Author: Catriona Stewart, Evening Times

FIFTEEN years ago today campaigners entered Govanhill Baths for what would turn into the longest occupation of a civic building in British history.

To mark the milestone, the Govanhill Baths Community Trust is launching a new multimedia exhibition – The Children of the Occupation.

And activists are invited to bring along their own memories from the occupation to add to the Baths’s growing archive.

There were many children who were part of the campaign – on the picket line, at the gala day, on marches and demonstrations.

At the exhibition launch there will be repeated screenings of documentary United We Will Swim… Again.

Visitors will be taken to see the largest swimming pool and guides will be explaining plans for the baths to reopen in 2018.

As well as celebrating the children of the occupation, organisers will be recruiting people to help raise the final £200,000 for the renovation in a sponsored swim campaign I am a Govanhill Swimmer.

As previously told in the Evening Times, the scheme asks people to take part in an international sponsored swim at their own pace.

No matter whether they are at Troon beach or Bondi Beach, people are asked to get involved – and send in a selfie with their written pledge.

Musician Tom Urie has already taken part by sending in his selfie and others have arrived from as far away as New Zealand.

The Govanhill Baths Community Trust has sourced £4million to reopen the pool but still needs a final push to raise the remaining cash.

Last year the Trust was gifted £500,000 apiece from Historic Environment Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Govanhill Baths was closed 14 years ago by Glasgow City Council, despite fierce opposition from the local community, including the occupation of the building.

After forming in 2003, the Trust has been working to reopen the venue as a wellbeing centre.

Under the new plans there would be a swimming pool and Turkish Baths, the former steamie turned into a theatre venue and community events and arts space with a cafe for local people.

Author: David Ross, The Herald

For generations people in towns and cities across Europe, about now would be starting to think about heading to their cabins out in the woods or countryside.

They would leave their daily lives behind, so they could open their wooden doors to nature each morning, and be the better refreshed for it. They have few Scottish counterparts today, although between the world wars many working people escaped Scottish cities and built their own huts in the countryside.

It has been estimated that one in 12 Swedes, one in 18 Finns and one in 33 Danes can claim a rural bolthole.Meanwhile more than half the Norwegian population has access to such a rural hut or a ‘hytte’.

However the last major survey 16 years ago found Scotland, with a slightly larger population, had fewer than 700 holiday huts or DIY cabins left, most famously those at Carbeth near the Campsie Fells. But things are about to change.

The campaign to give the public greater freedom to erect huts in rural areas with a target of 1,000, has made significant progress.

The idea of a hut has been written into Scottish planning policy, and those behind Reforesting Scotland’s ‘Thousand Huts’ campaign last month launched a new huts planning guide at Holyrood last month, with Richard Lochhead Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment in attendance. He said he very much welcomed the publication of the guide “which I hope will provide an important opportunity for many more people in Scotland to enjoy the recreational benefits associated with huts and hutting.”

But as yet there is still no official route by which to build such structures. Further changes have to be made.

Currently, if you want permission to build a simple hut with sleeping accommodation you have to comply with the same building regulations as for building a house.

The Scottish Government has proposed an amendment which would make hut building simpler and more affordable by exempting huts from most building regulations. The responses to the consultation on this move, have just been published showing considerable support. This has been welcomed by Karen Grant, of Reforesting Scotland’s Thousand Huts campaign.

She said: “It’s very encouraging to see that across Scotland’s local authorities, the responses to the Scottish Government’s proposals to exempt huts from building regulations are overwhelmingly positive. The consultation responses also show endorsement of the proposals by major organisations such as the National Trust for Scotland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. We’re optimistic that this broad support from key stakeholders will help move us towards a regulatory framework for huts which is appropriately light-touch for these simple, low-impact buildings.”

However there are still issues to be resolved. Not least whether a “raised floor or platform” should be allowed for sleeping. This is still under discussion.

Bernard Planterose raised it in his submission. He runs a business North Woods Construction Ltd in Wester Ross which makes huts and cabins, having lived in such informal structures on and off for 20 years.

He said “The building standards people are just trying to protect the public from danger which is, after all, their statutory function and this is commendable. However perhaps they are being a bit too careful when it comes to sleeping platforms.They are common in the whole hutting and bothy tradition.

“I am a veteran cabin user and I try to to help others realise their hutting dreams. The most important thing about huts is that they allow people to stay out in the wilds, almost under the stars, in safety if not comfort. A hut is a modest bolthole rather than a second home and can play a positive role in connecting people with the natural environment ”  

He said that he was pleased with the attitude of the Scottish Government and officials: “They are working as hard as they can to ensure that building standards catch up with the changes to planning policy accommodating huts. But we still have a wee bit to go.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The consultation responses will be analysed over the coming weeks to identify if there should be any adjustments to the emerging policy. It will be for the in-coming government to then establish the next steps for the policy.”

