Place-Based Working

Place-Based Working in Shetland is part of the islands’ broader effort to create fairer, healthier, greener communities.  It focuses on how local services, organisations and communities can work together to design solutions tailored to the unique strengths, challenges and priorities of specific places.

This approach recognises that different communities have different needs — and that people often experience the system as fragmented, reactive or difficult to navigate.  A place-based approach seeks to join things up at local level, strengthen collaboration, and ensure that support is designed around the reality of people’s lives.

5 figures in a circular jigsaw, green connected to purple, connected to teal, connected to orange, connected to blue, connected to green.

Delivering on:

  • The Shetland Partnership Plan (2018–2028), including the priorities of Place, People, Participation and Money
  • Strategic locality-based investment planning
  • Community empowerment legislation and national policy
  • Locality Planning within Health and Social Care Integration
  • The shared goal of reducing inequalities of outcome through tailored, community-led approaches

Guided by the following principles:

  • Empowerment – Communities actively shape local decisions and planning
  • Collaboration – Partners work together across sectors and services
  • Prevention – Addressing issues early and at source
  • Sustainability – Long-term thinking and investment in community resilience
  • Innovation – Testing and adapting new approaches based on local insight
  • Flexibility – Adapting to different local contexts and priorities
  • Asset-Based – Building on local strengths, relationships, and resources
  • Shared Learning – Learning together and sharing what works across Shetland

Delivered through:

  • Community-led development planning throughout Shetland
  • Integrated locality-based delivery, aligning major investments in health, education, and infrastructure
  • Community engagement tools such as Place Standard and Place and Wellbeing Assessments
  • Collaborative working across the Shetland Partnership

Examples of place-based working in Shetland

Place-based working is already underway in communities across Shetland. Examples include:

  • The Knab Masterplan – a place-based regeneration initiative guided by community priorities, creating a shared vision for the redevelopment of a former school site in Lerwick.
  • Nort Natters – Community conversations in North Mainland shaping projects like the new Brae school campus and a Rural Energy Hub.
  • Community Action Planning in Nesting – a community action plan developed through wide local engagement, resulting in investment in new facilities and services.

These examples are supported by tools such as the Place Standard Tool and Place and Wellbeing Assessment, and by the strong relationships built across sectors.

Blogs and Updates

The Place-Based Working icon with a blue background

Blog Post: Putting Place at the Heart of Local Change

Key Contacts

Mark Ratter, Partnership Officer, Shetland Islands Council