Tillydrone Community Flat
/Tillydrone Community Flat is a hub for community activity in the relatively deprived area of Tillydrone in Aberdeen. In March 2019, Tillydrone Flat Association submitted a participation request to Aberdeen City Council in order to prevent the relocation of the community flat to a new community campus.
Background
Tillydrone Community Flat provides vital support to local residents free of charge, including adult learning classes, complementary therapy, a registered creche, facilities such as laundry and computers and advocacy on social security and housing issues.
Tillydrone Flat Association is the community-led group who oversee the flat. In March 2019, the group submitted a participation request to Aberdeen City Council in order to prevent the relocation of the community flat to a new community campus, on the basis that the current location of the community flat is of immense value to the groups that use it.
Community members who benefit from the flat include vulnerable groups such as people with lived experience of addiction and poverty. Another reason why groups value the current flat is that it has an early years creche, in contrast to the new facility which would only be able to provide child-care for children aged three upwards.
The participation request was the culmination of attempts over four years to prevent the flat being relocated. This included some unfruitful communication between Tillydrone Flat Association and council officials, and the group submitting petitions on behalf of people who use the flat, who didn’t want to move.
Making the Request
The Development Worker for Tillydrone Flat Association, Fiona Young, initially spoke to a Public Health Co-ordinator for NHS Grampian about using opportunities in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act. They contacted Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) in December 2018 to ask about making an asset transfer request.
When SCDC spoke with them it was agreed that a participation request was an option worth exploring, and SCDC provided some introductory information on this. Fiona also attended an SCDC workshop on participation requests in Inverurie in June 2018 which helped her to shape the groups thinking about making one.
The decision
Tillydrone Flat Association submitted their completed participation request form in March 2019.
The process
Aberdeen City Council validated the form and agreed to the request the following month. The council’s decision notice outlined an outcome improvement process to work with the group to explore issues around relocating and how these would impact on future outcomes for people using the flat.
The decision notice also stated that information would be submitted to the Council within eight weeks of the process starting to review and determine if the Tillydrone Flat should remain in its current accommodation.
A risk-assessment being conducted, and the council’s Manager of Communities and Housing met with the association’s committee, consisting of local residents with lived experience of the service.
The council’s Manager of Communities and Housing came out to meet the development worker and a local resident who was a committee member to get some background information. He asked Tillydrone Flat Association to conduct a risk-assessment which was duly submitted, although the initial reaction from the council was similar to before.
However, the next step was to request that the manager meet more of the committee, consisting of local residents with lived experience of the service.
Outcome
Just before Christmas 2019, the group heard that the Council had decided not to relocate the community flat which is just the outcome they were after.
Learning
The view of Tillydrone Flat Association is that a participation request made a real difference to their campaign to have the community flat remain in its current location.
Due to the fact that the participation request was formal it had to be responded to by someone in working at a high level in Aberdeen City Council. The impassioned response and level of feeling from local residents was a game-changer in terms of how senior council officers regarded the issue.
“A participation request was the only way that the discussion was opened up. It gave us a voice in a formalised environment”
Fiona Young, Development Worker, Tillydrone Flat Association
Links to more information