Author: Kenneth Gibson, MSP, Holyrood Magazine

Kenneth Gibson MSP speech that was not made to SNP conference on ‘radical’ reform of local government and health boards

Fellow delegates, this resolution is about delivering a single, joined up coherent framework for improved delivery of services and better outcomes for people.

One that I believe will impact positively on affordability and sustainability to ensure the provision of integrated services.

Delivering preventative spending leading to better outcomes for the people of Scotland has long been a clear goal of our SNPGovernment.

At a time of great financial challenge – following year-on-year cuts to Scotland’s Budget by successive UK Labour, coalition and Tory governments – the SNP Government had the courage to look to the future and invest £500m in preventative spending over these last five years, signalling a serious commitment to the issue and the reform of public services distributed through three change funds: Early Years, Reshaping Care for Older People, and Reducing Reoffending.

These funds helped refocus spending within our public service and each has had considerable success. Numerous useful and innovative projects leading to life-changing improvements in people’s lives were spawned.

However, these have not yet brought about transformational or system change, as umpteen evidence sessions to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance Committee from a huge range of stakeholders, including Scottish ministers, will attest.

What has been repeatedly emphasised is that ‘silo’ mentalities are still prevalent in too many areas, with budget design in isolation and single outcomes approached from different directions across different performance frameworks with inconsistencies across the country.

The SNP Government is providing £250 million of investment in the year from April to support the integration of health and social care, ushering in what is hoped will be a fundamental realignment of the way the NHS and local government delivers care.

In Ayrshire, three integration joint boards which liaise between NHS Ayrshire & Arran and each of the three Ayrshire councils have already been established to discuss, debate and deliberate on just exactly how this will be delivered. This is not an easy task.

A frail and elderly local authority tenant requests a handrail. There is a waiting list. If she falls and is injured, the NHS will pick up the tab, yet earlier action by the council could have prevented it.

Shared objectives through integration boards represent progress. Having a person-centred focus with one responsible public body would be even more effective and help to tackle persistent problems of social and economic inequality and inter-generational cycles of deprivation and disadvantage.

In 1995 the Tories reduced nine regional, three island and 53 district councils to 32 single tier authorities. The Tories were keen not to set up councils to deliver the most effective services. Their goal was to establish what they hoped would be Tory enclaves, for example in East Renfrewshire and South Ayrshire.

Whether one considers the delivery of services, economic development or improved health, the current model of 14 health boards and 32 local authorities is neither sustainable nor desirable.

Curiously, the current structure has many local authorities that are not quite big enough to drive optimal economic development, whilst at the same time being seemingly remote from the citizen.

So how do we square this circle? Firstly, by taking health under re-invigorated local authority control whilst merging – where appropriate – local authorities.

As this resolution is about committing the next SNP government to exploring these matters, it is not for me to detail exactly where and how that should happen.

As a suggestion, in Fife, the council and health board would merge on their existing co-terminus boundaries, bringing health under democratic local control.

In Ayrshire, the three councils could merge, bringing co-terminus NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s £669 million budget under the control – not of three existing councils and NHS board with their chief executives and teams of directors – but one authority, streamlining management and releasing resources to deliver enhanced front-line services with clearer objectives and greater efficiently, delivering, I believe, better outcomes for the people we represent.

These larger local authorities could focus on economic development, connectivity, social work and, working closely with the colleges, education.

What of the citizen in all this? We need to allow localism to work in new and innovative ways, whilst helping to shift attitudes. Localities are important. I live in Kilbirnie and when I ask people where they are from they say ‘Kilbirnie’ or ‘Ayrshire’, not the artificial construct that is North Ayrshire, which few identify with.

So let’s look to devolve decision-making to the level most commensurate with involving communities. Local planning matters, potholes, street cleaning, libraries, parks, museums, lighting and public toilets could all be managed effectively at ward level in my experience, giving councillors and their constituents a greater local say, making collaboration with third sector partners easier.

I believe arguments can be made for housing to be run more locally too.

The SNP Government has shown itself to be bold and radical in government, working not for vested interests or the status quo. This resolution is in that radical tradition. I ask you delegates, to give it your wholehearted support.

SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson is convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Finance Committee. This speech was set to be delivered at SNP conference as part of a resolution on reform of the public sector, however the resolution failed to be discussed.

