OVER two million people in Scotland, more than half the adult population, regularly take part in voluntary activities under the arts umbrella, making it one of the biggest areas where the voluntary sector meets mainstream society.

With over 10,000 groups, mainly operated by volunteers for the love of their past-time, voluntary arts plays a key part in Scottish culture, providing opportunities to sing, dance, knit, act, draw and play an instrument, to name just a few.

Such is the interest in voluntary arts that Voluntary Arts Scotland (VAS), the development agency for amateur arts and crafts, has tasked itself with mapping the sector in 2014 in a bid to make it even easier for people to get involved.

“Quietly people attend rehearsals, tutor others, share skills and organise community events,” said Jemma Neville, VAS director.

“Together with partners, we plan to undertake a mapping of local cultural infrastructure across Scotland, and look into the ways in which voluntary arts groups, professional artists, venues and public services can strengthen and support one another.”

With so much going on in this area, this task isn’t an easy one but VAS is determined to create a stronger environment for amateur arts to flourish.

Already a worthy champion of the sector, VAS offers information and advice to anyone involved in voluntary arts and crafts, helping make connections between local groups, local authorities and voluntary sector agencies and ensuring the voice of the voluntary cultural sector is heard by local and national government.

More than just a fun local activity, VAS believes that local arts activities are vital to the health, social and economic development of Scottish communities.

“We want to turn up the volume on the achievements of local activities so that other people and places can learn about them and experience the feel good factor that comes from arts participation,” Neville continued.

“There is a resilient spirit running through the voluntary arts sector, despite tough economic times, but even more people could enjoy the benefits of cultural creativity if obstacles in their path were removed.”

The Epic Awards were set up in 2010  to promote, support and champion the voluntary cultural sector. – Click here to see more.

You can participate in this year’s EPIC awards by voting in our People’s Choice Award, a fun award for the honour of being the public’s favourite. To cast your vote, please view the entries below and vote by clicking the green ‘thumbs-up’ button under your preferred entry (only one vote per person for each group – you will be asked to register solely for the purpose of voting). – 

Vote for the People’s Choice by clicking here

Described as the most considerable development in the area “since the 12th century”, the ‘Caltongate’ development of the Waverley Valley represents one of the finest inner city real estate opportunities in the country. Having suffered as a blighted gap site for almost 10 years development is well overdue, yet the proposed plans have been marred with widespread opposition and controversy, falling well short of a fitting exemplar vision.

Those individuals and local interest groups that have thus far objected to this masterplan have been ignored and subjected to a process of attrition, in spite of the Council’s stated commitments to “listen… and work together with local communities” and “conserve the City’s built heritage”. 

Hundreds of documents have had to be considered without clemency shown by the Council for extending public consultation. This has put great strain on those members of the public engaged with the process which significantly contributed to the recent collapse of the Old Town Community Council.

The extensive grounds for objection are as follows:

• The proposed development represents a grave threat to the UNESCO World Heritage status of the Old Town due to inappropriate and insensitive design that is contrary to local planning guidelines.

• Inexcusable neglect of listed buildings within the World Heritage designation, including council housing fronting on to the Royal Mile and the Canongate Venture building.

• Threatened demolition of previously well used and valued public listed buildings.

• Significant loss of revenue from public buildings which have lain empty for over 5 years in favour of private speculative interests.

• Failure to achieve ‘Best Value’ in the transfer and sale of public assets. E.g. The Jeffrey Street arches which are to be “sold by way of a 125 year internal repairing and insuring leasehold basis on a peppercorn rent”.

• Due diligence has not been satisfactorily demonstrated. 

• The proposed development will lead to fundamental ‘leakage’ in the local economy, compromising existing local businesses, in particular the City’s many small, independent guest houses.

• An over provision of hotels, offices, pubs/clubs and retail outlets.

• Controversial planning decisions, granted in the face of overwhelming public opposition, lapsed but subsequently extended in favour of private economic interests, in contravention of policy.  

• Sale to previous developer deemed “illegal” by European Commission. 

