Renfrewshire Council

What Local Partnerships are

A Local Partnership brings together local elected members, community representatives and organisations to have their say on local issues and make a difference to their local area.

They are another way for local communities to have a voice in local decision-making and aim to:

• make connections and networks between community groups and the wider community
• identify, set, and share local community priorities
• listen to, consult, and represent local communities
• distribute grants and funding to local activities and projects which support local priorities.

There are 7 Local Partnerships, which mirror the Community Council boundaries in Renfrewshire. These are:

• Paisley North, West and Central
• Paisley East
• Gleniffer
• Renfrew
• Johnstone and Linwood
• Erskine, Inchinnan, Bishopton and Langbank
• The Villages.

Each Local Partnership has its own priorities. You can see the priorities for each of the Local Partnerships groups in Renfrewshire.

Local Partnerships have at least 3 meetings per year. These meetings are open to the public to attend even if you are not a member of the partnership. See the Local Partnership meeting papers.

The meetings are as informal as possible to allow positive discussions to take place.

They create a welcoming environment for all to ensure that all the partners involved can work together.

The Local Partnerships standing orders [188KB] explain the procedures to be followed at meetings.

Who can join

Local Partnership membership is split evenly between all local elected members for the area and community representatives.

Community representatives include the elected chairs of the Community Council for that area. The remaining places are filled by representatives of community organisations in the area and are decided by the Local Partnership members.

Community representatives will:

• provide a link to the people in that local community and represent their interests
• bring their expertise and local knowledge to decision making
• agree priorities and aims for their local partnership area, based on evidence and community engagement
• agree on the awarding of funding to local voluntary and community groups
• provide an important link to local people in their area
• take part in and shape the discussion at meetings
• share the decisions made by the partnerships with their connections in the local community.

A community group can nominate a community representative to join the Local Partnership.

Local Partnership members will look at any applications and decide who to appoint as community representatives based on what the group has said about how it works in the community.

Community representatives can be members for a term of 3 years. After 3 years, the Local Partnership will look for new community representatives - but representatives can put themselves forward to be reappointed.

Which partnership represents your area

There are 7 Local Partnerships in Renfrewshire.

You can see which one represents your area with our Local Partnership boundaries. [163KB]

How to join a Local Partnership

Find out how you can apply to be a Local Partnership community representative. [867KB] . 

If your community group would like to nominate you as a community representative, download and fill in the Local Partnerships community representative nomination form at the back of the document.

Return your nomination form to us by email to communityplanning@renfrewshire.gov.uk.

What happens after you apply

Our Community Planning team will review and summarise your application.

We will give this summary to the current members of the Local Partnership, who will use this information to help them decide who to appoint.

If the Partnership receives more applications than positions available, they will make a decision based on the following criteria:

• the size of the community group you represent
• the communication methods you use with your local community
• whether you represent a group or support a community of interest
• how connected you are to other community groups in the area
• how well the skills and/or experience of the applicant matches the partnership's priorities.

If you're unsuccessful, it's important to remember that Local Partnerships are public meetings and there will be other opportunities for your group or organisation to get involved in decision-making.

What funding is available to Local Partnerships

We allocate funding to Local Partnerships based on the area's population. This helps make sure it is distributed fairly across Renfrewshire's communities.

Local Partnerships can award funding to local groups and projects which bring communities together.

They prioritise the awarding of funding based on their priorities and projects they feel will have the most impact for people in their local area.

See what the priorities are for each Local Partnership.

The partnerships allocate general grant funding as well as Common Good funding, which is available in the Renfrew, Paisley North, Paisley East and Gleniffer Local Partnerships.

The partnerships also assist with identifying and shortlisting applications for the Youth Challenge Fund, which are decided by young people.

Find out how to apply for Local Partnership funding.

More information

You can read the full details of how the partnerships work in our  Local Partnerships Terms of Reference [530KB] .

For more information on Local Partnerships, you can phone our Community Planning Team on 0141 487 4773.