

- Water turbines generating energy

- More wildlife in town

- Greener spaces to attract wildlife

- More trees and natural planting with consideration to wildlife

- Centralised delivery pods, i.e. central, Abbottswood, Fishlake, Industrial estate

- Improve access to waterways

- Possibility of pedestrianisation of The Hundred and Latimer Street

- Low carbon footprint (solar panels, efficient energy systems, less concrete)

- Green trails

- Sustainable resources

- Encourage biodiversity

- Access to nature

- Ease of movement including accessibility

- Green trails to encourage people to move around green spaces (similar to heritage trail)

- Greener spaces to attract more wildlife in town

- Leaving mature trees and adding special which benefit wildlife

- Coped with increase to population with careful planning with the wildlife team

- Being recognised for our efforts to protecting wildlife

- National Park status?

- 1st market town national park?

- Make more of nature we have the birds murmuring

- Greener spaces in town centre linked by wildlife corridors

- An obvious increase of species that previously were endangered

- Plant trees in all streets with planters full of plants for wildlife

- Clean up canal

- Buildings with roof gardens

- Bins can be decorated to bring attention to recycling

- Pedestrian only in the centre

- Small areas like the St John’s House Garden

- Make the canal more attractive to people and wildlife

- Cleaner water and air. Less traffic pollution

- Businesses like McDonald’s which cause litter take more responsibility to keep the town clean

- More on-street recycling bins and split recycling bins

- Slate of measures to increase and support wildlife including becoming first market town national park

- Promote sustainable energy throughout town e.g. with solar panels on every shop

- Help Crosfield Hall generate and store its own energy

- Green areas which engage young people - community gardens

- Planters, hanging baskets, green walls, sensory garden

- Incorporate green space

- Improve transport links - park and ride

- If we limit no. of car parks in town need to ensure we have increase in blue badge spaces in town

- Plants for pollinators - wildlife/habitats in town centre

- Fewer car journeys and better air quality

- Green corridors (and blue ones too!)

- The town is part of the landscape - nature, wildlife, history

- Understanding how waterways and footpaths connect

- Plants for pollinators everywhere

- Suitable habitats in centre without intrusion

- Wild areas to encourage pollinating insects

- Develop central stream as attractive area with wildlife

- Plant wild flowers etc on stream and roundabouts

- More trees around Romsey

- Requirement of solar panels or other sustainable energy

- Wildlife gardening

- Resilient to weather events (planning for)

- Fewer cars in centre/more reliance on public transport

- Reduced number of car journeys

- Sharing transport

- Environmental incentives for businesses/developments in Romsey?

- Carbon neutral development

- Cowheel scheme - less traffic in town

- Greener spaces - green walls, planters, plant trees to absorb trees

- More green spaces behind Duke’s Mill

- Community farming to produce Romsey fruit and veg distributed without lorries and provides healthy food

- Good community spaces - education and technology based

- Quality not quantity of choice of shops to keep character in Romsey

- Better shops in Dukes Mill

- Good community spaces - indoor and outdoor for all ages and interests

- Incorporating education/tourist info into town (of nature, of history)

- Important to retain the character to bring people into the town

- More independent shops for a personal feel

- Retain character and independent shops to bring people in

- Well planned, designed infrastructure to town

- More connected town centre - better flow and continuity

- Improve traffic flow around town to car parks

- Town centre shopping area inclusive and joined up

- Linear short stay and disabled parking close to town centre

- Designed town centre routes which reduce traffic/improve flow, improve accessibility, improved cycling and encourage electric vehicles

- Two tier parking on outskirts of town with good pedestrian/signed route

- 5G broadband

- Plaza De Romsey - European cafe style canopies/covered areas

- Attractive diverse shops/flexible units

- Trendy shops for the young

- Make more of hidden/existing assets

- Conflict technology/green space - and encouraging night time economy

- Diverse businesses

- Diverse retail offering

- Variety of different shops and services

- Start-up units under 500 m/sq

- Incubator space

- Business start-up pods under Test Valley

- Venue that attracts people to town in a wider time window (versatile space)

- Keep it local - Romsey £

- Greater choice of convenience shops needed

- A versatile venue that attracts people to town for a wider time window

- Start up spaces under 500 m/sq

- More small businesses

- More independent shops

- Something to happen in town between 1700 and 2200 - restaurant, other?

- Longer opening hours and more open Sundays to bring people in

- Proper restaurants providing food all day and evening

- More celebrations/street parties/festivals/parades

- Continental style shopping hours closed at lunch, later opening

- Huge canopy over Romsey so weather doesn’t affect activities shopping etc.

- Build an environmentally friendly shopping centre in Romsey

- Wider variety of businesses providing jobs and services

- Get more involved in community projects and activities

- Visit the town without frustration

- Being more eco-friendly

- Businesses which complement those on The Hundred/centre

- Businesses for all age ranges

- Retain historic architecture shop fronts and signage

- Busy high street, no vacant shops, high employment across age groups

- Thriving and diverse

- Connectivity and flow, walking, cars, pedestrians

- Growing our rep as a ‘destination’

- Possible provision of a business centre for out of office work

- Work centre

- Larger units for retail

- Sustainable solutions built in

- Provision of smaller units

- Evening economy

- Recreational businesses

- Increase arts - gallery, music

- People connections to make it all work!

- Cycle shop covering repairs and perhaps home visits - community service

- Better access for disabled

- Easy access to car parking

- Connected transport options

- A town that is connected to itself and neighbouring areas and nearby cities

- Full occupancy of business units (with waiting list!)

- Limit speed of traffic through town

- Smooth flows of movement - sharing road space well and knowing routes

- People circulate easily

- Indoor market - supports local producers/business in town and country

- Making Crosfield Hall a multi-functional space

- Crosfield Hall multipurpose facility - sports hall, performance space, meeting point

- Preserve, enhance and make lively the high street

- Stimulate a night time economy - restaurants, later shopping hours, events

- Signs telling you what car parks have spaces and how many

- Electric cars/buggies and plug in places (charging points)

- Carbon neutral development

- Good independent shops

- Sensible infrastructure

- Next Romsey development to show the way to rest of the country on high street shopping

- No/few vacant units

- Pedestrianise The Hundred to increase footfall in town centre

- To preserve a sustainable compact town centre

- Discovery centre winchester - multi-use public building with retractable seating

- Built in seating in Crosfield Hall

Table 5: Outcome for Romsey Town Centre statements (3 priority outcomes in each list in bold)

COMMUNITY

PEOPLE

- Social hub - Crosfield - can it be redesigned?

- New hall - include hub open all the time

- A ‘new’ Crosfield Hall that is larger with better facilities for multiple groups and events

- Modern town but keep the historical part as the main feature - make more of historical features

- A central information hub for everyone ‘physical and digital’?

