From 2022 to June 2024 the Programme worked in partnership with the local NHS Board and the local authority in seven Project Towns (Alloa, Ayr, Clydebank, Dalkeith, Fraserburgh, Dunoon and Rutherglen) to support them in taking a place-based approach.
Each of the towns had staff support (a Project Lead and a Community Link Lead) to embed between the council and the local health board. The towns brought a range of contexts and geographies to expand learning perspectives and had place work already happening that the Programme ambition could support. In each of the towns, a Steering Group was set up with key decision-makers who met regularly.
The towns were chosen to:
- Reduce inequality: they were experiencing the bottom 20% in SIMD and a particular health inequality
- Enhance collaborative, cross-system partnership working: senior leadership level sponsorship within local government and public health system to support an authorising environment for long-term change
- Identify manager-level project support and governance across local government and the public health system
These towns also had the capacity to commit to take part in the learning network and local project evaluation process.
Find out about the work we did during our time in each Project Town:
As a result of sharing the learning from our work with seven Project Towns, from July 2024 to December 2024 the Programme extended its support beyond these areas and worked with other local authorities and organisations. You can see them listed on the map below.
How was our work implemented within each of our Project Towns?
What impact did we make? Read our Impact Stories which highlight the impact we had across our Project Towns.
Find out how we supported other towns and organisations across Scotland.
For more information about the work we undertook on the Programme until June 2024, download our Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme Summary and read our Place-Based Approach 2022 – 2024 Guide which shares key highlights from our Programme, exploring how it has grown and evolved, whilst highlighting our successes, challenges and impacts along the way.
The Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme Implementation diagram shows:
- what we as a Programme brought as support (inputs)
- what we produced to enable our approach to be replicated (outputs)
- the lasting system change we hoped to deliver (outcomes impact) for the Programme.
If the Shaping Places for Wellbeing place-based approach sounds like something you would like to know more about, please contact Irene Beautyman, Place and Wellbeing Partnership Lead, below. Alternatively, follow us on LinkedIn - Planning and Place-Based Approaches, to keep up to date with the Planning and Place-Based Programmes from within the Improvement Service, and X @place4wellbeing to recap on the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme’s journey.
Irene Beautyman - Place and Wellbeing Partnership Lead
Phone: 07908 930763
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Planning for Place Programme
The Planning for Place Programme supports councils and their partners to collaborate around place, seeking to encourage place-based approaches to joint planning, resourcing and delivery of places that enable all communities to flourish.
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National Planning Improvement Programme
The National Planning Improvement Champion is responsible for monitoring the performance of planning authorities and providing advice to them (and others) on what steps might be taken to improve their performance.
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Planning Skills
The Planning Skills Programme co-ordinates training events for public sector planning officers, with the aim to develop the skills required to deliver better places.
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Digital Planning
The Digital Planning team at the Improvement Service collaborates with local government to enhance and unify data related to planning and building standards. This work aims to develop a cohesive national data landscape, fostering insights and supporting informed decision-making.
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Shaping Places for Wellbeing Place-based Approach
The Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme is a joint delivery partnership between the Improvement Service and Public Health Scotland. This forum is for those interested in our work supporting the role of place to reduce inequality and improve the wellbeing of people and planet.
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Place Network
For those interested in the importance of place as a working approach to delivering national outcomes around improved wellbeing and inclusive growth.