Community Planning
Community planning helps local public services to work together and with local communities to plan and deliver better services that make a real difference to people’s lives. It is based on the idea that public bodies can get better results locally by working together and with our communities so that public services improve for people who use them.
The Community Planning Partnership (CPP) is the name given to all those who come together to take part in community planning. In Stirling the Community Planning Partnership includes;
- Stirling Council
- NHS Forth Valley
- Police Scotland
- Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
- Scottish Enterprise
- Clackmannanshire and Stirling Health and Social Care Partnership
- Historic Environment Scotland
- Forth Valley College
- University of Stirling
- Skills Development Scotland
- Visit Scotland
- Scottish Natural Heritage
- SEPA
- Sportscotland
- TACTRAN
- Loch Lomond and the Trossach’s National Park
- Department of Work and Pension
- Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise
These partners work together to improve the way that local services are planned coordinated and carried out, especially for those who most need the services and can benefit most from them.
Community planning focuses on tackling inequality and places prevention and early intervention at the centre of public services.
Community Planning and the Third Sector
Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise advocates on behalf of the third sector on the Stirling Community Planning Partnership. The third sector includes charities, voluntary organisations, communities and social enterprises. SVE facilitate a wide range of Third Sector Forums to help the sector to identify, discuss and decide on the issues that are most important. More information on our forums are found here. We will always try to engage with as wide a range of organisations as possible. If you are interested in contributing in to community planning please get in touch.
In Stirling, the CPP are in the process of agreeing the Local Outcome Improvement Plan which will be called the Stirling Plan. In the Stirling Plan you will find the new structure for community planning in Stirling. Between April- September 2018 the CPP will be finalising a new local structure for community planning which will divide the area into four localities. This new structure will make it easier for local organisations to influence local priorities
You can find more updates about the Local Outcome Improvement Plan here.
Community Empowerment Act
The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 is a new law brought in by the Scottish Government to help communities to do more for themselves and have more say in decisions that affect them.
There are 11 sections of the Act covering different areas of decision making.
- Part 1 National Outcomes
- Part 2 Community Planning
- Part 3 Participation Requests
- Part 4 Community Right to Buy
- Part 5 Asset Transfer
- Part 6 Delegates of Forestry Commissioners’ Functions
- Part 7 Football Clubs
- Part 8 Common Good Property
- Part 9 Allotments
- Part 10 Participation in Public Decision Making
- Part 11 Non Domestic Rates
At SVE we can help you and your group to understand the Community Empowerment Act and how you can use this landmark legislation to change things for your community.
Areas where the Community Empowerment Act is already having a difference include;
- The introduction of Participation Requests which give community bodies a formal way to ask to be involved in the design or delivery of services carried out by Public Service Authorities.
- Communities in urban areas now have equal rights with rural communities to register a special interest in land, and to purchase that land when it goes on sale.
- Communities have the provision to purchase abandoned or neglected land that is having a detrimental effect on the community- even if the owner is unwilling to engage.
- Asset transfers are helping community bodies to buy or lease building and land owned by Public Authorities if they can evidence that they can put it to better use.
- By the end of 2021 1% of all local government budgets will be allocated using participatory budgeting!