- Need to address alternative transport links and modes in Romsey e.g. golf buggies

- Park and ride - mini-bus - disabled park space

- Making Crosfield Hall a communal space

- Community that cares and looks out for each other

- Toddler groups mixed in with older people

- Getting schools in the local area to get involved in community projects - having a communal garden

- Making a rentable sports facility is this an option for Crosfield Hall?

- Somewhere for people who work from home to connect

- Good community hub/space

- Community app for Romsey downloadable from car parks to allow visitors to explore

- Spaces for community groups

- Next door app

- Facebook page

- Planning for new residents to access town centre

- Building on what we’ve already got

- Check signage - does it help walkers get to town and explore?

- Eat out - Eat Well (affordable) programme

- Database to support community activity

- Develop community leadership strategy to bring forward and support new community initiatives

- Develop existing buildings or spaces e.g. save our spaces

- A community in which nobody feels excluded

- Successful intergenerational projects

- A successful night time economy allowing people to enjoy Romsey

- Safe social areas

- Clean environment

- Enough room for all community meetings

- Attracting tourism to the town

- Better cycle routes

- Central accessible community hall space with flexible interior space advertised outside for all ages

- Lots of things to attract people into the town centre that are affordable for all

- Green roof on Crosfield Hall

- A space on top on top of the new Hall - with plants (not too high, but a flat roof using the space for a roof garden)

- Change the size of the Hall for its use; adapt the room/hall size

- Crosfield Hall - make a more adaptable resource with the right capacity overall and each room

- Something to be proud of

- Chickens - good at giving people a purpose, comforting, a community chicken coop

- Animals - petting area

- Community orchard (a mini-orchard)

- Canopies - protect from rain/shade in summer - for outdoor areas

- Covered area with seating with shops and facilities around edges e.g. a meeting place

- Places for events e.g. the hall

- Green walls on the flats

- Flowers throughout the year - flowering; low maintenance, bee-friendly plants

- To get to the underlying issue - what are the reasons for deprivation/poverty. Success = more inclusive community

- Smart lighting

- Safe spaces

- Feel safe

- Volunteering

- Thriving and healthy community which transcends generations

- Involvement in community

- Community activities

- Provision for meetings, exercising

- ‘Proper’ community hub

- Community spaces for gathering

- Crosfield Hall developed

- Maintain and develop community spaces to foster greater sense of community

- People not being isolated

- More info on what’s available

- Can we have fairs to enable service users to talk to reps from services in Romsey

- Ensure that community and help groups are known about locally and are easy to access

- Clear, co-ordinated, community approaches

- Involve surrounding areas

- Young people and elderly people connected to exchange skills

- Everyone knows what’s going on in the community

- Community hub and green spaces that bring people together (across generations)

- Encourage community involvement

- Community cafe accessible to all allowing different community groups to mix

- Community outreach for the lonely

- Improved transport infrastructure to encourage community with viable options for moving around

- Intergenerational activities to encourage social stimulation

- Community/business - create spaces for shared use

- Centre of excellence - attractive and vibrant centre - make Romsey an inclusive town - and be known for it

- Better signposting /wayfinding for health activities walks/parks not signs but symbols

- More accessible to everyone to decrease loneliness

- Go to speak to someone about opportunities that they might be interested in

- Decrease ignorance over GP usage with social prescribing to decrease the strain on the NHS

- GPs to provide info on other options rather than just medication

- Accessible for all individuals - physical, financial, practical

- Easy and inviting places to walk to encourage wellbeing

- Better communication about what’s going on/services available

- Welcoming ‘happy to talk and share’ environment

- Welcoming town centre for locals and those outside the area

- Town centre made safer for our small children

- Community seating to encourage people to stay and socialise

- People can volunteer to gain recognised experience for future employment

- Wellbeing drop in centre and community hub linked to social prescribing

- Residents engaged with each other and proud of their community

- Support for young mums/especially first timers

- More support for different family types (e.g. same-sex, diverse, single etc.)

- More places for the youth to express themselves, engage in activities, gain experience, socialise and look for help

- Improved public transport - more evening buses, less traffic in town centre

- Improved transport infrastructure to encourage community and provide viable options for moving around

- Shared public spaces/natural green spaces

- Accessible green spaces in Romsey

- Develop cross educational

- Interactive social spaces for multiple users

- Romsey is a co-operative town people sign up as volunteers and get credit on council tax

- “Romsey Pound” - exchange and co-operation for services and activities

- Litter picking

- Formal acknowledgement of Romsey’s commitment and buy in to co-operation e.g. dementia friendly town, disability friendly

- Mental and physical health awareness for all ages at schools and work

- Loneliness in the elderly is not an issue in Romsey

- Develop capacity or new approaches in coping with increasing population

- Zero unemployment

- Consider access and facilities to promote walking and health

- No need for welfare and financial support in addition to benefits

- Healthy people

- Healthier citizens preventing disease by good diet and exercise

- No need for welfare and financial support in addition to benefits

- More green spaces for events

- A structure that is not only aesthetically pleasing but is challenging and stimulating something different a feature - use your brain/think about

- Things to link all the generations - so everyone can enjoy it together

- Landscaping and green gym

- Healthier people

- Pop-up units for shops

- Health service with multiple levels of access for all demographics that live in Romsey - Primary Care Network, Social Prescribing

- Essential needs met

- Easy, prompt access to shared medical services for all

- New developments bring more medical services (GPs)

- All demographics represented - young, middle aged, elderly, and all ends of income spectrum

- Green trail - promote environment, cycling, walking

- Learn from nature

- More emphasis on environment

- Health orientated shops and restaurants etc.

- Accessibility - accessible shops and businesses

- Incentives for businesses to be eco/healthy (low rent businesses, loyalty rewards)

- Park cycle

- Design in more opportunities for healthy activities

3.2 Final ballot vote

Panel members cast votes using their ballot papers on Day 4 of the People's Panel. This allowed them to vote as an individual as to how much they opposed or supported each proposal.

The question on the ballot papers asked assembly members:

"To what extent do you support or oppose the following proposals for improving the area around Crosfield Hall and the Bus Station to deliver the maximum benefit to Romsey?".

All of the priority outcome proposals received strong levels of support overall. 7 of the proposals received over 50% ‘strongly support' votes. The highest level of support was received for ‘attractive, vibrant town - centre of excellence' which received 100% support. 8 proposals received some levels of opposition with ‘reduce vehicles by half by 2025' and ‘Green Town status by 2025' receiving the most opposition.

Chart 3: Results of voting on the proposals for improving the area - 42 ballot papers were received and counted

3.3 Recommendations

This section shows the priority outcome proposals that received over 50% strongly support votes and the recommendations that the Citizens' Assembly presented to the council. Using the data from ‘why these are important to me' discussions, assembly members worked on tables to prepare their final recommendations in the form of a presentation to the council.

