Review Of Community Councils - 3 Month Consultation

17th January 2019

The Highland Council has agreed a review of the Highland Scheme of Establishment for Community Councils as required under section 53 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

The draft proposals to amend the Scheme are based on the feedback from Community Councils during the initial phase of engagement between August and November 2018.

A three-month public consultation will now take place on the draft proposals to amend the Scheme. Community Councils and members of the public will have the opportunity to comment and submit representations on the draft proposals and also submit any further proposed amendments to the Scheme.

The draft proposals include formalising youth membership as a positive way to hear youth voices, to focus on youth issues and to build links with schools. This would give the option to allow two additional places for 14-18 year olds with full voting rights.

The feedback will be reviewed by the Community Council Steering Group and any proposed changes will be considered by the May meeting of the Council prior to a final period of public consultation on the amendments. Members will be asked to agree to the revised Scheme at a Special Meeting of the Council in June. The new Scheme is proposed to commence from the November 2019 elections.

Sinclair's Bay; Dunnet and Canisbay Community Councils were both earmarked to be broken up under the Council's original proposals.

In Caithness Community councillors were concerned that boundary change proposals would not be good for the area. The Caithness main Highland councillors discussed this matter and agreed with them. Councillors in Caithness were in agreement to oppose the boundary changes.

At a meeting on 14th January 2019 Bill Mowat the vice-chair of Dunnet and Canisbay community council said " very strong opposition was unanimously expressed by all present over the Council's preliminary plans to dismember the body.

Cllr Andrew Sinclair said "I spoke with senior officers and with the Deputy Leader of the Council. Together we were able to negotiate a compromise whereby the drastic changes to Sinclair's Bay and Dunnet and Canisbay were removed from the recommendations.

Councillor Nicola Sinclair said, ‘I am pleased that Caithness councillors were able to have the proposed boundary changes removed after some very persuasive and passionate representations from our community councils. As I stated at the meeting, we claim to be a ‘listening Council' so it was important that we listened to local views and acted accordingly. I am grateful to Cllr Andrew Sinclair for negotiating the change behind the scenes and proud of the fact that all the Caithness councillors worked together on this, as we do on most subjects regardless of political colour. Going forward I'd like to see more radical changes to support and empower community councils and I’ll keep pushing for that.’

Deputy Leader Cllr Alasdair Christie said: "I am delighted with the very positive engagement that we have had so far with Community Councils on the review. The discussions to date have been open and honest and I look forward to the next phase of the public consultation. I would encourage all Community Councils and the wider public to respond and to have their say on the draft proposals agreed and also other ideas they may have."

Details of the consultation can be found on the Council's website at www.highland.gov.uk/schemereview