Author: Galloway Gazette

Community councils in Galloway forced to disband last week over failure to ratify a constitution will be able to re-establish themselves as soon as July, council chiefs announced yesterday.

A spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway Council said: “By-elections will be held on July 7, and 33 of these communities have applied to be re-established. The remaining communities are considering next steps or planning to apply for re-establishment in the near future.

“Prior to this, one community council was already considering establishing itself as a community group rather than a formal community council, and they have now confirmed they wish to do so.

“We will now be in contact with the 33 community councils to advise them of the process which will now be followed.

“Community councils play a vital role in our local communities across a range of issues.

“We recognise the time that individuals devote voluntarily to service their communities.

“During April, we confirmed, following legal advice, that 37 community councils had dissolved themselves for failing to properly adopt constitutions. This followed a complaint by a member of the public and was not a position we wanted community councils to be in, so council staff have been working to ensure these groups can be re-established at the earliest opportunity. A notice of election to seek nominations in the affected communities will be placed in the local press in the coming weeks.

At a meeting in Kirkcudbright on Wednesday evening, ex-members of the dissolved community councils decided to write jointly to the council about what one community representative called “its high-handed”. He added: “We all agreed that the council has overstepped the mark.

“Those at the meeting expect an apology and a reversal of the dissolution of nearly half the community councils in the region, which many regard as ultra vires and an affront to local democracy.”

John Thom, the provost of New Galloway, added: “We will be carrying on as normal and representing the community as best we can, sitting as the Royal Burgh Council – which was never repealed.”

One of the serious problems now faced by some local communities is the disruption of emergency services set up to respond to adverse weather and the withdrawal of insurance cover by the Regional Council.

In Newton Stewart, ex-members of Cree Valley Community Council, which was also dissolved, held an emergency meeting last Thursday night when all agreed they would stand for election but following that process though could delay getting a representative body for the area until the autumn.

A statement from the group said: “The volunteers who were elected to serve on the Cree Valley Community Council were actively involved in many ongoing issues in its area. Issues such as, flood prevention, flood resilience, repairs and cleaning of the Cree Bridge and the Earl of Galloway Monument, refurbishment of the foot path from Ewart Drive to Windsor Road, repairs to pavements including the installation of tactile slabs where appropriate, improvements to the A75 junctions at Palnure and New Galloway road junction, Christmas lights installation and removal, bus route negotiations, waste recycling issues, planning applications as well as the distribution of the wind farm community fund and the joint operation to collect and distribute the flood fund donations with Newton Stewart Initiative.

“We regret that all this work is now on hold until the group can re-establish itself, this could take up to three months to organise, however all elected members have agreed to stand again for election and we hope that we can get back to working for our community with the help of the local authority and without delay.

Author: SCDC

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act was given Royal Assent on 24th July 2015. It has three main areas of focus: strengthening community planning to give communities more say in how public services are to be planned and provided; the extension of the community right to buy, or otherwise have greater control over assets; and new rights enabling communities to identify needs and issues and request action to be taken on these – these are called participation requests.

The legislation on participation requests provides a process for communities to request to work alongside public sector bodies to improve outcomes, and sets out duties on how public service authorities deal with such requests. They provide an opportunity for communities to set the agenda around how to tackle the needs or issues they have identified, and to become involved in helping to achieve the changes or improvements they are looking for.

Scottish Government regulations will provide more detail about how participation requests will work in practice. Statutory guidance will provide advice about how they should be used by communities and public service authorities. The Scottish Government is now consulting widely on the development of the regulations and statutory guidance. View the Scottish Government consultation here.

SCDC has produced a briefing which explains this process in more detail. We will also be supporting the formal Scottish Government consultation by working with a wide range of people from communities of place and interest to inform the draft regulations and the content of the statutory guidance.

Get involved

We are inviting anyone from community groups and networks, and people working with communities, to give us their views on participation requests. We want to hear about ways in which they could be used, what the process of raising a participation request should be, what support and information might be needed to use the legislation, and how they should be promoted. Your feedback will help inform the regulations and statutory guidance which will accompany the Act.

