COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC REALM AND CLIMATE CHANGE SPC
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
HEADED ITEM NO.
Review of Social Credit Scheme
REPLY:
A motion was referred from full Council to the November 2016 SPC meeting at which the following was considered:
At that meeting SPC members agreed to liaise with their local groups and associations in order to establish their requirements, and to revert back to aid determination of further potential for greater non-monetary assistance.
No further feedback was received. However, an internal review of the Scheme was carried out in Q4 2016 / Q1 2017.
Participation / Registration of new groups:
The review established that there are 100 groups registered for the Social Credit Scheme. However only approximately 48 groups are activie on a regular basis: availing of the scheme in some format on a regular basis through material provision and collection of waste post clean-up on a weekly / fortnightly / monthly basis.
There are also other Residents Associations / groups that have ad hoc clean-ups throughout the year, and which are supported with materials and collections post clean-ups (c 11 clean-ups per month).
Communications / promotion mechanisms:
The review established a greater need for information flow between groups and the Council which would:
An email was sent to groups request before and after photographs from clean-ups and the details for the event being held. This information is now being promotion and advertisement through the communication of good news stories via social media.
Social Credit Newsletter is now in development for circulation twice a year which will focus on the good news stories.
In Q1 2017 all groups were also contacted to acknowledge and thank them for their hard work, requesting up to date contact information and reiterating the main aspects and guidelines for the scheme. The main points of the email were as follows:
This communication issued to 100 groups registered and 32 responses have been received to date.
Continuous assessment of benefits and rewards available / availability / distribution of materials / Potential for expansion – non monetary assistance
As groups develop and engage in the Social Credits Scheme more requests are being received for assistance with projects other than community clean-ups such as the develop community gardens, creation of flower beds and the removal of Graffiti. In order to facilitate this we are exploring procurement option for the following:
In addition to the above actions the Social Credit Scheme also worked on the following in Q1 2017:
Potential for greater interdepartmental collaboration
The Social Credits Scheme continues to offer support to all groups participating in the scheme and encourage new groups and residents to get involved. The scheme also continues to work closely with our Community Department’s Tidy Towns Liaison Officer to ensure that all Tidy Town groups have a full picture of the range of supports that are available to all groups involved in the social credit scheme.
The following additional supports have also been offered to all groups and are available on an ongoing/request basis
All groups can also get involved in Environmental Awareness initiatives, see exemplar list below, by running an event in the local community, for which supports will be provided by Environmental Awareness:
Further feedback via membership of this committee would be very welcome