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September 19, 2023
Phoenix rising
Those with long memories and an interest in local democracy, and community councils in particular, may remember the somewhat acrimonious circumstances that brought about the demise of the Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC) – the last time there was any kind of national umbrella body for community councils. Despite some efforts by third parties (currently the Improvement Service) to provide a central point of information for community councils, their collective voice at a national level has been silent. But if a group of community councillors from West Lothian have their way, a phoenix may yet arise from ASCC’s ashes.
Scottish Forum of Community Councils Newsletter Issue 1
Welcome to the first issue of the Scottish Forum of Community Councils newsletter!
We are excited to launch this newsletter as a way to connect with Community Councils across Scotland and share information about the work that we are doing.
We hope to build the Scottish Forum to be the national umbrella body for Community Councils in Scotland and represent its 1,200 Community Councils, made up of volunteers who are passionate about making a difference in their communities.
Our mission is to support Community Councils to be effective advocates for their communities and to provide them with the resources they need to succeed.
In this newsletter, we will be sharing news about the Scottish Forum as well as articles about Community Councils, information from organisations that can help Community Councils and important issues affecting communities across Scotland.
We hope you will find this newsletter informative and useful. If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Next Steps for the Scottish Forum
The proposal to form a Scottish Forum of Community Councils has received an overwhelmingly positive response and so we are now taking the following initial steps to move it forward:
▪Formed a Short Life Steering Group to get things off the ground.
▪Investigating sources of funding.
▪ Reaching out to Community Councils that have not yet engaged to build support.
▪Working towards holding another online Scottish Conference in early autumn.
The Steering Group have drafted a Terms of Reference for the Scottish Forum.
An Engagement Report has been produced to analyse the figures for engagement from the Scottish Conference and identify which Local Authorities need to be engaged with more effectively.
Join the Scottish Forum of Community Councils
Community Councils are invited to officially Join the Scottish Forum. Once we can demonstrate that a majority of Community Councils have signed up, we will be in a much stronger position to secure funding to take the Scottish Forum forward. We would be grateful if you could discuss this at your next meeting and decide if your Community Council would like to be involved.