Community Planning Aberdeen publishes results of citizens’ values simulator
29 April 2021
The results of a special online simulator to gauge citizens values have been published today (Thursday 29 April) by Community Planning Aberdeen (CPA).
The online simulator went live on Monday 1 March and received 2642 responses by the time it closed on Wednesday 31 March. A summary report showed that the main priorities and values of participants across Aberdeen’s communities include:
Supporting children and young peopleEnsuring that no one goes hungryCreating new training and employment opportunitiesEncouraging employers to offer the real living wageSupporting people in distress and reducing suicidesAberdeen City Council and Police Scotland as key members of CPA invested in the online software as they recognise the challenges faced by citizens living in some localities to engage and take part in community planning.
The simulator was designed to show which priorities were of most importance to respondents and the collated results give an overview of what is important for specific communities and across the city.
The results of the simulator will be used to support a refreshed Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) and inform locality plans to be considered by the CPA Board on 7 July 2021. Once the LOIP refresh and Locality plans are approved opportunities for citizens to participate in the Partnership’s improvement activity both city wide and at a locality level will be promoted.
Key to community engagement and empowerment is the ability of CPA to reach members of the community who face barriers because of their race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or belief.
The simulator allowed participants to choose from a set of projects and to rank those projects in relation of importance to the participant. Ranking was done by giving a limited number of points to their priority project.
Councillor Jenny Laing, Co-Leader of Aberdeen City Council and Chair of Community Planning Aberdeen said: “We have had a tremndous response to the simulator, and I would like to thank everyone who took part. The results are crucial in underpinning ongoing locality planning work and delivering on our commitment to empowering the people of Aberdeen by putting their responses at the heart of a reinvigorated Local Outcome Improvement Plan.
“The simulator has been vital in helping ensure that we have been able to reach people in our communities that we might not normally hear from . I would also encourage participants who would like to be further involved in the ongoing locality planning process to consider joining one of our Locality Empowerment Groups or Priority Neighbourhood Partnerships.”
Chief Superintendent George MacDonald, Local Police Commander and Vice Chair of Community Planning Aberdeen said: “I am delighted that almost 3000 people took part in the simulator exercise and so help us capture vital information that will support the mid-way review of the Aberdeen City Local Outcome Improvement Plan.
“Online engagement has had a crucial role to play in capturing the views of the diverse range of people our communities particularly in view of the need to overcome the restrictions posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. By reviewing the outcomes of the simulator, we now have a further data set to help us address those issues that are of most importance to the people and communities of Aberdeen.”
The summary report and results dashboard can be viewed by visiting:
https://communityplanningaberdeen.org.uk/loip-refresh2021/
CPA is a partnership of public, private and the third sector working together to deliver improved outcomes for those who live, work, visit and do business in the city.
The LOIP is a document which sets out how CPA will improve outcomes for and with local people and communities through three key themes: Economy, People and Place. The vision set out in the LOIP is that Aberdeen will be ‘a place where all people can prosper’ by 2026.
The LOIP is a ten-year plan which is reviewed in consultation with partners every two to three years and the introduction of the citizen values simulator has been launched ahead of a refreshed LOIP, which will be published in July 2021.
Community Planning Aberdeen consists of Aberdeen City Council; ACVO (Aberdeen Council for Voluntary Organisations); Aberdeen Civic Forum; North East Scotland College; Police Scotland; Scottish Fire and Rescue; Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership; NHS (National Health Service) Grampian; NESTRANS; Skills Development Scotland; Scottish Enterprise; Active Aberdeen Partnership and the University of Aberdeen.
For up-to-date information on the LOIP refresh, please visit: