What are community-led action plans - and how do they work?

Community-led action plans (CAPs) are one way community groups can engage their community in conversations that lead to clear, detailed plans for how to improve services, the local environment or the local economy.

These are different from other forms of agency-led planning in that communities control their content and how to get local people meaningfully involved.

Community-led action plans have been around for around fifteen years in Scotland and are growing in importance. It has been known for a long time that involving local communities in deciding what matters and shaping what needs to be done about it is vital to maintaining  collective wellbeing, supporting regeneration where its needed and ensure they are sustainable for those living there. That is why this has always been a big part of what community development sets out to achieve.

When viewed alongside a  need to improve the targeting and design of local services and a growing need for more participatory democracy, finding an effective way to explore what local people think matters and turning  it into a plan for local action has meant that community-led action planning has become even more important.

How do Community-led action plans work?

Community action planning is a shared process  across communities. It involves a careful, planned approach to:

  • gathering and reflect community priorities

  • be  informed by good quality  community engagement with as many local people  as possible reflecting different experiences of living locally

  • ensuring  collaboration  – with agreed priorities  across the community and between communities  and agencies

  • focus on real action to achieve beneficial outcomes by agreeing which local groups and agencies will commit to turning local priorities into new projects, facilities and improved services.

Through our Supporting Communities programme we work with local organisations to either develop their own community-led action plans or Local Place Plans, describing local land use and  or to have a greater say in other local planning processes such as Locality Planning.