Author: Senscot etal

A joint proposal from Senscot, Social Firms Scotland, Scottish Community Alliance and Cooperative Development Scotland. To be funded as part of the Scottish Government’s Early Action Plan in support of the 10 year social enterprise strategy

A Consortia Building & Procurement Hub

We believe that a gap in the current support environment for enterprising third sector suppliers could be solved by introducing a well-resourced and dedicated Consortia Building & ProcurementSupport Hub – building on the activity currently delivered via Senscot/SFS’s Partnership and Procurement Coordinator role.

This proposal builds on the thinking of Senscot/SFS to support the development of consortia across the sector and is specifically designed to help the many hundreds of community based social enterprises across Scotland to access more of the investment currently being driven through the public procurement market.

Benefits and Examples of Consortia Approaches

The recent experience of CRNS in drawing together a consortium of 17 of its members, and successfully bidding to be accepted onto the Scotland Excel Procurement Framework (Reuse lot), has also prompted this proposal. Although CRNS succeeded in relation to this piece of work, it was hugely and disproportionately demanding in terms of the organisation’s internal resources and it is difficult to imagine other parts of the sector being able to easily replicate this achievement.

Another example of the benefits of collaboration is the Fife Employability Consortium (FEC) led by BRAG Enterprises – which is an excellent example of 8 organisations working together to deliver employability services in Fife. Driven by the local authority, the consortium development was supported by an external facilitator, and in April 2015, Fife ETC won a £1.1mn contract from Fife Council. The council recognise that the partners are delivering better outcomes, with increased efficiencies and more people further from the labour market accessing local employability services.

The consortium has supported 368 people into jobs against a target of 296. Prior to the consortium, only 29% of clients engaged from Fife's most deprived 20% SIMD areas, and in the pilot phase of the consortium, this increased to over 60%. A more efficient service for the funder who sees the consortia as very successful. Previously only 30% of employability services in Fife was provided by social enterprises, now that share has grown to 70%.

Following awareness and promotion of these 2 examples, SFS & Senscot are currently supporting early consortia discussions in the employability services field in Glasgow (30 organisations have expressed interest) as well as early discussions in West Lothian.

Current examples of successful consortia approaches include Ready for Business (a collaboration of third sector and private sector) which is delivering the Scottish Government’s ‘Developing Markets for Third Sector Provider’s Programme; and Just Enterprise which is delivering the Government’sbusiness support programme for enterprising third sector organisations. Both of these are third sector-led. These examples, however, are not typical and therefore this is part of the rationale for proposing the establishment of a Consortia Building and Procurement Hub primarily targeted at the social and community enterprise sector – the majority of which are small and locally based.Through our engagement with the European  SEN, Consorzio Sociale Light (Lombardy, Italy) has offered to act in a consultancy capacity in the event of this proposal being approved.

Components of the Consortia Building & Procurement Hub

It is envisaged that the Hub would have a number of key components relevant to tender support, drawing on existing resources and information and developing a higher visibility and access to support:

• Technical/tender writing. The technical knowledge and hard skills required to tender for large contracts which is so lacking within small third sector organisations, and which gives the large outsourcing companies and national charities such an advantage, would need to be imported – potentially learning from the private sector.

• Consortia building. A deep knowledge of the diversity of our sector and the skills and understanding of how to work across a range of different groups and communities towards thedevelopment of effective consortia. 

The Hub could sit within any one of the key intermediaries, however, the Hub services would beaccessible to any enterprising third sector organisation beyond our respective membership andnetworks. It would be managed by a cross-sector steering group. We see this proposal as not only tackling one of the key challenges for the sector in gaining better access to the public procurement opportunities, but also facilitating better use of the existing supporting infrastructure and enhancing cross-sector collaboration.

Author: Housing News

Residents of three Aberdeen multi-storeys have voted on how £100,000 will be invested in their buildings and surrounding areas.

As part of its participatory budgeting programme, known as UDecide, Aberdeen City Council asked occupiers of Promenade, Regent and Linksfield Courts to vote for their top three priorities for improving their buildings.

Almost half of all 153 households in the three blocks voted for their desired improvements by either attending a voting day held in each multi-storey or by completing a postal vote.

The most popular options were; replacing the flooring in each building, a deep clean of each multi block and painting the inside of each building. Other votes went to installing fob access at the rear doors of each building and installing planters and benches outside the buildings.

