Have your say about issues in your local community

Background

Your local Community Planning Partnership is asking community residents to help shape the decisions made about the services that affect them. It wants to set up Community Reference Groups (CRG’s) that will involve local people in the Community Planning process. We are looking for people who live in the area who have a passion for improving the lives of their community. The local Community Planning Partnership recognises the important role and knowledge that local people have about their communities and views their input as an essential part of the objective of improving public services and involving communities.

What is Community Planning?

Glasgow East has two Local Community Planning Partnerships

• Baillieston, Shettleston and Eastern Glasgow North East
• East Centre and Calton

Community Planning is about ensuring that public services are delivered in the most effective way possible to meet local needs by taking account of the views of communities.

Your local area (Baillieston, Shettleston and Eastern Glasgow North East) has a Local Community Planning Partnership (LCPP) which is committed to ensuring communities are fully engaged in the process. This leaflet sets out their proposals for improving and widening community involvement.

Glasgow Community Planning at city level has been developing with partners, including community representatives, the idea of the Community Reference Group. It is a new Glasgow wide approach to community engagement that aims to be more inclusive and to bring together a range of community interests, and to give the community a better voice in Community Planning. In addition to having community representation on the LCPP Boards they recognise that communities are diverse and require a variety of ways to get involved. The purpose of the CRG’s is to help deliver effective and inclusive community involvement.

What are Community Reference Groups’s (CRG’s)?

They are a way of linking community resident’s views, needs and aspirations with the organisations that deliver services in their area. They will be a panel of up to 20 residents that reflect the geographical and population mix of their communities. They are an opportunity to influence and make a difference in the decisions that are made about the community you live in.

What will they do?

The groups aim to improve Community Planning by ensuring wider community engagement. We recognise that people that live in an area have the knowledge and experience to improve their communities and to help shape decisions about issues that matter to them.

The groups will have a focus on what community engagement work is done in their area, including discussing what types of community engagement is appropriate. The issues that the groups will discuss will cover a range of public services, and the groups will discuss and contribute to proposals for their area.

The proposal

Your Local Community Planning Partnership Board (Baillieston, Shettleston and Greater Easterhouse) has approved proposals for three Community Reference Groups in the area that reflect the three electoral ward boundaries. The aim is that each CRG would consist of up to 20 local residents that reflect the diversity and equalities aspects within the area.

We aim to establish interim Community Reference Groups’s by the end of January 2008 and have organised a series of events to invite community residents to participate. By ‘interim’ we mean that we will set up initial groups in January that will work to establish the final Community Reference Groups by the end of March 2008.

A copy of the full paper ‘Establishing Community Reference Groups’ can be viewed at www.gcpl.org.uk/crgs.aspx  with the opportunity to comment on the proposals.

Support available

East Glasgow has a dedicated Community Engagement Team employed by the Glasgow East Regeneration Agency. They are a team of specialist support that will facilitate and support community residents on the CRG’s. This resource means that advice and support will be available locally for the Community Reference Groups to meet the challenges of these communities.

Why get involved?

This is an opportunity to make a difference in your community and to gain skills. We are inviting community residents to have a say in influencing what the groups do, how they work, who gets involved and more.

We have arranged 2 information sessions before Christmas as an early opportunity to find out more and in addition 3 meetings, for the 3 proposed Community Reference Group areas for Baillieston, Shettleston and Greater Easterhouse, in the New Year as a further opportunity to get involved.

Events are planned as follows;

Ways to find out more

If you are interested in finding out more about becoming involved in the Community Reference Groups please contact;

• Leah Rooney 0141 781 4193 or
• Cecilia O’Lone 0141 781 4194, Community Engagement Team or at communityengagement@gera.org.uk to have a chat or to register for one of the above events.

Glasgow Community Planning is looking for your views

For those who are interested, there is a city wide discussion with a range of stakeholders on the following questions. You can submit a response on the web link below or return your responses to;
Danny Crawford, Engagement Network Coordinator, Community Planning Ltd, Westwood Business Centre, Aberdalgie Road, G34 9HJ or Danny.Crawford@gcpl.org.uk

1. How can we make sure the CRGs will add value to the range of existing ways for communities to engage with Community Planning?

2. How do we make sure that a range of community interests within the area are able to participate, including ‘hard to reach’ groups and people with particular communication needs?

3. How far should places on the CRG be allocated to particular groups, neighbourhoods, and/or communities of interest, such as young people, black and minority ethnic communities, people with disabilities, etc?

4. How do we make sure that the CRGs have strong links to existing groups and structures, such as Community Councils, Public Partnership Forums, etc?

5. How do we make sure that CRGs are well linked with the community resident representatives (and substitutes) on the Local Community Planning Partnership Boards?

6. Are there any other comments you want to make?

A copy of the full paper ‘Establishing Community Reference Groups’ can be viewed at www.gcpl.org.uk/crgs.aspx