Open Meetings

Your Voice host a series of Open Meetings throughout the year. These meetings encourage local people to have a say in either Local, Nation or International consultations on a variety of subjects. This process allows local people to have a say in service provsion, transport, local housing strategy etc. The following information offers a snap shot of some of the Open Meetings that have taken place in 2010. For more detailed information on past events please see Report Section on this website.

Community Safety Open Meeting

In September 09 a generic Your VOICE training session identified concerns regarding community safety, with particular emphasis on personal safety and antisocial behaviour.

This resulted in Your Voice  working in partnership with Inverclyde’s Local Authority Liaison Officers and the Social Protection Team, to host this event in May 2010. The two main topics were Tackling Antisocial Behaviour and Personal Safety.

The event was attended by 41 local people and provided an opportunity to capture comments, queries and concerns in the area of community safety, raised by members of the Inverclyde community.  The Social Protection Team and Police Liaison Officers could then address, clarify and provide answers to concerns/issues raised on the day. All issues and comments highlighted within this report will be taken forward to:

  • Inform service policy and provision
  • Ensure effective partnership working
  • Reduce crime and challenge Antisocial Behaviour

Poverty Alliance Event

In the last quarter of 2009, we had the opportunity to engage with the Poverty Alliance Scotland; continued dialogue and increased understanding of the work that the Poverty Alliance is involved in resulted in Your Voice carrying out a consultation/engagement exercise, so that the people of Inverclyde could have their voice heard as part of the Scottish Assembly for Tackling Poverty in Scotland – ‘Creating Visions on a Better Scotland for All’. 90 local people participated and the following gives a flavour of their feedback:

What equates to a Decent Standard of Living? - Whilst exploring what equates to a decent standard of living The majority of participants identified: decent and affordable housing; good health and a decent health care system; basic comforts; employment and financial security. On examining the most important contributors to achieving a decent standard of living, participants highlighted good health, family/friends and social interaction/social inclusion. ‘Keeping up with the Jones’ and consumerism/capitalism were viewed as less important and often being detrimental to the health and wellbeing of communities/society.

Exploration of ‘a new economy’ and ‘a welfare system that works’ generated similar feedback, with the general consensus that the current economic/welfare system is not working and the Government needs to take more responsibility and better fulfil its role in both these areas. Participants highlighted the need for: sustainable employment opportunities and easier access to work; support to allow people (who have been out of work) to enter into a flexible working environment; and when there are no jobs available programmes should be in place so that people have something meaningful to do with their time.

Throughout the engagement/consultation process participants consistently referred to power differentials and the divide between the ‘haves and the have nots’. Respondents indicated that people (across all groups) who are not in paid employment can feel disempowered, socially excluded and devalued in society due to stigma, discrimination and judgmental attitudes within the community, from workers of organisations, and indeed in the under-investment in services for people with complex needs, this is particularly evident in the area of improving quality of life.

Inverclyde Regeneration Partnership

At the request of Inverclyde’s Regeneration Partnership, we engaged with a diversity of representatives from the Your Voice Network, to ascertain their views on the Draft Inverclyde Economic Regeneration Partnership Strategy 2009 – 2014.

From an equalities perspective the majority of participants indicated that the Strategy read well, with one person commenting that it was “good to read something that has a positive outlook to the future of Inverclyde.” This said, respondents were more interested in how the strategy will be achieved, and asked “how will what is written down on paper become a reality?” Participants commented that only implementation of a thorough action plan will make the strategy ‘come to life’ and assist communities in looking towards a brighter more positive future for Inverclyde and its people.

People - highlighted the importance of the community’s sense of well being and reflected that encouraging equal opportunities and advancements in the health and wellbeing of the population of Inverclyde are pivotal in terms of the success of Inverclyde’s Economic Regeneration Strategy. Thus, it is fundamental that health inequalities are addressed as a matter of urgency and run alongside such strategies.

Older people - whilst this is an economically driven strategy, older people were keen to state that they have an abundance of knowledge and skills and have already contributed a great deal to Inverclyde. It was noted that many older people continue to contribute either through paid employment and or volunteering. So, from an equalities perspective they too would like to be included within the strategy as valued members of the community, and would also like to be involved in further consultation processes with regards to the regeneration of Inverclyde.

Younger people – some younger people in Inverclyde already have problems with drug and alcohol misuse. People on the methadone programme have continually cited stigma and discrimination as barriers to them accessing training and employment opportunities.  It was suggested that more is done to assist people to recover from drug and alcohol misuse, and programmes put in place so they too can have a say and contribute to the regeneration of Inverclyde.