Decoration work will begin at Linksfield Court in February followed by Regent Court and then Promenade Court. After that the council will conduct a thorough clean of each building and then replace the flooring in all three buildings.

Fob access to the rear doors will be installed once the new front and back doors are fitted in spring.

In addition to the UDecide project the three buildings have been undergoing a transformation outside with overcladding and new windows being installed. Once this work is completed along with improvement works to the ground floor foyers, a review of the outside space will take place with consideration given to installing planters and benches.

Aberdeen City Council leader Councillor Jenny Laing said: “The funding available via our UDecide programme has allowed our tenants and residents to address the issues that are most important to them.

“All of our participatory budgeting projects have been very well received and have generated a great deal of interest and excitement in local areas where engagement with the council has previously been low.

“I hope the residents of Promenade, Regent and Linksfield Courts are pleased with the outcome of their voting days. I look forward to seeing the improvements to these buildings in due course.”

There are various participatory budgeting projects underway across the city. A total of £250,000 is available to projects in three localities; Torry; Middlefield, Northfield, Cummings Park, Heathryfold and Mastrick; and Tillydrone, Woodside and Seaton. Another £30,000 is available to upgrade and improve unused green space within the heart of Torry.

Author: Cllr Jimmy Black

A blog from a Dundee City Councillor who seems open to the idea that the community voices who are objecting to this proposal may have a point.

Dundee Coldside – Cllr Jimmy Black

Councillors have been bombarded with material from objectors to the Regional Performance Sports Centre, planned for Caird Park.

Tempting though it is to dismiss this as grievance driven rubbish from obsessive people who will not listen to reason, I can’t. Their arguments make a lot of sense. The problem is that everything revolves around process, and no-one’s interested in that. Except, perhaps, the courts; and naive souls who think everything should be done properly.

A planning application for the Caird Park development very nearly reached the Committee in November 2016. It was withdrawn at the last minute, and the reason given was the objection from Historic Scotland. A large sports building was to be sited close to historic Mains Castle, an A listed building.

This objection had been around for months and was included in the report submitted to Committee with a recommendation for approval. Other factors cited in public were the objectors’ call for a Pre-Determination Hearing, and the withdrawal of Dundee Football Club (announced in public in December).

Whatever the reason for the last minute withdrawal, it has become clear to me that many things about this application were wrong. My opinion is that we did the right thing by withdrawing it. At Monday’s P&R Committee we have the opportunity to start again.

Here are the things we need to sort……click here

Author: Common Space

AN EDINBURGH AND LOTHIANS community group is planning to obtain the right to buy a local hospital and healthcare centre that has come up for sale.

The Sick Kids hospital in Marchmont and Sciennes could be purchased through the Scottish Government’s community right to buy scheme which grants locals the right to buy out land and property.

At the meeting scheduled for Tuesday 21 February, at 7pm German Church, 1 Chalmers Crescent, the development trust will call on locals to sign a petition, ask questions and give support for the coming bid.

A spokesperson for the Marchmont & Sciennes Development Trust (MSDT), the group set up to put forward the community bid, said: “As you are probably aware, a precious symbol of the community’s treasured heritage of healthcare provision – the Sick Kids Hospital – is up for sale. The hospital, located in the heart of Marchmont and Sciennes, is held dearly in the hearts and memories of many families across the city and the Lothians.

“As part of a radical democratic vision, the Scottish Government offers substantial help with this process, guiding groups that wish to use the legislative tool of Community RIght to Buy to address specific community needs.

“This amendment by the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 is designed to address the broader vision of the Government to help people take control of their economic lives and safeguard the future of their communities.”

Rather than risk the hospital site falling into the hands of private developers and being left vacant, the MSDT want the site to be one that provides quality affordable housing alongside healthcare provision.

There are also plans for community businesses and a local enterprise group to formed.

Since April of last year, the Community Right to Buy (CRtB) has allowed communities across Scotland to register interest in land in urban and rural sites. Those groups who successfully register a community interest in land have the first rights to buy when the land is offered up for sale.

The first successful registration of community interest in an urban site in Scotland was achieved by Action Porty last year, who are now preparing their bid to own and run Portobello Old Parish Church.