1. Make Romsey an attractive, vibrant town, a centre of excellence, including green spaces and wildlife corridors

Key messages presented to council:

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Improve road layout to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists - make it more attractive

2. Use current Crosfield site for parking and buses

3. Examine feasibility of moving Crosfield Hall to bus station site/other site

4. Enhance passageways

5. Improve signage and include historical information

6. Create more green spaces and access to waterways (e.g. Kings Cross)

Who needs to be involved?

What resources are needed?

- TVBC, local schools, colleges

- Local businesses/residents

- User groups

- Bus companies

- Environmental agencies

- Local press

- Local groups/communities

- Funding - grants

- Community involvement

- Planners, architects, developers

- Environmental advisers

- Champion of project

What impact will it have?

Positive

Negative

- Encourage visitors, wildlife and biodiversity

- Cleaner air

- Resilient ecosystems

- Raise profile of Romsey

- Encourage environmentally friendly businesses

- Less parking

- More people (+ -)

- Loss of Crosfield memories

What is success?

What might constrain it?

- Romsey is a pleasant environment for everybody

- Increased tourism

- Thriving local businesses

- More hedgehogs

- Lack of support

- Fear of change

- Lack of finance

Timeline - how long will it need?

Period

Actions

6 months

- Have a plan, comms strategy

- Traffic management scheme

- Planting improved

- Passageways improved

- Feasibility study planned

1-2 years

- Dukes Mill + square improved

- Stream access improved

- Work started

2-5 years

- New traffic scheme in place

- Changes to Crosfield/bus station (possible swap) is achieved

2. Improved transport infrastructure to encourage a sense of community - with viable options for moving around

Key messages presented to council:

Currently:

- Unattractive, especially since it's a historic market town

- Unsafe (feels dfue to traffic)

- Uninviting (just looks like a carpark)

- Disjointed from the town centre

Will most improve because:

- Visually more interesting

- Safer, nicer to cycle/walk to

- Transport will be more accessible to a wider variety of people

- Enable more social interactions including for public transport users

In 5 years' time:

- Enable access to green spaces and waterway

- A successful community hub

- Diverse range of people dwelling and enjoying green open space in the south of the town centre

More people will mean a wider range of business to thrive."

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Planning: feasibility study, demand study, full costing

2. Inclusive flexible transport options e.g. electric car club (+vans, buggie, bikes), community taxis, dial-a-ride, small, free shuttle buses

3. Designated cycleways and walkways with traffic separation - clearly signposted, connected, access to key destinations

4. Close The Hundred to traffic at certain times (trial period) and mitigate impact on surrounding areas

5. Create transport interchange (buses/taxis) linked to community hub

6. Shuttle buses linking key destinations incl. Railway station, The Rapids, town centre

Who needs to be involved?

What resources are needed?

- Residents and community groups

- Experts

- Transport providers

- Councils and government/local authorities

- Business

- Landowners

- Investors

- Funding

- Expert advice

- Public support

- Communications strategy

What impact will it have?

Positive

Negative

- Reduced congestion

- Improved air quality

- Health benefits

- Better access for all - inclusivity

- More visitors

- Nicer place to live, work and visit

- Reduced access for residents in town centre

- People might choose to go elsewhere

- Disruption of deliveries

What is success?

What might constrain it?

- [no comments]

- Lack of funding

- Existing road network

- Resistance to change

Timeline - how long will it need?

Period

Action

1 year

Study

3. Lots of things to attract people into the town centre that are affordable and accessible for all which everyone living in Romsey knows about and can take part in

Key messages presented to council:

"It will make people feel: included and involved, diverse and inclusive, connected, community feeling, responsible and proud of our town, supported by each other and for that to happen; activities need to be affordable and accessible.

This will improve Romsey because the more variety of people we can bring into the town, the more businesses and variety of businesses will thrive in the town. It is about people wanting to live here, to stay here; for leisure, shopping and as a happy, pleasant place to live. It is vital for employment and will improve people's health and wellbeing.

It will bring people of all ages together and people from all walks of life and promote understanding between different age groups (younger and older people). People will not be excluded because of affordability. It will give young people things to do and it will create opportunities for personal development and education. Activities and events that are affordable and accessible will bring people together - daytime and evening. It will promote an evening economy."

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Research needs

2. Central, accessible, flexible community hub for all ages and incomes

3. Multimedia communication platform

4. Improve night time economy

5. Improve and enhance existing waterways and footpaths/pavements/high traffic areas in and around the town

6. Employ a wide range of incentives to draw people into the town (Romsey Loyalty Card)

Who needs to be involved?

What resources are needed?

- Councils

- Residents/community groups

- Schools/colleges

- Transport organisations

- Romsey Future

- Businesses

- Outlying parish councils

- Urban planners

- Volunteers

- Funding

- Advertising

- Planning

- Volunteers

- Signposting

- Loyalty card adoption

What impact will it have?

Positive

Negative

- Romsey becomes a shining example for the nation

- A happier town

- Positive social networking

- Supports local economy

- Increased community collegency

- Congested and crowded

- Temporary disruptions

- Not enough parking

- Some businesses may benefit - others less so

What is success?

What might constrain it?

- More footfall

- More employment opportunities

- Local sense of pride in the town

- More community involvement

- Achieving the maintenance of Romsey’s historic character

- Public negativity

- Existing infrastructure

- Lack of funding and manpower

Timeline - how long will it need?

Action

Period

6 months

[no comments]

1-2 years

Design

4. In Romsey there will be more green spaces in the town area that will protect enhance and increase our natural environment, which includes the wild animals and plants

Key messages presented to council:

"We think that this proposal will improve wildlife conditions, health and wellbeing of citizens, help reduce the effects of climate change and focus on future generations. Many of you say that these things will improve your feelings about Romsey and your overall health.

The area will improve because the stuff we want to do is: survey what we have, to create a plan for the future, link wildlife corridors, make Fishlake Stream accessible, only use wildlife friendly planting and involve communities in our urban greening projects.

In 2024, living in Romsey will make us proud, we will be shopping local, we're going to be staying here, living with lots of plants and animals in our space. We're going to be better connected to our rural settings and our house will increase in value. We are the future! Thank you."

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Survey existing flora and fauna and create a policy for the future

2. Enhance and link existing corridors, for wildlife and people

3. Make Fishlake Stream accessible by opening up the bank

4. Use wildlife friendly planting

5. Involve community in creating and maintaining green spaces

6. Encourage and implement urban greening

Who needs to be involved?

What resources are needed?