We will be running a series of focus groups followed by an online survey (later in spring) to gather your views. Local focus groups will be held in the following locations on the following dates:

18th April (morning)                       Kilmarnock                                          Ayrshire College 

25th April (afternoon)    Stirling Volunteer Scotland

10th May (morning)        Dundee **FULL**          DCA

11th May (afternoon)    Inverness            Spectrum Centre

19th May (morning)        Edinburgh           Scottish Storytelling Centre

24th May (morning)        Glasgow **FULL**         Betty’s Room, EVH

In addition to these local focus groups, we will be organising two focus groups for national organisations. These will take place in the afternoon of the Edinburgh and Glasgow dates above. If you are interested in attending either of these discussions, please select this option at the surveymonkey link below.

If you are interested in the participation request process or would like to be involved in any way in contributing your views then we’d be delighted to hear from you. To note interest please enter your details and preferences for involvement at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BBTDVVR. You can also keep up to date on Twitter and Facebook.

Alternatively, contact Andrew Paterson at SCDC direct on andrew.paterson@scdc.org.uk

Participation requests have the potential to provide communities with the power to set the agenda around the issues that are important to them. The regulations and statutory guidance will help shape how this new power will work in practice. Don’t miss this opportunity influence how participation requests can empower communities.

Author: Laura Sturrock, Kirkintilloch Herald

The newly formed Association of Community Councils has condemned the massive funding cuts being imposed by East Dunbartonshire Council on them.

The basic grant to Community Councils in East Dunbartonshire is being axed across the board. In one case alone Baldernock Community Council faces a 49 per cent cut.

Gordon Carmichael, convenor of the Association of East Dunbartonshire Community Councils, said: “In March last year, the chairs and convenors of each Community Council were invited by the council leader, Councillor Geekie, to consider how we might work together to improve the worsening relationship between this local authority and the 12 Community Councils in the area.

“Since then our Association has been formed, and a major strategy has been to establish a collaborative approach to this working relationship.

“Our members have been working extremely hard to enhance this relationship but this most recent and major decision by the council, made without any prior discussion or consultation, completely undermines our members work and betrays any trust we were building. If anything, it serves as evidence of just how challenging our task has been.

“Furthermore, to unilaterally impose the same cut to each Community Council, irrespective of the size of the population which they represent and serve, displays a wanton disregard for the impact of such financial constraints.”

Community Councils have a statutory function and provide an interface between the people of their area and their local authority. Community Council members give their time voluntarily, but there are significant administrative costs incurred to ensure properly managed Community Councils can perform their function and provide community interaction.

The recent Community Empowerment Bill legislation calls on communities to stand up and take on a role to improve the environment, services and wellbeing of their communities.

Mr Carmichael added: “Cutting funding to the point of exterminating a Community Council goes completely against the grain of this new legislation. The Association has written to Council Officers seeking reconsideration of this measure.”

Author: Emily Watts, The Big Lunch

The Big Lunch is all set for 12th June, encouraging millions of people all over the UK to get together with their neighbours.

Now in its eighth year, the idea from the Eden Project, made possible by the Big Lottery Fund, is the perfect recipe for having fun with your neighbours, feeding community spirit and helping to build stronger neighbourhoods.

This year there is more reason than ever to get involved and join the fun, as the annual event will take place on Sunday, June 12 2016, the same day as The Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations.

*85% of Big Lunch participants from 2015 said it made them feel better about their neighbourhood; 8 out of 10 people have kept in touch with people they met at Big Lunches in previous years; Participants said the best three parts of their Big Lunch in 2015 were: 1. A great sense of community, 2. Enjoying good food and 3. Meeting new people.

Emily Watts, The Big Lunch Programme Country Manager for Scotland, said: “What The Big Lunch does is give neighbours a reason to come together. Every year more people join in; in 2015 we had more than seven million participants UK wide, and we’re aiming for 10 million this year. We’re hoping that 10% of that number will be in Scotland.

