Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie said there must be a greater emphasis on local ownership and generation of renewables as a means of combatting climate change.

He spoke as the Scottish Government announced it has reached its 500 megawatts (MW) target of community and locally-owned energy five years early with a total generating capacity of 508MW renewable energy now installed.

A major environmental group welcomed the announcement, but Harvie said it represents only a “drop in the ocean”.

The MSP said it represents only three per cent of renewables ownership in Scotland and includes small private ownership. By contrast Germany has 65 per cent in local or community hands.

Harvie said: “Scottish Greens have consistently pushed for community and public ownership of energy assets so the profits can be used to fund the transition our local economies need. What ministers are trumpeting is a drop in the ocean compared with what we could have.

“We could be copying Germany’s Energiewende programme of switching to renewables and reducing demand through widespread local ownership. Giving communities and public bodies control not only creates jobs and cuts bills but provides revenue to invest in other priorities.

“The barriers and challenges faced by local ownership and community ownership are different and require specific support. It’s a huge opportunity and ministers need to go much further and much faster on this or Scotland will continue to be left behind.”

Anne Schiffer, energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “We wish to congratulate the Scottish Government and those communities involved who have made this happen.

“With the UK government’s sustained and ideological attack on renewable energy, this announcement is fantastic news.

“What is important now is that we see this as a starting point of a citizen-led renewables transformation not the end. Scotland must continue to lead the way to an energy future that benefits both people and the planet.

“To ensure even more communities benefit across the country, we urge the Scottish Government to double the 2020 target to 1000MW as well as set an ambitious target of 2000MW for 2030.

“Community ownership has been instrumental in achieving broader public acceptance of renewables and is vital in helping reach the Scottish Government’s 100% renewable energy target for electricity demand by 2020. Community energy helps tackle climate change and enables communities to use local natural resources to create jobs and strengthen local economies.

“Climate change means that we have to transform our energy systems from dirty fossil fuels to renewables. Community energy allows us to put people at the heart of that change.”

West Kilbride Village needs your vote as local high streets battle to be Britain’s best

West Kilbride has today been named as one of the country’s best high streets by being shortlisted in the annual Great British High Street competition.

West Kilbride high street has been named alongside Brigg and Twyford as one of the top 3 in the village category. Now, to be crowned champion, West Kilbride needs your votes.

This year’s competition saw a record 230 applicants and now, for the first time, the public has the chance to vote directly for their best-loved high street online. Between now and November you can cast your vote for free via thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk or on Facebook.

If West Kilbride wins, not only will they get a share of prize pot worth £80,000, but they’ll win expert training and tailor-made tips from Google’s training taskforce – the Digital Garage on Tour – for one hundred of their shops, bars and restaurants.

High Streets Minister Marcus Jones said: “We had a record amount of high-quality entries to this year’s competition – testament to the pride local people have and brilliant work being done to boost Britain’s high streets. The local high street is the life and soul of many towns, villages and cities across the country and these awards are a great opportunity to not only celebrate those that are the best of the best, but also to help others learn their valuable tips for success.

“If you cherish the hard work going on in West Kilbride then show your support and get voting.”

The Great British High Street Competition 2015 – sponsored by Boots, Costa, Post Office, Marks and Spencer and Tesco – is now in its second year and is one of a number of initiatives to help champion high streets as the cornerstones of the community. These include a billion pound package of investment ranging from targeted business rate discounts, sensible planning changes and action that reins in over-zealous parking practices.

The first Great British High Street competition last year saw 135 communities battle it out to be crowned the nation’s best. Belper in Derbyshire emerged as the overall winner. Belper found that winning not only boosted town pride, but also had a tangible economic impact with retailers reporting increased footfall. Kay Hall, who led West KIlbride’s entry for the competition, hopes that will happen for West Kilbride too.

“We’re delighted that West Kilbride has been selected for Britain’s best high street competition and we hope this will be a real boost for the village.

“We’re going to be pulling out all the stops to make sure local people know about West Kilbride’s shortlisting. We now need everyone to show their support and get voting.”

Alongside the public’s votes those shortlisted will also be inspected by the Future High Streets Forum judging panel – made up of industry leaders from across retail, property and business.

This year’s competition also sees special recognition prizes for towns that have become ‘rising stars’, or local people who have made an invaluable personal contribution to their local high streets being launched.

To go online to cast your vote, visit the Great British High Street website and follow @TheGBHighSt on Twitter. Voting closes in November.