- Local and national government

- Schools/young people

- Community

- Experts (conservation, environmental)

- Press and media

- Ambassador - Charlie Dimmock, Chris Pacham

- Money! E.g. grants

- Business sponsorship

- Knowledge experts

- Alternative energy

- Bags of happiness

- Rewards system for green activities

- Space/land

What impact will it have?

Positive

Negative

- Happiness

- Civic pride

- Increased wildlife

- Positive impact on planet

- Intergenerational

- Inclusive

- Disruption

- Lack of maintenance

- Ruining environment

What is success?

What might constrain it?

- Better health

- Spaces used and enjoyed

- Increased tourism

- Increased wildlife

- Poor planning

- Lack of commitment

- Cost of maintenance

- Public apathy

Timeline - how long will it need?

Period

Actions

6 months

- Survey existing spaces

- Identify new opps.

- Communicate

1-2 years

- Improve Fishlake Stream

- Improve passageways

- Create family events for greening

2-5 years

- Green walls and roofs on

- Maintain what we have

- Create educational programmes

5. Community hub and green spaces that bring people together (across generations)

Key messages presented to council:

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Decide on the purpose of the community hub: multifunctional, intergenerational activities, community and business

2. Decide on the location and design of community hub/business hub

3. Identify resources available/seek funding

4. Identify stakeholders/users/market for commercial users

5. Communication strategy and plan

6. Consider in line with other master planning initiatives

7. Understand existing and future uses of the hub

Who needs to be involved?

What resources are needed?

- Local authorities and regulatory

- Local community across the age groups - e.g. schools/elderly - including villages

- Local media

- Professional advisers/experts

- Local businesses

- Volunteer agencies

- Money! Grants, funding, loans

- Experts, sharing best practice

- Communication strategy

- Developer/local authority support

- Land

- Community engagement

What impact will it have?

Positive

Negative

- Increased community engagement, reduced social isolation

- Improved wellbeing

- Improved appearance of town - better utilised space and environment

- Better support for business, opportunities for start-ups

- Disturbing peace - whilst building

- Anti-social behaviour

- Increased pressure on parking and traffic

What is success?

What might constrain it?

- Well used by wide range of people

- Well designed, practical and versatile building in-keeping with surroundings

- Increased prosperity and job opportunities

- Lack of available flexible space

- Parking facilities/congestion

- Public apathy/opposed to change

- Funding restrictions

- Planning constraints

Timeline - how long will it need?

Period

Action

6 months

Getting community engaged from start - where, what etc.

1-2 years

- Design and gain permission for planning

- Identify funding

Longer term

[no comments]

6. Design the transport and parking with an integrated plan that includes walking, cycling, public transport and cars and think about all the different kinds of people coming into the town (parking, accessible, but still encourage bus use, especially by younger people)

Key messages presented to council:

"Many people want to walk and cycle safely as part of a healthy lifestyle. It will deliver greater accessibility for all particularly families, people with disabilities, elderly people and young people.

It will reduce our dependence on cars, reducing congestion and improving air quality. More active lifestyles make people feel happier as well as healthier. It widens life for low-income families and helps people get out and about.

Improved road safety, enhances the quality of life and makes life easier. Improves traffic flow, brings more people in to Romsey, to boost the local economy.

It will generate demand for greener modes of transport and increases access to employment options, particularly for young people."

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Undertake full traffic impact assessment of travel plan for town centre and villages

2. Enhance pedestrian pathways to town centres

3. Design cycle routes that link Romsey with outlying villages and Southampton

4. Limit access to town centre for cars/deliveries

5. Space required for buses to drop-off/pick-up/turning - not parking

6. Provision of car parking (investigate park and stride)

Who needs to be involved?

What resources are needed?

- Local residents/community - incl. diverse groups

- Local businesses

- Local authorities

- Transport companies - bus, taxi, train

- Lobby groups, FOE etc.

- Local media

- Romsey Future

- Finance

- Commitment

- Good transport plan and design - right people doing it

- Good communications/marketing

- Buy-in from residents

What impact will it have?

Positive

Negative

- Improved town centre offering and economy

- Less pollution, less traffic

- Healthier lifestyle

- Too successful (infrastructure cannot cope)

What is success?

What might constrain it?

- Improved inclusivity / accessibility

- More appealing town, bringing in more visitors, employment and economic benefit

- Improved transport network with safer pedestrian and cycle routes

- Lack of investment, commitment of resources

- Lack of local support/negative attitude to change

- Geography, location, heritage

Timeline - how long will it need?

Action

Period

6 months

[no comments]

2-5 years

[no comments]

Longer term

[no comments]

7. Well planned, connected accessible infrastructure (including travel, access, public spaces, education, tech and business) with good flow for transport and pedestrians to encourage business and tourists

Key messages presented to council:

"A revived Crosfield Hall in an appropriate location - a flexible and functional community hall and facilities (bus station and toilets) would provide a central-focus for visitors and residents alike.

We think that this would reduce congestion allowing us to move more efficiently and more safely both in cars, cycles and on foot.

Improve footfall and access to Romsey which will in turn improve the economy, job opportunities and tourism."

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Replace or adapt Crosfield Hall with something fit for purpose (or move)

2. Flexible, easy-in, easy-out business spaces for new and dynamic businesses and community linked to it

3. Improvement of public toilets (internal and external)

4. Bus station - do we need a bus station? Improve or move it?

Connecting south/centre and improving flow and signage for navigating

Who needs to be involved?

What resources are needed?

- Current users of Crosfield and bus services (consult them)

- Architects and planners

- Local businesses

- Chamber of Commerce

- Developers

- Urban planners

- Funding

- Experts

- Urban furniture (bus stops/benches etc.)

- Marketing/comms

What impact will it have?

Positive

Negative

- More attractive space leading to greater civic pride

- Bring more visitors into the town

- Improved facilities and opportunities for community groups

- If bus station is moved, access might be more difficult

- Temporary disruption to services/facilities

What is success?

What might constrain it?

- Public buy-in

- Spaces that are well connected and well used

- Spaces fit for purpose

- TPO and planning laws

- Listed buildings and archaeology

- Disruption

- Getting local consensus

- Local land owners

Timeline - how long will it need?

Period

Actions

6 months

Phasing to maintain facilities and infrastructure

2-5 years

Completed

Longer term

[no comments]

4. What did the assembly members think?

The work of the Citizens' Assembly is being evaluated by Renaisi as part of the wider evaluation of the Innovation in Democracy Programme. The full evaluation report will be made available when it is published before the end of March 2020.

Renaisi provided questionnaires[13] for assembly members to complete at the beginning of the Citizens' Assembly's first weekend, the end of the first weekend and at the end of the second weekend. The information will be used to provide a full evaluation of all three of the Innovation in Democracy Programme citizens' assemblies early in 2020. The following is a snapshot of the survey data in relation to the recommendations.

