What is Community Planning?
Community planning is the process through which the connections between national priorities decided by the Scottish Executive and those at Highland, local and neighbourhood levels are improved.
It is about making sure that people and communities in the Highlands are genuinely engaged in making decisions on public services which affect them.
It requires a commitment from organisations in the Highlands to work together, not apart, in providing better public services. It provides the over-arching partnership framework within which other initiatives and partnerships can be co-ordinated and, where necessary, acting to rationalise and simplify public sector working arrangements. In Highland community planning involves representatives of the voluntary and business sectors as well as public sector agencies.
Within the Highlands the partnership charged with responsibility for ensuring the people and communities are genuinely engaged in making decisions on public services which affect them is the Highland Wellbeing Alliance.
Connecting local and national priorities
Making explicit connections between the Highland Community Plan and local priorities and actions will be a key activity to 2024. During this period current and emerging local community planning partnerships (LCCPs) will be supported. Formal arrangements for LCCPs have been established across all eight areas within Highland. These are based on the eight administrative areas operated by Highland Council and are facilitated by the Council’s Area Managers. Arrangements in each area will be fit for purpose. There is local variation between LCCPs, although the following guiding principles have been relevant.
- LCPPs must reflect public, private and voluntary sector interests for their area;
- Their role will concentrate on identifying local action to deliver local priorities, set in the context of the Highland Plan's seven priority areas of action, and through the involvement of local communities;
- LCPPs should be dynamic with a membership which reflects changing needs (e.g. the new Community Health Partnerships – CHPs);
- Existing local partnerships will need to be rigorously examined to decide how they can best interact with the LCPP, or indeed whether they should be dissolved and their agenda absorbed into the LCPP;
- LCPPs will provide the key route for communication and links with the pan-Highland Wellbeing Alliance on community planning issues.
Community involvement
Not only do public sector organisations need to strengthen a joint-working culture and practice between each other but also with and between communities. Highland Wellbeing Alliance recognises that these relationships require considerable levels of support and action in order to enable full community participation in the community planning process to take place.
Community engagement will be developed to new standards and will be supported by activities under the Community Learning and Development Strategy to strengthen the capacity of communities to become increasingly involved in the process of planning and delivery of services.
