Revised scheme of establishment makes it easier for community council's to function

Published: 20 December 2018

Driven by existing community councils, residents and elected members, the new Scheme of Establishment for Community Councils (2018), as it's known, has gone through an extensive two-stage consultation process to produce a more comprehensive and easier to navigate set of documents.

The Scheme outlines the rights, responsibilities and obligations of both the community councils and Glasgow City Council and operating procedures for community councils. It also outlines the support that the council can provide to help groups develop and build capacity, including with increasing membership, conducting elections and managing assets and finances.

The review also changes some geographical boundaries to give a voice to local communities that historically have not been represented because their community council is inactive or they've not had enough members to form a constituted group.

This is the case in the north of the city, for example, where the areas of Balgrayhill and Petershill do not have enough members to form a community council in their own right. With agreement from Springburn Central Community Council and the Balgrayhill and Petershill residents who made representations, the area will now form a bigger Springburn Community Council.

The same is true in the south of the city where following representations from residents and elected members, the boundary will be amended between Levern and District and Darnley and South Park Village to bring the neighbourhood of Parkhouse and the area to the south within the boundary of Levern and District Community Council.

As autonomous bodies, one key addition to the new schemes the introduction of tools to help community councils monitor and evaluate themselves and their effectiveness. The results of the self-assessment tools can then be used in the future to develop the community council.

Following an eight day call-in period, after the City Administration Committee approves the report, if there are no further representations, the new scheme will be rolled out and all active community councils will be required to sign up to it by March 2019. Glasgow will then have 80 active community councils around the city, with provision for 94.

Councillor David McDonald, city convenor for communities, said: "Community councils are an important part of civic life. Among other things they can make formal representations on planning applications, make comment on licensing applications and apply for funding from the council for various ventures.

"We want to empower these groups to take more of an active role in influencing what happens in their local areas, after all no one knows better what an area needs than those who live in it.
"Having a clearer Scheme of Establishment, reviewed by the people who are using it, offers a solid foundation for our partnership working with them and helps us to effectively support these community groups in a variety of ways."

For more information on community councils visit https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=17326

All community council meetings are open to the public. To find your local community council visit https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=19531