Agenda item

Shona Smith, from the Communities and Partnerships Team, was in attendance to give a presentation on the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.  In her introduction Ms Smith advised that although the Act received Royal Assent on 24 July 2015 it was recognised that further regulations and guidance were required for most parts of the legislation.  The Act was made up of 11 parts.  The presentation highlighted the main sections.  Part 2 was about Community Planning and more specifically local organisations working to benefit the local community.  This would be done through joint working, agreeing joint policies and making sure partners knew what each other was doing.  Community Planning Partners who had a statutory duty in this regard were Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Police Scotland, NHS Borders, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Borders Council.  The Local Outcomes Improvement Plan (LOIP), which replaced Single Outcome Agreements, would contain the outcomes for the Scottish Borders that were a priority for the Community Planning Partnership.  Appropriate community groups must be consulted when developing the LOIP.  Subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament the legislation would come into force on 20 December 2016. Locality plans focused on smaller areas, one of these being Eildon, and again appropriate community groups must be consulted as part of their development.  Part 3 of the Act concerned Participation Requests. Ms Smith explained that a Participation Request was a request from the community that asked for them to be involved in a process that would improve an outcome about which they would specify.  Under Part 4 of the Act communities with populations over 10,000, such as Hawick and Galashiels, would be able to use community right to buy.  Although there was previously a right to buy the Act would enable more community groups to buy land in this way.  Part 5 of the Act concerned Asset Transfer Requests.  Public Authorities would be required to publish a register of their assets.  Under the legislation a group would be able to make a request for the sale or lease of any land or building owned by a public authority.  Subject to approval of the Scottish Parliament, the legislation would come into force on 23January 2017.  With regard to Common Good property, under Part 8 of the Act, all Councils would have to create and publish a list of all common good property.  Councils would have to consult with Community Councils and other community groups before selling or changing the use of any common good property.  Part 9 of the Act concerned allotments and set out a standard size of 250 square metres.  Public decision making was covered in Part 10 of the Act.  This would give Scottish Ministers the power to require that public authorities, such as Scottish Borders Council, promoted and supported the involvement of the community in the decisions and activities of the organisation.  However, at present, the Ministers had not set out exactly what this will mean but reserved the right to do so at a later date. In response to a question about financial implications associated with implementation of the Act, Ms Smith explained that although there was no specific funding there was a recognised shift of funding from public bodies to community partners.

            DECISION

            NOTED the presentation.