Chart 4: Question: ‘I agreed with the recommendations put forward to Test Valley Borough Council'

Question: How did you feel about the recommendations reached by the assembly?

- Mostly I am very happy about them (?...)

- So many agreements on the main subjects

- Good

- Agree with the ideas presented, however I am not convinced all recommendations have been finalised due to time pressures. Would be beneficial to continue development to see fruit of the weekend

- Generally very positive

- All good things, most important ones were selected

- Well thought through

- I agree with the recommendations but would have preferred them to be more refined and action focused

- Broadly outlined a consensus of views from the assembly without giving any specific proposals

- Happy with most of them, however slightly disappointed that in group discussion the eco/green subject seemed universally supported and wanted for the town but voting results meant it was less represented

- That they reflect a common purpose among participants. That they will be valued by decision makers

- I agreed with the recommendations given

- Very positive

- I think some important aspects of what we feel is important were not in the final recommendations. I hope all the "stickys" from both weekends are looked at, as some very good ideas were put forward (but also some not so good ones)

- Agree with the majority, not all ideas. Looking forward to seeing the outcome in April

- Very good

- It would have been more helpful if we had had a more planned framework. So that our (?...) can be easily (?...) into the plenary process

- In agreement

- Positive/hopeful

- I was pleased with the result of the assembly particularly that I felt it was well supported in the group. I was particularly pleased that the overarching ideas were to promote things to improve the environment and social cohesion as well and improve wellbeing in the population

- I am pleased with them

- Gives an accurate reflection of my thoughts and I believe everyone else's after careful consideration founding all the information provided

- I approve/strongly approve all. They could be distilled further as there are some overlaps/common themes

- Ended up not as decisive as I thought it would

- Good

- In the end, the similarity of priority statements meant that all the key points were covered in the recommendations. But the process could have been less frustrating if these had been refined before the second weekend - could use Nvivo for this?

- I am happy with the recommendations overall and I sincerely hope that going forward they get implemented for the betterment of our community

- They are well informed, carefully thought out and beautifully ties together everybody's wants and needs

- Support them - feel they reflected the views of the group

- I was very happy with the recommendations reached by the assembly we all reached common goals to bring forward

- Some are good, but generally feel a lot are not achievable due to financial restraints

- Very fair. There was a great deal of consensus but as expected some opposing views

- Fair representation

- Great - but it remains to be seen how close they are to the final result

- I felt it was a time and complete idea from all involved

- Very happy looking forward to seeing the finished design

- Reasonably positive but concerned the vision is understood, not misinterpreted

Email feedback from an assembly member

"Good afternoon,

I just wanted to say that, although it may have been hard work, it didn't really feel like it thanks largely to the way it was organised and managed.

It is difficult to overstate how impressed a lot of us were with all the effort you and your colleagues put into making both weekends run smoothly (tech problems aside!) so thank you all.

All best,

Tim"

_

Annexes

Annex 1: discussion maps from resident workshops and bus user survey

Annex 2: ‘why' the 7 priority outcome proposals are important: messages to test valley borough council

Feedback on why the recommendations are important to individuals

After voting, table groups discussed the reasons why the top 7 proposals for Romsey Town Centre were important to them as individuals. The following is the typed notes in the Citizens' Assembly's own words on why the top 7 proposals would make an impact in their own lives. They are typed in no particular order or grouping.

Lots of things to attract people into the town centre that are affordable and accessible for all which everyone living in Romsey knows about and can take part in - Why this is important to me

- Include surrounding villages

- Affordable activities are important so that everyone is involved and feel welcome and part of the community

- Improving the wellbeing for all by building community and providing support networks

- Deserve to live in a thriving, bustling, attractive market town

- Bring a community feel, inclusive for all - bring everyone together

- It should bring together people from different backgrounds so affordability is important, and publicity

- I want to feel proud of my town

- To encourage everyone to feel responsible and proud of our town. Sense of community

- Makes Romsey more diverse

- I like the community feel in Romsey and this will make others feel the same

- It helps to grow social networks and make people feel included and connected to the area and community

- Will feel I am a part of Romsey and included in community

- Inclusive, town centre centric involving social communications

- This proposition is inclusive

- Really important to make sure we build in free/cheap activities (under a fiver) for everyone with less disposable cash

- Provides opportunities for personal development and education

- U would feel more connected to Romsey if I knew more about what is going on

- A well-used town will just make it a nicer place to live

- Simples - any new development has to be about attracting people, regardless of income and be accessible to all - most important

- I would be able to meet people here, feel safe walking through and be uplifted by the environment/hub

- A place where I can share my skills and learn new skills from others

- To give people opportunities is one of the greatest things a community could do

- As someone on a limited budget, low cost or free events are a godsend and knowing the options in good time is vital

- A central hub will bring everyone together of all ages

- Can take friends and colleagues to new activities

- Communication is key! I'd like one online space I know I can check and find out about all the events coming up, so I can plan ahead

- Spend a lot of time in Romsey

- A hub can encourage small local enterprise, be an all age gathering place, an attractive environmental area, a ‘green' example, a well-used resource will benefit health, hobbies, small businesses

- It's important to me to bring new life into a tired looking old town

- This will keep the businesses going and encourage young people to stay in Romsey for employment and leisure. This assures future of the town for all. I want to have leisure activities and facilities to use myself

- Business hub should reduce traffic in local area

- Important for viability and sustainability of town

- Might add more interesting shops to Romsey if it is successful

- Will mean we spend more time in Romsey other rather than pass through

- I would love there to be more night time economy and hang out in Romsey rather than going further afield.

- We would visit the town centre more often

- A place where I can flexibly sell/start up a small arts and crafts business

Make Romsey an attractive, vibrant town, a centre of excellence, including green spaces and wildlife corridors - Why this is important to me

- Romsey can be a place I can easily invite my friends to

- I feel happy and proud to live here

- Enjoy showing visitors in and around the area

- Town to be proud of with great facilities

- Encourages civic pride

- Proud to be part of Romsey

- Makes town centre attractive and enjoyable place to visit

- Could make Romsey more interesting place for me

- A town my wife and I can walk in and enjoy

- An attractive vibrant Romsey is important to me to bring in civic pride and make the town I live in much more lovely to live in

- Because I spend a lot of time in Romsey and care

- Attracting more people makes for a more successful and sustainable place to want to be part of

- A place to bring the grandchildren to enjoy

- Romsey would be a more interesting and varied place to live throughout my different life stages

- I will enjoy attractive and vibrant town, but historic character important and I do not support demolishing Crosfield Hall - a good resource

- We have to keep Romsey attractive and vibrant whilst preserving its heritage if businesses are to survive

- Because this is a holistic statement, covering Romsey as a whole, and including all segments of its population

- I want good quality shops like Bradbeers

- More investment into town - more variety of activities to partake in

- Wildlife corridors link us to wider landscape - improving ecosystem resilience for all!