• Failure of developer to honour bond that would have mitigated against the adverse affect of blight from this proposed development.

Executive Summary of full report which can be read here

My fellowship travels to the New England area of America in the Fall of 2013 aimed to research the best in rural retailing, not for profit enterprises and “buy local” projects. A number of meetings and visits were arranged with small business owners, village stores operators and retail & community organisations throughout the region. In particular my wish was to identify how successful local shops and enterprises were surviving against the pressures of the current economic downturn and from increased competition from online retailers, out of town malls and large supermarkets. 

Many of the rural businesses I visited in New England were flourishing in these difficult economic times. Through my fellowship travels I identified twelve key learning’s and action items from these visits which will be acted upon over the coming months. A few of them are listed below; 

• Get behind a “Buy Local” campaign at a Sleat, Skye or Highland level. 

• Diversify the product lines our community shop by offering more locally produced goods and tourist items/services.

• Offer social network and internet retail training to Sleat enterprises, to better promote their businesses nationally and globally. 

• Liaise with North West Highland communities and authorities regarding best action planning for local businesses in relation to visiting cruise liners. 

• Work with education providers and funders to look at the possibility of providing a Highland Centre of Learning for Small Scale Local Food and Drink Producers. 

New England has shown that “Buy Local” projects to promote the purchase of goods in rural independent stores is a great way to keep local businesses economically viable and can be an effect marketing tool against online and big box retailers. Targeted training for budding rural

entrepreneurs in areas such as marketing, branding and packaging along with post start up support was seen as a significant way to encourage new small business.

Group merchant associations and Chambers of Commerce were seen to be valuable ways for rural businesses to collectively promote themselves to tourists and the local population customer base. Online promotion was seen as a necessary way to compete with larger enterprises and the use of social networking a particular vital tool in that battle. 

Finally local small businesses producing bespoke food and drink products abound in New England and effort should be put into growing this market in a Sleat, Skye and/or Highland context.

To read Angus’ full report of his travel fellowship click here

Author: Angus Robertson, Sleat Community Trust

Our local media is vital to our democracy. But how can we make this media sustainable when the traditional business model for local news is under significant threat? This report, based on 8 workshops with activists from around the UK, examines the demand for local news and explains how co-operative ownership could help to deliver a positive future.

To read a copy of the full report click here

Wester Hailes Project overview

WHALE Arts will train a team of citizen journalists from the Wester Hailes area in Edinburgh who will create content for and edit the news section of the Digital Sentinel website. 

A Community Media Development worker has started fortnightly training sessions for the volunteers, which have been met with great enthusiasm. The citizen journalists are being trained to create audio and video content using smart phones, tablets and digital cameras, which are uploaded on to free to access platforms and linked to the website. Content is also welcomed from any local person or organisation, and RSS feeds will be drawn from local organisations and the local council. Small adverts, what’s on guides, special offers and a strong Facebook presence is also drawing residents to the site, ensuring it remains a practical and useful tool for community cohesion 

WHALE Arts has also been welcomed by The Media Trust as a Local360 Beacon project, with the Trust providing the team with training in ethical journalism.  The Media Trust will support the development of an editorial board who will meet regularly to approve content and a steering group will develop strategy and financing.

Alison Reeves, Creative Director for WHALE Arts said: “The Digital Sentinel is a project in development and we are very grateful for the support of the Carnegie UK Trust that is enabling us to take a huge step forward.” 

“Since our local newspaper closed in 2008, community led organisations in the area have been looking for a way to give local people back their media voice. Our vision is that the Digital Sentinel will be a truly democratic news outlet, with residents trained and supported to tell their own stories to the highest journalistic standards.”

“We’ve been working as part of a great team of voluntary sector organisations, academics and local people over the past 2 years to conceive this idea. This award means we can now begin to empower the community to become ‘citizen journalists’ and report their news from their perspective.”

Author: Strathearn Herald

The atmosphere in Comrie has been joyous this week following news that Bumblebee Square is to be purchased by Comrie Parish Church.

