In order to do this Community Councils need to:
- Be proactive and consult the community
- Encourage community spirit
- Represent the whole community including young people, disabled people, lone parents and elderly people
- Be familiar with West Dunbartonshire Council policies
- Keep the Council informed
- Be prepared to expand their activities
Community Councils bring local people together to help make things happen. They talk to West Dunbartonshire Council and other agencies about issues affecting their area, from children’s playgrounds, busy roads and streetlighting to public transport and community safety – anything of interest or concern to local people.
They are run by people in your neighbourhood and ensure that local concerns and issues are reported back to your local authority and other relevant public authorities.
West Dunbartonshire Council has a Community Council Forum; an umbrella organisation which co-ordinates the views of local Community Councils and offers them the opportunity to meet and discuss matters of common interest.
Local Authorities must consult with Community Councils on planning applications. However, West Dunbartonshire Council also consults with them on a whole range of other issues as a matter of policy. Furthermore, the West Dunbartonshire Community Council Forum has representation on the Council’s Community Participation Committee and on the West Dunbartonshire Council Planning Partnership Board.
These are some examples of what local Community Councils have achieved in West Dunbartonshire:
- Asked the local authority to lower pavement edges for prams and wheelchairs to improve access for local people
- Won grant aid to install smoke alarms, door chains and spy holes for local elderly people living alone
- Generated funding for new children’s play areas
- Helped establish a community newspaper
- Anti-litter campaigns
- Carried out local surveys on a range of issues
- Advised, petitioned, recommended, influenced, prompted and advocated numerous causes and cases of concern on behalf of householders, parents, individuals and local communities in West Dunbartonshire.
The West Dunbartonshire Council Scheme for the Establishment of Community Councils makes provision for 17 Community Councils within its boundaries.
At present there are 10 active Community Councils in West Dunbartonshire. Download a list of contact details for the Community Councils.
Areas where there are currently no Community Councils operating are:
Dalmuir and Mountblow
Linnvale and Drumry
Duntocher and Hardgate
Faifley
Renton
Alexandria
Dumbarton West
At any time, twenty electors within an area designated as a community council area may apply for a community council to be established by completing and returning a Requisition Form which can be obtained by contacting Fiona Anderson in the Legal and Administrative Services Department, Council Offices, Garshake Road, Dumbarton G82 3PU; Tel: 01389 737210 or email: Fiona Anderson.
