Community planning

Community Planning is a process which helps public agencies to work together and with the community to plan and deliver better services which make a real difference to people's lives. Tackling inequalities is a specific focus.

The Community Planning structure in Highland is based on the statutory requirements as outlined in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 and consists of:

• Highland Community Planning Partnership (HCPP) - The Act lists all the public authorities which take part in community planning and places duties on them. These authorities form a Community Planning Partnership (CPP) for each local authority area
• Highland Outcome Improvement Plan (HOIP) 2024 to 2027 - The Act requires each CPP to prepare and publish a local outcome improvement plan (LOIP) which sets out the local outcomes which the CPP will prioritise for improvement. In March 2024 the HCPP Board approved in principle the draft revised HOIP
• Locality Plans - in Highland these will now be Community Partnership Plans. The Act requires CPPs to identify smaller areas within the local authority area which experience the poorest outcomes and prepare and publish 'locality plans' to improve outcomes on agreed priorities for these communities

In addition to these statutory requirements Community Planning in Highland has adopted additional delivery mechanisms and consists of:

• Community Partnerships - Due to the large geographical area covered by Highland the area has been split into nine Community Partnerships
• HOIP Delivery Groups - Five thematic Delivery Groups have been established to deliver against the core outcomes identified within the HOIP
• Partnership Development Team - The team will provide strategic direction and support alignment of strategic and local priorities

Find out about the Highland Community Planning Partnership