Stornoway Gazette, 4/2/04

Visitors to the Isle of Skye will be able to see the island like it has never been presented before, thanks to a set of two stunning maps drawn by acclaimed artist J. Maizlish Mole, in a new commission by ATLAS Arts and The Portree Area Community Trust (PACT). 

The maps are objects of art but also playful navigation tools for the Isle of Skye as a whole, and the town of Portree in particular. By incorporating elements of local oral knowledge and culture into the map, the curators and artist hope to set a benchmark for how stunning locations can be brought to life through the eyes of people who live there and visit. The maps have been described as ‘a love song to Skye’, by Emma Nicolson, Director at ATLAS Arts. Artist J. Maizlish Mole has spent weeks painstakingly walking and driving routes in the Isle of Skye to create these two maps in his unique style – one for the town of Portree, and another one for the island. The maps will be displayed in Skye’s main town centre, as public art, on information boards. Print copies will be available as of this April. 

To create the map for Portree, Mole – who in 2011 created a similar work for Edinburgh as a commission by the Edinburgh Art Festival – walked in and around town for two weeks, taking in its streets, landmarks, walking trails, quirks, amenities, landscapes and history. Following this, ATLAS Arts & PACT decided to expand the project and commissioned him to create a second map of the Isles of Skye and Raasay – and he embarked on a driving journey through Skye’s diverse terrain. Mole’s working process is unique: he walks the route several times and then hand-draws the map from memory, to scale, building in personalised annotations of the elements that he has learnt along the way through both personal experience and locals’ knowledge. Sites like ‘Huge Supermarket’ appear alongside the more unusual ‘ghost trail’, an old route mentioned by locals which he discovered by spotting the remains of the track in Google Earth. He describes his mapping work as plotting out cityscapes – or in this case ruralscapes – as they are lived in and remembered. 

On January 31st the maps will be unveiled across information panels in Portree. Copies will also be available for hotels and tourist businesses to offer to locals and visitors as of April. ATLAS Arts will also be producing limited edition prints. 

Artist J. Maizlish Mole said: “These two drawings represent the Isle of Skye and the Portree area as I experienced them on a series of solo expeditions during May, June and October of 2012. Each of these drawings is a memory map in the borrowed form of a road map. They plot out the subjective shape of a travelled-through, marvelled-at, remembered landscape. Although this process results in more or less accurate, navigable maps, the objective along the way is always the mapping out of the lived experience and the impression left, rather than of the terrain itself.” 

Emma Nicolson, Director of ATLAS Arts, co-commissioners of the maps, said: “We’re delighted to have had Mole working with the community in bringing the streets and landscapes of Portree and Skye to life. For years Skye has been a source of inspiration to artists, and we’re incredibly proud of supporting local and visiting talents that are adding to the real wealth of cultural experiences in the island. We can’t wait for the maps points in Portree. The artist is also a singer-songwriter and what he has created here is like a love song to Skye!”

Ross Cowie, Chairman of the Portree Area Community Trust (PACT), said: “When so much knowledge is generated through the electronic highway, it is really refreshing and innovative to be involved in a project which is both three-dimensional and combines art with information. It will stimulate interest and debate and will be most informative for visitors.”

This link to the BBC Alba site is only live til 8.30 Wednesday, 27th February.

Click on the link for Episode 11. The piece in question runs from 02.00mins in to 14.30 mins.

WHFP 15 February 

‘AN unprecedented opportunity’ to reform the Crown Estate must not be ‘lost through compromise’, it has been warned.

Councillors agreed this week that the Comhairle would not sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Crown Estate because urgent reform was needed to give communities more control.

This comes as a North Uist organisation have secured a Local Management Agreement (LMA) with the Crown Estate to take forward their plan for a new marine leisure development.

