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Community councils

The role of a community council, how to set one up, elections, how to find your local community council, community councillor support.

Community councillor support

Community councils in Dumfries and Galloway are governed by the Scheme for the Establishment for Community Councils. We support community councillors in a number of ways, including:

  • governance advice
  • financial support
  • resilience support
  • election support
  • training and development
  • dedicated enquiry service
  • arranging peer support
  • relevant news and information updates 

Training and development 

We support training and development sessions for all community councillors free of charge. This covers:

  • operating within the Scheme for the Establishment of community councils in Dumfries and Galloway
  • personal skills development
  • sharing best practice

Community council enquiry service (CCES)

All enquiries made by community councils can be made through our CCES mailbox:

  • enquiries are directed through a fair and transparent route to the most appropriate person for response
  • there are agreed timescales for a response are in place
  • measures are in place to monitor and continuously improve the quality of responses
  • the process ensures tighter control of the council expenditure associated with enquiry handling

Email: [email protected]

Community council discretionary grants

Each community council is eligible to receive an annual discretionary grant which will take account of the number of registered voters included in the community council's boundary. The discretionary grant can be used at the discretion of the community council to further their statutory purposes, role and responsibilities only and for no other purpose.

The level of grant funding remains the same as for the previous financial year and payment of the allowance will be made in accordance with a procedure determined by us.

Details of the next grant will be made available on this page. 


Insurance cover

We provide a 'blanket' public liability insurance scheme for all established community councils in Dumfries and Galloway. The current public liability insurance scheme covers 1 May 2026 to 30 April 2027 and the premium has been paid for 2026/2027.

How to find out the views of your local communities

Local community councils are encouraged to use the National Standards for Community Engagement as a good practice tool. It provides a common set of ground rules that should be applied to both sides of the engagement process. 

One of the standards relates to overcoming any barriers to involvement and, for example, a community council may use its discretionary grant to pay for community councillors to attend appropriate meetings on its behalf.

Further information and newsletters

For any general queries about community councils:

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 030 33 33 3000

Contact us if you would like to receive the monthly community council newsletter.