Representation and Community Planning

 The Bridge works closely with a huge range of partnerships connected with community planning, which in the Scottish Borders is called ‘New Ways’.

Staff from The Bridge build good working relationships with local statutory agencies and other significant organisations and represent the interests of the voluntary sector directly on local partnerships and forums.

To do this The Bridge acts as a channel of communication with statutory bodies on issues of relevance to the voluntary sector and as a focal point of consultation and action on issues of common concern to the voluntary sector.

The Scottish Government has an agreement in place with all local authorities across Scotland and each authority must produce a Single Outcome Agreement which the government approves. This agreement sets out the outcomes the authority is seeking to achieve with its Community Planning partners.

There are 15 national outcomes and these are broken down to local outcomes which reflect the needs and priorities of each area. In the Scottish Borders there are 45 local outcomes with 21 of these selected as strategic priorities.

The Bridge represents the interests of the voluntary sector on the Strategic Board which is overarching body responsible for monitoring progress against the outcomes.

You can download a copy of the Scottish Borders Single Outcome Agreement from this page.

Community Planning Groups

 As well as the main Strategic Board, there is a range of partnership groups which have a role in monitoring the Single Outcome Agreement and they report to the Strategic Board.
The Bridge attends many of these groups to represent the voluntary sector interests.

They include:

Strong and Safe Communities

Fairer Borders

A Working Countryside

Competitive Borders

Children and Young People's Planning Partnership

Migrant Support Group

Learning and Skills  Partnership

Community Learning and Development Partnership

The Bridge works as a member of other partnerships for the benefit of the voluntary sector. Some examples are:

•  Local Social Enterprise Partnership
•  LEADER
•  Borders Voluntary Community Care Forum
•  Volunteer Centre Borders 
• Health Improvement Localities Group

File Attachments:

Scottish Borders Single Outcome Agreement