A report before members at the Comhairle said: “This draft Memorandum of Understanding’ prepared by the Crown Estate, sets out a continuation of existing Crown Estate activity and some relatively modest investment in local projects and research. While this may represent a welcome first step in negotiations with The Crown Estate, the Comhairle is concerned that the unprecedented opportunity for reform presented by the Scottish Affairs Committee is about to be lost through compromise with The Crown Estate,”

The Scottish Affairs Committee last year carried out an inquiry into the management of The Crown Estate in Scotland and their final report endorsed the Comhairle’s view that ‘urgent reform’ was needed and ‘decentralistaion to the maximum extent possible of The Crown Estate’s responsibilities to Local Authority and local community levels.”

The Comhairle is of the view that the critical report from the Committee represents an ‘open door’ for radical reform of the Crown Estate.

There was concern that following a recent meeting of the Highlands and Islands Conveners Groups, some authorities in the region had indicated their intention to sign the Memorandum of Understanding, closing the door on the possibility of radical reform. 

The Comhairle have invited Alison Nimmo, Chief Executive of The Crown Estate to the islands and agreed that the basis of a ‘Highlands and Islands Crown Estate Action Plan’ be developed outlining some key activities which will move all parties closer to the level of reform recommended by the Scottish Affairs Committee.

Today’s (Friday) news that LMAs have been finalised for North Uist and Portree are however, important stages of progress for local projects.

LMAs give not-for-profit organisations access to areas of the foreshore and seabed, with specialised support from The Crown Estate’s staff across the UK, to develop proposals for projects that will deliver direct benefits to the local community. Once proposals are developed, organisations can acquire the right to manage the assets, enabling them to implement their plans.

LMAs were introduced by The Crown Estate last year in response to calls to give coastal communities a more direct role in the management of local foreshore and seabed. The Skye and North Uist projects were frontrunners to become the first pilots – and the agreements are now finalised, placing Highland & Islands firmly at the forefront of this new form of community management of foreshore and seabed assets.

The potential development at Lochmaddy will involve floating pontoons with 26 berths, a 15-space car park and an eight-space boat park. The project will be managed by Comann na Mara and North Uist Estates and the income generated will be used for further facilities as well as community events.

Portree Area Community Trust is working with the local moorings association to develop a new breakwater, extend and refurbish the pier, build a new RNLI boathouse and install pontoons and berthing facilities. Both projects will now develop detailed business plans and consider how to raise funds for the developments.

Angus Macaulay, Chair of Comann na Mara, said, “This proposed project will strengthen the local economy by taking advantage of the huge and growing opportunities offered by marine tourism, which brings an estimated £270 to £300 million a year into the Scottish economy.[1] This project, when combined with other developments, such as those planned at Lochboisdale, will help ensure that the Western Isles is firmly on the map for leisure sailors.”

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND REGENERATION COMMITTEE 

Delivery of Regeneration in Scotland inquiry – Call for Written Evidence 

The Committee is currently seeking evidence from interested parties on the Scottish Government‟s Regeneration Strategy. 

Regeneration 

The Scottish Government‟s regeneration strategy “Achieving a Sustainable Future‟ was published on 12 December 2011. The Local Government and Regeneration Committee, following its consideration of regeneration aspects of the Scottish Government Draft Budget 2013-14, have agreed to build on this scrutiny and undertake a detailed inquiry on the area of regeneration policy, with a focus upon community empowerment. The remit for the inquiry is:

“To identify and examine best practice and limitations in relation to the delivery of regeneration in Scotland‟. 

Themes of interest 

Set out below are themes on which the Committee is seeking your views. This is intended to be an open information gathering exercise. The questions set out below are intended to be a guide only. Please feel free to give us your views on any of these themes.

Strategy and Policy Issues 

1. How can the linkage between the various strategies and policies related to regeneration be improved? 

2. Can physical, social and economic regeneration really be separate entities? The Committee would find it useful to hear about projects distinctly focussed on one or more aspects, and the direct and indirect outcomes of such activity. 

3. Are we achieving the best value from investment in this area? If not, how could funding achieve the maximum impact? Could the funding available be used in different ways to support regeneration? 

