This is the Community Plan for Banff & Buchan. It sets out the Banff & Buchan Community Planning Partnership’s main actions for the next two years. If you have difficulty understanding this document and require a translation, or would like a copy in a larger print, please contact the Banff & Buchan Area Manager on 01261 813300. Contents 1 Foreword ............................................... 2 2 Executive Summary ..................................... 4 3 Background ............................................. 5 4 The Banff and Buchan Area .............................. 6 5 PESTELO ................................................. 8 6 Developing the Plan .................................. 19 7 Banff and Buchan Priorities 2013 – 2016 Single Outcome Agreement ........................... 20 8 Actions/Outcomes .................................... 20 9 How Are We Doing? ................................... 32 1 Foreword by Margaret-Jane Cardno, Area Manager Banff and Buchan Chair Banff and Buchan Local Community Planning Group Dear Colleagues Welcome to the Banff and Buchan Community Plan for 2013 – 2016. The Local Community Planning Group has been an important focus in the area for joint working around the themes of: • Jobs and The Economy • Community Wellbeing • Lifelong Learning and Leisure • Sustainable Environment • Developing Our Partnership The Local Community Planning Group continue to grow and the development of this plan is the next step as partners seek to build on positive local relationships in order to increase the focus on prevention and secure continuous improvement in public service delivery. The shared overall aim is to achieve better outcomes and improve the quality of life for the residents of Banff and Buchan. Communities have high expectations of public services and have a key role to play in helping to shape and deliver better outcomes within their communities. It is the aim of the Local Community Planning Group to unlock that potential by continuing to work with communities to build a strong understanding of their needs and aspirations. A significant part of this plan relates to ensuring effective involvement not just of the public sector but also of the private and third sectors in order to ensure communities are appropriately empowered to enable them to meet their long term vision and aspirations. BANFF & BUCHAN Margaret-Jane Cardno COMMUNITY Chair of the BBCPG PLAN Area Manager (Banff & Buchan) 2013 – 2016 Aberdeenshire Council 2 BANFF & BUCHAN COMMUNITY PLAN 2013 – 2016 33 2 Executive Summary This edition of the Banff and Buchan Community Plan 2013 – 2016 brings together input from Community Planning Partners, Elected Members and most importantly local communities. It outlines key actions to be taken to meet local needs and priorities over a three year period and therefore is a key strategic document for the area. In order to achieve the Partners vision of the best quality of life for everyone in Banff and Buchan, this edition of the Banff and Buchan Community Plan focuses on the following set of long term outcomes to be delivered for local communities: • Successful, inclusive and resilient communities with the confidence, capability and capacity to tackle the things that matter to them • Children have the best start in life through action with parents and children pre- birth to 8 years • Reductions in inequalities in health outcomes between communities and across Aberdeenshire • Aberdeenshire is the safest place in Scotland • Older people will live independent, healthier lives for longer in a homely environment, in a community which respects and values them, with informal carers who receive support to continue to care • Transport • Aberdeenshire will be recognised as a great place to live, work, invest with opportunity for all For each of these high-level outcomes, the Partnership has identified a range of supporting outcomes, outputs and actions. These were developed through the use of an evidence-based approach and a strategic assessment highlighting the priorities for Banff and Buchan was undertaken. This can be found at: http://www.ouraberdeenshire.org.uk/images/media/documentlibrary/lcp/strategic%20 assessment%20banff%20and%20buchan%20final%20version.pdf BANFF & BUCHAN COMMUNITY PLAN 2013 – 2016 4 3 Background The Banff and Buchan Community Plan 2013 – 2016 has been developed to provide a strategy for delivering key partnership actions for the next three years which meet the Banff and Buchan Community Planning Groups priority outcomes. The Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) reviewed community planning and Single Outcome Agreements (SOA’s) in 2012. They then published a statement of ambition; this ensures Community Planning is at the heart of public service reform. A national