Community Action Plans are integral to Community Planning in East Ayrshire. There are clear links with our Community Planning arrangements, ensuring that local people have a real voice and can influence the decisions which impact on their communities.
Locality based planning
The Action Plans also underpin the Community Planning Partnership’s approach to locality based planning, in line with the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, ensuring communities are empowered to plan, prioritise and progress community led regeneration in their area. Representatives from both the Community Councils and the Community Action Plan Forum now sit on the Community Planning Partnership Board.
The strength of locally led Community Action Plans is that they uniquely belong to the community and are informed by extensive community engagement prior to them being published. A plan is not active until at least 40% of households respond, certifying a community wide mandate.
The plans identify the priorities that the community feel are important to them and set out how they wish to pursue their goals and aspirations. This process is ensuring that local people have a real voice and can influence the decisions which impact on their communities.
Vibrant Communities and partner Community Action Plans
There have been 25 Community Action Plans facilitated by Vibrant Communities with an additional five partner plans that have been launched across East Ayrshire. The development of a Community Action Plan is entirely voluntary but Vibrant Communities has given a commitment to support any community who want to develop a plan.
Vibrant Communities support local communities through a process which empowers and builds the capacity of local people and facilitates the development of a five year Community Action Plan.