The Herald broke the story on its facebook page last Thursday following a surprise announcement by parish minister Graham McWiliams at the monthly community council meeting.

Members were expecting locally-based property developer William Frame to speak about the formal handing back of the Square, due to take place in January 2014.

But, instead, Mr Frame gave the floor over to Rev McWilliams, who astounded all those present by declaring that through great benevolence from a villager, and following the approval of the Kirk Session, Comrie Parish Church will purchase the land formerly occupied by Comrie Garage, for the ongoing benefit of the community.

The space, which had been sounded out as a potential venue for a Co-operative Food Store, is to be renamed St Kessog’s Square.

There were an unprecedented four rounds of applause as the news sunk in and members of the audience burst into tears.

Speaking exclusively to the Herald, Mr Frame said: “This is a great outcome for all involved – the village can now move forward in a positive manner.

“St Kessog’s Square will be a great asset to the people and visitors of Comrie for generations to come.

“Graham McWilliams of Comrie Parish Church has done a fantastic job in pulling all of this together, the power of prayer indeed!”

The Herald has also been speaking to Rev McWilliams this week.

He said: “In the light of the work done by Comrie Parish Church during the floods of 2012, someone has been benevolent to the ongoing work of Comrie Parish Church.

“This benevolence has put the Kirk Session in a position, with the approval of Presbytery and the general trustees of the Church of Scotland, to purchase the land formerly occupied by Comrie Garage for the benefit of the people of Comrie.

“The hope is to open up the full area of land. It will be dedicated to the glory of God and will be renamed St Kessog’s Square, the name by which Comrie Parish Church was formerly known.”

Rev McWilliams went on to explain that historically churches have often had glebes – areas of land which used to be worked by the minister to supplement their stipend.

Through time many of these have been sold off and built upon, such as the area that is now Comrie’s Glebe Road.

Rev McWilliams added: “So what will happen at St Kessog’s Square is a bit like returning to the past. The land will be owned by Comrie Parish Church and the Kirk Session will manage its use. The same rules which are practised in Comrie Parish Church will be extended to St Kessog’s Square.”

Comrie Community Council chairman Andrew Finlayson was rendered speechless by the news and sat with jaw agape when the good tidings were announced.

He admitted later he had to fight back tears and told the Herald: “The community council is delighted at this fantastic news and offer their profound gratitude to all the parties who made it happen – to the great act of benevolence at its heart, to Rev Graham McWilliams and the Kirk Session of the Parish Church for taking this bold, heartfelt, initiative and to William Frame for the very important part he clearly played in this historic moment.

“This is simply a good old-fashioned fairy story where miracles happen, goodness wins the day and it’s also a timely affirmation of the Santa in the soul of humanity. What a Christmas present for the village!

“Well done also to all the workers and drones of the Bumblebee crew who, over the years, kept the buzz going rain or shine with particular respect to Kathy Collins, under whose flame red hair the idea of a community garden first kindled.

“It is now the church who will own the square and with the assured goodwill of the whole village we and generations to come can delight in our garden square at the heart of the village. Hallelujah!”

Local MSP Roseanna Cunningham said: ““I was absolutely delighted to learn that a local hero has stepped forward and saved the day right at the eleventh hour. I am sure the whole of Comrie is very grateful to whoever this public-spirited mystery donor may be.”

There has been much speculation in the village regarding donations and pledges already made towards a community buy-out of the Square.

Ted Henderson, treasurer of local charity Friends of the Square, told the Herald: “Friends of the Square, on the assumption that the purchase goes through, will consider all pledges null and void, and we will be in touch with everyone who has made a conditional donation in due course.

“It has not yet been decided on what to do with money already collected and the balance of funds but details will be available in due course and the monies will be used in accordance with our charitable purposes.”

Author: Eva Schonveld

There are hundreds of ways to start a community garden, each one specific to its particular location and the group of people who want to make it happen, but I’m going to tell you how I did it, which will hopefully be useful.  If you have other experiences, please do comment on our website and share your story and any useful tips you’ve picked up along the way.

