CAP Update Report June 2023
The Glenkens & District Community Action Plan was published in 2020, and is owned and kept relevant by the CAP Steering Group, with support on delivery from GCAT.
The Steering Group has been meeting in its present form for some 18 months now and so felt it was timely to publish an Update Report on the progress of the Community Action Plan to date. The Report also sets out the challenge and opportunities facing delivery of the CAP priorities as they aim for ever more ambitious delivery. The most pressing challenge is achieving core support to fund the roles that will set us up for success in the future, when the level of wind farm community benefit monies better matches the ambitions set out in the Plan.
Fiona Smith, outgoing chair of the CAP Steering Group, said:
"The Glenkens and District Community Action Plan sets out the priorities of our communities really clearly. Through the CAP Steering Group and the support of GCAT, we are demonstrating an effective model of delivery within a remote-rural community which we think may be of interest to others. We have therefore shared this Report widely and will continue to seek support from regional and national bodies to help us achieve our ambitions".
Highlights from the last two years that have been directly driven by CAP delivery include:
Creation of the Glenkens Hub website
Creation of the Glenkens Local Food Network
Creation of the Glenkens Youth Group
Creation of the Glenkens Community Spaces Network
Positive work on the creation of new Community Housing
Adoption of a Vision for Land Use in the Glenkens
Hosting D&G Citizens Advice Service in the Glenkens
Creation of new support scheme for local childminders
Commissioning of a report into the energy efficiency of many of our public buildings
Many other projects and capital upgrades and investments.
In the three years since the Community Action Plan was published, community groups across the Glenkens & District have achieved great things. There is a clearly demonstrable wish to work together, to complement each other rather than to compete. There are skilled and engaged people and great potential in the area.
Our community has demonstrated a track record in administering large amounts of money with high standards of transparency, accountability and effective delivery. We should all be very proud of what we have achieved through working together on the Glenkens and District Community Action Plan.
Helen Keron, GCAT