Community Development & Engagement
Communities — CLD staff and volunteers work with a number of community groups across South Ayrshire to increase their skills, confidence, networks and resources to meet the needs of local communities.
Community Centres — Support to Volunteer Committees who manage community buildings and facilities on behalf of local communities and South Ayrshire Council. We also reach out and support our Community Associations and oversee their election process as and when required.
Community Buildings — The CLD service are responsible for 26 community facilities that provide a place for groups to meet and use for activities and events.
Learning Community Partnerships — CLD staff lead local multi agency responses to local need.
Community Councils -The Thriving Communities service is responsible for carrying out the elections to our Community Councils. We have also allocated a link officer to each Community Council to provide a range of ongoing support and guidance.
Social Enterprise Development - supporting the establishment and growth of the social enterprise sector across South Ayrshire. This includes advice on: structure & governance; business planning; funding; partnership building and project development.
Funding Support -Providing support and help to voluntary/community groups and organisations to source potential funding opportunities. We also provide regular funding alerts, dedicated funding searches and reports, information from local partners about training, as well as the promotion of good news stories.
Community Engagement Strategy
The term Community Engagement can mean different things to different people. It is best understood as a planned process, which has the specific purpose of working with identified groups of people; whether they are connected by place, interest, affiliation, or identity, to encourage them to actively take part in making decisions about their community. This can range from encouraging communities to share their views on how their needs are best met and influence how services should be delivered, to giving communities the power to make and share decisions on how services are delivered.
Communities are usually defined as groups of people who have common characteristics. They can be broadly categorised as 'communities of place', defined by location such as a street, a ward, a town or an area, or 'communities of interest', defined by any shared characteristic, such as race, age, occupation, shared interest, affinity or other common bond.
In 2020, we launched our Community Engagement Strategy which is aimed at anyone who plays a part in helping South Ayrshire to thrive and improve the lives of all our citizens. This includes public and private organisations, voluntary and community groups, residents, workers, students, and any individual with an interest in how their environment and community can grow and flourish.
The strategy is specifically written for:
- People who are involved in making decisions This includes individuals, community groups, businesses, voluntary organisations, and anyone else who may get involved with decision making.
- Organisations who involve people in making decisions This includes the Council, Community Planning Partners, private, voluntary and community sectors.
You can view the Community Engagement Strategy here.
National documents
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