It doesn’t matter if you’re holding a street party, a barbeque, or a picnic in the park – people are the key ingredient. It’s all about connecting people to create stronger communities. This year the Community Empowerment team at the Scottish Government have given us a fund to offer £150 grants to communities to help more people take part.  You can apply on our website until the 30th April. 

Big Lunches build friendships and create ‘human warming’ – communities where people start to share more, from conversation and ideas, to skills and resources and it makes them stronger.”

Last year communities came together for The Big Lunch in Glasgow; Overtoun Park in Rutherglen, Dennistoun and at Bishopbriggs High; in Edinburgh in Newhaven, Willowbrae and Leith; in Angus in Brechin and Kirriemuir, Linlithgow and Winchburgh and in Dumfries in Stakeford and Annan.

For people interested in getting involved this June, free packs and event resources are now available from www.thebiglunch.com. These include invitations and posters to adapt for communities as well as lots of ideas and info to help get the ball rolling.

Author: John Harris, The Guardian

Imagine a Britain where the government pays every adult the basic cost of living. Whether rich or poor – or, crucially, whether you’re in paid employment or not – everyone gets the same weekly amount, with no strings attached. The harsh, punitive model of modern “welfare” is a distant memory; passing in and out of employment in the so-called gig economy is now something everyone can afford. The positive consequences extend into the distance: women are newly financially independent and able to exit abusive relationships, public health is noticeably improved, and people are able to devote the time to caring that an ever-ageing society increasingly demands. All the political parties are signed up: just as the welfare state underpinned the 20th century, so this new idea defines the 21st.

Welcome to the world of a unconditional basic income, or UBI, otherwise known as citizens’ income or social wage. It might look like the stuff of absurd utopianism, but the idea is now spreading at speed, from the fringes of the left into mainstream politics – and being tried out around the world. The UK Green party has supported the notion for decades: staunch backing for a version of UBI was one of its key themes at the last election. At its spring conference last month, the Scottish National Party passed a motion supporting the idea that “a basic or universal income can potentially provide a foundation to eradicate poverty, make work pay and ensure all our citizens can live in dignity”. A handful of Labour MPs have started to come round to the idea – and serious work is being done among thinktanks and pressure groups, looking at how it might work in the here and now.

Meanwhile, there have been UBI-type policies and experiments in India and Brazil. These have suggested that, contrary to modern stereotypes about “welfare” sapping people’s initiative, a basic income might actually increase people’s appetite for work, by adding to their sense of stability, and making things such as childcare and transport more accessible. A pilot of a UBI-ish policy whereby people on benefits are paid unconditionally is happening in Utrecht, in the Netherlands; other Dutch towns and cities look set to follow its example, and there are plans to pilot a more ambitious kind of basic income in Finland. On 5 June, the Swiss will vote in a referendum on a plan that would see all adults receive about £1,700 a month, with an extra £400 for each child.

And then there is the rising noise from Silicon Valley. The California-based startup incubator Y Combinator has announced that it wants to fund research into UBI’s viability. Its president, Sam Altman, says: “It is impossible to truly have equality of opportunity without some version of guaranteed income.” In New York, the influential venture capitalist Albert Wenger has been sounding off about a basic income for at least three years, claiming it offers an answer to a very modern question. If, as he says, “we are at the beginning of the time where machines will do a lot of the things humans have traditionally done”, how do you avoid “a massive bifurcation of society into those who have wealth and those who don’t”?

The idea of UBI has been around for years, voiced by such people as Thomas Paine, Martin Luther King and Milton Friedman…….to continue to read the rest of the article click here

Author: Big Lottery in Scotland

From ancient woodlands to small plots of amenity land, the Scottish Land Fund is helping seven enterprising communities to take ownership of local land that matters most to them.

Over £1.2 million is being awarded to groups in Aberdeenshire, Highlands, North Ayrshire and West Lothian. Projects include two community buyouts under the National Forest Land Scheme, as well as a land purchase within Scotland’s first Geopark.

