THE man heading a volunteer “army” says people power will lead Dunfermline into the future.
Derek Bottom, chairman of the local community planning (LCP) partnership, works with the council and community to drive progress in a number of key areas.
A former chief executive with nationwide children’s charity Aberlour, the 57-year-old took on the unpaid role after entering early retirement.
He says it is “impossible”
to say just how many volunteers are currently giving their time to the more than 20 charities using the advice hub in the centre of the town, but says the local food bank alone has around 200 helpers at its six branches.
Praising the volunteers, he said: “There is an army of them. Dunfermline is a brilliant place.”
With a population of around 50,000, Dunfermline faces many of the challenges shared by other Scottish towns, including an ageing population and the need to increase the skill base of the working-age population.
The work of the LCP partnership has helped provide evening activity classes to tackle antisocial behaviour by young people and create a network of mother and toddler groups across the town. It has also established eight key themes in order to co-ordinate council and community efforts.
Reviewed on an annual basis after consultation with local groups, these currently include health and wellbeing, which has seen funding provided to enable groups to enhance the area by planting flower beds, and supporting older people, where priorities include turning the town into a World Health Organisation accredited Age Friendly City.
The designation recognises areas which have carried out adaptations to make things easier for older citizens, including the provision of benches in public areas and the maintenance of pathways.
Bottom said: “It’s small things, but the volume of small things really make a difference. It sets an identity and a vision of ambition.”
On the plan’s anti-poverty priorities, he said: “We looked at what exists in terms of structures that support people going through crisis. The challenge is they rarely have just one crisis.
“It’s never just debt, there is something else going on in people’s lives. We decided we needed to look at the problem through the eyes of the person.”
This has resulted in the expansion of activity at the Douglas Street hub, which is led by the Poverty Action Group, as well as additional support for vulnerable groups at key times of the year.
This includes the provision of Christmas and New Year meals for homeless people and subsidised places on holiday programmes for youngsters from low-income families.
However, Bottom, who spent the bulk of his career at the Bank of Scotland, says the LCP does not seek to direct such efforts, but to enable the community to set and meet its own objectives.
He added: “A lot of local community partnerships miss out the community. Usually they are local government or the NHS coming together and doing their stuff.
“That is not our approach. It’s about finding out what the community wants and asking how we enable them to do that. Generally, people will find a way of making thing happen. The framework is there to help make sure efforts are working in the same direction.”
Describing the role of the LCP and the potential of the area, Bottom went on: “Glasgow has the slogan People Make Glasgow. It’s the same here. It’s about the people being able to contribute to their community. The starting point is deciding ‘what is the right thing to do?’.”
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