Governance
All community councils are goverened by the appropriate local authority of which there are 32 in Scotland. Sleat Community Council is one of 15 CCs in Skye and Raasay of which 11 are currently formed. Only the community areas of Minginish, Waternish, Glendale and Uig are currently in abeyance as of February 2023.
All community councils are formed for a period of four years.
In Highland the governance of community councils is through the Scheme of Establishment for Community Councils which can be found in full at this link. This was last updated by Highland Council in September 2019.
This Scheme is based upon the model Scheme published by the Scottish Government in March 2009 for use by Local Authorities. The Scheme encompasses a suite of documents which include: • Community Council Boundary Maps (appendix 1) • Community Council Membership Numbers (appendix 2) • Standard Community Council Constitution (appendix 3) • Standard Community Council Standing Orders (appendix 4) • Code of Conduct for Community Councillors (appendix 5)
Within the scheme there are guidance notes covering a range of relevant topics:
- Guidance for the recording of meetings.
- Community Councils' FAQs
- Highland Council Community Council Complaints Guidance
- Code of Conduct for Community Councillors is shown as Appendix 5 on Page 42 of the Scheme
- If you would like to become a member of a community council this link gives further information.
In the autumn of 2022 and after extensive consultations between all community council members and supported by the Highland Council a new Behaviour and Actions Policy is to be adopted by Sleat Community Council. This defines specific policies for both Community Councillors and Members of the Public.
The Policy was approved by the four members present at the October 2022 meeting: Tim Shone, Flora Maclean, Veana Cleland and Rob Ware.
The approved Policy can be seen at this link and is now adopted as a Standing Order.
Edit: 23/4/2024. With the formal establishment of a new community council in April 2024 the SCC 'Behaviour and Actions Policy' adopted during the last communty council period members have agreed that the policy wll be reviewed and published. The current policy shown above will remain in force until a new document is agreed and adopted.
Community councils are made up entirely of volunteers and a key requirement is that members are required to be on the electoral role and be resident in the Sleat Community Council boundary area as shown below. Sleat's membership is determined by the numbers of the electoral role and currently for our area 8 members are permitted with the addition, if required, of two youth members.
If you would like to know anything further about the work of SCC or would like to consider being a member please get in touch with any of the seven members currently in office or email info@sleatcommunitycouncil.org.uk Full information on becoming a community councillor can found here.
For further useful information on Sleat and the Scheme please see our LINKS page.