I’m part of my local Transition group, so we were looking for land specifically to grow food.  I was lucky, as likely pieces of land had already been identified through a survey we did as part of a Climate Challenge Fund grant.  The researchers had searched on google for open spaces in our area and followed up in person, finding out who the owner of the sites were and checking whether they might be up for them being used for community growing.  We ended up with 5 good sites, all very different, so we called a public meeting to see who might be interested in working on them and to think about how to get started.

To learn more about what Eva did next, click here

Author: The Guardian

Fears for NGOs and free speech as UK’s Lobbying Transparency bill threatens to put kibosh on campaigning

Even after months of bitter opposition from the charities on the receiving end of the British government’s gagging bill, ministers are refusing to accept their reforms are threatening to undermine the “very fabric of democracy”.

That is the worry from the alliance of charities and other campaigning groups who will be hit by changes being pushed through in what the government insists should be called the “transparency bill”.

Such is the scope of the reforms in the legislation, which is now working its way through the Lords, that a whole range of campaigning activity will face intimidating regulation – and all the strangling paperwork that goes with it.

Democracy is about a struggle for power between competing political parties. But the electorate can only make up its mind if third-party groups make their voices heard on the most important public policy issues of the day.

If the government gets its way it is going to become much harder for that to happen. The list of groups which will be affected is endless: those attempting to save a threatened local hospital, or block the High Speed 2 rail project in constituencies on the proposed route, or trying to combat extremism in constituencies where far-right parties are threatening to make progress, are all set to be affected. There are many, many more examples.

Ministers claim they only ever wanted to make life tougher lobbying groups, rather than make their work virtually impossible. “It doesn’t matter what the bill was meant to do,” Baroness Hayter, the Labour frontbencher leading the fight against the bill in the Lords, says in reply. “Its intent may be transparency, but the effect of it is what’s worrying.”

The opposition’s complaints about the bill have forced minor concessions here and there. Ultimately, though, none of them change the fact that if the gagging bill passes it will be much, much harder to raise important issues just at the moment when they need to be highlighted.

Peers took over the struggle from MPs this autumn. They didn’t look to be making much progress until Lord David ‘Rambo’ Ramsbotham tabled a procedural motion which would have slowed up the bill’s progress through the Lords. A governmental panic ensued. Ministers met with Ramsbotham three times in a single morning. With the coalition facing defeat if it came to a vote, a six-week hiatus was announced.

It was a miserable concession. Opponents, who had wanted a pause of at least three months, weren’t placated at all. They were frustrated that, instead of holding a formal consultation, officials instigated a series of meetings with affected parties. One charity campaigner said he was asked again about the objections he’d already raised. “They said ‘oh no, it couldn’t possibly apply’,” he remembered. “I said, ‘are you sure?’” The ministers replied: “Well, yes, maybe…”

It is that uncertainty which remains at the heart of the issue. There is no single measure which is being fought over. Instead the cumulative effect of the reforms is what Hayter calls “tying them in red tape” – a combination of measures which makes it much more likely many small-scale groups will simply decide not to bother campaigning at all.

“The danger is the regulation it introduces will be so complex, ambiguous and demanding in terms of time that many small organisations will just not do it,” says Pete Mills, policy and research officer at Unlock Democracy. “They’ll be so worried about falling foul of the rules they’ll just stop campaigning altogether. That would be very dangerous in the run-up to an election where this kind of debate is most valuable.”

This week the bill is receiving detailed scrutiny in the Lords. After two reports from the Commission on Civil Society and Democratic Engagement demanding changes, the government does look set to increase the spending threshold over which campaign spending becomes regulated. By how much will, of course, be critical. Ministers are also conceding they will hold a review of the system after the next general election.

Both these promises have been met with cynicism from Labour. It is enraged by the government’s failure to amend the bill this week. Instead the changes are likely to come early in the new year, when – with the disorganised crossbenchers slowly returning from the festive break – ministers are more likely to win a vote.

