Our vision for community-led action plans

As part of SCDC’s response to the Scottish Government’s Democracy Matters consultation, we shared a vision for how community-led action plans could be used as the main means  to set out democratic community priorities leading to action action on local issues.

In our response, we said that:

• We think community-led action plans should be the starting point for expressed community views in other plans, and should have statutory recognition and a formal role.

• Community-led action plans should be the main means by which communities set the local agenda for action, either in the form of public service reform, co-production or pursuing independent community-led activities and regeneration.

• They should also be developed to actively consider how to involve the whole community including seldom heard voices, even if this has to be achieved over a longer period.

• Local action plans should be led by community anchor groups / networks people trust to work on their behalf, alongside local elected members. They should be supported to use credible, robust engagement processes which lead to high quality plans  with a clear vision and practical steps for achieving it in communities.

• Over time CAPs should become  the main source of  data, aspiration and local ideas which agencies preparing local service plans about areas should look to draw the issues at the heart of public locality planning.

In our experience communities who are already producing their own plans are excellent in thinking about actions which lead to preventative outcomes. This builds on their deep understanding of how issues  affect people lives in communities and what needs to be done to address needs leading to better outcomes for local people.