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Input from the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme has helped highlight the surprising breadth that the project will contribute to helping Dunoon thrive. By undertaking a Place and Wellbeing Assessment, it has identified specific actions to strengthen links with other local initiatives and target work to reduce inequalities. Specific impacts include:

• Targeted engagement of inequality groups will be supported by the council to inform the business plan and develop a new shared behaviour change plan for active travel in Dunoon
• Plans will now include a greater emphasis on community involvement in maintaining open spaces and building closer relationships with the council amenities team
• The Trust’s business plan now includes stronger reference to working with local partners to offer joint skills development in cycle maintenance

Ongoing support from the Dunoon Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme Project Lead and Community Link Lead will support further information gathering, partnership working and community engagement that will help progress the plans and share learning.

Our story so far

Staff in the Dunoon Community Development Trust and Argyll and Bute Council’s Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme already had a good working relationship, and the Active Travel Hub builds on a number of successful small-scale partnership projects. Each was progressing a plan that will impact on the both the Active Travel Hub and the surrounding space. Namely:

• The Trust’s business plan for the hub
• The council’s associated landscaping plans for the building and surrounding public garden space

In January 2023, the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme was invited to undertake a combined Place and Wellbeing Assessment of the plans for this area. The purpose of an assessment is to consider the potential impacts of a plan or proposal on a place, to help mitigate adverse impacts, enhance positive ones and reduce social and economic inequality.

Contributors on the day included the:

• MBLA Architects (landscape architects contracted by Argyll and Bute Council) and Argyll and Bute Council’s Amenities team who manage the grounds
• Active Travel team who are leading a proposal for a new cycle route in Dunoon

While it was obvious how the plans could increase walking, wheeling and cycling, use of the Place and Wellbeing Outcomes drew out links to wider opportunities to contribute to the full range of features a town needs to thrive, including:

• Positive impacts on improving public spaces
• Employment and skills development
• Supporting the local economy and increasing sense of belonging

It also further highlighted the need to:

• Engage people impacted by inequalities who are not specifically identified in the plans but would significantly benefit from it. This was identified as targeting areas lacking in active travel investment and for people whom affordability is a barrier.
• Increase the understanding of the benefits to people with mental health issues and those suffering from addictions.

Combining the assessments and sharing perspectives helped identify opportunities to work further with partners to advance shared interests. The Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme is supporting with making connections that will strengthen the plans and identify opportunities for shared work which will align them with other relevant plans as seen in the example below:

• The landscaping plans will now include a greater emphasis on community involvement in maintaining the open spaces. The Trust is also looking to build a closer relationship with the amenities team to strengthen biodiversity elements of the plans while retaining more traditional features that are valued by locals and visitors.
• The Trust’s business plan now includes stronger reference to working with the University of Highlands and Islands to offer joint skills development in cycle maintenance.

Ann Campbell, Partnership & Development Manager at Dunoon Community Development Trust further highlights the beneficial impact that the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme has had on the Active Travel initiatives: