Market Drayton and Rural Parishes Community Covenant
Community-led
For everyone
Health
Wellbeing
We are proud to be piloting Shropshire's first community covenant as a national pilot. The Community Covenant is an authentic neighbourhood-level, power-sharing agreement where we work collaboratively with Shropshire Council and our community to make decisions. Decided by us, for us!
This exciting pilot project is being shared with Westminster (through the 'We're Right Here' campaign) - helping to prove the case for nieghbourhood governance, devolving more power to the groups and organisations who know our communities best. We are extremely grateful to Power to Change for funding this work
How will this work?
Since our first meeting in December 2024 we have been joined by 20 community organisations and Parish/Town Councils to form the Market Drayton and Rural Parishes Community Covenant. We are now working collaboratively with Shropshire Council at a neighbourhood-level to share power and make decisions that are rooted in our community, to enhance and improve the lives of the people of Market Drayton and its rural parishes.
The first decision was how and where a new Community and Family Hub will be set up within the town. This involved decisions not just on location, but also in what this Hub offers our community and how it meets our needs. We have since worked on development plans for Strategic housing sites, and are actively helping to shape service provision in partnership with Shropshire Council and our community.
We meet in-person every 3-4 weeks. We have written and agreed our Group Charter, which explains how we work together to ensure we remain fully accountable to our community and that we work truly collaboratively.
Earn Trust
Each organisation involved works in a way that earns and maintains the trust of the community or a sector of it
Work Proactively
As a group we commit to working proactively to listen and engage with our community?
Support Our Community
We work hard to ensure the group considers the voice of everyone in our community, encouraging them where possible to participate in on-going decisions and activities in an inclusive manner.
Local Interests at the Heart
Each member group/organisation makes decisions that support the interests of local people rather than the organisation or individual alone?
Shaping Service Provision
The community and family hubs are a key part of the Shropshire Council's Transformation Programme and also part of Shropshire Integrated Place Partnership's Neighbourhood approach. Their overall aim is to create Happier, Healthier and more Connected Rural Communities, taking a more proactive approach to healthcare that builds resilience within our communities - providing help before we get to crisis point.
The focus is taking an integrated approach to delivering services closer to peoples' homes, in local communities, working across health (NHS), care, council services and the voluntary and community sector. The hubs will be there to offer face-to-face assistance and supporting people to help themselves through the digital and other community offers.
The Community and Family Hub model in Market Drayton, together with the Community Covenant, are evolving this work to include Best Start in Life pilots, Youth Transformation Programmes and other such initiatives that Shropshire Council are running.
Our group provides the perfect conduit and collaborative partnership to ensure community voice remains at the heart of the decsions that impact us.
National Briefings from the We're Right Here Campaign:
Market Drayton and Rural Parishes Community Covenant Meeting notes:
Why is Fordhall involved?
Through the Fordhall Community Land Initiative (the charitable Community Benefit Society that owns Fordhall Organic Farm), Charlotte Hollins has been working on a national campaign for Community Power since 2022.
Supported by a further seven community leaders and eight sector organisations across the country, this campaign celebrated its first win when the 'Community Right to Buy' was announced and later incorporated into law through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026.
The campaign group is now working with Westminster and civil servants to ensure as much devolved power as possible is brought into the new English Devolution and Community Empowerment legislation, and we are excited to say that Market Drayton's Community Covenant pilot is feeding into this policy work.
For more information on this campaign, visit the 'We're Right Here' website www.right-here.org
For more information or any questions, please contact Charlotte via
charlotte.hollins@fordhallfarm.com or 01630638696