Author: Alan McEwan, Daily Record

The Duke of Buccleuch has been accused of breaking Scotland’s ‘right to roam’ law by trying to make people pay to take walks on his 1,000-acre estate near Edinburgh.

The UK’s largest private landowner is charging dog walkers £20 for an “annual pass” and demanding £1 from ramblers and cyclists when they visit Dalkeith Country Park. He is also installing CCTV, electric controls on the main gate, and attempting to restrict access at other entrances.

The duke’s moves have infuriated residents, ramblers and politicians who argue that local people have been walking in the park for free for decades. Some say the charges are “extortionate” and “totally unreasonable”, with some walkers refusing to pay them.

But the Buccleuch estate is “mystified” by “misleading” suggestions that it is trying to restrict access. New security measures were being introduced to prevent anti-social behaviour and the killing of deer but these should not deter walkers, it says.

Dalkeith Country Park is one of Buccleuch’s five major country estates, four of them in Scotland and one in England, covering a total of over 240,000 acres. It is the site of Dalkeith Palace, built in 1702 and used by Bonnie Prince Charlie during the

The park is currently undergoing a £4 million redevelopment, including a café, shops and an adventure playground. Close to the Edinburgh bypass, it has long been a popular day out in the country for people from in and around the city.

But Buccleuch’s attempts to charge for and control access have now run into fierce opposition. Jim Mitchell, a dog owner from Dalkeith, has been walking several times a week in the park for the last 30 years without being charged.

“Now I’m being stopped and asked to pay extortionate amounts just to walk my dog. I think it’s totally unreasonable and it really sickens me,” he told the Sunday Herald.

“I don’t think we should be charged. Under the land reform legislation, we’re perfectly entitled to walk there.”

John Ritchie, a dog owner from Newtongrange who regularly uses the park, said: “There are lots of people and locals that refuse to pay. The gullible and the tourists are the ones being fleeced.”

Dave Morris, the former director of Ramblers Scotland, accused the duke of taking a “hostile attitude” to public access. He was breaching land reform law by ignoring the free use of Dalkeith park by local people over many years, he argued.

“He needs to abandon his charging plans or face legislative action in the Scottish courts to secure public rights of access. The best way for him to have due regard to his access responsibilities is for him to charge only for car parking.”

Ramblers Scotland had received many queries from the public concerned about charging and access at the park, reported policy manager, Helen Todd. “It’s disappointing that the estate has a less than welcoming attitude to its neighbours,” she said.

According to Colin Beattie, the SNP MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, the fact that local people had been walking for free in the park for years meant that their access was protected by the ‘right to roam’ law as long as they were well behaved. “I would be appalled if the landowner felt he had the right to impose charges and to restrict entry,” he said.

East Lothian Council, which covers part of Dalkeith park, implied that there was an issue over access. “The council is working with Buccleuch to see if the aspirations of the estate can be met while at the same time asserting free right of access from Old Craighall for walkers, riders and cyclists,” said a council spokeswoman.

Midlothian Council, however, suggested that Buccleuch might be complying with land reform legislation because the estate had previously charged for access in the summer months between about 10am and 4pm. Most residents knew they could walk for free outwith those times, the council said.

Dalkeith Country Park’s manager, Edward Morris, insisted that access to the park had been encouraged for generations. “There has been a nominal charge for access for several decades and people have always visited the park in great numbers,” he said.

“Our plans to alter the structure of our access fee have been well publicised and have been formulated following extensive consultation with local residents, community councils and stakeholders.”

The park’s redevelopment coincided with a problem of anti-social behaviour at certain times of day. “This has included incidents of deer being attacked and killed and other forms of unacceptable disorder,” Morris said.

Author: Scottish Government

Our land is our biggest asset and the Scottish Government has set out how best to meet its potential for effective, economic and environmentally sustainable use. The revised Land Use Strategy sets out policies and proposals for the next five years and beyond, ensuring that communities are fully engaged.

‘Getting the best from our land’ is Scotland’s second land use strategy and comes at a time when focus on the way we use land is stronger than ever. The recently passed Land Reform (Scotland) Bill and Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act have paved the way for this revised strategy, which sets out the importance of:

• Management of natural resources with an ecosystems approach to land use

• Partnership activity to bring a range of interests together to consider land use at a local level in both rural and urban areas

• Developing and implementing activities to promote climate friendly farming and crofting

• The relationship between ownership, use and management of land

• Continuing to explore the potential of catchment based approaches for managing land

A wide ranging public consultation highlighted an appetite for establishing a strategic vision for Scotland’s uplands and setting up an urban pilot project for the first time to explore community engagement with land use. These are two of the key actions highlighted in the strategy.

Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Dr Aileen McLeod said:

“Land is a fundamental resource for the nation and we all benefit from a more integrated and strategic approach to land management. Land use is crucial to our economic prosperity as well as how we mitigate and adapt to climate change. With such a precious asset, it is hugely important for us to balance the growing demands on our land and make informed decisions about the way it is managed – Scotland’s revised land use strategy provides the best framework for this.

“New legislation – the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill and the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 – demonstrate the dynamic nature of the debate on land in Scotland. Our new Land Use Strategy, ‘Getting the best from our land’, represents a bold and ambitious programme and I look forward to seeing its positive impact on land use in Scotland over the coming years.”

As an appendix to the main report a series of short policy papers will published over the coming weeks and months. These papers will demonstrate how much communities already contribute to the outcomes being pursued Scottish Government. In addition each paper will call for a number of actions that would enable these contributions to grow. The papers will cover the following areas:

Energy

Waste management and the circular economy.

Healthy living

Arts and Culture

Housing

Sports

Enterprise/ Local Economic Development

Regeneration

Land – Land Use and Planning

Transport

Food

Financial Inclusion

Today, we are publishing two papers – Transport and Housing

Author: SCA

As an appendix to the main report a series of short policy papers will published over the coming weeks and months. These papers demonstrate how much communities already contribute to the outcomes being pursued by Scottish Government. In addition each paper identifies what would enable these contributions to have much more impact. The papers will cover the following areas:

Energy

Waste management and the circular economy.

Healthy living

Arts and Culture

Housing

Sports

Enterprise/ Local Economic Development

Regeneration

Land – Land Use and Planning

Transport

Food

Financial Inclusion

As they are published these papers will be posted on the notice board page of our website. Today we are publishing papers on Housing and Transport

Author: Community Shares Scotland

The Community Shares Scotland (CSS) programme is now half way through its three years of BIG Lottery Scotland / Carengie UK Trust funding and the team has drawn up an eye catching infographic to tell the story of the past 18 months.

Author: Scottish Government

Legacy 2014: Sustainable Sport for Communities is a £1m fund which, from 2014 – 2016, will support the sustainability and capacity of aspiring and existing social enterprises delivering sport and physical activity in communities across Scotland.

The Fund is made up of an investment of £500,000 from the Scottish Government under the Legacy 2014 programme and £500,000 from The Robertson Trust.

The Programme has two Strands:

•           Strand 1: is for clubs and organisations who wish to take on ownership of and/or develop local facilities for use by the local community. The Fund provides business planning and development support to organisations who want to scope out ideas around purchasing, renovating, building from new or enhancing an existing physical asset.

•           Strand 2: provides revenue funding and direct support to clubs and organisations in the early stages of their journey to become a self-sustaining social enterprise. It aims to enhance capacity to develop longer term sustainability and increase wider community impact.

Both strands are now closed for new applications. More information about the projects that received funding through Strands 1 and 2 is available to read here. The full list of funded organisations is:

Strand 1 round 1

Ardenglen Housing Association, Castlemilk, Glasgow – £25,000

Loch Shin Sailing Club, Lairg – £25,000

Newton Park Association, Bo’ness – £23,800

North West Skye Residents Association, Isle of Skye – £23,500

Outfit Moray, Lossiemouth – £21,500

Reach for the Sky, East Kilbride – £25,000

Stanley Development Trust, Stanley, Perth – £24,900

Toward Sailing Club, Toward, Dunoon – £24,000

Huntly and District Development Trust, Huntly – £25,000

Brambles Trust, Ayr – £20,900

Showcase the Street, Arbroath – £25,000

Strand 1 round 2

Active Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, £14,000

Annan Athletic Football Club, Dumfries and Galloway, £19,200

Athletics Joint award, 3 clubs: Team East Lothian, Shettleston Harriers, Kilbarchan AAC, £25,000