This is how the bigger-picture changes in the bill could become law. We could see an extension of what constitutes ‘controlled expenditure’ to cover a much wider range of activities including rallies, meetings and polling. Every group campaigning as a coalition could be forced to register the total spending of the coalition as a whole.

“We are talking about something which faces a criminal sanction if you break it, so I think one is right to expect a degree of certainty,” complains James Legg of the Countryside Alliance. He believes his organisation’s campaign against fox-hunting in the 2005 election would have been effectively shut down had the coalition’s changes been in place.

Legg fears that nightmare could become reality in 2015. “The government could simply say ‘we’ll introduce that now’, and that would shut us up,” he says.

The battle against the ‘gagging bill’ is not yet lost, but it’s a bleak outlook for Britain’s democracy this midwinter.

Author: James Henderson

The public sector and community: time for a re-think

A cheery voice calling “Mr James, Mr James, breakfast …” brings me round: this however is no colonial boat heading into a fearful unknown, but fortunately the good humour of the stewardess on the freight ferry to Shetland. In fact, I have the rare luxury of a study trip to view the potential of ‘local community’ in action in remote Northmavine – a peninsula joined by a narrow neck of land (Mavis Grind) to the Shetland Mainland – and to see and hear about the work of the Northmavine Community Development Company (NCDC). 

This is one of three case-studies I’ve been undertaking as part of a research project for a PhD – the others being Creetown Initiative in Creetown in Dumfries and Galloway and Govanhill Housing Association in Govanhill in Glasgow – and so a chance to build a picture of the realities and possibilities of community action across urban, rural and remote contexts in Scotland.

The project is particularly timely given the developing policy here. The Christie Commission’s 2011 report has seemed to establish a crucial policy narrative within which long-term pressure on public sector budgets and demographic changes are generating a shift in thinking; in particular towards a focus on fundamental reform of public services, preventative approaches and developing roles for ‘community’. The current consultation on the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill is now indicating key areas for action including asset transfer and extension of the community-right-to-buy; a right for communities to participate in public service design and delivery; new provision for common good funds and extension of allotments under local authority control; and measures to strengthen community planning partnerships and the national performance framework. 

Intriguingly too, CoSLA’s recently launched Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy suggests potential for a shift in policy thinking in which communities could increase their role in broader local decision-making  for both ‘local services’ and ‘local issues’ – including local economic and social development perhaps?

I drive for about an hour to the north-east of Lerwick to find Northmavine; the parish is about 20 miles in length, north-to-south, and a mix of small dispersed settlements – of which Eshaness, Hillswick, North Roe, Ollaberry and Sullom are the most prominent – and of stunning wild hills, moors and voes. NCDC’s development worker Maree Hay sets the scene for me on the issues the community faces, pointing to: concerns over population with numbers dipping from almost 900 in the 1980s to below 800 currently; a buoyant Shetland economy means unemployment remains remarkably low, yet increasing centralisation to Lerwick and its surrounding districts means that locally-based employment in Northmavine has been declining; and, as for all remote communities, the costs of sustaining a minimum standard of living are simply much higher than in urban areas – up to 40% higher says a recent Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) report. No wonder then that the community is recognised as ‘fragile’ and targeted within Shetland Island Council’s (SIC) own Community Regeneration Policy.

One key response to these challenges over the last decade, and which has been taken forward by local people as activists, volunteers and staff – and with the active support of SIC and HIE – is the development of NCDC itself. Maree crucially makes the link to many of these same local people so that I can establish the interviews and visits needed over my three days here to grasp the full extent and complexity of what is being achieved. 

There is a growing and now extensive range of community-led activity including:

• the development of a community-owned shop in Hillswick providing groceries, fuel and cash-machine

• increasing levels of affordable family housing and other property for rent in the area

• development across the parish of a network of community-owned ‘poly-crubs’ – poly-tunnels made to cope with the robust Shetland winds – for fresh vegetables, and of a small business providing these poly-tunnels to others

• active support for local economic development through advice to local micro-business, initiatives at the local pier and marina, support for local tourism including a local music festival (‘Glusstonberry’), and now plans for a local enterprise hub

• on-going community development activity and planning with task groups focused on housing, renewables, social enterprise/business and tourism.

