The Community Planning Partnership (CPP) is made up of 14 statutory members - Borders College, Historic Environment Scotland, NHS Borders, Police Scotland, Scottish Borders Council, Scottish Borders Health and Social Care Partnership, Scottish Enterprise, SEPA, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish National Heritage, Scottish Sports Council (represented by Live Borders) SEStran, Skills Development Scotland and VisitScotland – and non-statutory partners including all local registered social landlords, the third sector interface Borders Community Action, Scottish Borders Community Council Network and the Scottish Government.

The previous Scottish Borders Community Plan was agreed in May 2018. There are now new priorities for our communities which the new plan should include and which the partners want the public’s input on. The CPP currently has a 12 month work plan in place to bridge the gap between the old and new Community Plan.

Community planning is the process by which local authorities and other public bodies, such as health boards and Police Scotland work with local communities, businesses and community groups to plan and deliver better services and improve the lives of local people.

The focus of the draft Community Plan is on improving outcomes for Borderers, particularly in our most deprived communities, and aims to identify and reduce inequalities through a set of priority actions.

Councillor Caroline Cochrane, chair of the CPP’s Strategic Board, said: “A lot has changed since our previous Community Plan was agreed in 2018. We know that priorities have changed for our communities and the new Community Plan must reflect that.

“The CPP has analysed data to understand what is working and what needs to be improved, and we have listened to what the public have told us in surveys, community-based meetings, including the council’s Community Conversations which ran last summer. Using this information, we have developed a new list of priorities and would like to know which ones matter most to the public.

“Working collectively as a Partnership alongside our local communities and businesses we can tackle the issues that exist here in the Scottish Borders, but it is vital that our communities are involved at the outset in setting out what our outcomes must be, and that is why this consultation is an important first step”.

“Once an agreed set of outcomes are finalised as part of the new Community Plan, the partners will begin to look at the relevant measures and targets and the actions required to reach the outcomes”.

The formal consultation period runs until Sunday 16 July. The outcome of the consultation will be presented to the CPP Strategic Board on Thursday 7 September.

The Community Plan and consultation form are available at: https://scotborders.citizenspace.com.