MID TERM REVIEW OF COMMUNITY PLANNING THEMATIC ACTION PLANS (02/06/2009)

The twelve-year Community Plan, published by Community Planning Partners in April 2003, continues to be recognised as the sovereign strategic planning document for the delivery of public services in East Ayrshire. Sitting under the Community Plan is a series of Action Plans which have a four-year lifespan. To ensure that the Plan and the accompanying Action Plans remain up to date and take account of new and emerging issues the Plan is reviewed every four years and the related action plans every two years.

During the recent Mid Term Review, the Community Planning Partnership decided to reduce the Action Plans from six to four from 1 April 2009, as follows:

• Promoting Lifelong Learning Action Plan led by the Council’s Educational and Social Services.
• Improving Health and Wellbeing Action Plan led by East Ayrshire Community Health Partnership.
• Delivering Community Regeneration Action Plan led by the Council’s Department of Corporate Support.
• Improving Community Safety Action Plan will continue as previously, led by Strathclyde Police.

Promoting Lifelong Learning

The new Promoting Lifelong Learning Action Plan will ensure partnership working in relation to all aspects of lifelong learning. The priorities for action have been identified through consultation or needs analysis, and include partnership working to provide programmes, which meet individual young people’s needs through the Curriculum for Excellence and alternative curricular programmes, and support young people through the More Choices More Chances programmes.

In addition, priorities which aim to divert young people from addiction will be progressed, as will issues in relation to parenting, focusing not only on young people before they are parents but also parents themselves.

Actions relating to community capacity and support to voluntary organisations will remain as priorities, together with providing learning programmes to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of young people and adults, with the aim of improving people’s life opportunities at work, at home or in accessing public services such as health.

Delivering Community Regeneration

The focus of the new Delivering Community Regeneration Action Plan is on the key economic, environmental and social factors, which together contribute to community regeneration, and key actions include:

• making work pay by providing people with the skills and training they need to progress in or into work and realise their potential;
• supporting new businesses and, importantly, sustaining existing businesses;
• ensuring a robust transport infrastructure to support economic growth and regeneration through meeting the needs of business and the workforce, as well as residents and visitors;
• promoting tourism, and the wide variety of activity offered in relation to culture and leisure;
• maximising the potential for people to work by ensuring the provision of more accessible and affordable childcare;
• developing sustainable housing solutions;
• focusing on the physical regeneration of town centres and communities for the benefit of the people who live in them and to create the right environment for private and public investment; and
• continuing to protect our environment and respond to climate change.

Improving Community Safety

The existing key Aims for Improving Community Safety Action Plan will remain, with actions addressing the issues that affect our communities in relation to community safety as we go forward over the period 2009-11. The focus will remain on violent crime, anti social behaviour and vandalism, and actions will be introduced as necessary to effectively tackle these issues through partnership working.

Diversionary activity for young people, working with young offenders and tackling alcohol and drug misuse by young people remain priorities, and actions will build on and enhance the significant success of initiatives such as New Sporting Futures, and support Community Wardens to engage with young people in their communities.

Fire and road safety will remain priorities and, in addition, actions will be incorporated in relation to home and personal safety. Importantly, there will be a greater emphasis on issues surrounding Child Protection and domestic abuse.

Improving Health and Wellbeing

The Improving Health and Wellbeing Action Plan will be led by the Community Health Partnership and will integrate the improving health and wellbeing element of the Community Plan with wider agendas, such as Children and Young People’s Service Planning, Early Years, Leisure and Culture, and Joint Futures arrangements for health and social care.

The focus of the previous Improving Health Action Plan was on improving the health of the whole population and addressing health inequalities through targeted activity. The scope of the new Improving Health and Wellbeing Action Plan will be expanded to include activity in relation to:

• Shifting the Balance of Care – with an emphasis on partnership working to provide effective care in the community for older people, people with long term conditions, carers and people requiring rehabilitation; and
• Wellbeing – with an emphasis on financial inclusion in recognition of the impact of a benefit income, debt and an inability to access basic financial services on health and wellbeing.

Related to the following partners:
Strathclyde Police
Strathclyde Fire & Rescue
Scottish Enterprise
NHS Ayrshire & Arran
Coalfield Communities Federation
East Ayrshire Council
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport
Scottish Government
East Ayrshire North Communities Federation
Skills Development Scotland