Community Planning Pilot meeting - Omagh

Omagh have decided to go ahead and run a pilot in advance of the official pilots within the new council boundaries. A Community Plan was published in January, in advance of a Community Planning Partnership being formed. The Partnership is now being formed and held its first meeting at the end of March.

NICVA members have expressed concerns at the speed with which the process has moved and the lack of appropriate involvement of voluntary and community organisations in the process. Two seats on the partnership are being offered to the voluntary and community sector and letters of invite were sent to Focus and Omagh Forum to represent urban and rural interests.

NICVA stressed that, since the process is the most important part of community planning and the partnership should be the key, a proper process should be in place for selecting partnership members and for feeding back into communities.

Local groups felt that the three consultation sessions held locally on the community plan (one for the voluntary and community sector) were insufficient to build appropriate participation. The Council also considers its consultations on the Community Support Plan to have been part of the process.

Relations between the sector and the council are generally good in Omagh and NICVA will be meeting regularly with the council to learn how the partnership progresses.