In Aberdeenshire, the Maryculter Woodlands Trust will now be able to take forward a long held ambition of owning the 67 hectare Kirkton of Maryculter Wood. The local community has managed the forest, under agreement with Forestry Commission Scotland, since 2007 and will now, thanks to a grant of £196,000, be able to own and develop it for future generations to come. The award will help to secure the future of the woodland as a community asset, allowing the trust to build on the existing use of the wood as an educational resource, to create new opportunities for volunteering, training and skills development and to initiate a range of income generating activities.

Ed Thorogood, Chair, Maryculter Woodlands Trust said: “Gaining support from the Scottish Land Fund is life-changing news for us. We are also very grateful to our own supportive community and to those who put the framework in place which helps communities take ownership of their local woods. We look forward to continuing our work with the community and network of local organisations to help improve the habitat and amenity value still further. We are particularly pleased with the number of educational groups, including the Kincardineshire Forest School and The Green School of Aberdeen, which want to work with us to develop the educational value of the wood.”

Plans to develop Scotland’s first Geopark have received a welcome Scottish Land Fund investment of £54,000. Scourie Community Development Company will use the funding to purchase 1.76 hectares of land known as the Doctor’s Park located in Scourie, Sutherland. Once in community ownership, the Company plan to build a Geocentre Visitor attraction as a focal point for the wider North West Highlands Geopark. This will house the renowned Shelley Collection of rocks, minerals and gemstones and will become an educational resource for visiting schools and universities, whilst contributing to the local economy.

Scourie Community Development Company Ltd Chairman, Neil MacDonald, said: “This Scottish Land Fund award is excellent news and will allow us to move forward in partnership with North West Highlands Geopark Ltd. Our ambitious plan to build an exhibition centre and community hub will be a fantastic asset to the North West Highlands, with the world-class Shelley Collection being displayed to its full potential.”

Minister for Land Reform, Aileen McLeod, said, “It is great news that the latest round of awards from the Scottish Land Fund will help seven communities in Aberdeenshire, Highlands, North Ayrshire and West Lothian bring land in into community ownership. These communities have the desire to help shape their own future and have developed their own plans that will help them to transform their communities, and bring a host of benefits, economic, social and environmental.

“These projects, together with the wider Scottish Government work on Land Reform, through both the Community Empowerment Act, and the Land Reform Bill, will support the Scottish Government aim of bringing more land into community ownership by 2020.  I am looking forward to watching these communities thrive as they develop the land on which they live and work to realise their goals and ambitions.”

Scottish Land Fund Committee Chair, John Watt, said: “These projects are excellent examples of how local communities can transform ambition into reality. From a dynamic forestry buyout in Aberdeenshire to the creation of a valuable tourist attraction in Scourie, these awards will help to deliver social, environmental and economic benefits for generations to come. Each of today’s seven successful groups has worked hard to get to this point and I wish them all every success as they take forward their innovative plans.”

The First Minister announced in her Programme for Government that the Scottish Land Fund will be increased to £10 million from 2016-20.

Other Scottish Land Fund awards receiving funding today are:

Glengarry Community Woodlands

Award: £224,000

This group will purchase Glengarry Wood and the former Forestry Commission Depot at Invergarry, Inverness-shire under the National Forest Land Scheme bringing 30 hectares of woodland into community ownership.

Morvern Community Development Company

Award: £127,000

This group based in the Highlands will purchase two plots of land in Lochaline on the Morvern peninsula, one plot under the National Forest Land Scheme. The plots will be developed to provide sites for new affordable housing, visitor accommodation and a heritage centre/gift shop in the centre of the village, to meet the needs of this remote rural community.

Stratherrick and Foyers Community Trust Ltd

Award: £28,200

This group will purchase 2.22 hectares of land adjacent to Riverside, Lower Foyers, Inverness-shire. Ownership will empower the community to lead and control the management and development of the land to provide an area of green-space within the village for social, recreational and sporting activities that will help contribute to the health and well-being of the community.

Kirknewton Community Development Trust

Requested amount: £60,000

This group will purchase land at Camps Junction, Kirknewton, West Lothian. Ownership will empower the community to lead and control the development of the site to provide new, low-energy, affordable houses which will be made available for local elderly people to rent.

