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In July 2005, the GHP Steering Group appointed independent evaluators Hall Aitken to carry out an external assessment of the partnership.
Since then, the evaluators have carried out desk research, mind-mapping workshops with the steering group, online questionnaires and interviews with project leads, artists and stakeholders.
Following the agreement by all the Hertfordshire Local Authorities to continue subscribing to GHP for a further three years, Hall Aitken were asked to continue to evaluate the partnership during that time.
Summary of Reports
Interim Evaluation Report -
Published in November 2006, this report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the partnership and identifies opportunities for future development.
The report gives an overview of the GHP approach and outlines the projects to date. It goes on to look at GHP’s successes in engaging communities in the development of open space, high quality and sustainable design, developing expertise and skills, changing the perception of the role of artists and levering in external funding.
Although comparison between other projects is difficult because of the lack of similar projects, the report tries to identify how GHP compares with one similar authority.
The report recognises that there are a number of opportunities to widen the scope of the partnership. It also identifies opportunities for the approach to become self-sustaining in the future, for example through Section 106 agreements.
Stevenage Case Study
In 2007, Hall Aitken produced a case study exploring the work GHP had been doing with Stevenage Borough Council across two projects. The resulting report looks at the impacts of the GHP approach on Stevenage and the possibilities of replicating this in other areas. It identifies one of the legacies of GHP's involvements as i
ncreasing the levels of community participation from around 20 to 200 people. It also concluded that GHP excelled in bringing disparate departments and colleagues together for the purpose of pushing a project through.
There are no procedural difficulties in replicating the community consultation or partnership aspects of the GHP beyond Stevenage, provided that the Council concerned has an open mind.
Quarterly HACO Reports
GHP now reports directly to Herts Association of Cultural Officers through the Chair of the GHP Steering Group. Quarterly updates on projects and GHP's impact are provided to HACO.
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