Taking forward community partnerships in Ross and Cromarty
At today’s (Wednesday 3 August) meeting of the Ross and Cromarty Committee councillors were given a progress report and had the chance to discuss the work underway to create three new community partnerships within the area to support local planning arrangements.
The Highland Community Planning Partnership Board agreed at their meeting on 29th and 30th June to establish 9 local partnerships across the Highlands. For the Ross and Cromarty Committee area the 3 local community partnerships will be;
- East Ross Community Partnership
- Mid-Ross Community Partnership
- Skye, Lochalsh and Wester Ross Community Partnership
Under the terms of the Community Empowerment Act, community planning is to become a shared duty facilitated by Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, NHS Highland and The Highland Council. Along with representation from the Third Sector, community planning will also involve a further 10 partners including SNH, SEPA, the Scottish Sports Council, HITRANS, Skills Development Scotland and Visit Scotland.
The Community Partnerships will replace the current District Partnership arrangements and the first meetings in Ross and Cromarty will take place from October this year onwards.
The core remit for the new Partnerships will be to:
• Develop Local Plans for Children and Adults
• Develop Locality Plans/Community Learning and Development plans focusing on communities facing the greatest level of inequality as a result of socio-economic disadvantage
• Identify local actions and priorities
Ross and Cromarty Committee Chair, Councillor Margaret Paterson said: “It’s been a good opportunity today to hear about the progress that has been made to get the new Partnerships set up and to discuss how they will operate as this new local level approach is a significant change for all partners and all Members will have a role to play.
“For me Community Planning is all about working effectively together to address local issues and priorities in order to benefit our communities and to tackle inequalities. I believe the new set up will give more flexibility and scope for local needs to be considered and reflected in decisions taken.
“I’m personally looking forward to working with so many partners and I’m sure the three Ross and Cromarty Community Partnerships will embrace their new duties and work very hard to improve people’s lives for the future.”