Author: Carnegie UK

To coincide with the official launch of Local Web List, a revamped directory of hyperlocal news providers across the UK and Ireland, the Carnegie UK Trust has published a new case study report of five innovative hyper-locals to add to the evidence base about the types of activities that hyper-locals are undertaking and the impact they deliver for citizens. The report seeks to help inspire those who are considering starting a hyperlocal news group or seeking to expand their organisation’s activities; and to demonstrate the success of hyperlocal practitioners in bringing a greater plurality of voices to the UK journalism sector.

Click here to download the report (PDF).

Extract from report . Case study – My Turriff

With no independent, online sources of local news, information and events, My Turriff developed from Visit Turriff, a site which was established in 2011 to help promote the Aberdeenshire town. Local news in Turriff is covered by the weekly printed local newspaper, with some additional coverage by daily regional newspapers from Aberdeen. However, the local newspaper, while having a very loyal local readership, does not currently publish news online. My Turriff contributes to the local news landscape by providing local news, information, and events online, while offering immediate access to related online content. Strong civic content My Turriff is run philanthropically by Mike Rawlins, but features some Google adverts to help cover the costs of the site. The site has strong civic content, covering local news from Aberdeenshire Council, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, as well as the details of local public consultations. Local organisations are invited to upload the details of community events on to the site’s calendar, while the details of classes run by the local leisure centre, services by a local church group and information on local farmers markets and car boot and craft sales are regularly hosted on the site. My Turriff also engages with its audience by hosting guest posts from members of the community, and returning to local news stories which have proved particularly popular with readers.

Traffic numbers and traction in the community. The traffic numbers My Turriff generates in serving a town of 5,000 people are impressive. New content is uploaded on to the site in the first instance, and signposted to My Turriff’s Twitter followers, before being posted on to the site’s Facebook page. Traffic to the site varies from a couple of hundred visitors a day, to up to 3,000 when the site features a breaking news story. To optimise the site’s local news and information for search engines, keywords are used in the content and meta descriptions. Facebook is an important platform for the site, with the My Turriff page attracting over 1,220 likes and providing the main source of traffic to the site.

Challenges and next steps.  However, with the opportunity provided by Facebook comes My Turriff’s greatest challenge. Large numbers of the community in Turriff predominantly use Facebook for local news and information but if they do not subscribe to My Turriff’s posts, they are largely unaware of the site’s content. With the relative decline of Facebook among social media users, moving current subscribers from the My Turriff Facebook page to the site will be important in continuing to reach the local community and encouraging it to engage with the content produced. My Turriff would like to improve its coverage of the work of Turriff and District Community Council, and believes it has a role in improving democratic engagement with the Community Council. As a new member of the Community Council, Mike aims to improve the culture of transparency around the Community Council’s work, and its relationship with the local press.

To view a short film of the Wikihouse construction, click here

An Edinburgh community group has built a temporary community meeting space in Fountainbridge on the site of EDI’s planned India Quay development, helping to foster a sense of community work ahead of construction work getting underway.

Built by Fountainbridge Canalside Initiatiive over the course of a single weekend by a team led by architect Akiko Kobayashi the open source design was assembled from prefabricated components using mallets and pegs.

Kobayashi commented: “The main thing I like about the WikiHouse system is many people can be included in building it, people can be fully hands on. Being part of the building process means that people can really understand that the finished building belongs to everyone.”

Author: Andy Wightman

Land Matters….the blog and website of Andy Wightman

To view the Chanel 4 news film click here

Author: Planning Democracy

Open letter to the members of the Independent Planning Review Group

Dear Crawford Beveridge, Petra Biberbach and John Hamilton,

Planning Democracy welcome the news that the Scottish Government have decided to carry out a root and branch review of planning.  We recognise the opportunity that a review of planning offers to take stock of a period of considerable change, address issues and bring forward a truly progressive agenda that further enhances Scotland’s planning system.

The planning system in Scotland always faces a range of significant challenges. At present for example, there is considerable pressure to ensure the system plays its part in delivering the levels of new and affordable housing, essential for people’s quality of life.  We certainly aspire to see housing needs addressed and, as we are sure you aware, it is crucial that new housing is built in high quality settlements, which embrace principles of sustainable urban and rural design whilst also protecting and enhancing sensitive parts of our natural and cultural heritage. As with all development, it is also vitally important that housing sites are established through meaningful consultation with local communities. These considerations of sustainability and participation ensure that what we build now will contribute for the long-term to a fairer, more prosperous Scotland.

