Draft Scheme of Establishment for Community Councils - West Dunbartonshire Council 

West Dunbartonshire Council is working to increase participation of communities in tackling issues that affect their lives. This includes taking a new approach to consulting on the Scheme for the Establishment of Community councils. This is part of our commitment to Community Empowerment outlined in the West Dunbartonshire Community Empowerment Strategy. 

The consultation will give residents real opportunities to shape the contents of the Scheme and how community councils can work to represent local communities for the next 5 years, alongside other groups, to support empowerment. It is part of what we are doing to help citizens to do things together which strengthen their communities and make public services as effective as possible. 

You can find out more about the consultation here.  

To see the updated Scheme please click here.

You can also download:

In the first stage we consulted residents for 16 weeks from March until the end of June 21 about the current scheme and what the key considerations were.  A consultation report on the first stage of the consultation has been published and was presented to Council elected members with the key themes from the first phase of consultation. The engagement report is available to download here.

The new draft scheme sets out the issues and opportunities under the broad headings below:

  • How the legal rights and responsibilities of Community Councils are understood and implemented.

  • Representing and engaging communities (including membership, equalities and diversity).

  • Influence and liaison with the Council and Community Planning partners.

  • Working collaboratively with other local community-based organisations.

  • Administrative arrangements and support like finance, training and elections.

Community Town Hall events

Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) held two community Town Hall Events (online) on 15 & 17 November 21 with a range of residents and community stakeholders to discuss the revised draft Scheme for the Establishment of Community Councils. These Town Hall events were widely advertised and were open to all residents and community stakeholder who wished to participate. The positive conversations at the events focused on the 4 main themes highlighted above.

To view slides and embedded notes from the discussions please click here.

For further information please contact:

Paul Nelis, Scottish Community Development Centre

m: 07795 968 146

e: paul.nelis@scdc.org.uk