Comrie Development Trust, Comrie, Perth, £15,000

Fabb Scotland, Callander, Stirling, £24,700

Fyrish Gymnastics Club, Highlands, £12,400

Glasgow City Foundation, Glasgow/East Dunbartonshire, £20,000

Greenock Morton Community Trust, Inverclyde, £25,000

Greystone Rovers YFC, Dumfries and Galloway, £25,000

Kirkliston South Queensferry Football Club, Edinburgh, £23,000

MY Adventure (MYA), Edinburgh/Borders, £25,000

Royston Youth Action (RYA),Glasgow, £24,900

Strand 2 grants

Kilwinning Sports Club, North Ayrshire – £30,000

Blantyre Soccer Academy, South Lanarkshire – £30,000

Scaladale Centre, Ardvourlie, Isle of Harris – £24,000

Liber8, Bellshill, North Lanarkshire – £30,000

Bill McLaren Park, Hawick – £22,500

Mallaig and District Pool, Mallaig – £30,000

Queensferry Sports and Community Hub, Edinburgh – £30,000

Barrhead Community Sport Hub, East Renfrewshire – £30,000

Broxburn United Sports Club, West Lothian, £30,000

Glasgow Watersport, Glasgow, £30,000

Author: Guardian

Local writer v Shell

George Turner is an unlikely anti-hero. Graced with a beard that would look more at home in Shoreditch than the Royal Courts of Justice, his rise to prominence in London’s property world came in 2012 when he single-handedly took the decision of then communities secretary Eric Pickle to approve the £1.2bn Shell Centre all the way to the high court.

The proposal was for eight buildings, up to 37 stories high, to be built next to the London Eye. Turner, a South Bank resident and writer, objected to the design and the damage the buildings could do to important heritage sites.

Taking a campaign to court can come with serious costs, but Turner was protected by a 2012 law that states that access to environmental justice should not be prohibitively expensive.

“Going to the high court was surreal,” says Turner. “On one side, we had me and my mate, Dave, helping me shuffle papers, on the other there were four QCs. Me, on my own, with this one piece of paper, had caused this immense amount of panic in all these institutions.”

It eventually failed, but the case caused ripples across the property world, with one developer describing Turner’s campaign as “a siege” against Braeburn Estates, the firm behind the scheme. It is a claim Turner dismisses: “One reason we are seeing more campaigns such as mine is that you don’t have the public interest being served by councils or government; instead, they act as an arbitrator between communities and business. The people whose job it is to work in the public interest don’t see that as their job anymore”

Turner says many developers are successfully lobbying government to tie the hands of campaigners like him – hence the measures in the housing bill.

Pharmacy lecturer v Aberdeen city council

But around the country, individuals have taken up arms against what they see as poor or wasteful developments. Aberdeen’s controversial Marischal Square development has been opposed strongly by a campaign led by former pharmacy lecturer Lorna McHattie. She is particularly critical of Aberdeen city council’s planning process and dealings with Muse, the developers of the hotel, office, and restaurant complex.

She began her campaign almost by chance when, after taking an interest in the proposals, she found it almost impossible to access documents regarding the £107m scheme in the city.

“To understand what was going on with the scheme I had to visit the council offices,” explains McHattie. “I couldn’t see the plans online. When I turned up I was put in a room and shown the plans, which were dragged up from a box in the archives. I was told I could not take photographs but I have no architecture expertise so I didn’t understand what I was looking at. How could people of the city understand what was going on if they all had to visit this room to get information?”

The development was questioned in the Scottish parliament because of McHattie’s campaign, and although the scaffolding is already going up, she doesn’t believe it’s the end. “The development can still be stopped all the way until they hand over the keys,” she says.

Resident v Hammerson and Ballymore

McHattie’s struggle for transparency is echoed by David Donoghue, who leads acampaign in Shoreditch to halt the £900m Bishopsgate Goodsyard development. Donoghue and a small team of voluntary campaigners have had to wade through hundreds of pages of documents to scrutinise the scheme – a series of 800ft high skyscrapers they claim will destroy the vibrant heart of Shoreditch, and cast shadows over much of east London.

“It’s in a developer’s interest to make the documents as difficult to comprehend as possible,” says Donoghue, who adds that it is “ridiculous” that the Goodsyard documents have more pages than the complete works of Shakespeare or the bible.

Donaghue has managed to run his campaign largely online, where more than 10,800 people have signed his petition against developers Hammerson and Ballymore. “Social media means the campaign can be run on an iPad. It costs my time, but means it’s possible to spread information for next to nothing,” he says.

Local author v multibillionaire Kuwaiti family

Groups that oppose development are often tarred as nimbys – not-in-my-back-yards – but it’s a label with which Michael Hammerson takes issue. He successfully led the Highgate Society’s battle to halt the demolition of the 1871 Athlone House, which overlooks Hampstead Heath, to make way for construction of a £80m mega-mansion for a Kuwaiti family that that campaigners said would blight views of the park. “Groups like ours do not oppose development per se,” says Hammerson, a local researcher and author. “We oppose bad development, and unfortunately we get too much of that.”

He says more developers now use the planning system as a “second throw of the dice” to overrule refusals made under local policies.

Many campaigns are run on a shoestring, and Hammerson says his was helped by the high proportion of expert witness submissions that were given pro bono, and the many days of preparatory work by the campaign’s barrister, David Altaras.