Across all these initiatives NCDC can be seen as fulfilling the crucial role of a ‘community anchor’ in that it is: (1) community-led and owned – with a locally-elected board, a network of volunteers and activists, and a wider community dialogue and local plan; (2) multi-purpose and working for local economic and social development, supporting local service provision, and supporting local democratic participation and advocacy; (3) and it is increasing its ‘financial sustainability’ by building-up its levels of earned (trading) income – which in turn increases it ability to represent local community interests independently of the state.

NCDC can also be seen to be working through at least three distinctive forms of ‘community’ – these are of course inter-dependent and generate together what would seem to be the necessary complexity of local networks ‘to get things done’ –namely:

• the local community sector: of more formalised local organisations including the five community halls and their committees, the community council, the Hillswick community shop and committee, the Ollaberry community coop and the local marina groups. 

• informal community networks: of support, care and solidarity through networks of neighbours, friends and extended family.

• local community groups: smaller community groups that can shift between the more formal and the informal – such as local sports groups, mother and toddler groups, older people’s groups and so on

“Mr James, Mr James, breakfast …” … to be frank I can’t face it on the home journey, it’s too choppy, but can still hold it together enough to reflect. Does the Northmavine experience have wider relevance to urban and rural mainland Scotland? 

My other study visits with Govanhill Housing Association and Creetown Initiative, and more generally other case-study work I’ve undertaken with 20+ community organisations – as development trusts, community housing associations and community health organisations – across Scotland over the last five years would indicate strongly that there is indeed a wider opportunity here. My ongoing study visits continue to bring to life the reality, the achievements and the commitment of those in the community sector and informal community networks … and in ways the books and policy documents won’t capture. As a researcher I keep returning to the experiences of those working on-the-ground to make sense of what’s happening and what might be possible.

I would suggest then that if those working within the public sector are to get to grips with the potential of ‘community’, and move on from project-based, short-term partnership-working to building genuinely-committed, long-term working relationships with the community sector and wider community – as illustrated by SIC and HIE in their joint-working with NCDC and Northmavine over the last decade – then such study visits with and/or shadowing of community sector colleagues, and not only staff but activists and volunteers too, have to be the starting point for a ‘journey of discovery’. It is through the insights that will be gained from such a journey that the public sector will be able to create the fundamental shift in its culture and organisational mind-set that is needed if it is to grasp the current policy opportunity. 

There is more to think through here as to what such a long-term public-community working relationship might ‘look like’, how the state can support its development and what could be achieved through it. So in two further articles I’ll seek to draw from the other case-studies on the community anchors in Creetown and Govanhill and learn more from what is already being achieved.

James Henderson is a researcher and about to submit his PhD. at Heriot-Watt University.

Author: New Start magazine

Ten ideas to boost local resilience and growth

1. DEVELOP COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED INDUSTRIES: Community-supported agriculture is an established movement in which a local citizens support and partner with local farms, sharing the risks of agriculture in return for a year-long supply of locally-grown produce. Community Supported Industry – an idea currently being established by the Schumacher Centre for a New Economics – would work in a similar way for other types of local production, from furniture factories to renewable energy companies, community-supported bakeries or any small-scale local business. The Schumacher Centre has published a white paper with steps towards the creation of community supported industry.

2. CREATE A NATIONAL ‘FUND OF FUNDS’: The Centre for Cities has set out a plan for a national war chest for investment in our cities. It would bring together the different pots of public money aimed at cities – such as the regional growth fund – with the UK’s allocation of Jessica funding and possibly institutional investment. This would be used to fund urban development funds at city or regional level, which would then undergo match funding to further increase their size. The advantages are that it would allow greater coverage, and its scale would make it more appealing to institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds. For more info click here.

