Engagement

In order for community planning to work successfully, we need to ensure effective communication with the people of Aberdeenshire and their involvement in decision-making and policy development.

As a partnership we endorse the National Standards for Community Engagement and these will guide our approach in the future.  These standards were developed by the Scottish Community Development Centre, with the involvement of over 500 community and agency representatives across Scotland. There are ten statements of commitment that are underlined by principles of good practice, and these can be used to develop and support better working relationships between communities and agencies delivering public services (National Standards for Community Engagement User’s Guide, Communities Scotland, p2-4).

In this section, we give examples of ways in which the community planning partners are aiming to do this.

• Local Community Planning Groups
• Local Rural Partnerships
• Community Learning and Development (CLD)
• Citizens' Panel
• Engagement with Young People
• Race and Equalities
• Good Practice Examples

Local Community Planning Groups

As mentioned in a previous section, these groups will be our lynchpin for community engagement.  Two local community planning pilots have been running in Aberdeenshire since 2003.  These have been in the Formartine and Kincardine and Mearns areas.  There are plans for one group to be set up in each administrative area.  Initially, they will be led by the council Area Managers until such time that the group is established and wishes to elect a new chair from the group.  These groups will meet at least three times per year.

It is planned that local representatives from community planning partners will attend these groups along with representatives from local community groups which could include community councils, local rural partnerships, residents associations, community associations, community development groups and others who feel it is relevant and useful for them to attend.

As many decisions as possible will be taken at this local level and on other occasions they can be referred to the Community Planning Executive.  The Executive will be briefed on progress and issues of the local community planning groups at each of their meetings.

Local Rural Partnerships  

Local rural partnerships now exist in all six areas of Aberdeenshire.  They are community organisations and their role is to provide information, advice, learning and support for community groups in their local area.  They have been a very valuable resource for the community planning partnership over the last five years.  They have been a constant and successful tool of community engagement and have helped many communities to benefit by working with them.  For example, many of the local rural partnerships have guided communities through the Planning for Real® process in which improvements have been made to their local village or town.

The partnership will continue to work closely with the local rural partnerships in the local setting and will benefit from their local knowledge and experience.  Also, now that there will be local rural partnership representation on the partnership this will aid in feeding local views to partner organisations.

Community Learning and Development (CLD)

The national guidance for community planning acknowledges the benefits of the community learning and development approach to meaningful community engagement. The council's CLD service plays a key role in this, in partnership with the rural development partnerships and the voluntary sector.  The Education and Recreation service in Aberdeenshire has set up Community Development Groups (CDGs) in each of the 17 community school networks.  These groups are formed from community representatives and will be used to inform and develop services particularly, but not exclusively, in relation to the learning theme, and will feed into and inform the local community planning groups on issues of community concern and areas for improvement.

Citizens’ Panel

The Aberdeenshire citizens’ panel was established at the beginning of 2004 as an 18-month pilot project.  There are over 1200 Aberdeenshire residents on the panel and they are spread quite evenly over the six areas of Aberdeenshire.  Panel members agree to complete and return surveys that are sent to them on approximately a quarterly basis.  Six surveys have been distributed over the past 18 months and these have focused on the community planning themes and have included issues such as community safety, schools, waste management and recycling, work and training, transport and the review of community planning.

The panel has been a successful project with an average of over 70% response rate each time.  By getting the opinions of Aberdeenshire residents on services and issues, the community planning partners can be kept informed and aim to provide services that meet the needs of the Aberdeenshire population.  Partner organisations also feedback to the panel on how they will use the information received through a regular newsletter published after each survey.

Engagement with young people

Dialogue Youth is a national initiative where Young Scot, COSLA, the Scottish Executive, local authorities and their community planning partners, and young people work in partnership.  The initiative aims to engage young people through the use of new technology and to modernise the way government interacts with young people.

The Dialogue Youth team also supports youth forums in Aberdeenshire.  There is one main youth forum, which consists of around 90 young people along with several other smaller, area-based youth forums.  At the main Aberdeenshire youth forum, broader issues are tackled with more complex solutions and at the smaller forums, young people take on board issues in their area and look for answers to local problems.  This format enables them to have a say in the services that affect them and how they are designed and delivered, and also about what is needed in their communities.

Race and Equalities

In 2004, the community planning partnership funded a piece of research exploring how community safety issues affected minority ethnic groups in Aberdeenshire.  The research also reviewed responses, mechanisms and service issues affecting minority groups.  Seventy people from a variety of different minority ethnic groups were interviewed, and on the basis of their responses, a number of issues were identified.  These issues have been addressed by partner organisations and it is expected that this will lead to improvements in public services for people from minority groups in Aberdeenshire. 

This is one example of our continuing efforts to address race and equalities issues.  Other areas of importance to us in Aberdeenshire include helping to meet the needs of migrant workers and disabled people.  Ongoing work to address these issues continues within the partnership.

Taking Huntly Forward – Good Practice Example

The town of Huntly in the Marr area of Aberdeenshire joined the Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership (ATP) at the end of 2004.  ATP offers support to people and businesses to develop new projects that can make their town an even better place to live, work and visit.

ATP worked with specialist consultants and the Huntly community to find out where they want Huntly to be in 2020.  This was done through public workshops, questionnaires, business interviews and a school survey.  Huntly’s strengths, weaknesses and challenges were identified and plans were made to tackle them.  As a result of community planning action, Huntly is now in a better position to move forward as a vibrant, competitive community that is good to live in.

The Mearns Area Partnership – Good Practice Example

The Mearns Area Partnership is an alliance of public sector, voluntary sector and community sector organisations working collectively to identify local issues and seek solutions in the part of south Aberdeenshire known as the Howe o` the Mearns.  MAP has been in existence since 1992.  It is registered as a rural partnership with the Scottish Executive. The partnership has a range of successes to its name  - with no core funding for its operation it has been extremely successful in making better use of existing resources, attracting external funding and as a result has been the catalyst for positive developments on the ground.  These include a community transport initiative, establishment of a Healthy Living Network for older people, organisation of community conferences and support in setting up the wider Area Partnership for Kincardine and Mearns.

The partnership has always kept its focus on local issues, local solutions and local results.  A key to the success of this partnership has been the community development approach, which gives a crucial role to local people. A key current piece of work for the partnership is a community planning project.  This initiative has successfully focused on engaging “hard to reach” individuals in order to involve them in the community planning process – for example those in the 18 to 25 age bracket, those with disabilities, vulnerable older and younger people and those experiencing rural isolation.  A range of innovative methods have been piloted and the project is to report shortly to the Scottish Executive on findings.