However, the hospital and its adjoining buildings could be sold by NHS Lothian to private developers such as Rob McDowell, the owner of Edinburgh’s Summerhall arts venue.

When the trust registers their public interest in the land it will remain for a period of five years during which Scottish minister have 63 days to accept or reject the validity of the community interest. From this point, the owner of the site has 21 days to overlook the buyout claim by the community and make it comments.

Author: Alison Benjamin Guardian

Sheffield city council’s balance sheet shows its parks as a £16m liability. Traditional accountancy methods focus on a park’s saleable value, or its operational costs associated with maintenance. So England’s 27,000 parks are considered as financial liabilities rather than the amazing asset to our health and wellbeing that any of their 37 million regular users could vouch for. They also deliver a range of ecosystem services such as improved air and water quality, flood risk mitigation by absorbing water run-off, and cooling the urban environment as well as providing much-needed habitat for wildlife. By using a “natural capital” accounting approach that puts a value on all these social, environmental and economic contributions, Sheffield discovered that for every £1 spent on its parks, they generate £34 of benefits.

Yet this true value is not widely measured or recognised. As a result, an MPs inquiry report published last week warned that parks are at a tipping point of decline, ravaged by a 92% reduction in budgets since 2010-11 because of local authority cuts. Tragically it’s the small, green spaces in poorer, built-up areas that suffer disproportionate cuts to park rangers and maintenance. We have been here before. Uncared-for, litter-strewn parks were emblematic of Thatcher’s Britain before an injection of public spending by a Labour government and £850m of lottery cash revived them.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Andrew Hinchley, green space development officer at the London Borough of Camden, told MPs if we had new ways of valuing the services parks provide for improving water quality, for example, then you could ask water companies to pay towards their upkeep.

The committee wants councils to publish strategic plans to recognise the real value of parks and to set out how they will be managed (possibly by a charitable trust, as Newcastle is looking into) to maximise their contribution to wider local authority goals such as promoting healthier lifestyles. It suggests the government’s obesity strategy could fund parks. It also suggests that it could be a legal requirement for councils to produce such strategies.

Yet this alone won’t save parks. Birmingham city council told the inquiry that pressure for housing development was “nibbling away” at existing green space, and smaller spaces are less likely to receive protections under planning policy. Just beyond the diesel particulates of many busy main roads, small but vital green lungs are already being lost to privately funded redevelopment.

Yet children living in deprived areas are nine times less likely than those living in affluent areas to have access to green spaces and places to play. And these are the same children most likely to be obese and to have diabetes and respiratory problems. Planning legislation has to prevent the loss of parks – with mature trees that absorb traffic noise and pollution – to housing and commercial development.

i-Tree software maps city trees and calculates the financial value of the “ecosystem services” they provide. In London it is £6.1bn. What is needed is i-Parks software, which also measures parks’ health and wellbeing services.

Author: SCDC

SCDC update on Community Empowerment Act

After three years in the making, the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act was given royal assent in summer 2015. Over the following year, regulations (additional legislation required to put the Act in place) and statutory guidance (guidance which public authorities must have regard to) was developed. Some parts of the Act are now in force and other provisions will be implemented soon.

This SCDC briefing should help you to get started on finding out how you can use the Act, whether you are a practitioner or a community member. As well as summarising the main parts of the Act, the briefing links to the best and easy to read sources of further information.

You can either download the briefing or read the information on our webpage on the Act.

Author: STIR

We launched STIR magazine, a quarterly print magazine of new economic ideas and original art in 2013. We publish international contributors on the co-operative movement, the global commons, solidarity economics and many other emerging political practices. Moving beyond traditional political commentary, we explore the inspiring and viable alternatives that represent a serious challenge to the current political crisis.

STIR magazine explores community ownership, co-operatives, post-growth economics, food sovereignty, alternative finance, law and social change, open data, cultural activism, peer-to-peer production, and the future of work.

We publish interviews with leading thinkers, illustrated how-to resources and seasonal recipes from local food activists.

Author: Hazel Sheffield, Guardian

Matthew Brown believes few available jobs and rising inequality led Preston, like every other district of Lancashire, to vote to leave the EU in June. “People are angry with how the economy is structured. Brexit has happened because of a failure of the current economic model,” says the 44-year-old councillor. But he adds: “What we’re doing now is in response to that, it’s about how we can change local economies to work for people who feel excluded.”

