Reducing crime and improving health in NW Kilmarnock using community assets

Outcomes

Feedback was captured from the Listening Events and used to collect views and concerns of residents. These were categorised into themes and fed back to the community. They were then asked what collaborative solutions could be found which produced a number of ingenious suggestions.

Collaboration between the local youth project and the local drug addiction service was developed. The significant benefit was that many registered addicts lived locally but previously had to travel 2 or 3 miles to their treatment centre. As the service was now on their doorstep they could take their children along who would gain from the programme of services on offer at the youth project. The number of addicts attending increased dramatically.

It became apparent that it would be necessary to find a means of co-ordinating increasing offers of support, which led to creation of the multi-agency Community Capacity Building Group with residents integral to its success. The Group was really dynamic as only the agencies that could impact on specific issues would attend meetings. This Group acted as a filter for great ideas. For example, the local Kilmarnock College representative collaborated with the health visitor to deliver beauty treatments for free to young mums from the area. The young mums felt better about themselves and the students gained invaluable ‘on-the-job’ training.

The local church minister was appointed as chair and a representative from East Ayrshire Council as vice-chair. This enabled a direct link into the local community planning framework and ensured that although the assets work was very localised, at the same time, it also operated within the strategic aims of the community planning framework. Simultaneously, the local community police officers were becoming much more accepted and on first name terms with many people.

A high point for this exceptional community came in May 2012 when HRH Prince of Wales, who had heard about their achievements, singled them out for a visit.

Tony Bone wrote this case study for Governance International on 12 November 2012.