3. LOCALISE FOR GROWTH: Transition Towns Totnes has produced a Local Economic blueprint for the area showing for the first time the huge potential value to be gained from localisation. Plans to localise just 10% of the current food, energy and home efficiency sectors would bring in over £5m to the local economy, the report predicts. The organisation has already boosted its local economy and has linked up with local partners committted to the relocalisation of the area. A blueprint is also being created for a rural community in Herefordshire and the inner city London area of Brixton.

4. LAUNCH A NEIGHBOURHOOD HEALTH WATCH: Using the resources already available in a community, Neighbourhood Health Watch is a system to help communities to support each other’s health needs. It brings together local charities, business and public sector organisations who work at street level to restore trust and connection between neighbours. One of the projects to come out of the scheme is Food Neighbours, in which local people cook extra food for a neighbour in need.

5. CREATE THE CONDITIONS FOR THE CITY AS ‘URBAN WORKSHOP’ OR CULTURAL HUB: Areas where bottom-up cultural or artistic initiatives are allowed to flourish not only create vibrant neighbourhoods and allow local entrepreneurs a space to flourish but also attract and retain talent within cities or areas. Cheap rents helped turn London’s Hackney Wick into an artistic hub,Pittsburgh’s Garfield area has a range of artisan, craft and community businesses, including the Mad Science Supply & Surplus Company (pictured), a community space for scienctific exploration as well as a shop. And in Madrid the decision to temporarily loan former tobacco building the Tabacalera to the local community has created a thriving self-managed social centre that has revitalised the area.

6. IDENTIFY THE CHALLENGES: The next few decades will see complex global issues played out within our local communities. The Prepare for Changeproject by the Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems help places to prepare better for global scale changes. It has worked with the Bristol city region to identify the challenges it faces over the coming decade. The programme comprises a monitoring unit which ‘scans the horizon’ for signs of change and uses a systems thinking process to assess developments. It also runs workshops, a research programme and a network to help communities and local stakeholders understand and respond to change.

7. DEVELOP AND PARTNER WITH FINANCIAL CO-OPERATIVES: A new report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) investigates why financial co-operatives – including credit unions – have proven to be more resilient through the recent economic turmoil than big banks. They have remained a stable source of credit to small and medium-sized businesses, indirectly creating employment and growing through the crisis. The report pinpoints their combination of member ownership and control as the key to their resilience and sets out of number of policy options to help government and local agencies partner with financial cooperatives on a range of issues, from business development to local welfare.

8. ASSESS AND DEVELOP THE STRENGTH OF LOCAL NETWORKS: CLES’s resilience model is focused on observing and assessing the strength of relationships between the commercial, social and public sector in a locality. The organisation believes that these relationships and connections help to generate resilience within an area and that stronger mutual relationships allow a locality to be more flexible and to react better if faced with an economic or environmental change. In order to develop strong local systems it calls on local areas to build collaboration, synergy, social capital and co-production into their governance.

9. EMBED A RESILIENCE APPROACH INTO ALL COUNCIL ACTIVITY: Newham Council has set out an ambitious plan to build community, economic and personal resilience across the borough. This includes its own employment service, Workplace, the licensing of private sector landlords and an Every Child programme, which will, among other things, give all children the chance to learn a musical instrument for free. It has plans for a Life Changing Fund, which will loan money to residents to help them move on in housing or their work life.

10. KNIT LOCAL SOCIAL FABRIC BACK TOGETHER: “After two generations of ‘on your own economics’ it’s hard for people to ask for and receive help from their neighbours.” These are the words of one member of a Resilience Circle, set up in the US to bring people together in mutual support and social action. In Italy the first Unmonastery initiative has recently launched, aimed at bringing people together in co-living and working environments around local social change. From Time Banks to Transition Towns there is a flourishing movement focused on re-connecting and restoring social bonds. Local resilience starts with a cup of tea with your neighbour…

Author: Scottish Community Development Centre

A Briefing for communities from Scottish Communities Development Centre, Dec 2014

The Scottish Government has published a consultation on the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill. In the foreword to the consultation, Derek Mackay the Minister for Local Government and Planning describes community empowerment: 

 “at its heart about communities taking their own decisions about their futures,  and improvingthings for families, friends and neighbours … taking action with access to all the resources available to them to develop their local economies, environment and culture.” 