Partnership Working 

4. What delivery mechanisms, co-ordination of, and information on the funding that supports regeneration are required, to facilitate access by all sections of the community? 

5. Should funding be focussed on start up or running costs? What is the correct balance between revenue and capital funding? Please indicate reasons for your views 

6. How can it be ensured that regeneration projects are sustainable in the long term? 

Practical Issues 

7. What actions could the Scottish Governments forthcoming community capacity building programme include to best support communities to „do regeneration‟ themselves? 

8. What role should CPPs play in supporting the community in regenerating their communities? 

9. How can CPPs best empower local communities to deliver regeneration? Please provide any examples of best practice or limitations experienced that you think the Committee would find useful in its scrutiny. 

10. How can the outcomes of regeneration truly be captured and measured? What are the barriers to capturing outcomes and how should the success of regeneration investment be determined? 

How to submit written evidence 

You may wish to respond to some or all of the specific questions set out above. Alternatively, you may wish to highlight issues that you consider to be of concern in relation to local Government and Regeneration. Evidence should be reasonably brief and typewritten (normally no more than six to eight sides of A4 in total). 

The deadline for receipt of written submissions is 6pm on Friday 15 March 2013. 

The Committee prefers to receive written submissions electronically. These should be sent to lgr.committee@scottish.parliament.uk 

You may also make hard copy written submissions to: 

Clerk to the Local Government and Regeneration Committee 

Room T3.60 

Scottish Parliament 

Edinburgh EH99 1SP 

The Herald,13/2/13 

A DECADE ago, in what remains one its finest hours, the Scottish Parliament passed landmark legislation giving rural communities the right to buy the land they worked.

The Land Reform Act allowed rural communities to register an interest in land and gave them first refusal to buy if and when it came up for sale.

It has been used across the Highlands and islands and, if the latest attempt succeeds, the most southerly tip of Scotland, the Mull of Galloway, will also move into community ownership.

The motivation behind land reform was to create a more equitable basis for ownership, sweep away the last vestiges of feudalism and end a system that kept hundreds of thousands of acres in the hands of absentee landlords.

Extending community right-to-buy legisation to Scotland’s town and cities is an idea whose time has come. 

Four years of recession and economic stagnation have left their mark on Scotland’s urban spaces. High streets are blighted by boarded-up shops. Unused public buildings are falling derelict. Tracts of vacant land have become dense jungles of weeds. At the same time, shrinking budgets mean council services are being cut. The lean times are forecast to continue for many years to come. Communities will want – and might need – to band together to fill gaps.

The Scottish Government’s Community Empowerment Bill is designed to give people the opportunity to step in and improve life on their doorsteps and the moribund spaces nearby. The bill is expected to include an “urban right to buy”, allowing communities to purchase land and buildings in a similar way to rural areas (though whether government money will be available remains to be seen). It also looks set to provide a “community right to grow”, letting groups take over disused land while the owner waits to develop or sell it. How splendid it would be to see people growing their own spuds on land banks aggressively accumulated by supermarket giants.

The Government’s simplified “easy read” consultation suggests there is broad support. An overwhelming 85% felt more land should be available for allotments and community gardens. Nearly three-quarters backed the right to buy, while two-thirds wanted the so-called right to grow. 

There is opposition from business leaders, who believe such rights would discourage private investment, and public bodies which are concerned about transferring power and property to untried community groups. A balance will have to be struck.

But in Derek Mackay, the local government and planning minister, the Bill has a committed and able champion. He believes the Bill will become a new landmark for Holyrood, just like the original Land Reform Act, and could effect the biggest transfer of power since devolution. If it strengthens communities and helps transform Scotland’s urban wastelands into the bargain, those claims will be justified.