- Improve the pathways

- More wildlife and greenery is positive for my wellbeing, will be good for tourism and encourage a healthy attitude

- I enjoy attractive walking routes

- Will be encouraged to take the sights in more

- Green spaces need tidying up

- Green space and wildlife areas and corridors are a top priority for me. These are essential to preserve our green planet for coming generations and to improve mental health and wellbeing for all

- If town is more attractive and visibly green then I am more likely to go in and spend money

- Everyone likes a pleasant space and will return more often

- I would love to see Dukes Mill connected to The Hundred

Community hub and green spaces that bring people together (across generations) - Why this is important to me

- A top priority - somewhere to join in activities, meet people and spend leisure time

- Outdoor space to relax/meditate etc. in

- Green spaces important for wellbeing

- A community hub and green spaces are important to me as I don't have my own garden and it is good for my mental health to be in green spaces and connect to my community

- A sense of community helps people to feel welcome and help them believe that they belong

- Place of Crosfield Hall is not necessarily in T.C.

- Agree with many positive statements. Will improve my usage of the area and be pleasant to visit and meet people

- More space for activities that I may be interested in to take place

- Community hub w. Business included brings people together across interests and generations - knowledge exchange, problem solving collaborations and thriving town

- I would love to spend time in the Hub/green spaces with my grandchildren

- A place for all generations to get together

- Somewhere for young and old to enjoy - places for youngsters lacking at the moment

- I would lift my spirits to see more people together - e.g. seeing someone wearing something hilarious

- Would help young people to feel involved and part of the community - feel welcome and involved

- Places for me and my children to enjoy and be proud of

- Would be nice to have space that feels welcoming to all age ranges and backgrounds

- Very important to me to mix with all generations

- Always a difficult balance to achieve the surrounding use are not very conducive to a comprehensive redevelopment with green credentials

- A community hub for more going on for my age group (30s) I'd be more likely to be actively included in Romsey

- I would like to have a vibrant community hub so that I can meet more people and do more things in Romsey

Well planned, connected accessible infrastructure (including travel, access, public spaces, education, tech and business) with good flow for transport and pedestrians to encourage business and tourists - Why this is important to me

- Easy access to all areas of the town for all to encourage visitors and maintain the vibrance for businesses

- Creating a resilient local economy - better for people and climate

- Need to support out independent traders and small businesses

- A busy town is a prosperous town and that's where I want to live

- Thriving businesses keep the town alive and keep young people local for employment and leisure (actually keep everyone spending locally)

- This will allow me to walk through Romsey most days and find it an uplifting exercise. Others need to share this feeling for years to come

- It's important to me because a lot easier to move around

- When limited on time, better to get to destination

- If the infrastructure is not put in place no other improvements will flow

- Improves time-efficiency travelling through Romsey

- Currently we have occasional gridlock so would like better flow

- Easier and safer to get around, as a pedestrian

- To be able to get into Romsey easily

- Improve bus station and keep it! Use it!

- Adapt or improve Crosfield Hall, retaining our history as this is part of our history along with all the other historic buildings

- Good public toilets are vital to any town centre to attract community shoppers/tourists etc

- Imp. to have a flexible hall as current one is well used and needs to be more useful

- It will be a safer brighter place to live

- Improve tourism, footfall, community cohesion

- I would enjoy spending more time in Romsey and would be able to participate in a wider range of activities

- This encompasses more than other proposals

- Increase communication for employment reasons and help more to encourage public transport usage

- Better transport infrastructure would make me choose Romsey over other places

Design the transport and parking with an integrated plan that includes walking, cycling, public transport and cars and think about all the different kinds of people coming into the town (parking, accessible, but still encourage bus use, especially by younger people) - Why this is important to me

- Cycling paths are important to me

- I would like to park and stride along better paths

- I'd be more active and happy

- I don't have a car and I want to be able to walk and cycle safely to more places

- Make cycling into Romsey easier

- Healthier lifestyle - improved wellbeing

- Can use my bike more often, maybe even to work and gym!

- I walk and cycle and want routes into town and countryside areas

- Will feel safer using designated cycle/walking routes

- Cater for parking requirements for long and short stay visitors

- If cars are restricted in T.C. then feasible, easy and cheap public transport must be available and very frequent

- Good to reduce traffic but cars are still important to residents and visitors so traffic needs to flow

- Important but has to be seen in the context of an overall redevelopment for the south of town district

- If this isn't right, nobody will use the new development

- A better and interesting town with cycling and walking

- An all-inclusive system would make sure people feel like they are being listened to

- Less traffic and pollution in town centre will make it more enjoyable to come into town

- Useful to move core parking out of town centre to reduce traffic

- Accessibility = resilient economy and community - future-proofing

- More time to explore the town and easier to move around

- Ease of access to the town and the impact of transport enables the social and business aspects to develop

- Public transport is important to me as I do not have a car. Increased transport would increase my employment options and better public transport would encourage usage. It is vital that public transport is cost effective for families…

- In the future I may be too old to drive and this will need improved public transport/safer pedestrian walkways

- When it's a wet day you don't want to get drowned in a deluge cos you can't get a bus

- Have a disabled hubby

- Making Romsey more accessible for me and my family especially for when get older

- Making transport easier for my son as he gets older i.e. college/work

- Catering for all needs with an emphasis on ‘green'

Improved transport infrastructure to encourage a sense of community - with viable options for moving around - Why this is important to me

- I would like to feel more confident/safer cycling to/around Romsey

- Public transport is important to me as I do not own a car. It is vital that public transport be cost effective as opposed to using private vehicles

- Reduced car school runs

- I'd be more active (i.e. travelling to cheaper gyms etc)

- I would be able to participate in a wider range of activities and go more places

- Makes town accessible even if can't drive

- Could use the bus to get to Southampton/nearby places instead of the train

- I would love to feel safe walking in The Hundred

- To make the town safe

- Feels like there is already some sense of community so we need to encourage/grow this

- Good for everyone's health and wellbeing

- Getting around safely by foot and bike

- Feel safer cycling and walking and more areas accessible

- More chances to bump into people and build community/decrease loneliness

- It is needed so that Romsey can adapt to demand and remain to be a pleasant place to live and visit

- I would love to be able to walk around Romsey free from car fumes

- Moving around is an important part of daily life and should be carefully thought out

- Would make the town and walking routes more pleasant and safer for families

- I want to see reduced reliance on vehicle use

- Consider multi storey car park at Rapids with shared paths and mini shuttle bus into centre

- Better and nicer walking routes, I will be more likely to walk into town rather than drive

In Romsey there will be more green spaces in the town area that will enhance, protect and increase our natural environment, which includes the wild animals and plants - Why this is important to me

- Helps wildlife

- Urban wildlife is key to a connected landscape and reversing the declines in the biodiversity and ecosystem resilience which underpin society

- We need to get more connected with nature! So we value it more

- Great to see more nature and wildlife in town

- I want my family and town to do its bit to help and improve the wildlife

- Wildlife makes me happy!