We are pleased to see that community engagement is one of the strands of the review.  It is now  nearly 10 years since the major changes introduced by the 2006 Planning Etc. Scotland Act were brought into force. The Act promised to transform public engagement in planning, particularly by front-loading meaningful opportunities for the public to shape development. We believe that it is now timely to review whether the changes introduced have delivered against their intended aims and objectives. Ideally we would therefore like the panel to carry out a comprehensive analysis of public participation in planning as part of the review, including a commitment to hearing the perspectives of individuals and communities who have sought to use the mechanisms available to participate in decisions that affect their lives. 

We are aware that the panel might not wish to recommend a review of appeal rights. However, we, as you will no doubt be aware, maintain that the fact that communities in Scotland have no (qualified) right to appeal planning decisions made in favour of developers is a significant shortcoming of the planning system. We would ask you to consider the implications that a lack of equality in appeal rights has on the public’s perceptions of planning. Current land reform and community empowerment legislation is considered far more progressive and radical by comparison in the way that it moves towards a more participative and empowered society. It is clear that the conspicuous inequality of appeal rights is an increasingly incendiary topic amongst communities. We maintain that there is continued and growing dissatisfaction with a system that seeks to adhere to principles of participatory democracy but stops short of ensuring all actors have equal rights.  Given that front-loading was viewed as an alternative to a third party right of appeal, we believe that the panel should therefore consider an equal right of appeal as an alternative when evaluating the current system.

Planning Democracy would also welcome the opportunity to give our perspective which is based on both substantial research and ongoing engagement with many commnuities throughout Scotland.
We would therefore be interested to learn more about the ways in which the panel intend to approach the public engagement element of the review. Would it be possible to offer our perspectives in more detail to the panel? If the panel do intend to seek evidence then we would be willing to assist in any way possible.

We appreciate that you have considerable work to do, but we would also request that you consider looking into two further issues:
1. The enforcement  of planning conditions. This is an issue that Planning Democracy seem to be hearing a great deal about. To ensure that people are not subjected to unwarranted levels of environmental impact and that public trust in the operation of the system is maintained it is imperative to ensure developments comply with planning conditions and agreed environmental limits.  We believe that the panel should consider investigating current enforcement powers and the ways in which they are being resourced and used.

2. Repeat applications. This issue is regularly raised by members of the public. The current idea of a plan-led system guiding development yet retaining the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances is sound. However, if a local authority has decided against a particular type of development any party making repeat applications should be required to explain how they have addressed the concerns raised previously. Rigorous efforts should be made to ensure that developers do not profit by simply wearing down planning authorities and particularly local communities for whom there are often considerable personal costs involved in sustaining participation.

We would be grateful for your consideration of these issues.
Yours sincerely
Clare Symonds
On behalf of Planning Democracy
Planning Democracy is a Scottish Charity that campaigns for a fairer more inclusive planning system in Scotland    SC041051

Author: Stewart Paterson, Evening Times

First Bus plans to divert its number 10 service away from Sighthill in the north of the city to make journeys quicker for people in other areas.

The bus giant said not enough people are using the bus in Sighthill and plans to stop entering the community in two weeks.

Maryhill and Springburn MSP Patricia Ferguson said the bus industry need to be re-regulated to ensure unprofitable routes are not sacrificed for more lucrative ones.

One local resident contacted First about the change and was told despite being aware of the inconvenience it would cause in order to benefit others the only full service in Sighthill was being withdrawn.

First said the “customer base” in Sighthill had reduced in recent years.

The reply said: “We consider that the forthcoming route change will ensure that the majority of our passengers who do not board or alight in Sighthill will benefit from a speedier journey to and from the city centre.”

Ms Ferguson however said more housing has been built in Sighthill and even more is planned.

She said: “This is the only bus in Sighthill except a small community transport bus that goes to the Tesco supermarket and the Royal Infirmary, but it stops at half two in the afternoon.

The redevelopment plans for the area include a bus turning circle but there will be no bus.

Re-regulation of the bus industry is the solution to ensure profit is not the only consideration in running services.”

Last month the Evening Times reported how residents in Possilpark were outraged at plans to cut the M3 bus through Westercommon to an hourly service, fearing it would eventually be cut altogether.