Since 2011, the Lancashire council’s central government grant has been almost halved from £30m to £18m, leading to cuts in everything from community engagement to parks and the leisure centre. “The intention was to devolve cuts and blame it on us,” Brown says. “But you can become more self-sufficient.”

The Preston model he devised involves 12 of the city’s key employers – including the county constabulary, a public sector housing association, colleges and hospitals – buying goods and services locally, to stop 61% of their procurement budget being spent outside of the Lancashire economy. As a result, Brown has been called a visionary thinker for his work to boost the economy in his hometown.

He was appointed cabinet member for community engagement and inclusion almost seven years ago, in a city riven by inequality. “Poverty was entrenched. We were in the bottom 20% of the index of multiple deprivation. In the most prosperous ward you would expect to live to 82, and other wards 66,” he says.

Preston was the first northern city authority to implement the living wage in 2012. A year later, Brown embraced the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2013, which allows public bodies in England to take into account the social, environmental and economic impact of their commissioning. A key step was to redirect lucrative contracts, such as printing services for the police and food for council buildings, towards local businesses.

Brown met with the heads of six so-called anchor institutions. He helped them to reorganise their supply chains and identify where they could buy goods and services locally. By using spend analysis and social value criteria, the city council doubled its procurement spend with Preston companies from 14% in 2012-13 to 28% in 2014-15. Lancashire county council has since introduced a social value framework to inform all aspects of the procurement cycle, while the college, police and housing association that signed up to the programme have all committed to applying this framework to their projects, though there is not yet quantitative analysis of the effect on spending.

But the benefits of this shift for local businesses can already be seen. Conlon Construction, a family-run company, has hired five local staff and three graduate apprentices since it was awarded public sector contracts including one to build a new covered market hall. Local farmers profited when the council divided up its £1.6m food budget for canteen sandwich fillings, yoghurts and fruit and simplified the tender process. A local artist collective called the Birley was given an ex-council building as studio space, saving it from moving to Manchester or Liverpool. “No one wants things to be out of public ownership, but the next best option is to set them up as some kind of co-operative,” Brown says.

Preston had the joint-second biggest improvement in its position on the multiple deprivation index between 2010 and 2015. And in 2016 it was named best city in north-west England in which to live and work. The council leader Peter Rankin attributed the city’s success to its location – just two hours from London – and cheap housing. But Brown believes the Preston model “must have helped”.

He and his colleagues want to build a city where workers are in control of wealth, improving people’s sense of citizenship. “We’ve got the public pension fund to invest in student housing, we’re looking at setting up a local bank to give business loans and for the local authority to become an energy provider,” he says. “You put all that together and you can see how we are developing the infrastructure for a new economy.”

He works closely with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies thinktank to implement his ideas and an EU network of cities that face similar challenges, though Brexit may put an end to that.

Brown was born in Warrington, Cheshire, but raised by adoptive parents in Lancashire. He joined the Labour party at 19 and studied politics at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. He joined HM Revenue and Customs, where he still works, and became an equal opportunities officer for the Public and Commercial Services Union. In 1997 he canvassed for Labour at the general election and was later persuaded to run for a council seat in what was then his home seat of Tulketh, north-west Preston. He won on his first attempt in 2002, aged 30. when he was just 30

He believes that as a result of the financial crisis and its aftermath people are ready to hear a radically different way of thinking about politics and that Corbyn can win a Labour party victory in 2020. Until then, Preston is backing the northern powerhouse initiative to secure devolution, allowing it to build what Brown believes are the foundations of a new economy away from the City and Westminster. “The days of getting huge inward investments are over, so the sensible way is looking at how you can do that through your local area to make something new,” Brown says. “This is it.”

The model was inspired by cooperatively run communities in Cleveland, Ohio and the world’s largest co-operative group, Mondragón, in the Basque region of Spain, and has been touted in speeches by the shadow chancellor John McDonnell. Judging by the interest he has had from other councils, including Birmingham, Rochdale and Sheffield, plenty of people hope he is right.

Author: Falkirk Foundation

Falkirk Foundation, the charity arm of Falkirk Football Club, is pleased to announce that an outline agreement has been reached to progress towards the Community Asset Transfer of Woodlands Games Hall & Pitch to a new community enterprise called Woodlands Community Sports Ltd.