Community Land Scotland

The future of an iconic landmark on one of the world’s most breathtaking coastlines has today been assured thanks to one of the first grants from the Scottish Land Fund. The 167 year-old Covesea Lighthouse on the Moray Firth will now be brought into community use and developed as a tourist hub. It is one of four projects, the others in Cowal, Wester Ross and the Borders, celebrating today (Friday, 22 February) as funding is announced for the first time from the new Scottish Land Fund.

Launched last year, the £6 million Scottish Land Fund is funded by the Scottish Government and delivered by the Big Lottery Fund in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Today’s awards of over £3/4 million means these four communities can now purchase land and assets ensuring they are able to shape their own brighter future.

Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs & Environment said, “I am delighted that the Scottish Land Fund is empowering four of our rural communities in Moray Firth, Cowal, Wester Ross and the Borders to take control of their own future by helping them to acquire land and community assets. These innovative and diverse projects will bring clear long term benefits, making each community stronger, resilient and more sustainable. I would urge other communities to look at these projects – three of which are achieved through the community right to buy provisions and the National Forest Land Scheme – to see how community land ownership and funding from the Scottish Land Fund can make a real difference to them.”

Scottish Land Fund Committee Chair, John Watt, said: “We know from experience that communities can achieve great things when they own and manage local land and land assets. So I am delighted to announce this first round of funding to these four projects and look forward to seeing them develop. Land ownership helps build independent, resilient and confident communities which benefits, not only themselves, but the country as a whole. The Scottish Land Fund, with funding over three years, aims to empower more rural communities, giving them the tools and resources they need so they can achieve their plans of local sustainability.”

Covesea Lighthouse Community Company will finally achieve their dream of community ownership for Covesea Lighthouse, its two keepers’ cottages and surrounding land. The grant of £301,500 means they will develop a tourism hub to promote local heritage, the area’s unique wildlife and environment and its links to the nearby airbase. The lighthouse’s location on the Moray Firth Coast has been voted one of the most breathtaking coasts in the world in a National Geographic Traveller magazine survey and community ownership presents an excellent opportunity for the project to boost the number of visitors to the area which in turn will help the local economy.

Bernard Annikin, Managing Director, Covesea Lighthouse Community Company said, “Without this funding there was a very good chance the lighthouse would have fallen into private ownership and we would have lost a vital asset for our community. When the light was switched out at Covesea a year ago we realised that here was an amazing opportunity to use this building for the benefit of all who live locally. We will now be able to use this site to provide a wide range of recreational activities from photography, painting, plane spotting and dolphin watching. Educational events and activities will be developed so people will have the chance to learn about local maritime history and the stunning natural environment that surrounds them.”

“The commanding position of the Lighthouse will offer an additional source of interest in attracting an even greater number of visitors to the area and will further enhance their enjoyment and understanding of the area and ultimately contribute to the economy of the local businesses in Lossiemouth and beyond, an area largely dependent on tourism”

A grant of £311,500 to Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust has meant they can buy the 615 hectare Stronafian Forest next to Colintraive and Glendaruel communities in south-west Cowal, Argyll. The community owned and managed site will be used to create new business opportunities with the development of woodland crofts and a wood fuel business, and provide employment in forest management and related activities. The local tourist economy will get a boost with new facilities for walking, mountain biking, pony trekking and star gazing. Access to cultural, historical and archaeological sites in the area will also be improved.

Achiltibuie is a remote crofting and fishing community in the Coigach area of Wester Ross. Thanks to today’s Scottish Land Grant of £160,700 the Coigach Community Development Company can purchase Achiltibuie Smokehouse land and buildings and ensure community control of any future development. Ownership of the land and buildings presents significant potential business growth and employment opportunities for the area. Plans have still to be finalised but it is envisaged that the site will be designed to provide a flexible space accommodating food and tourism industries.

Midlem in the Borders lies between St Boswells and Selkirk with the majority of its properties grouped around the village green. Today’s grant of £14,877 allows Midlem Village Hall Committee to purchase an area of land behind Midlem Village Hall. The Hall is the focus of social and community events in the village and is well used. There are no level playing fields in the village and the plan is to use the additional land to create a patio area suitable for a wide variety of sports and activities which will generate additional income to improve the long-term sustainability of the hall.

