Building on Planning For Real 2015
Back in 2015, the community achieved a fantastic whole community action plan developed through the Planning for Real process. Many of the people involved in this process are still involved in various community groups today. The outcome from the process was a fantastic asset in the form of a community action plan which has helped to secure grants for various community projects. Lots of great ideas were allocated to owners to take forward and develop. Fast forward a few years and upon review of the document, some problems highlighted still exist and some actions are incomplete. When the DDCA have asked groups if there were any barriers to them completing the actions from Planning For Real, the key constraint which has been fed back is that they had insufficient volunteers to progress the action.
Looking to the future
The DDCA have been steadily growing our community development activities and have acknowledged that with the scale of community action required to complete these activities, a dedicated resource in the form of a development officer is required. The DDCA have explored funding criteria funding for a development officer and it was noted that a refreshed Community Action Plan would increase funding success.
The DDCA successfully applied for funding of £4,000 from the William Grant and Sons Foundation to appoint Star Development Group to conduct an update of the Dufftown and District community action plan. The new plan incorporates the aspects of the 2015 Planning for Real output and the Dorenell Wind Farm Communities Action Plan that are still to be achieved. All community groups were invited to participate but not all chose to participate. Star Development Group have co-ordinated a survey and a cross community Zoom meeting of community group representatives to consider their current thinking about the future needs of Dufftown and District. The culmination of the work has been a new Community Action Plan covering the years 2021 – 2026 which is available at this link (Downloadable PDF) Dufftown Community Action Plan 2021
Later this year
This has been an incredible opportunity for Dufftown and the DDCA because the DDCA are aiming to have a development officer (full time employee) in place by September 2021 as a result of the refreshed community action plan.