group has been set up to help implement and communicate the overarching vision of Community Planning and Single Outcome Agreements, identifying issues that have a national dimension. BANFF & BUCHAN COMMUNITY PLAN Pennan Fraserburgh Community and Sports Centre 2013 – 2016 5 4 The Banff and Buchan Area Banff and Buchan has a population of 35,277 and is expected to rise slightly to 35,610 by 2016. The three main settlements in Banff and Buchan are Fraserburgh (12,451), Banff (3,990) and Macduff (3,724), the Area has seen an increasing and aging population, this provides unique challenges in delivering services. Fraserburgh and Banff/Macduff are the area’s two most significant destinations. Banff and Buchan is more self-contained than other Areas in Aberdeenshire with 72% of the working population working within the area. The economy remains largely based on the traditional industries of fishing and agriculture. In June 2012 there were an estimated 598 unemployed persons in the Banff and Buchan Area which is 2.7% of Aberdeenshire’s jobless. The Area has a higher level of anti-social behaviour complaints and more environmental problems. In addition most complaints about drug dealing are concentrated in the North coastal areas. The prevalence of certain aspects of anti-social behaviour has declined and the Community Planning Partnership are actively working towards continuing to reduce these figures through local diversionary projects and task groups set up to address anti-social behaviour. The area has a relatively low rate of homelessness compared with the rest of Aberdeenshire. In the Banff and Buchan area 91.7% of school leavers go onto a positive destination, this is higher than the Aberdeenshire average of 91.3% and the Scottish average of 88.8%. This can be broken down further to 92.2% going onto, positive destinations from Banff Academy and 95.0% from Fraserburgh Academy. BANFF & BUCHAN COMMUNITY PLAN 2013 – 2016 Aberchirder Macduff 6 Public facilities include the new Community and Sports Centre in Fraserburgh, which opened in March 2013. New sports facilities are now under development for Banff and Macduff. These will be delivered in line with the development of a new Tesco store on Banff’s Canal Park. The town centres within Fraserburgh, Banff and Macduff have been highlighted as a priority issue and these areas will see significant investment over the next few years. Banff and Buchan is widely known for having some of the most dramatic coastlines in Aberdeenshire. BANFF & BUCHAN COMMUNITY PLAN Rosehearty Hay bales near Cornhill 2013 – 2016 7 5 PESTELO Banff and Buchan Anticipate – Plan – Transform In order that our communities are ready to meet the challenges of the next decade we must consider some of the long term issues and challenges in order that we can support communities to plan effectively and respond appropriately. Political 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum Scotland’s Independence Referendum will be held on 18 September 2014. Around 4 million voters, set to include 16 and 17 year olds for the first time in a major poll, will be asked a single six word question: “Should Scotland become an independent country?” It is not appropriate within the context of this document to make predictions about the likelihood of independence coming to pass, however it is worthwhile clarifying that a crucial factor that will affect Scotland’s future is whether all powers are taken by a Scottish administration or whether some will remain reserved at Westminster. It is very difficult to accurately predict the future of an independent Scotland as opposed to the future of a Scotland within the UK, but an example may serve to illustrate the point. Some have argued that an independent Scottish government could use the remaining revenues from the North Sea Oil to invest in turning Scotland into the renewable energy hub of Europe. Whether or not an independent Scottish government would opt for this strategy will remain for the present a topic of pure conjecture, but it could not be opted for under the current arrangements, as energy policy is at present largely a reserved matter. Post 16 Education Reform (Regionalisation of Colleges) On the 1 February 2012 Education Secretary Michael Russell announced that Colleges would work more collaboratively within 12 regions, allowing them to plan regionally and deliver locally. One of the 12 regions is Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire which comprises of Aberdeen and BANFF & Banff and Buchan Colleges. In this region the existing incorporated college boards will merge BUCHAN to create a new regional board to plan college provision strategically across the region and to COMMUNITY be held to account for the delivery of regional outcomes. The aim will be to