Brokering collective engagement – Mistley Place Park

‘What would make you love Mistley Place Park?’ was the question we asked the communities of Mistley, Manningtree and Lawford in North Essex.

A once great area of parkland with a rich heritage was being left to rot, the existing community farm sadly having gone into liquidation. A developer was waiting in the wings with a suspicious and nervous community. We helped to broker an embryonic relationship with the developer so that he could appreciate the importance of a scheme capable of taking the community with him. So we asked the community the question about what would make people love Mistley Place Park (free jelly babies will get most people to talk) and were able to feed this into the development of the ongoing scheme that seeks to strike the balance between retaining and enhancing the environment of the Park whilst creating value.