PLANED is a community-led partnership established as a social enterprise, a Development Trust, a charity, and a company limited by guarantee, with its Board members being representatives from communities and from the public and private sectors.
We have over 30 years’ experience of implementing integrated rural development through supporting enterprise, sustainable agriculture and tourism, heritage and environmental activities, through community engagement and participation.
We encourage a community culture of enterprise supporting people to harness their skills, knowledge and enthusiasm –to safeguard their future. This is achieved through delivering locally tailored initiatives, which build on existing community strengths and empower local people, while ensuring effort in one area of development adds value to other areas.
We are an organisation that works with geographic communities and communities of interest to identify, develop and implement sustainable projects that improve the wellbeing of the community with a focus on long-term, integrated, collaborative actions.
Our story
PLANED has evolved over time, and has a long and proud history of rural regeneration and support for community-led development. In 1986, a group of volunteers who had worked successfully together to save an important building in Narberth for community use formed the Taf and Cleddau Rural Initiative (TCRI).
Working within the then Welsh Development Agency’s Rural Programme, we have been able to pioneer community–based regeneration. In 1991 TCRI was one of the 137 groups the European Union selected to pilot the LEADER programme. The fundamental principles of LEADER include a bottom up and integrated approach to community-led local development, utilising innovative techniques, pioneering market testing and piloting, and partnership with others.
This success led the way for the South Pembrokeshire Action for Rural Communities (SPARC) to be formed. SPARC implemented a number of projects under various funding programmes from 1994 to 2002.
Following a strategic review of SPARC in 2002, Partnerships for Local Action and Networks for Enterprise and Development or PLANED was established.
For many years, PLANED focused solely on Pembrokeshire based activities and projects, supporting numerous communities and organisations during this time.
However, it became clear that a full delivery refresh was needed to support organisational sustainability and purpose. In this vein, with new leadership and skills, PLANED has, (accelerated post COVID), now extended to become a more sustainable, relevant, and impactful regional community development charity.
Working in partnership across not only the three counties of West Wales, but with delivery and impact in other parts of Wales too, the evidence of co-production in action is clear, with projects initiated by communities being supported, developed and sustained.
‘Significant features of SPARC’s approach that are crucial to the long-term success and sustainability are identified. These include encouraging maximum community involvement at all stages of development; the use of expert ‘partners’ to provide needed technical and financial resources to rural communities; complimentary strategies addressing tourism, agriculture and the environment; and a clear strategic planning and implementation framework’
Tourism Focus, United Nations Environment Programme