The draft Bill and consultation document is quite lengthy and, at times complex. Below we summarise some of its key points along with some of our thoughts on it. At the same time, we would encourage you to read the consultation document, and you can find a link at the end of this briefing.

What new rights would be introduced?  

The Bill intends to give new rights to communities in two main areas: 

 • rights to acquire or use public land or buildings for community benefit, – this includes extensions and improvements to the existing community right to buy

• rights to initiate action to improve public services – in the draft Bill this is described as ‘community right to request to participate in processes to improve outcomes of service delivery’. 

It also addresses some of the issues that can prevent local authorities and other public bodies engaging effectively with communities. For example, it includes: 

• proposals to strengthen community planning by focusing more closely on outcomes, putting key roles and responsibilities on a statutory basis, and providing firmer scrutiny and audit 

• greater clarity and transparency over which public assets are held for the ‘common good’ and which can be important to communities 

• financial incentives for local authorities to deal more effectively with dangerous or defective buildings 

• improvements to the provision and management of allotments 

• powers for local authorities to have localised business rate relief schemes that could be to the advantage of communities 

• better information and consultation over deciding outcomes and reporting on progress at national level.  

Who would have these rights? 

Rights to acquire or use property and other assets, or to express an interest in the right to buy would be available to ‘community bodies’ either as designated by Scottish Ministers (in other words, the government would decide), or a company that is governed by the community. 

Rights to initiate action to improve public services are available to a wider range of community bodies than those above. They include community councils, and any organisation with a constitution that sets out its aims and purposes, its rules of membership, a description of the community it benefits, and a description of the benefit it provides. This is quite open and suggests that any community organisation with a constitution and membership would be entitled to initiate such action. 

The draft legislation goes into detail about the processes that would apply to communities and public bodies in relation to these rights, and what appeals procedures, if any, would be available. 

How might these rights help communities? 

We would expect that most communities will welcome the provision in the draft Bill, whether they wish to acquire land, buildings or other assets for community benefit, or if they want greater attention to be paid to a community issue or opportunity. The ‘empowerment’ in the draft Bill is about giving communities an opportunity to set the agenda, and to be involved more actively in improving community conditions and the way services are designed and provided. 

Should communities be concerned about any of the proposals? 

Generally we believe that community organisations should welcome the proposals. However, for some communities there could be considerable obstacles to taking full benefit. These might include: 

• Where communities do not recognise that they have these rights, community planning mayinvolve communities in identifying needs and issues, but not involve them in decision making 

• communities that know they have the rights may not have the confidence, support or advice to use them – the draft Bill appears to require communities to have sound evidence of need and of their capacity to engage in order to make a request 

• the possibility of conflict in communities, if different groups flag up different issues and priorities from the same locality 

• better organised (and often more prosperous) communities benefiting at the expense of the more marginalised and ‘weaker’ communities 

• some ‘assets’ of land and property might actually be liabilities which could tie community groups into unwelcome management problems or financial burdens 

All this suggests that the communities that are most likely to benefit are those that have a sound network of active, inclusive local organisations that are seen as legitimate and accountable. Our view is that communities that do not have such a strong infrastructure should be able to call on advice and support to help them benefit from the new rights in the same way. As it stands, the Bill does not make provisions for this.  

What happens next? 

SCDC would encourage community groups to access the consultation document and respond to as many of the questions as possible. We would also like to know the views from communities (and those who support them) on what they think of the Bill’s proposals. We have created a short online 

survey about the Bill’s proposals which are most relevant to community development in Scotland. These are not intended to replace the draft Bill’s own consultation questions which we encourage you to respond to. Our survey will simply allow us to get a better feel for how relevant the Bill’s 

proposals are to the practitioners and communities we work with, something that will better inform our own response. 

Our online survey can be accessed here and should only take a few minutes to complete.