Glasgow City Council’s Executive Committee today (Friday, May 30) approved plans for a six-month community engagement programme to collect opinions from Glaswegians on how they want to benefit from the Games and how they can be further involved, such as through volunteering.

Glasgow aims to deliver both a world-class Commonwealth Games in 2014 and a sustainable legacy for the people of the city. Community engagement is critical in ensuring that the long-term impact of the Games is rooted in the aspirations of local communities.

Research into previous Olympic and Commonwealth Games programmes have demonstrated that:

·    they have varied track records in terms of legacy and cities often benefit in terms of infrastructure but those benefits do not touch the lives of local people

·    they do not have good records on community engagement

·    any sustainable benefits need to be planned or they will not simply trickle down to the communities that need them

·    links to other major developments (such as the Clyde Gateway in Glasgow’s case) need to be maximised.

The City Council will now work with partners, including Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS and Glasgow Centre for Population Health, to engage local communities to draw together a wide range of views on maximising benefits in the lead up to and after the Games.

The programme will involve working with existing, formal engagement structures and targeting those individuals and communities that do not traditionally participate in public engagement activity.

A detailed project plan for community engagement will now be drawn up, targeting a variety of groups from the voluntary sector to sports clubs and forums involved in community planning and health issues.

The engagement programme will also target excluded or “hard to reach” groups such as excluded young people. There will also be a process of identifying new groups or communities of interest as the engagement continues.

Councillor Archie Graham, Executive Member for Commonwealth Games Delivery, said: “The 2014 Commonwealth Games will be about much more than just two weeks of sport and the physical regeneration of the city.

“They will provide a social legacy for Glasgow that will last far beyond the event itself.  We want everyone in the city to benefit from that.

"Some of the key priorities are looking at getting people back into work and off benefits, improving health, and, specifically, reducing health inequalities. There will also be the opportunity for people to become involved in volunteering, which itself can help generate a sense of community.

“The Games represent the best chance in a generation for us to realise the aspirations and hopes of all the citizens of Glasgow. So it’s important that we hear from Glaswegians about what they think their Games should do for them.

“This engagement process will help us draw in those views and develop a legacy strategy.”

Engagement events will be publicised after a detailed action plan is completed.

A copy of the committee paper can be found here.