The proposal will see the Foundation working in partnership with Comely Park Parent Council to bring the under threat facility back to life with an initial £200,000 grant investment secured from the Landfill Communities Fund. This initial investment will see a brand new 3G pitch installed to replace the existing surface together with upgrades to floodlighting, fencing and equipment.

A second round of fundraising is now underway to secure the full asset transfer. This will involve investing in the games hall building to replace and modernise existing facilities and upgrade for a range of community uses.

The upgrades will secure the future of the games hall and pitch for the long term provision of physical education at Comely Park Primary School, who utilise the facilities during term time, provide a new venue for delivery of Falkirk Foundation’s Community Football programme and provide a modern and openly accessible facility for a range of sporting and community users in the Falkirk area.

Craig Campbell, Chief Executive of Falkirk Foundation said: “This is a brilliant example of true partnership between the local council and the local community, working for the benefit of local children. The new investment we are delivering will create a first-class facility for young children to play sport and will bring fresh energy to a facility right in the centre of Falkirk. We believe this will inspire other community organisations throughout Scotland to look at how they can secure the long-term provision of facilities in their own areas through Community Asset Transfer.”

Doug Henderson, Chairman of Falkirk Football Club commented: “This is an excellent example of the Football Club and the Foundation working with Falkirk Council and the local community to preserve and extend vital services. This will be a good boost for the local community in the Woodlands area and the wider community in Falkirk.

“I have always believed that preserving local sporting facilities is a vital part of promoting activities that are important for health and fun.”

Mel Brookes, Joint Chair at Comely Park Parent Council added: “After many months of hard work, we’re delighted to have been able to secure the future of sports and activities for the children of Comely Park and the local area.  We’re convinced this project will provide a blueprint for other community groups to follow in future years.”

Author: Brian Wilson, The Scottish Review

When I first became interested in the Crown Estate Commission, more than 30 years ago, I could hardly believe my luck on reading Section 1, Clause 1 (5) of the Crown Estate Act 1961 – the legislation which, to this day, governs the workings of this curious organisation.

It states: ‘The validity of transactions entered into by the Commissioners shall not be called in question on any suggestion of their not having acted in accordance with the provisions of this Act regulating the exercise of their powers, or of their having acted in excess of their authority, nor shall any person dealing with the Commissioners be concerned to inquire as to the extent of their authority or the observance of any restrictions on the exercise of their powers’.

I doubt if there is another catch-all clause like it on the statute book, effectively giving the Crown Estate Commissioners the power to do exactly as they saw fit and making it illegal for anyone to question their behaviour. What an open door this presented for law-breaking on the cheap, since it was scarcely credible that anyone in breach of Clause 1(5) would be prosecuted or placed in the tower for such an act of lese-majeste, while the off-chance of such martyrdom offered a journalistic bonus.

The problem at that time was that the Crown Estate Commissioners acted with all the arrogance that the legislation encouraged. Most people outside of London’s most elegant squares and thoroughfares had never heard of them. They managed most of the foreshore and seabed and a scatter of rural estates including a few in Scotland but, overwhelmingly, the value of their portfolio lay in lucrative metropolitan property and attracted little interest from persons ‘concerned to inquire’ about anything.

From my perspective, it was the advent of Scotland’s salmon farming industry which changed all that. It came to my attention that whole sea lochs on the west coast were being leased willy-nilly to multinational companies by the Crown Estate without any consultation with local communities or elected authorities. At that time, there was a reasonable prospect that this new industry might have developed through small-scale, locally-owned businesses, consistent with the pluralistic economy of the crofting counties.

Instead, in total secrecy from an office in Burlington Place, the Crown Estate had pre-empted that possibility by doing deals with Unilever, Booker McConnell and the like. At that time, the Scottish interest was exclusively represented by the 8th Earl of Mansfield, who acquired the rank of First Crown Estate Commissioner. The more one delved into the Commission’s role as owner of the seabed round most of the Scottish coast, the more local scandals emerged about its high-handed and capricious behaviour.

Throughout the intervening years, I have taken some satisfaction from breaching Section 1, Clause 1 (5) of the Crown Estate Act 1961 as often as possible. It would be disingenuous to pretend that nothing has changed in the interim and, I hope, in part as a result. The Crown Estate has been pushed gradually into greater accountability and, in 2007, was relieved of its regulatory function over the seabed. It has grudgingly given some money back to the aquaculture industry by funding research and since 2012 it has paid into a Coastal Communities Fund which dispenses grants to local projects.

