Where We’re At: Wealden Edition
Wealden District Council’s Matthew China tells us about Wealden’s ambition to become a community powered council, how it’s building on strong foundations, and where in the picturesque district you might want to pay a visit, including Ashdown Forest – home of Winnie the Pooh.
Developing a sense of place in a rural local authority like Wealden is difficult.
Wealden could simply be described as a district council that horseshoes around Eastbourne on the south coast. That really doesn’t do our place justice though. Wealden spans 835 square kilometres from the beautiful Cuckmere Valley (at the end of the famous Seven Sisters cliffs) stretching up over the South Downs National Park towards and across the Ashdown Forest (yes, home of Winnie the Pooh) and up through to the outskirts of Royal Tunbridge Wells. It is an area of small hamlets, picturesque villages and small market towns. And therein lies the challenge: when you ask people from the market town of Hailsham where they live, they rarely reply with ‘Wealden’, they may say Hailsham or even Eastbourne – the nearest large town.
We’re embarking on a journey to become a community-powered council.
We are relatively new members to the New Local fold, having only recently started out on our journey to transform Wealden District Council into a community-powered council. The move towards community power stems from the leadership of a new political administration. From 1974 right up to 2023 Wealden was a Conservative-led council. Still, in the recent local elections the Liberal Democrats and the Greens came together to form the Alliance for Wealden, taking control of the council.
We all understand what a green council looks like, and most understand a ‘fair’ and ‘kind’ council, but what do these things look and feel like together?
The Alliance’s first step was to develop a new council strategy with community engagement at its heart. The strategy is based on what they had heard on the doorsteps during canvassing. Their new mission is for Wealden District Council to be an “enabling and enterprising council working alongside our communities to create a “greener, fairer, and kinder district for present and future generations”. This mission was challenging for officers to get to grips with in the early days. We all understand what a green council looks like, and most understand a ‘fair’ and ‘kind’ council, but what do these things look and feel like together?
We’re building on strong foundations.
Our staff are proud (and rightly so) of the work they do.
As an organisation we’re starting from a strong position. We provide excellent services, our robust financial position enables us to be innovative and deliver projects, such as a new multimillion pound sports facility on the outskirts of one of our major towns. And our staff are proud (and rightly so) of the work they do. But how do evolve to take on the challenges of the future? How do we become Wealden 2.0 (as a recent LGA Corporate Peer Challenge put it!)?
We have a strong set of values interwoven throughout all that we do.
The next step is to see what community power looks like in practice and to ‘learn by doing’.
Our work is driven by an inspirational people strategy and some recent work facilitated by New Local has provided us with a roadmap for becoming community powered. The next step is to see what community power looks like in practice and to ‘learn by doing’. For example, we are working with our communities to develop a new climate change strategy. From community orchard groups to transition towns groups to climate change activists, there’s an amazing amount of enthusiasm and willingness to create something that is truly co-produced.
We’re excited for what comes next.
So, where is Wealden? I don’t think we need to answer the question, just reframe it. ‘Who is Wealden?’ is a better way to look at it. Our recent LGA Corporate Peer Challenge recommended developing a strategy for place for Wealden. That’s a tough ask, but if we work alongside our communities I think we might just be able to do it!
About the author
Matthew leads the Policy, Insight and Communications Team at Wealden.
This small team is responsible for driving the council’s strategic thinking as well as performance management, public relations and community engagement and empowerment.
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