Caithness CWS - Front Page Bulletins - December 2004 - Communinty Plan Launch Highland

KEEPING HIGHLAND AS "THE NATURAL PLACE TO BE"
Launching The Second Community Plan For Highland 2004 - 2007
For Highland to remain a successful and attractive region in the coming 10-20 years, key local agencies, working with community groups, need to counter the worst effects of demographic change, tackle disadvantage and upgrade infrastructure.

Pictured at the launch of the second Community Plan for the Highlands are members of the community planning partnership, Highland Wellbeing Alliance, left to right: - Brian Murray, Firemaster, Willie Roe, Chairman, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Karen McInnes, Voluntary Action Highland, Alison Magee, Convener, The Highland Council, Garry Coutts, Chair, NHS Highland, David Nicol, Communities Scotland, Ian Latimer, Chief Constable.

This is the message from the community planning partners of the Highland Wellbeing Alliance, who launched their second Community Plan with a promise to work together to develop the economy; encourage learning and support communities to have a say in the services affecting them; improve health; increase the housing supply; improve transport; enhance culture and the environment; and develop safe, strong and attractive Highland communities.

The public sector partners in the Highland Wellbeing Alliance together have an annual budget of around ï¿½1 billion to provide services across the Highlands. They say the process of community planning will help inform how best to use the money by linking national and local priorities, working together, and with communities, to improve the quality of life for Highland communities.

Councillor Alison Magee, Convener of The Highland Council and Chairman of the Wellbeing Alliance, said: "Our vision for this Community Plan is that Highland should be seen by its residents and recognised by those outside its borders as offering the best quality of life available in Scotland. We want more people choosing to live, work and learn in Highland - and to be able to do so. We want individuals and communities feeling they are dealt with equitably. We want Highland to have the infrastructure of a modern rural region."

The four key challenges to be met in the Highlands are: -

Meeting the needs of a growing and ageing population without damaging the quality of life.
Increasing average incomes.
Tackling the causes of rural disadvantage and inequalities within the region.
Achieving more sustainable development.

Councillor Magee said: "These challenges remain, but it is still right to take a very positive view of Highland's future. A remarkably high percentage of the resident population is satisfied or very satisfied with Highland as a place to live, prizing its qualities and special character.

"Highland continues to attract visitors, new residents and businesses from outside the area, drawn to a welcoming society with a distinctive culture. In economic terms, the region appears to be catching up where it was previously lagging behind the rest of Scotland. Unemployment rates in Highland have remained below the Scottish average since early 2003. Educational achievement continues to improve, while key indicators for health, crime, community safety and environmental quality remain positive. The world class quality of the natural environment is widely recognised. So is the need to follow sustainable principles and practices in caring for the environment and working within it."

Copies of the Community Plan can be obtained from the Policy Unit, The Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness IV3 5NX. It is also available via the Council's web site www.highland.gov.uk
Go directly To the plan -
a Pdf file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader installed - http://www.highland.gov.uk/cx/pdf/cp-highland.pdf

The Community Plan is the main strategic document for the delivery of public services in Highland. The recently-launched Community Safety Strategy and the Joint Health Improvement Plan, which will be published in the near future, are just two of the family of plans which detail actions taken under specific themes by Alliance partners.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY PLANNING?

Community planning is the way of improving the connection between national priorities and those at Highland, local and neighbourhood levels.
It is about making sure that people and communities in the Highlands are genuinely engaged in the decisions made on public services which affect them.
It requires a commitment from organisations in the Highlands to work together, not apart, in providing better public services.
It provides the over-arching partnership framework for co-ordinating other initiatives and partnerships and, where necessary, acting to rationalise and simplify public sector working arrangements. In Highland it involves representatives of the voluntary and business sectors as well as public sector agencies.

THE HIGHLAND WELLBEING ALLIANCE - THE COMMUNITY PLANNING PARTNERSHIP
The Highland Wellbeing Alliance now includes -
* The Highland Council; Highlands and Islands Enterprise; NHS Highland; Scottish Natural Heritage; Northern Constabulary; Communities Scotland; Highland and Islands Fire Brigade; Representatives from the private sector; Representatives from the voluntary sector

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