Andrew Simms., The Observer, 17th February

Do you grudgingly accept there is no fundamental alternative to how things are, hard times and difficult choices? Then come to Goodland. You might want to live here.

Its president refuses the state mansion. He gives away 90% of his pay, living on the national average wage to share in the struggles of his people. Goodland has a new constitution, written by citizens. When its financial sector fell apart, speculators had to take their losses and the guilty were taken to court, not given a public bailout.

The country has a dynamic, largely mutually owned, local banking system. It avoids bad risk and bends over backwards to help small businesses. In Goodland, human wellbeing is more important than economic growth. There is a national plan for good living, free health and education services, subsidised childcare allowing for a more equal workplace, and support for the elderly. It has a law enshrining protection of its life-supporting ecosystems that stands above all other laws.

Goodland’s cities are green and grow healthy, organic food for the inhabitants. A phase-out of most fossil fuels is planned by 2017, and its business sector has large, intelligently connected and productive cooperatives. A shorter working week is available by choice.

Utter fantasy? No. Goodland exists. It is just a little, well, spread out. Each aspect can be enjoyed in the real world, just not all in the same place. It’s like fantasy football, where you build your perfect team from all known players, but better. Fantasy economics is not limited by the supply of players, but rather grows from emulating best practices wherever you find them.

The president mentioned above is José Mujica of Uruguay. He lives on about £450 per month. His presidential guard is two policemen and a three-legged dog. He drives a 1987 VW Beetle and criticises the rich countries’ development model, berating other world leaders’ “blind obsession to achieve growth with consumption”.

After financial meltdown in Iceland, the “pots and pans” revolution led to a new citizen-drafted constitution, adoption pending, that actively engaged half the electorate. Rather than making the public pay for the crisis, as Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman points out, Iceland also “let the banks go bust” and, instead of placating financial markets, “imposed temporary controls on the movement of capital to give itself room to manoeuvre”. In Porto Alegre in Brazil, since 1990, citizens meet every week to decide how a big portion of the city’s public purse gets spent. It’s called participatory budgeting and in seven years led to doubling access to proper sanitation in poor neighbourhoods.

One reason Germany was less hit by the bank crisis is because 70% of the sector is in small or community banks. By comparison, in the UK the big five banks hold 80% of mortgages and 90% of small and medium enterprise accounts. The German banks have a dual mandate, having to be useful as well as profitable. They’re also mostly mutually owned, don’t indulge in risky speculation, have local knowledge, branch autonomy and decision making.

In Spain, the multi-headed €14bn Mondragón cooperative, with over 80,000 employees, demonstrates that less self-interested company ownership models can succeed at scale. And the successful uptake by the Dutch of a shorter working week suggests we aren’t condemned to work ourselves to death, whatever the coalition says.

Bhutan famously measures its success not by using GDP – simply a measure of the amount, not quality, of economic activity – but by assessing Gross National Happiness. This broad, composite indicator uses 151 variables including: good governance, education, health, ecological resilience, community vitality, wellbeing, time use, living standards and cultural diversity.

After the UN General Assembly adopted 22 April as Mother Earth Day, Bolivia adopted its Mother Earth Law in 2010. The law requires all current and future legislation to accept the “ecological limits set by nature”. In practice, it means pushing a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and environmentally auditing companies. Elsewhere, Nicaragua committed to a near-complete phase-out of fossil fuels by 2017, while Cuba’s organic, urban farming movement has greened cities and boosted public health.

In Ecuador, there is an overarching National Plan for Good Living that rejects “most orthodox approaches to development”. It embodies what it calls five revolutions: constitutional and democratic; ethical; economic and agrarian; social; and “in defence of Latin American dignity”. The aim is to reassert a country’s sovereign authority to put its own social and economic objectives above that of the markets.

