Aberchirder Community Action
Aberdeenshire Council's housing service is currently undertaking a Participatory Budgeting exercise in the Aberchirder area. Subscribe (using the Subscribe button on the right hand side of this page) and receive updates on the next steps and stages of this project.
What is Participatory Budgeting (PB)?
PB is a way for communities to have a say in how some money is spent, and is a form of community empowerment. This means residents can put forward ideas about how to improve the area they live. The Housing Service are seeking to get the views of Aberchirder residents to identify potential projects. Ideas could include changes to services that address a social need, changes to the physical landscape, and more. The Housing Service will gather all ideas received, and identify top themes. These will then go back to the community to vote on which project should move forward.
Why did the housing service decide to do this in Aberchirder?
Aberchirder was suggested by a group of tenants who work attend the Tenancy Management Working Group - a forum for tenants and their landlord to look at housing policies and projects relating to their tenancies and communities. This working group meets every two months, usually online, and discusses topics surrounding tenancy management - such as tenancy agreements, welcome packs, housing officer visits, gardens, and more. The group has an action plan so suggestions or identified actions are monitored. The group considered Participatory Budgeting in 2023, and Aberchirder was identified by tenants as a community which could benefit from PB support.
Representatives from the group made contact with Community Planning Partners and the Aberchirder Community Association to determine if there is any current activity happening in the area. The group identified that Aberdeenshire Council tenants make up approximately 14% of the Aberchirder community, and identified that the Community Association was due to renew its Community Action Plan (CAP). CAPs are community-created and ownership of the actions belong to the community.
The Tenancy Management Working Group agreed to move forward with a PB project in Aberchirder as it can compliment the upcoming CAP.
What commitment is needed from me?
You can choose how much you would like to be involved. You could
- complete the survey (if you would prefer a paper copy, this can be provided)
- complete the survey and attend the Community Action Planning meeting
- do all of the above and join the Tenancy Management Group, or other tenants' working groups
- do none of the above.
Aberdeenshire Council's housing team are working with the Aberchirder Community Association to encourage participation in the new CAP alongside the PB exercise. It is recognised that not everyone would like to attend these type of events, and so the Housing Service will prepare an anonymised thematic report for the Community Association detailing tenants' priorities for the area.
Please note
The information gathered cannot be traced back to any individual respondent.
The information gathered will be compiled into an anonymised report, which will be shared with the Aberchirder Community Association for the purpose of furthering the Community Action Plan.