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Dear Community Resilience Group/Community Council/Colleagues,

Welcome to The Highland Council’s fortnightly briefing for groups with an interest in local community resilience.

Community Council Elections

Candidate’s wishing to put themselves forward as a Community Council Member need to self-nominate themselves by completing the online form that will be available on our website. It’s simple and should take approximately 5 minutes to complete, all they have to do is submit their contact details, name of community council they wish to represent, confirm they are eligible and provide their electoral number.  In order for the Candidate to obtain their electoral number, this can be done by them completing the electoral number request form or it is available from the Electoral Registration Office by emailing ero@highland.gov.uk or telephoning 0800 393783. 

The cut of date for submitting an online form is 12noon on Tuesday 3 October 2023 and published thereafter by Wednesday 4 October 2023 will be the statements of persons nominated on the community council elections webpage.  

The Elections Team or Ward Managers are available to assist anyone that has difficulty accessing or completing the online form by emailing ccelection@highland.gov.uk or telephoning 01349 886657.

We want to have all our 156 Community Councils formed so please share and use our resources toolkit to download posters, leaflets or share messages on social media that may useful to notify local residents about Community Council elections.

Candidates will have up until 12noon on Tuesday 10 October 2023 if they wish to withdraw their candidacy and ballot papers will be posted put on Tuesday 31 October 2023 for any that require to be contested.

Funding  

SCVO  is a key source of funding information for the third sector. Funds that may be of interest include:

• The Prince’s Countryside Fund – Supporting Rural Communities 
  Provides Grants for community-led projects that are pursuing innovative and strategic solutions to challenges in their area. Next Deadline 20 Oct 2023.
• Youth Scotland – What’s Your Big Idea?
  Young people can apply for a small amount of funding to help starting a new project with their youth group. Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis.
• Highlands and Islands Enterprise – Community Asset Projects
  Funds community groups to help develop assets that benefit their local area. HIE can fund knowledge exchange visits with another group to help others learning from their experiences. Apply at least 6 weeks before the activity starts.

• Community Ownership Fund
  The purpose of this communication is to raise awareness of the £150m Community Ownership Fund established to help communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to take ownership of assets at risk of closure, helping to ensure that important parts of the social fabric, such as pubs, sports clubs, theatres and post office buildings, can continue to play a central role in towns and villages across the UK. This fund has been designed to work alongside Community Asset Transfer Requests.

The next opportunity to apply for funding is now open, closing 11^th October 2023, though with further opportunities to apply through to March 2025 (details are included in the promotional pack).

Information in the pack also includes how to apply, along with useful linked documents to guide applicants through the process such as expression of interest guidance and the assessment criteria, plus how to access support for applicants via the My Community website.

Community Councils – please note that due to community councils in Scotland being unincorporated bodies with no legal entity, you will not be eligible to apply to the Fund unless you have set up an appropriate charity, trust, or community company for this purpose.

• Customer and Community Investment FundCommunities located with 10-15 miles of the East Coast Main Line are encouraged to apply to this fund. The fund aims to support projects focused on mental health, educations, and employability skills among marginalised groups, diversity, and inclusion and environmental sustainability. Deadline 24 September 2023.

Welfare, poverty reduction and resilience

• Let’s Be Heard: Sharing Scotland’s COVID Experiences – This is a free online event that will be held 14 September 10:00-11:00. The aim of the event is to give a voice to as many people across Scotland as possible, by inviting people to share their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Community Empowerment Act Review – Asset Transfer – The Scottish Government has committed to reviewing the Community Empowerment Act in this parliamentary term. As part of this review, they are keen to hear directly from communities on their experience of going through the community asset transfer (CAT) request process and to capture suggestions for change.

In conjunction with the Community Ownership Support Service (COSS), the third in-person workshop for representatives of groups who are either part way or fully through the CAT process is scheduled for Friday 22nd September 2023 11am – 2pm in Inverness. You can find further detail on the Eventbrite link below.

The outputs from this workshop will feed directly into the review of the Community Empowerment Act.

• Improvement Service Vacancy – Learning and Evaluation Project Manager – A new vacancy that has arisen in the Protecting People team at the Improvement Service. The post is for a Learning and Evaluation Project Manager, and you can find more details about this vacancy here. The post-holder will support learning and evaluation activities across two of the Improvement Service’s key projects: Adopting a Trauma-Informed Approach and Implementing Safe & Together: Creating Domestic Abuse Informed Systems, Services and Workforces. Closing date 17 September.
• My Place Awards – celebrates community-led projects and individuals that have transformed their locality. Follow the link for more information on how to enter. Deadline 14 January 2024.
• Armed Forces Families Highland Newsletter September 2023 – contains news, events, helpful information, resources and what’s happening within the Highland Armed Forces community.
• Stay Safe at Home, at Work, on the Move, and Online – This new bulletin from NaCTSO contains guidance on personal security.
• Cost of living support – Highland Council webpages on support and information to help with the cost of living.
• Help during the cost-of-living crisis – Scottish Government advice and information.
• Energy Advice – Inverness Badenoch and Strathspey Citizens Advice Bureau offer free, impartial energy advice to householders. We provide advice to help reduce household energy use, save money, and understand energy bills and support householders to manage energy debt. This can be done in person, over the phone or by video call. We can be contacted on 01463 219742 or email energy@invernesscab.org

Mental Health and Wellbeing

• See Me Scotland – This is a national programme to end mental health stigma and discrimination. They have resources created to help community groups to deliver workshops to that build confidence around talking about mental health.
• NHS Highland Mental Wellbeing – a collection of resources and signposts to help people of all ages to look after their own mental wellbeing. Register for the event by following the link.
• Cost of living crisis and your mental health
  Many people are feeling the strain as the cost of living continues to increase.  This resource provides information on how you can maintain your mental wellbeing at this time, alongside information on how to manage your money as bills rise.