Beith Community Development Trust

Award: £512,200

This group will purchase the former Geilsland House and School Campus, located in Beith, North Ayrshire. This will create new job opportunities through the development of the various buildings to support activities such as self-catering accommodation and business start-ups.

Author: Voluntary Arts Scotland

Local People Leading position statement on…….Voluntary Arts

When the people behind Christmas show alter:nativity talk about ‘community spirit’, they’re not just paying lip service to it. Ninety performers from four rural villages in Aberdeenshire (Birse, Ballogie, Finzean and Strachan) came together to stage this modern day nativity, ranging in age from 4 months to late 60s, plus two sheep and a donkey.

Inspired by recent events in Syria, the show paralleled the traditional nativity story, likening Joseph and Mary to today’s refugees fleeing their homeland in search of a safe haven.

While the performers rehearsed, the backstage crew built a stage – aided by two farmers who created seating from 120 straw bales – and a professional sound and lighting engineer was hired to mentor the amateur techies.

Open days were held, to give newcomers to the community a chance to engage with neighbours, and ‘rusty’ musicians dusted off their instruments and formed the show band.

From the start of the performance, the audience was engaged with the refugee theme – tickets stated that people should arrive in shared transport, carry sufficient bedding and hot drinks, and be prepared to complete paperwork. On arrival, they were made to queue, given ‘rations’ and marched to their seats after being ‘processed’.

“The audience was given three labels, with ‘hope’, ‘love’ and ‘fear’ written on them. They were asked to write their dearest wish on the first one – which was then read out during the performance. They were encouraged to pass on the ‘love’ label to their nearest seated neighbour – and then throw the ‘fear’ label in a fire on the way out.

“This was the first time in local memory that an outdoor play had been performed, and was about much more than the two actual performances – it was as much about the preparation and residual positive impact it had on the local community.” – Guy Haslam, alter:nativity

www.facebook.com/PLAY-2015-1172823069401066/

Author: Midlothian Advertiser

Midlothian groups are flocking to “adopt” local stations to make railway platforms and surroundings more welcoming and people-friendly.

“Travellers will soon see the fruit of plans to improve the appearance of Eskbank, Gorebridge, Newtongrange and Shawfair stations, together with Galashiels and Stow,” said Carol Byers, chairman of the Borders Railway Community Partnership (BRCP), which is backing the grass-roots initiative along with operator Abellio ScotRail.

Planters and other floral displays are foremost in the ambitions of groups such as the Rotary Club of Dalkeith, which has pledged active interest in Midlothian’s busiest station, Eskbank.

A trio of community bodies – Gorebridge Cares, Community Council and Gorebridge Development Trust – are promoting use of the former stationmaster’s house at Gorebridge.

Newtongrange, linked to the attraction by a wheelchair-friendly walkway, will be looked after by the National Mining Museum.

Tending of Shawfair is planned by Esk Valley Rotary Club.

“Groups are modelling their involvement on successful practice elsewhere in the UK where rail usage is booming and a more positive feeling of ownership is being enjoyed by customers towards their local railhead,” said Ms Byers.

“Overall cleanliness and appearance of infrastructure and landscaped areas will remain the responsibility of ground maintenance staff who will work closely with adopters towards the same objective – a station the community can be proud of.”

ScotRail’s external affairs manager, John Yellowlees, added: “Our adopt a station policy is about putting stations at the heart of their communities, and we are delighted that all along the new Borders Railway community groups are showing such interest in taking its stations to their hearts.”

The adopter teams modelled on others already formed at Newcraighall and Brunstane were named following recent talks at each of the stations on the Borders Railway with representatives of Scotrail and the Borders Railway Community Partnership.  Community groups adopt new Midlothian stations.

Author: Jim Withers, Respite Now.

Peace of Mind, a collaborative project between Respite Now C.I.C. and SPAEN, was awarded funding through the Scottish Government’s Self-Directed Support “Innovation” fund is about to host it’s first open day on the Isle of Arran. 