None of this, however, goes to the root of the offence which is that a primary natural resource, the seabed, is owned by an unaccountable body for which ‘the marine estate’ is a minor sideshow in financial terms, compared to the onshore property empire that it manages. The net revenues which flow from the Scottish end of the Crown Estate to the Treasury are relatively minor but would still be better spent in coastal communities than subsumed into the great maw of the consolidated fund.

There is also the chimera of marine renewables to be taken account of. Even though the rhetoric has by far exceeded the reality, there is still the potential for substantial revenues from such projects as ever materialise. Is the role of local communities to be restricted to watching the lights on offshore windfarms or tidal arrays twinkling in the distance, or will there be revenues accruing – just as there would be, as of right, if the developments took place on land under crofting tenure?

As the aura of unaccountability around the Crown Estate has gradually broken down, the case for democratisation and devolution has grown. Both the Calman and Smith Commissions recommended that the Scottish Estate should be devolved. This principle was incorporated into the Scotland Act of 2016 and in future revenues will be paid into the Scottish consolidated fund. Earlier this month, the Scottish government initiated a consultation on how the Scottish Estate is to be managed.

On all past form, the preference of the current regime would be to create a Scotland-wide body as close to ministerial control as possible, with the money staying in a central pot to be branded as their own munificent largesse. Fortunately, the Smith Commission very deliberately set out to pre-empt this approach. Following the precedent set by Danny Alexander when, as chief secretary to the Treasury he established the coastal communities fund, the Smith Commission made clear that it saw Edinburgh only as a bureaucratic resting place for the powers and funds which are to be devolved.

It stated: ‘Following this transfer, responsibility of those assets will be further devolved to local authority areas such as Orkney, Shetland, Na h-Eilean Siar or other areas who seek such responsibilities’. Unless the Scottish government accedes to that very specific direction from the Smith Commission, this will be the central area of contention when legislation eventually appears. To people living in Scotland’s coastal communities, entrusting control and revenues to a quango in Edinburgh would represent little if any improvement.

There is nothing in the consultation paper which suggests that devolution of the land-based Scottish Estate will amount to anything much more than a change of brass signs on the Dean Village office. Yet here, surely, is the opportunity to create a vehicle which can play a major role in the process of Scottish land reform – if, indeed, there is any serious interest in that cause. When all the Crown flummery is stripped away, this Estate is a repository for publicly-owned land and an objective of those charged with managing the Scottish Estate should be to extend it, not least by testing current assertions of private ownership.

This issue was signposted in 2000 when John MacLeod, an opera singer, tried to sell a large proportion of the Cuillin mountain range for £10 million in order to fund the restoration of Dunvegan Castle. I was in the Scotland Office at that time and asked the Crown Estate to test Mr MacLeod’s legal title. Quite simply, if it did not exist, then the mountains in question would belong to the Crown (or in future, The Scottish Estate) rather than to him.

The Crown Estate sought legal advice which produced ambiguous conclusions. Mr MacLeod’s ancient titles were ‘capable of including the Cuillins’ but there was no conclusive evidence that they did so. However, there was also insufficient evidence for the Crown to mount a claim of ownership. At the time, I said it had been a worthwhile exercise: ‘This is the first occasion on which such a claim of ownership has been subjected to this kind of scrutiny. The conclusions highlight the fact than any meaningful challenge to such claims of ownership will only come through legislative change rather than interpretation of existing Scots law’.

Vast areas of Scotland are held on assertions of ownership which are as flimsy and untested as the MacLeod claim to the mighty Cuillins. If the appointed managers of the new Scottish Estate were let loose with a brief to test such claims – in the name of the Crown and backed up by modern Scottish legislation on proof of title – we really would have the prospect of something radical happening in Scotland.

But then, as the indefatigable campaigner on such matters, Andy Wightman, has pointed out, Scotland suffers from an excess of lawyer-politicians whose instinct on matters like this is rarely to challenge the text-books from which they have learned. Compared to persuading Holyrood that devolution of the Scottish Estate could actually represent an exciting political opportunity, moving the Crown Estate from where it was 30 years ago to where it is now has been the easy bit.