Community Councils

The Council has approved a new Scheme of Establishment for Community Councils which came in to force on 1st April 2011.

Community Councils were established as a result of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

Community Councils have statutory duties in terms of licensing and planning however they are essentially voluntary bodies established within a statutory framework.

The key roles of Community Councils are:

To represent the views of the community to The Highland Council and other public bodies operating in their area
To act to further the interests of their communities
To be consulted on planning applications within their area (The Town & Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Scotland) Amendment Order 1996)
To consider exercising their powers to object to the granting, renewal or transfer of liquor licences. (The Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976)

A number of documents have been developed to assist Community Councils with these roles. For further details see 'current documents'.