“We’ve invited community leaders, community groups, local service providers and interest groups to come along and meet people from their communities who are furthest removed and excluded due to disability; long-term impairment or health condition” explains SPAEN CEO and project co-founder, Colin Millar

“Many of these people are still reporting they are socially isolated and excluded; they perhaps don’t know what’s going on in their local communities and are unable to share and participate in community life.”

“Often, their basic support needs are met but their social interactions are extremely limited,” says Jim Withers, Director of Respite Now and co-founder of the project. 

“Respite Now and SPAEN recognised through our own experiences that this remains a problem for so many people being supported in the community so we decided that it was time to shift the community care model on and drive proper integration and interaction at a local level.” 

The project has been working hard to engage with the local authority councils in the target area but this has been difficult as much of the focus was on preparing for the integration of health & social care.  However, Colin explains the referrals are now starting to come in and there’s a real excitement about the project and what it could achieve.

“We’ve been working with web developers to identify ways of drawing communities together online in the first stage,” he advises. 

“This will include an online referral form for people using self-directed support, either through self-referral or a 3rd party referral with the individual’s consent, but it will also evolve to allow people to look online and very quickly identify activities and hubs in their area that they might want to try or engage with. 

“The fully interactive map will also allow potential Personal Assistants or carers to self-identify support opportunities based on their location, availability, skills set and interests. The project will then facilitate matching employers to employees and community based activities.”

What are the next steps for the project?

“We want to replicate the model across Scotland,” Jim advises.  “We started in Ayrshire as we have a base in Cumnock, but eventually we want Peace of Mind community hubs starting up all over Scotland.  Everyone should have the same opportunities to participate in their community and we believe this model will help cultivate that.”

The Peace of Mind team are hosting an open day at the Ormindale Pavilion on the Isle of Arran on Wednesday 25th May (all comers welcome) and are planning further information and engagement days throughout Ayrshire in the coming months.

You can find out more about the project by visiting www.peaceofmind.scot or through their social media channels (twitter.com/PoM_Scotland) and (Facebook.com/POMScotland).  Enquiries also welcome to info@peaceofmind.scot

Highland Council

Agenda – 10th March 2016

Proposal to Establish a Commission on Highland Democracy

Background

1.1 The Highland Council has taken a keen interest in the work of the Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy and the report it published in 2014: ‘Effective Democracy: Reconnecting with Communities’ . The Council debated the report at the Council meetings on 30th October 2014 and 12th March 2015.

1.2 The report contained 25 recommendations. They are appended. Most require consideration nationally (some now feature in the Community Empowerment legislation) and others are aimed at local government and Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs). For local government it is recommended that Councils revisit their scheme of decentralisation and adopt a process of participatory budgeting. For CPPs it is recommended that CPPs work with communities to design and implement a clear empowerment scheme and that they develop an approach to community scrutiny to complement existing arrangements.

1.3 Importantly the Commission saw its work as the start of a process and called for new conversations to rebuild democracy, and for that to bring in many voices and perspectives ‘..to come together to learn, challenge, and explore inspiring ideas. To be effective that must be genuinely inclusive of communities of interest and place, and with cross party buy in.’ (p37) The Commission sees the work required as a long term endeavour, over a 10 to 15 year period and called for new democratic experiments across Scotland.

1.4 From March to December 2015 strengthening local democracy has been raised at every Council meeting. In October 2015 Members agreed a localism action plan that includes:

 • The establishment of seven new local committees with new and emerging local powersi . They will all have met for the first time by the time of the Council meeting in March 2016.

• New joint work with partners to develop local community planning arrangements.

 • Trialling participatory budgeting (PB) in several locations. By the end of March 2016 PB will have taken place using ward discretionary budgets in Lochaber, Caithness and Nairn, with events being planned for Sutherland, Skye, Inverness West and possibly Badenoch and Strathspey. A masterclass for Members is scheduled for the afternoon of 24th March 2016.

• Establishing a strategic Committee for Communities and Partnerships with a remit that includes overseeing the approach to implementing the new duties on the Council arising from the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act, 2015.

• A programme of work to implement the Act including how to respond well to participation requests from community bodies and supporting asset transfers to community organisations.

• Developing transformation projects that support community participation in service delivery.