- Wildlife, trees, flowers etc lift my spirits. Built up areas, traffic, noise lower my spirits

- Makes for a healthier lifestyle

- Healthier lifestyle somewhere my children to be proud to call home

- Green spaces improve wellbeing and happiness for all

- I love green spaces for that feel good feeling

- "Greening Romsey" got the most amount of post its on why it matters!

- Climate change is a big issue but no contribution is too small

- Something close to my heart to protect the environment and promote healthy ecology

- I want to help with environmental issues to help stop global warming

- Would love to have better green spaces right in the town to sit in, see wildlife and enjoy a break from the retail experience!

- A green Romsey is important to me to make the air cleaner and to co-exist better with nature

- Town more attractive, residents proud of Romsey

- I'm happy to help the environment

- I would volunteer to help environmental projects

- Green spaces will make the town more attractive

- I value the environment and this will help enhance and protect our natural wildlife

- I spend a lot of time in Romsey - happy to help environment

- It's the way forward!

- Protects the environment for future generations

- So my family can enjoy the countryside whilst staying in the town

- Green and renewable energy options for Romsey will keep it for generations to come as well as overall contributing to beating global climate crisis

- A top priority for me - essential for the future of our environment and for wellbeing of all, especially with increased pressure on land and with climate change putting pressure on wildlife

- I love green spaces in Romsey. Proud to be able to educate grandchildren and help them appreciate nature

- Important to future of children and grandchildren

- Better for the environment to save the planet - for the future

- Bringing green spaces into town helps children to connect with nature and continue with that relationship throughout life

- Makes me proud to live here

- Makes me want to stay local/shop local more than I do at present

- Makes me want to live in Romsey even more!

- Increases my house value

- We all live here! Plants, animals, it's our space.

- St John's House Garden, the canal path and the town allotments are very important to me. We need more spaces like these

- To connect Romsey with it's rural setting and avoid looking like the set of Bladerunner

Annex 3: the 5 priority success proposals that did not get presented to the council

These proposals still form part of the recommendations but did not receive over 50% ‘strongly support' votes so they were not worked on at the end of Day 4 in creating recommendations to the council. They still received strong support and will be recognised as such.

In Romsey we will reduce the number of vehicles in the town centre by half by 2025

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Out of town park and ride with transport/shuttle into town

2. Partial pedestrianisation of The Hundred (10-4) and investigate further pedestrianisation

3. Improve cycle routes and safe places to store bikes

4. Improve walking access

5. Weight limit on through traffic

6. Improve public transport links - stops, frequency, routes, number of buses

7. Address parking spaces in town centre

8. Marketing/comms

9. Research traffic and movement in town centre

10. Bus station/interchange - have something in the centre

Who needs to be involved?

- Council and Highways England

- Chamber of Commerce and local businesses

- Residents of Romsey and visitors

- Surrounding villages

- Bus service providers

- All pedestrians including wheelchair users, prams etc.

- Researchers and experts

What resources are needed?

- Smaller buses with disabled access (funding for)

- Improvements to cycle and walking routes

- Land for out of town parking and limited parking in town

What impact will it have?

- Positive

- More attractive for shopping and socialising

- Less noise and air pollution

- Safer streets

- Encourage more pedestrians

- Negative

- May deter shoppers and visitors

- Displacing traffic elsewhere

What might constrain [success]?

- Resistance from traders/residents

Timeline

- Six months

- Feasibility study

- Surveys

- 1-2 years

- Improvements to walking and cycle routes

Make healthier living easier - design in more opportunities for healthy activities

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Improve cycle infrastructure

2. Green trails and green areas

3. Community gardens and promote growing own food

4. Sports facilities - improve existing facilities, affordable/free, welcoming and accessible to all

5. Wellbeing centre (incorporated into new community centre)

6. Communication strategy

Who needs to be involved?

- Schools, community, local businesses

- NHS

- Media

- The closest residents, people/groups who currently use the facilities

What resources are needed?

- Money

- Volunteers

- Public support

- Advertising

- Wellbeing centre

- Green roof/walls

What impact will it have?

Positive

- Easier to get out and about

- Improved wellbeing, mental health through physical exercise

- Less strain on the NHS

- Social events and cleaner air

Negative

- People living in area not happy with dev.

- Less-abled people feel victimised

- Conservation restraints

- People's busy lives restrict use

What is success?

- Happiness

- Enthusiastic residents

- Increased visitors

- Healthier population

- Better access to existing sports facilities

What might constrain it?

- Areas not big enough

- Maintenance of green areas

- Money

- Not used

- Lack of motivation

- Lack of communication

Attractive and diverse businesses and shops in flexible units with space for start-ups and local businesses to bring greater variety and more jobs

What actions need to happen to make it real?

1. Create a flexible, multi-functional building for community and business use

2. Create a plaza area by the stream

3. Develop Dukes Mill into an open space that is welcoming to young people

4. Make use of the old rugby club to create accessible parking for shoppers and workers

5. Encouraging people to move around the whole town centre by making access and walkways attractive

6. Ensure there are facilities for local enterprises - hireable space

Who needs to be involved?

- Public authorities and govt bodies (HCC + TVBC, Env. Agency)

- Existing land/facility users and bus, taxi co.

- Chamber of Commerce

- Expert advisers

- Universities

What resources are needed?

- Case Studies to get ideas and learning

- Funding and investment e.g. development funds, community grants, innovation funds

- Collaboration

What impact will it have?

Positive

- Supports a healthy business ecosystem: sustainable, dynamic

- Supports community and wellbeing

Negative

- Increased traffic

- Less town centre parking

- Temporary disruption

What is success?

- People love it!

- Good mix of businesses

- Increased employment

- Max. use of facilities (95%)

- Future-proofing Romsey

*What might constrain it? *

- Too successful - outgrows infrastructure

- Too expensive for smaller businesses

- Space

- Political uncertainty

Timeline - how long will it need?

- March 2021

- Move parking to rugby club

- Multi-storey/access to town

- Five years

- Build new community/business hub

Make Romsey the first truly green historic market town

*What actions need to happen to make it real? *

1. Define what we mean by a green market town - independent standard

2. Green badge scheme to incentivise businesses to go green

3. Require highest possible energy efficiency standards for: new buildings and renovations of existing buildings

4. Park and ride with electric (mini) shuttle buses to town centre

5. Create/improve wildlife corridors and green spaces including waterways

6. Limited pedestrianisation of The Hundred

Who needs to be involved?

