Stage 3 - Visioning

Actions to inform the Vision for Devon

The inaugural meeting of the Partnership Board, January 2007 – involved a group of 20 people – largely made up senior representatives from a range of organisations; including the community and voluntary sector, local authorities and other agencies. The key messages were:

economic opportunity; enhanced skills; increased productivity; vibrant sustainable communities
inspirational and aspirational leadership
demographic balance – “a younger Devon”
valuing Devon’s world class environment; providing adaptive and progressive stewardship
climate change
cohesive communities; diverse, vibrant and inclusive

The DSP Conference, February 2007 – the visioning exercise involved 104 contributors. The key messages were:

vision needs to be dynamic, creative and vibrant
need to move from conserve to create
emphasise Devon’s uniqueness
increase participation and public involvement
emphasis on the environment

Your Devon Your Views – a survey of 6000 households across Devon asking them to identify why they lived in Devon, what they would like the Devon of the future to be like and what the key challenges are for public agencies. The key messages were:

most quoted reasons for living in Devon all relate to Devon’s natural environment
the most quoted response to how they would like to see Devon in the future also related to Devon’s natural environment
a majority of respondents thought that a low crime rate was least likely to apply to a Devon of the future
least quoted reason for living in Devon was because it was a good place to work

A commissioned piece of public consultation within which focus groups, across Devon, were asked for their views on an appropriate vision for the Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS). 150 residents contributed to this work. The key messages were:
N.B. Feedback from the consultants carrying out the consultation indicates that the public found this aspect of the consultation difficult. To encourage contributions the consultants gave participants the existing vision as a prompt. A significant proportion of those involved said they were happy with the existing vision and saw little need for change. However, it is possible to identify the following key messages from the contributions:

Devon’s natural environment must be protected; widespread support for protecting Devon’s “special coastal and inland landscape”
action and leadership are needed – consistent response
need to emphasise Devon’s uniqueness
significance of rurality; landscape, rural industries and farming
ensure Devon is a safe place

An analysis of the current organisational visions and objectives across Devon.