Introduction

WHAT WE ARE ABOUT

In line with every other County in the state, Wexford has been given the opportunity to draw together a Strategy for its economic, social, and cultural development over the next ten years. The actual task of developing the Strategy falls to the Wexford County Development Board (CDB).
That Board was established by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Noel Dempsey, in
February 2000, and brings together people and organisations from across the community, private, public, and voluntary sectors: those members are listed in Appendix 1.

It is chaired by Councillor Gus Byrne and has a small core staff team. The Board's role is not to dictate to others ... nor to do their planning for them.

It is instead about creating a shared sense of purpose; about defining a vision for Wexford we all want to see; and about all of us, individuals and organisations, committing ourselves to making sure that Vision is realised.
The idea of making even better use of what's already in place, of overseeing and promoting the integration and co-ordination of local services, is absolutely central to the CDB. The better integration of existing services; the avoidance of duplication; and the identification of areas of unmet or even unrecognised need are perhaps the most significant challenges that face us.

HOW THE WORK WAS DONE

The development of the draft Strategy was taken forward in a deliberately structured way, clearly reflecting the Shared Vision Guidelines published by the Department of the Environment and Local Government in May 2000.

Whilst the detail of who was involved is presented in Appendices 2 and 3, the way the CDB undertook its brief can be summarised as follows:

A great deal of the work summarised above is documented in a range of reports and studies. These are listed in Appendix
Much of this, and other, material is available from the CDB's website www.wexfordcdb.ie

HOW THE MODEL COUNTY WILL BE RE-MODELLED

Our Strategy for the economic; social; and cultural well being of Wexford to the
year 2012 is built on the basis of the cascade below:

Vision	How we want Wexford to be in 2012
Themes	The broad areas - under the Economic; Social; and Cultural headings - which need to be addressed to bring life to the vision
Goals	The specific areas which need to be taken forward within each Theme
Strategic Objectives	What precisely will be done to achieve the Goals
Co-ordinating Partner	The Partners within the CDB which will lead the implementation of a particular Strategic Objective
Key Outputs	What we want to achieve "on-the-ground"
Indicators	How we'll measure success

WEXFORD: NOT FEARING TO SPEAK ...

We've made it clear this Strategy is about making a difference, about making Wexford better. We have thought long and hard about what a "better Wexford" would look like. Our resultant Vision for the County ten years from now is:

By 2012 we want Wexford to be a place that many want to come to ... but which no one wants, or needs, to leave.

That Wexford will be a place of prosperous and thriving people, communities and businesses balanced between town and country inclusive and diverse , welcoming to all, making the most of its own particular heritage but also outward looking, safe and healthy where the vulnerable are particularly looked after clean and green, yet capitalising on its location, assets and climate where learning is available across the County and throughout life.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE JOURNEY

Remodelling the Model County is not just the name of our Strategy document. It is equally a process we're engaged in, one that will take at least the next decade to complete. The speed of our journey will vary and over time we will no doubt make changes in direction.

Whatever about those shifts we do want to remain true to the Guiding Principles that have helped take us this far:

Partnership	by working together and trusting each other we can all achieve much more than if we work separately
Participation	the Strategy is of and for us all in Wexford: everyone's contribution is not just welcomed and valued but will be actively sought
Social Inclusion	we want everyone in Wexford to enjoy and participate in the good things in life: that means sharing out economic benefits; developing strong communities; and providing a good quality of life for everyone.
Sustainability	this generation merely holds Wexford in trust for the next generation ... and we must not spoil it for them
Challenge	we have to question, in positive ways, why things are as they are and why we do things in the way that we do: many of the accepted wisdoms of the 20th Century won't serve Wexford well in the 21st Century.
Integration	if we don't actually pursue the working integration of all those organisations; agencies; resources; partnerships; and plans which are committed to the CDB Strategy, then we overlook a key aspect of the CDB process
Proofing	to achieve real change, aspirations are not enough: when we design; implement; and review policies; plans; and projects we will assess their impact on particular groups and sectors in Wexford
Customer Focus	put plainly, the provision of quality and seamless services to the people of Wexford underpins everything we do
Making a Difference	this is not an academic exercise, done just for the sake of it. We want to make things better ... which means being clear about what needs to be done and setting targets for achievement.

FROM VISION TO REALITY

For the Strategy's Vision to be made into reality, three broad Theme areas need to be addressed:

Wexford at Work (Economic)
Putting People First (Social)
Who We Are (Cultural)

In Sections 4, 5 and 6 we develop some of the thinking that underpins the content of those Themes and then in Sections 7, 8 and 9 present what we feel needs to be done within each of them.

THE CO-ORDINATING PARTNERS

We have already made it clear that the CDB is about co-ordination and integration, about "joined-up working" across a range of organisations, sectors and issues. It is not about control. Nonetheless to make things happen we have to share out responsibility, to make sure we know and agree who will take
active leadership positions in terms of implementing the Strategy.

For us that means identifying what we call a Co-ordinating Partner for each of the Strategy's 229 Objectives. In most cases the Co-ordinating Partner will be the agency with either the major statutory responsibilities for, or an existing major involvement in, that particular area of work.

Designation as a Co-ordinating Partner does not imply sole responsibility for
achieving a Strategic Objective.

Co-ordinating Partners will however be expected to:

identify and establish links with other relevant stakeholders
initiate a collaborative planning process, including the identification of resources, that will lead to the achievement of Objectives
make sure progress is monitored and evaluated and reported on regularly to the CDB.

The Co-ordinating Partner will be expected to resource the process and activities outlined above.

MAKING SURE IT ALL HAPPENS

Planning is one thing ... actually doing is something else. The CDB's work therefore effectively only starts now that this Strategy has been agreed and published. To make sure the Strategy is turned into action, and that the action in turn leads to results, the CDB will:

publish a detailed Implementation Action Plan
establish a number of Monitoring Groups to oversee implementation
regularly check and monitor progress against the targets set
review and revise the Strategy as appropriate.

These issues will be revisited in Section 12 of the Strategy.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The CDB will now move on to develop and publish the Implementation Action
Plan mentioned above.

That Plan will further detail how our Strategy's Objectives will be realised. It will focus on the linkages needed between agencies and organisations; will identify the resources needed; and will set
timescales for both work and results.

Wexford Fact: between 1926 and 1961 Wexford's population fell by 13%: since
then it has grown by well over 25% ... compared with a national average growth of 22%