 • The development of a training programme for staff, partners and Members to support local community planning and new public participation methods.

 • Campaigning activity that seeks further devolution of power to Highland including providing views on a proposed Islands Bill, Scotland Bill and Land Reform Bill and supporting the Seven Cities Strategy and City/Region Deal.

1.5 At the December 2015 Council meeting the first revisions to the Scheme of Delegation were agreed and Members noted that a proposal for a Highland Commission on Democracy would be brought back for consideration.

 1.6 All of these actions support the commitments in the Highland First Programme to strengthen local democracy, empower communities including in the running of services and develop local community planning.

1.7 The Highland Community Planning Partnership also has a commitment to engage in dialogue with communities in order to empower them to participate in service planning and delivery. It has new duties arising from the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to involve people and communities in decisions affecting them.

1.8 It is worth noting that there is appetite among the Highland public for greater involvement in decisions that affect them. In 2014 the results from the Council’s Citizens’ Panel showed that:

• 77% were interested in the democratic process;

 • 69% would like to be involved in decisions-making in their area or in the country; and

• 48% agreed that every citizen should get involved in democracy if it is to work properly However the survey also showed that:

• only 20% agree that the Council involves people in how it spends money; and

• only 18% feel they have any influence over decision-making in their local area.

2. Proposal for a Commission on Highland Democracy

2.1 It is proposed that the Highland Commission would follow up the national Commission’s recommendation to continue conversations locally about the kind of democracy we want to have in the Highlands. This could include gathering a wide range of views from communities, community councils and community organisations on how best to enable public participation in decisions about public services and how to encourage good democratic practise. It could help to inform the development of the Council’s localism action plan and generate increased public interest and turnout in elections.

 2.2 The questions the Commission could pose might include:

 1. Are the current and new arrangements the best arrangements for community choice and voice in Council decision-making and, if not, what alternatives would communities wish to see?

2. What is engagement like with other public bodies and do communities seek to engage differently with them?

3. Specifically, if change is necessary, is it to the spatial scale and empowerment of local decision making; is it about making the process more accessible and “user friendly” to communities; is it about ensuring no-one is excluded; is it about attitudes, behaviour and practice; or is it about other factors (such as financial constraint)?

4. Do communities feel well supported to participate, and do they feel that their participation would actually have an impact? If not, what support and facilitation would be necessary to give communities the confidence that participation is possible and worthwhile?

5. Do communities want to be more directly involved in the running of local facilities and public services and, if so, what sort of involvement do they want and what sort of support do they need?

6. More broadly, what can we learn from research and international evidence on areas similar to the Highlands about innovative and effective models for decentralisation, public participation and community empowerment?

2.3 The views gathered on these questions could offer insight not only to the Council in how it should operate but also to others, including Community Councils, our community planning partners (public bodies and third sector organisations) and potentially influence policy at a national level. The Council has an ambition to be at the forefront of bringing democracy closer to communities and the Commission would support this aim.

2.4 Following the example of the Commission nationally it is proposed that up to 15 Commissioners with a range of perspectives would be appointed to explore these issues with communities across the Highlands. These would not have to be paid positions.

2.5 The Council Leader has engaged Rory Mair CBE, the former Chief Executive of Cosla and resident of the Highlands, to develop the Commission proposals further. As part of this he will liaise with Group Leaders to discuss a range of issues around the establishment of the Commission, including the identification of potential Commissioners. He will also engage with external stakeholders, especially community planning partners.

2.6 A number of key issues will be explored in the course of this engagement, including:

• What should the provenance of the Commission be and who would it report to?

• How independent should the Commission be, or need to be?

• How should the Commission’s proposals inform the Council’s new design work?

• How to involve our community planning partners in supporting and engaging with the Commission, potentially to affecting their current practice too?

• Would the Scottish Government be interested in supporting it?

• Are there other issues for the Commission to explore?

• Are there areas that should be out of scope for consideration?

 • How would Commissioners be selected and to reflect diversity?

• How should the Commission be resourced?

2.7 A further report providing members with an update on progress will be brought to Council in May.