As Britain agonises about the affordability of services, Denmark’s tax system pays for free health and education, home help for the elderly, and about three-quarters of the cost of childcare. Far from harming the economy, higher taxes stimulate investment in infrastructure, education and R&D.

To suggest Britain has no economic alternatives to its current chosen path is a self-serving political deception. Only our will and imagination restrain us. Here is one, possible, Goodland. Why not build it, or create your own?

Andrew Simms is a fellow of the New Economics Foundation (nef). His book Cancel the Apocalypse: the New Path to Prosperity is published on 28 February by Little Brown. Heather Stewart is away

National Network for Change and Community

NEW data gathered by two academics blows the lid off any claim that community councils are getting to grips with the digital age.

A staggeringly small number of the more than 1300 community councils (CCs) in Scotland have been found to have an up-to-date online presence.  It’s not one half, one third or even one quarter, but just over one fifth who are regularly reaching out to their communities and each other via the net. 

Even these figures refine further still.  Of the mere 22 per cent online and up-to-date, most of these talk directly to citizens in a one-way conversation.  Possibly only 10 per cent of the 22 per cent use social media to host online discussion and opinion gathering.  And the most disappointing and shocking revelation of all for those who had hoped for more citizen engagement via CCs in planning matters – only four per cent of CCs have easily accessible online planning content. 

These startling figures come in a report called Community Councils Online, published in late 2012 and researched by a Napier University MSc student in Information Systems Development, Bruce Ryan, supported by Research Fellow Peter Cruickshank.  It’s a rich and comprehensive source of information about CC behaviour online.  

Working out of Napier’s Institute for Informatics and Digital Innovation, Bruce and Peter have brought an eclectic mix of experience and interests to the task. Apart from their IT specialism at the Centre for Social Informatics, between them they have an interest in and understanding of local democracy online and some experience of community council activity.  Freelance educational publisher and MSc student Bruce was a community councillor in St Andrews seven years ago, while Peter is on the program committees of several international e-democracy conferences.   

The 21-page report is a mixture of data, background information, summaries, conclusions and some recommendations and it makes interesting reading. While admitting that the unfunded research is merely a snapshot of CCs online, it notes confidently enough that the low level of use and ambition is ‘disappointing’.  It encourages widening the scope of further interviews, investigating why so many CCs aren’t online and looking for the meanings behind the data.  The report makes some tentative recommendations about a way forward (pages 14-17). 

MOST significantly the report concludes that generally online presences are not used for the primary function of CCs – that of ascertaining opinions of people in their communities.  This fundamental activity is done by more traditional methods like newsletters, meetings, emails, ‘contact us’ buttons and follow-up private forums and discussions.  A third of ‘active’ CCs don’t even appear to communicate by email.  

Yet the report points the way to a potential that could be realised much more effectively, providing a glimpse of a future that could be very different.   

Before that however, the facts about what’s happening now.  A relatively small number, just over 200 CCs in Scotland, aren’t active at all and this dearth of potential local democracy is most common in North and South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire (more than half in each area). 

Significantly, there are almost 500 CCs in Scotland that are active, sometimes vibrantly so, but not choosing to be online.  These are mostly in East Ayrshire, the Western Isles and Shetland (over 70 per cent in each case).  

The areas of Edinburgh, Inverclyde, Moray, Dundee, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk and Orkney were all 100 per cent engaged with digital media, although a significant number were out of date.  

Of the 700 CCs Scotland-wide active and online, less than half were current.  Interviews suggested that CC-run sites were often maintained by just one community councillor, with generally very little provision evident for back-up and succession planning.  Under these circumstances, it’s clear that groups often start off with good intentions, but struggle to sustain the monthly work required to keep the sites fresh and comprehensive.  The report notes that attracting CCllrs with online interests and abilities appears to be a ‘matter of luck’.  

Some inclusions pull no punches – a comment from one investigating body, the Jimmy Reid Foundation (JRF), laments the average annual CC annual budget of a mere £400, noting that this matches their “near zero powers and near zero number of contested elections”.  

