Malling Action Partnership

Malling Action Partnership, or MAP, is a community-based group, launched 3 April 2006, to undertake a Market Towns Initiative Health Check in the market town of West Malling and its hinterland. A health check is just a detailed look at local services and seeing if they provide all the things that people who live in, work in, or visit the town, want.

Hinterland
Broadly sepaking the hinterland is seen as including the adjoining parishes of
 * Addington
 * Birling
 * East Malling and Larkfield
 * Kings Hill
 * Leybourne
 * Mereworth
 * Offham
 * Ryarsh
 * Trottiscliffe

Vision and Action Plan

 * The Health check is intended to lead to a community-developed Vision for the Future for West Malling as a market town, and an Action Plan. MAP will then help advance community-chosen most-needed projects.

Working groups
Four working groups are already underway working on the Health Check as of July 2006, and all are open to anyone interested in helping.
 * Environment
 * Transport and Accessibility
 * Social and community
 * Economic

Contact MAP
Please use the following email link (you'll need to be logged in for this, and have a valid email address in your preferences - logging in is easy, just involves chosing a user name and password) or leave a message on the following discussion page of this wiki. Messages will be passed on to the most appropriate contact.

Future meetings

 * Working groups continue to meet throughout the summer / autumn, and all are open to anyone interested in helping.
 * The next general MAP meeting for everyone is scheduled to be around the end of October 2006.
 * The next Steering Group meeting is August 31 2006

Communicating with the local community
As well as more informal communications, MAP produces a regular Newsletter and aims to keep anyone interested, even if not able to actively contribute at the present time, informed about progress.

Who is taking part in MAP?
So far, the following groups have sent representatives to MAP meetings:
 * Chamber of Commerce
 * West Malling C of E Primary School
 * Nu-Venture buses
 * Malling Society
 * West Malling Village Hall Committee
 * Age Concern
 * Town Malling Cricket Club
 * Malling Lions
 * Parish, Borough and County Councils

Steering group
In addition to the 4 working groups, an overall Steering group meets regularly.

Support for MAP
MAP is also supported by
 * Project consultants: Action with Communities in Rural Kent
 * Kent County Council
 * South East Rural Towns Partnership
 * South East England Development Agency

The Market Towns Initiative is an initiative of the Countryside Agency

Related Wiki pages

 * West Malling