From 06 June to 26 September 2012 the Scottish Government consulted on a range of ideas for a proposed Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill, designed to strengthen community participation and support independent action from communities across Scotland.
The consultation was structured around three areas:
• Strengthening Participation - sought views on potential measures to ensure a greater emphasis is placed on improving community participation and promoting best practice in the design and delivery of services that meet the needs and aspirations of local communities.
• Unlocking Enterprising Community Development – sought views on potential new powers that could be introduced to enable communities to have access to assets which could be a catalyst for unlocking community empowerment, enterprise, and increasing social capital.
• Renewing our Communities – sought views on legislation that could be introduced to bring vacant or underused property back into use.
The Scottish Government received a total of 447 responses to the consultation from organisations and individuals. Of these, 137 respondents used the easy read consultation summary questionnaire.
Responses came from a wide range of national and local organisations and from individuals.