Emergency Planning 

• Met Office Weather Warnings – https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2022-11-04
• Met Office Weather Ready https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/weatherready 
• Scottish Flood Forecasting – Provides up to date information on when and where flooding is expected to occur over a three-day period.
• Floodline Scotland https://floodlinescotland.org.uk/ 
• Ready Scotland – preparing for emergencies https://ready.scot/

Douglas Crawford
Business Analyst

Community Support and Engagement

Highland Council

Dear Community Council colleagues,

I am writing to inform you about an opportunity to inform the work the Scottish Parliament. The Parliament is currently considering a petition ondualling the A9 and there is one week left to help the Committee with their work. As a Community Council based in the Highlands I know that many residents in your community may use the road frequently and the Committee would greatly appreciate input from your community. 

The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee launched a consultation which looks at the commitment to dual the A9 and address the on-going safety concerns on the road.

This consultation follows a petition submitted by road safety campaigner Laura Hansler, which urges the Scottish Government to fulfil its 2011 promise to fully dual the A9, improve road safety and consider the creation of a national memorial to those who have tragically lost their lives on the road.

MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee are looking at the details of the petition, and want to know what people think about issues related to the dualling of the A9.

On our engagement website you can get involved in the discussion for this petition by:

• sharing your views on the most appropriate strategy for dualling the A9.
• rating and commenting on current road safety measures being used on the A9
• rating and commenting on a proposal for a national memorial to those who have lost their lives in road traffic incidents on the A9.
• sharing your experiences of how road closures and delays to dualling the A9 has impacted local businesses.

Sharing your views will help MSPs understand the key issues surrounding the petition:

• we will analyse how people have rated ideas
• we will produce a summary of the feedback that we receive
• MSPs will use the feedback to inform their consideration of the petition

I know that the internet can be hard to access some rural and remote areas. I also appreciate that not everyone is comfortable using online platforms. So, if you would like support using the online platform or would like to support a group discussion in your community please email our Participation and Communities Team at pact@parliament.scot You can also access a conversation guide designed to support discussions in your community.

I’d be grateful if you could share this consultation with people in your community as we approach the deadline of the 15^th September.

Thanks and best wishes,

Alistair Stoddart

Senior Participation Specialist, Participation and Communities Team, The Scottish Parliament

Please see attached dates for the Dores Parish over 60 Coffee Club

If anyone in the community would like to put themselves forward for the Community Council ,please see the following notice released by the Highland Council.

I attach a copy of the notice of Election that will be published on Monday 4 September 2023 on the Council’s web-site at www.highland.gov.uk/ccelections

Candidate’s wishing to put themselves forward as a Community Council Member need to self-nominate themselves by completing the online form that will be available on our website.  It’s simple and should take only approximately 5 minutes to complete, all they have to do is submit their contact details, name of community council they wish to represent, confirm they are eligible and provide their electoral number.  In order for the Candidate to obtain their electoral number, this can be done by them completing the electoral number request form or it is available from the Electoral Registration Office by emailing ero@highland.gov.uk or telephoning 0800 393783.

The cut of date for submitting an online form is 12noon on Tuesday 3 October 2023 and published thereafter by Wednesday 4 October 2023 will be the statements of persons nominated on the community council elections webpage.  

The Elections Team or Ward Managers are available to assist anyone that has difficulty accessing or completing the online form by emailingccelection@highland.gov.uk or telephoning 01349 886657.

We want to have all our 156 Community Councils formed so please share and use our resources toolkit to download posters, leaflets or share messages on social media that may useful to notify local residents about Community Council elections.

To encourage participation, some of the Council Fleet vehicles will be driving around the highlands with our magnetic signage on display as per sample below and we will be issuing press releases and sending out key messages on social media.  

Candidates will have up until 12noon on Tuesday 10 October 2023 if they wish to withdraw their candidacy and ballot papers will be posted put on Tuesday 31 October 2023 for any that require to be contested.

Existing Community Councils must be dissolved by 11.59pm on the key dates listed below.

• uncontested on Tuesday 10 October 2023
• contested on Monday 27 November 2023

King Regards

The Highland Councils Election Team

Tel – 01349 886657

Email – ccelection@highland.gov.uk

Web –  www.highland.gov.uk/ccelections

NHS Highland and the Highland Council are consulting on the Strategic Plan for Adult Services 2024-27. This is the strategic plan for the delivery of integrated health and adult social care services in the region covered by the Highland Health and Social Care Partnership.

You can read the plan and view a video summary on the NHS Highland website.

Please complete this survey to give your thoughts on the plan. The consultation is open until 30 September. Prefer to fill in a printed copy? Email nhsh.pmoadmin.nhs.scot and we will send you a paper version.

You can also let us know what you think about the Joint Strategic Plan for Adult services in Highland by joining us online:

Tuesday 5^th Sept 23 from 1-2pm by clicking here!

Friday 8^th Sept 23 from 1.30-2.30pm by clicking here!

Thursday 28^th Sept 23 from 9-10am by clicking here!

Highland Health and Social Care Partnership.