- Community groups/volunteers

- Councils/local govt.

- Nature agencies

- Experts

- Business community

- Romsey Future

*What resources are needed? *

- Green Town Standard

- Money

- Comms strategy/team

- Renewable energy infrastructure

- Nature strategy

What impact will it have?

*Positive *

- Attracting green business (reduced energy bills)

- Reduced emissions

- Better health

- Reduced waste

- Civic pride

- More tourism and happiness

Negative

- May constrain deliveries

- People may choose to go/shop elsewhere

What is success?

- 1st truly green market town

What might constrain it?

- Resistance to change

- Financial constraints

- Lack of incentives

- Political instability

- Eco-standards not viable for historic buildings

Timeline - how long will it need?

- 6 months - define and agree standard

- 3-5 years - Achieve standard

In Romsey we achieve ‘Green Town' status by 2025

What actions need to happen to make it real? 1. Research, develop and agree criteria and standards for green city status (thegreencity.com), sustainable goals 2. Research funding opportunities 3. Communicating the vision 4. Develop themes for standards: waterways, green spaces, biodiversity (flora and fauna), buildings (energy efficiency), traffic and air quality 5. Always recognise we are a historic market town, make more of existing green ‘pit stops'/map them/Green Trail

Who needs to be involved?

- The local community (schools, churches)

- Local businesses/local environmental agencies with vested interests

- National experts

- Funders

What resources are needed?

- Environmental/cost benefit analysis for big picture

- Resources to maintain and monitor standard

What impact will it have?

Positive

- Reputation - civic pride, local pride, national status

- Community/social inclusion

Negative

- Costs - setting up and maintaining

- Not achieving expectations/failure in not maintaining standards

What is success?

- Tourism growth

- A safe and attractive town

What might constrain it?

- Historical factors

- Apathy

- Funding

- Lack of vision and time

Timeline - how long will it need?

- 6 months - Agree and set up standard

- 1-2 years - See progress on all standard themes

- 2-5 years - Completion

Annex 4: Innovation in Democracy Programme Support & Funding

The Innovation in Democracy Programme (IiDP) is trialling the involvement of citizens in decision-making at local government level through innovative models of deliberative democracy. It is supporting three local authorities to open up a key policy decision to citizen deliberation, complemented by online engagement. IiDP is jointly delivered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.

Following an Expression of Interest process, the following local authorities were selected to be part of the Innovation in Democracy Programme:

- Greater Cambridgeshire Partnership - Question: How do we reduce congestion, improve air quality and provide better public transport in Greater Cambridge?

- Dudley Council - Question: What can communities and the Council do together to make Dudley and Brierley Hill town centres places that are vibrant, welcoming, and somewhere we are proud of?

- Test Valley Borough Council - Question: How do we improve the area around Crosfield Hall and the Bus Station to deliver the maximum benefit to Romsey?

Building Capacity, Skills and Learning

Part of the purpose of the Innovation in Democracy programme is for local authorities to learn about what is involved in putting together a citizens' assembly.

Test Valley Borough Council applied to be part of the Innovation in Democracy programme in order to further explore how participative and deliberative democracy can add value to, and strengthen, representative democracy. Based on a long term strategic commitment to work in a more place-based and collaborative way with local communities, the council wanted to test how a deliberative process such as a Citizens' Assembly could take the council to the next level in terms of its empowerment of local communities.

Officers from Test Valley Borough Council therefore worked alongside The Democratic Society in the development of the Romsey Citizens' Assembly. Their involvement in the Citizens' Assembly included:

- Working with The Democratic Society and the Sortition Foundation to develop a stratification criteria that worked for the Citizens' Assembly question,

- Development and design of the Citizens' Assembly Handbook give to each assembly member

- Development of a dedicated space on the Romsey Future website to reflect the work of the assembly

- Management of press, media and social media promoting the assembly,

- Liaison to recruit Advisory Group members, with advice from The Democratic Society on achieving balance,

- Following advice from the Advisory Group, securing speakers to give evidence to the panel,

- Undertaking logistics around assembly (e.g. printing and securing venues),

- Providing staff to support the assembly organisation on the day (e.g. timekeeping, observer liaison, live streaming)

- Providing expert witnesses to the assembly on key policy issues such as planning.

Furthermore, Test Valley Borough Council staff were trained in facilitation techniques by Involve ahead of the first citizens' assembly session as part of the Innovation in Democracy Programme's building capacity, skills and learning element. 4 table facilitators were selected to form part of the table facilitation team (2 per weekend). These table facilitators do not work directly on Town Centre policy or strategy.

Funding

Each participating area in the Innovation in Democracy Programme has support from the Democracy Support Contractor Consortium made up of Involve, The Democratic Society, mySociety and The RSA, as well as up to £60,000 to cover the costs of implementing citizens' assemblies and online engagement. The programme is being independently evaluated by Renaisi who will publish findings when the programme completes before the end of March 2020. The following is a broad breakdown of how the funds were spent on direct costs. In addition, it shows the breakdown of the £64.5K allocated to the Democracy Support Contractor Consortium.

Table 18: Breakdown of expenditure

Item

Cost

Assembly Member recruitment – invitation package and mail out; recruitment to stratification and initial on-boarding of assembly members

£9,800

Assembly Member honorarium travel expenses

£19,000

Table facilitation / speakers / team accommodation, travel and subsistence expenses

£22,436

Stationery, equipment and printing

£791

Venue costs, parking permits

£6,992

Direct cost subtotal

£59,019

Setup, support design

£25,980

Digital strategy support

£4,680

Delivery reporting

£33,840

Democracy support subtotal

£64,500

TOTAL

£123,519

Notes

1:42 citizens completed the full Citizens' Assembly from the original selected 50 individuals

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2:www.testvalley.gov.uk link: http://www.testvalley.gov.uk

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3:www.romseyfuture.org.uk link: http://www.romseyfuture.org.uk

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4:www.demsoc.org link: http://www.demsoc.org

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5:www.sortitionfoundation.org.uk link: http://www.sortitionfoundation.org.uk

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6:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/innovation-in-democracy-programme-launch link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/innovation-in-democracy-programme-launch

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7:http://closeupresearchandfilm.org/ link: http://closeupresearchandfilm.org/

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8:www.involve.org.uk link: http://www.involve.org.uk

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9:www.mysociety.org link: http://www.mysociety.org

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10:www.thersa.org link: http://www.thersa.org

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11:www.renaisi.com link: http://www.renaisi.com

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12:www.coggle.it link: http://www.coggle.it

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13:42 questionnaires were received

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