More generally, the report provides a brief background to the origin of CCs and their historical relationship with their Local Authorities (LAs).  The communication link between the two, the CC liaison officer is mentioned, along with a recent Scottish government recommendation that they should have “suitable seniority  . . .  to ensure that both the CC work and working relationship is suitably progressed at LA level”.  The Network notes that this one sentence in itself points to a whole further area of research and investigation that could be followed through.  

Recent and current reviews of CC and related activity, like the Short Life Working Group (2012) and the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill (2012) are mentioned. 

Some attention is given to the recommendations for change from both the pressure group Reform Scotland and the Jimmy Reid Foundation, including calling for more devolved powers for CCs and taking advantage of IT advances to increase efficiency and effectiveness.  You can read about how the data was collected on page eight of the report.  

Seeking a suitable area of investigation for an MSc thesis, Bruce says he knew that looking into CCs and their relationship to their audiences and each other online could be a rich and fruitful area of focus.  “This has been a very revealing study,” he says.  “There is a lot more that could be investigated here, both personally and professionally.  I’ve become interested in how equivalent or similar tiers of local democracy work in countries such as Austria, Germany and Norway.  Some levels operate well in remote rural communities, some are supported by a combination of federal and local taxes, and the Austrian Gemeinden (parishes) even have offices in Brussels.”

Coming from a background in business, accountancy, IS Audit and information security Peter has a keen interest in e-democracy and online security at both national and international levels.  “I’m interested in how online communication complements other forms of political dialogue,” he says.  “This is a matter of interest to all governments, and to communities at every level.  There is so much more we could be achieving.”   

A copy of the full report can be accessed here. 

Mandeep Hothi is programme leader at the Young Foundation.

Community resilience is not about withdrawing public services, but changing the way the state works with local communities

Many people seem to view the word resilience with suspicion. The word, which values people’s ability to bounce back and to cope with life’s challenges, can seem crude and unforgiving when used by the state in an age of austerity. It appears to shift greater responsibility onto communities and individuals at precisely the time when public sector cuts are reducing the number of local services. Some communities will be facing the closure of local industries at a time when employment support services seem to be dwindling. Undoubtedly the self help mantra at a time of high need will test the strength of fragile communities.

Nevertheless, the idea of resilience does not mean the absence of the state. On the contrary, it requires the state to be active in finding and promoting community-led resilience initiatives. In fact, resilience can be a useful guiding principle to develop a better working relationship between the state and the communities with which they work.

There is a danger that the term community resilience is absorbed into questions about individual versus state responsibility without widespread understanding of what the it means. The Young Foundation’s understanding of resilience is that neighbours, communities and community groups can and do respond spontaneously to vulnerabilities in their local areas. Research points to a link between strong social networks and feelings of belonging, community cohesion and the extent to which individuals are willing to intervene if they witness problem behaviour.

I recently visited a neighbourhood in Barcelona with the view to identifying the ingredients that contribute to community resilience. Roquetes, with its winding streets and hilltop views resembles a favela. There I visited a local neighbourhood committee. What I saw were individuals who had come together to respond to emerging problems, such as threatening behaviour towards new migrants, in their neighbourhood. These individuals also formed strong networks within their community. The strength of a social network is a key factor in community resilience. Support systems that can be tapped into if problems arise are necessary, for example borrowing money from your neighbour or sharing child care responsibilities.

There is value in the immediate responses that result from socially connected communities. But organic approaches are susceptible to disappearing. Individuals and community groups may move on, experience volunteer burnout or are under-resourced.

The case of Roquetes showed that there is a role to be played by statutory organisations to help create social networks and resource innovative local responses. This neighbourhood had a history of self-organisation. In the early 1960’s, migrants from the south of Spain had built the houses and infrastructure themselves. Traditionally, residents had been viewed antagonistic towards the district council. However, in recent years the council and the locally elected leader for the neighbourhood association have been working together to help manage the increase in evictions.