A First Glasgow spokesman, said: “Over recent years Sighthill has seen significant depopulation which has consequently had an impact on the demand for bus services. What housing remains, is largely situated next to the Springburn Expressway where customers already benefit from up to 18 buses an hour to the City Centre. Most Sighthill residents currently choose to walk to the stop on the Expressway to take advantage of the high frequency.

“We have therefore, taken the decision to also route service 10 direct via the Springburn Expressway. This also means the vast majority of passengers, who board Service 10 from north of Sighthill will enjoy a more direct and faster journey to the City.

“We are aware of proposed redevelopment plans for the area which in the short term includes a plan to close the road through the estate. This means it would not have been feasible to operate service 10 via the estate during this period. However, we will keep our services closely under review as the redevelopment progresses.”

Author: Pauline Hinchion, SCRT

‘Social Finance: Social Investment: Social Banking – what makes them Social?’

With the growth of Social Finance including Social Investment and Social Banking how do we ensure that it meets the demands of the wider third sector and what is the link between social finance and the creation of a more equal and sustainable society.

Scottish Community Re: Investment Trust is delighted to host the first Conference looking at Social Finance. The conference will be of interest to those who want to learn more about social finance; how we know that it is social and how it works in other countries.

Bringing together practitioners from a range of countries, delegates will be also be able to attend workshops and listen to panel discussions in order to inform their wider understanding of social finance.

SCRT’s first Conference  will be held on 19th Nov at the Roxburghe Hotel in Edinburgh. This event is the first of its kind in Scotland and a range of discounted rates are available to SCRT members and others.

To see event programme click here 

For details of speakers click here

To book your place click here

Author: Community Land Scotland

We’re 5 Years Old!

Community Land Scotland was established in the autumn of 2010 by 17 founding member communities who came together to give a space for knowledge exchange between Scotland’s community landowners and to address the fact that the issue of land reform was all but absent from the political agenda and public mind. Today, as we represent over 60 communities throughout Scotland, Lorne Macleod – Chair of Community Land Scotland – comments on our 5th anniversary;

“Just 5 years ago, Community Land Scotland was formed because its founder members thought the momentum had gone from the land reform debate, and today we can hardly cope with all that is happening.

“We have seen the Scottish Land Fund re-established, and then raised to £10 million a year; a Scottish Government target to double the area of land in community ownership has been introduced; a new Land Reform Bill is making its way through the Scottish Parliament; the community right to buy land has been extended to all communities in Scotland, with new rights to buy land even when the owner may not want to sell; the rights of tenant farmers are to be improved.

“But what is as important as these immediate gains, is that the nature of the debate has changed. Dealing with the land question has become a central part of public policy, with an emphasis on social justice, fairness and equality beginning to take centre stage. We are seeing the question of ‘land and human rights’ move to the human rights of the many, what is in the common good, and in the public interest.

“Scotland’s land ownership patterns remain concentrated in very few hands, but today more people are taking an interest in, and debating, how to change that more than at any time in recent memory.

“The journey to further change, building on all that has been done to establish basic land rights for citizens at large, and for communities in particular, is set to continue. The creation of the new Land Commission will help ensure land remains on the agenda and further change follows, and part of our agenda at Community Land Scotland is to make sure that remains the case.”

Help us celebrate our 5th birthday!

If you would like to support our work as we build on that of the past five years, you can add your voice to the call for a more diverse model of land ownership in Scotland by joining us a Community Land Scotland Supporter

Author: Scottish Government

PB Scotland is a new website for sharing and learning about the great work being done by participatory budgeting  (PB) initiatives around Scotland. Funded by the Scottish Government, the website will provide updates on events, policy and resources relevant to PB in Scotland, and profile good examples of PB across the country and beyond.

In a welcome message for the new site, Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment,Marco Biagi, said:

“In these times of unprecedented political engagement in Scotland, there are many people who want to participate, but may be uninterested or alienated by traditional consultations […] I believe that’s where PB comes into its own, as it gives people a space to contribute, while also gaining a taste of those other involvements and what they can achieve.

“I hope you find the new website useful as a source of information and a platform to showcase your PB activity, whether already underway or planned for the future. I look forward to being part of it.”

Visit PB Scotland at http://pbscotland.scot.

If you are, or have been, involved in PB, please get in touch to tell us about your PB work and help us share it more widely. Anyone interested in PB can also subscribe to our newsletter if you want us to email you with the latest updates.