Once our voluntary group has the capacity to engage with the community at scale, we can launch the project to the wider public. Meetings and simple surveys will be used to find out what our community wants to keep, what we want to see improved over the next 20 years, and what inspiring initiatives elsewhere might work for us in the Shaftesbury area. 

The more people who join in, the better. Early survey results will help us to check whether we're reaching people of different ages from right across the area. Further publicity and engaging events can then target any 'gaps'.

Surveys will cover different aspects of community life and will be quick and simple to complete - they'll work on a smartphone. From time to time we'll go out and about so that we can hear views from people who don't use email. The aim will be to provoke a wide conversation about the future for those living in this community.

Discovering what's significant for the future of the Shaftesbury area

Our surveys and questions need to explore life in our community from many different perspectives. It's not appropriate for the agenda to be set by any individual so we looked elsewhere for guidance during the Stage 1 of our work. 

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Based on our early work, these are the themes that will help to ensure that surveys provide comprehensive insights to the SP7 community's ideas.

• Well-being at all ages, to include health & social care, young people, education, and life-long learning.

• Our community lives, are we inclusive, creative? To include sport and leisure, the arts, and cultural heritage.  

• Localised economy, employment and Shaftesbury town centre. Are businesses sustainable, ready to make the transition to a low carbon economy?  To include training & employment opportunities, consumption and waste.

• Connecting locally, across our communities and beyond. To include how we get about: use of personal vehicles, walking, cycling, public transport. 

• Smart energy, to include reducing domestic demand for fossil fuels, local generation of renewable energy.

• Water & weather risks; to include extreme temperatures, wind, flooding, drought, water conservation.

• Green infrastructure; boosting biodiversity to include space for nature, land use, sustainable food production.

• Housing & heritage, range of accommodation in sustainable buildings, good design.

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Depending on responses, later surveys could explore specific aspects in more detail or address challenges posed by other agencies (such as Dorset Council). As Stage 2 of this work makes progress,  documentation will be added to this page.