Community resilience is not necessarily about withdrawing public services, but more about changing the way public services work with local communities. A recent report, ‘Turning strangers into neighbours’ published by the RSA as part of the Plugging the Gap series, makes this point. Strengthening local networks and social connections can include promoting clean-up days or connecting expectant mums with other new mothers in the area. Local public service providers can provide the space for informal, and sometimes anarchic, networks to emerge and take shape, welcome creative responses, and support responses that are effective. Taking these personal safety nets into account places as much emphasis on what assets exist, as the more traditional lenses tend to focus on deprivations.

However, the danger is that messy though innovative local initiatives may not fit readily into existing commissioning and performance management frameworks. Terms like ‘strategy’, ‘milestones’ and ‘commissioning’ may put off a local mother who is looking for a community space to share skills with other mothers. A resilience lens is not about withdrawal of local services but it does place an obligation on providers to think differently about how they work with local communities.

From ‘Reality, Resources, Resilience’ into an Alliance for Action

In its role as Scotland’s independent regeneration network, SURF delivered a progressive programme of interactive engagements, events and debates over 2011-12. This targeted activity series was supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and the Scottish Government. 

This participative study focused on two contrasting case study areas: the communities of Govan in Glasgow and Gallatown in Kirkcaldy. The objectives of the investigation were to:

• examine the impact of the recession on disadvantaged people and communities;

• highlight examples of ameliorative responses;

• disseminate learning with the purpose of informing policy and practice in future community regeneration and anti-poverty efforts;

• strengthen the exchange of knowledge and experience by facilitating increased dialogue across academic, policy and practice fields;

• support cross-sector consideration of the options for more sustainable community regeneration policy and practice in the changed economic context.

The main themes and examples emerging from this programme were presented in a ‘Reality, Resources, Resilience’ report published by the JRF as a SURF-authored Programme Paper on 23 January 2013. This report is available on the JRF website at the following link:

www.jrf.org.uk/publications/reality-resources-resilience

Forming an Alliance for Action

Over the course of the above RRR programme, SURF experienced a striking degree of enthusiasm for practical action from a wide range of local and national partners. This has encouraged the organisation to develop an ‘Alliance for Action’, focused on the same two case study communities of Govan and Gallatown.

The proposed alliance will be built on the individuals, networks and connections SURF identified and fostered in the course of the initial RRR study. Its specific dual purpose would be:

• to further strengthen resilience and practical outcomes in the two communities; 

• to enhance wider policy and resource considerations for supporting community regeneration in the continuing recessionary context.  

With support from the Scottish Government, Resilient Scotland Ltd and other partner organisations, SURF will be taking responsibility for coordinated programme of activities and events over 2013-15 including:

• Establishing, supporting and developing an interactive network linking partner organisations that have policies and resources dedicated to supporting community led regeneration;

• Showcasing successful approaches and the availability of support for community led regeneration;

• Convening a series of participative open forum events to raise awareness and debate learning from the work of the Alliance with colleagues across all sectors and geographies;

• Organising accessible and productively programmed study visits to successful projects and participating organisations; 

• Facilitating a series of focused discussions of the policy implications, involving relevant key policy-makers, practitioners and academics;

• Linking policy development debate with the practical experience of local initiatives and academic research capacities via a ‘SURF APPP’ (academic, policy & practitioner panel);

• Broadening the accumulated learning and debate onto an international scale via cross border policy/practice exchanges.

The formal national launch of the SURF Alliance for Action will take place at the 2013 SURF Annual Conference in the late summer. Please sign up for SURF’s email newsletter at the link below to receive more information about the programme, or keep up-to-date by visiting the website.

SURF newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/surfnewsletter 

SURF website: www.scotregen.co.uk 

Meantime, anyone interested in learning more about the SURF Alliance for Action at this stage is welcome to contact SURF Chief Executive Andy Milne on andymilne@scotregen.co.uk.