To view Julian Dobson’s  slideshow which sets out twenty things to do on the high street that don’t involve shopping, click here.

To see a short report of the seminar hosted by Architecture and Design Scotland – Re-imagining Alternative High Street Futures click here.

Author: David Cowan

Dear All

I am writing to let you know of some changes in the Housing, Regeneration and the Commonwealth Games Directorate of the Scottish Government. Responsibilities for regeneration and the Commonwealth Games are to be separated out and Diane McLafferty will be heading up a dedicated Commonwealth Games Division. 

A new Regeneration Unit will form part of the current Housing Options and Support Division (the Division will obviously be re-named to reflect the change). The Regeneration Investment and Strategy teams will join the Wider Role team to take forward the implementation of the Regeneration Strategy. 

The Community Engagement team, led by Alasdair Mckinlay, has moved to Local Government and Third Sector Directorate, taking forward the Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill and the Achieving Change programme, benefiting from closer engagement in policy designed to deliver on public service reform and the Christie Commission. The team will be formally part of Equality and Communities Division. 

I will head up the new Regeneration Unit, working with Paula Chadderton, Jane Macpherson and colleagues. 

Our contact details are:

David Cowan  – Head of Regeneration Unit – 0131 244 5573 – david.cowan@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Paula Chadderton – Regeneration Investment – 0131 244 0490 – paula.chadderton@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Jane Macpherson – Regeneration Strategy – 0131 244 0250 – jane.macpherson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Alasdair Mckinlay – Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill – 0131 244 0366 – alasdair.mckinlay@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

I hope that you will be reassured that the changes for regeneration are designed to focus resources and capture synergies between areas of policy going forward.

Thanks,

David Cowan 

Head of Regeneration Unit

The Scottish Government 

(0131) 244 5573 

www.scotland.gov.uk/regenerationstrategy 

Greener Leith was among the 21 successful projects that gained funding at the 2012 Leith Decides event – after hundreds of Leithers voted on which projects should win funding. We’d therefore like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who voted for us.

If you voted for us, we hope you’ll join us on one of the community clean-up events we now have the funding to organise over the summer. We’ll announce the dates as soon as possible on this blog and thegreenerleithsocial.org.

Here are details of the other projects/organisations that won funding:

• Pulse of the Place – £1000

• 6th Leith/1st Nehaven Scout Group – £653

• Fort Youth and Community Centre – £961

• Central Leith After-school Provision (CLASP) – £1000

• Citadel Youth Centre – £1000

• Stanwell Nursery Parents Council – £395

• Newhaven Coastal Rowing Club – £1000

• Leith Festival Association – £819

• Leith Community Theatre – £1000

• Friends of Leith Primary – £1000

• Out of the Blue – £1860

• Victoria Primary School PTA – £350

• The Ripple Project – £861

• Lorne Primary School PTA – £1000

• Strange Town Theatre Company – £1000

• Edinburgh Leisure – £1000

• The Junction – £505

• Edinburgh Garden Partners – £1000

You can find out more details about all the applications on the Leith Neighbourhood Partnership page.

Whilst it’s probably better to involve 700 locals in the decision making process over which projects get funding, only about two thirds of the projects that applied were successful in the end.

Perhaps the biggest risk of this approach is that it becomes a ‘beauty contest’ with worthy projects that work with a socially excluded client base, or may be controversial, or minority areas of activity, losing out because they can’t generate the turn-out or the public support on the day to get the necessary votes.

On the other hand, there’s clearly a public appetite for more of this sort of thing. The number of applications, and the number of people registering to vote, are well up on last year when Leith Decides ran for the first time in Leith Academy.

It would also be hard to put a value on the informal networking and learning that took place between the volunteers on the various projects as they walked from stall to stall.

The process can always be improved and the public officials behind it will be looking at how they could improve it again for next year. Because there surely will be a next year, right?

In fact, after the success of Leith Decides 2012 it would seem that there may be a much more compelling case to boost the amount of cash that is allocated this way in Leith – and to try giving other areas of the city the same opportunities that Leithers have had to influence the way money is spent.

The Creative Place Awards celebrate and recognise the hard work and imagination that contributes to the rich cultural life of a community, as well as its social and economic well-being.

The Awards are part of the Year of Creative Scotland 2012, a year-long celebration of our nation’s cultural and creative strengths. 

Broadcaster Dougie Vipond hosted today’s ceremony with awards presented by the judges to communities of different sizes across three categories. The winners are:

• Wigtown received £50,000 in the category for places with fewer than 2,500 residents. The runners up were Creetown and Kilmartin Glen.  Each year over 15,000 people flock to Wigtown for its hugely successful Book Festival, the award will allow this to be developed into a year-round programme – including a residential creative writing course and a high-profile Wigtown Lecture.

• West Kilbride received £100,000 in the category for places with fewer than 10,000 residents.  The runners up were Huntly and Prestonpans.  The award will allow Craft Town Scotland, a community initiative, to develop a new series of exhibitions for The Barony Centre and develop new programmes to involve younger, and older, members of the community in their creative programme.

• St Andrews received £150,000 in the category for places with fewer than 100,000 residents.  The runners up were Irvine and Perth. St Andrews will be hosting its own Year of Celebration in 2012 and the award will allow the town to promote its already rich cultural programme to the UK and international visitors and to support a new community musical theatre production as the year’s centre piece production.

In addition, the judges made two Special Awards of £40,000 to Creetown and Huntly who impressed with their long-standing creative programmes which involve the whole community.

• Creetown won a Special Award for community engagement and high levels of participation in quality arts and creativity.

• Huntly received a Special Award for its creative use of artists.  Huntly has re-branded the town through the use of arts; many of its projects have been led by top international artists.

Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive of Creative Scotland and Chair of the Judging panel, said; “The Year of Creative Scotland and the Creative Place Awards provide a unique opportunity to celebrate and reward places across Scotland that contribute to a Scotland’s strength as a creative nation. 

“From the Highlands to the Borders, Scotland is a rich tapestry of thriving and vibrant creative communities.  The awards will allow these communities to enhance their creative programmes, which will in-turn raise their profile nationally and internationally and attract further visitors.

“It was a tough task for the jury to choose just three out of the nine outstanding places nominated, all of which showed substantial vitality, energy and creativity.  

This is the first year of the awards and we hope to see even more places putting themselves forward next year.”

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, said; “Scotland is a creative nation and I am hugely impressed by the wealth of creative communities we have in every corner of the country. To win a Creative Place Award, and in the Year of Creative Scotland 2012, is a great achievement which demonstrates the truly exceptional standard of the successful programmes.

“As well as helping local economies by increasing visitors, the winning projects – which cover a breadth of creative activities – will bring communities together in a common cause that enhances their energy and wellbeing.”

Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland Chief Executive, said: “Our culture is one of our greatest assets and this year offers a tremendous opportunity to harness local creativity from across every part of Scotland and show our visitors what we’re made of.  It’s fantastic to see the winners in the spotlight today and exciting to see the wealth of creative talent demonstrated. Tourism is a hotbed for creativity but it’s only by working together and harnessing enthusiasm that we can truly make the most of the Year of Creative Scotland.”

It was once seen as a jewel in Fife’s crown of stunning visitor attractions, and the scene of many unforgettable school trips for generations of youngsters, but is now only a shadow of its former self after years of neglect.

Now, however, there is fresh hope that the long-term future of Craigtoun Park on the edge of St Andrews can be secured after a public meeting agreed to set up a trust to manage the 41-acre park.

St Andrews Community Council chairman Kyffin Roberts said he was ”delighted” with the turnout of around 50 people at a public meeting in St Andrews Burgh Chambers on Wednesday night.

”Positive energy and enthusiasm was in great abundance!” he said of the meeting hosted by St Andrews Community Council.

However, he has now appealed to residents from St Andrews and the wider Fife/Tayside area to give their backing by supporting the trust and looking at ways that an action plan can move forward.

Mr Roberts said there had been growing concern in recent years about the increasingly dilapidated state of Craigtoun Park. In particular, the once impressive Dutch Village had been closed and fallen into disrepair, whilst the boating pond was now thick with green algae and littered with bottles.

”Basically Fife Council has made it clear it wants to wash its hands of the park on grounds of cost. They will continue to fund it this year and possibly next, but they can’t guarantee anything after that,” he said.

”As Fife Council seeks to place more facilities on a trust basis, it seems certain that the only way to protect the future of Craigtoun Park is to establish a trust that will work closely with the local authority to make the best use of limited resources and get more for less wherever possible.”

Mr Roberts said it was hoped the Craigtoun Community Trust will eventually take responsibility for the maintenance and development of the park and will seek funding for its refurbishment and devise a business plan that will ensure it achieves financial sustainability.

However, this would only work with the support of individuals, clubs and businesses.

Mr Roberts added: ”What we decided on Wednesday night was to set up a Friends of Craigtoun Group and from that we will have a management committee core group. The main purpose of that will be to set up a trust.

”The idea is that the Friends of Craigtoun Park group will become a pool of resources consisting of interested individuals who have relevant knowledge and experience to help set up the trust and possibly become trustees in the future.”

Mr Roberts said it was thought that the bare running costs could be £300,000 per annum with estimated repair bills of £4 million.

Last year St Andrews and Cameron community councils were involved in exploratory discussions with Fife Council with a view to take over the running of the park, but after careful consideration the latter concluded that operating it as a charitable trust run by volunteers would not be a viable option and abandoned the idea.

However, Mr Roberts said St Andrews Community Council had decided it would not give up the fight to save the park.

Fife Council area service manager Kate Hughes said: ”Craigtoun will continue to be operated as a free-to-enter public park for the forseeable time. The council has committed funding to the park for at least another 12 months and we’re in the process of preparing a tender for the management of operations including catering, the train, boats and putting with the intention that these services will be provided by the private sector this summer.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the trust should contact Kyffin Roberts at kyffinroberts@hotmail.com

The event – which was originally arranged for 8 December 2011 but had to be postponed as a result of ‘Hurricane Bawbag’ – was well attended with over 200 guests in attendance from a wide range of public, private, voluntary and community organisations. 

Alex Neil MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment, said: “Successful regeneration relies on the passion and commitment of a whole range of partners, working tirelessly to make a difference to the people and places that need it most. Awards such as these play an important part in recognising achievements across the country. I am delighted to be supporting the SURF Awards for Best Practice in Community Regeneration. And I wish to congratulate, not only the winners, but all those that have taken part.”

Stephen Maxwell, Chair of SURF, said: “The outstanding achievements made by the projects featured in this year’s SURF Awards are all the more impressive when you consider the challenges and pressures they are operating under. More than ever, now is the time for all of us concerned with community regeneration in Scotland to make sure we are doing all we can to support and replicate examples of best practice.”

Andy Milne, Chief Executive of SURF, said: “There is a lot of discussion about more independence. SURF supports real independence for people and places. Real independence comes from collective action in communities. Every year, the SURF Awards show that there are thousands of people working together in hundreds of projects across the whole country every day for a better community and a better Scotland. 

“With public spending cuts allied to increasing poverty, 2011 has been one of the most challenging years in recent times for delivering effective regeneration. The 2011 SURF Awards show that resilient communities and their regeneration partners are still providing practical solutions to local challenges. Scotland’s challenge is to sustain and build on such accomplishments. That would be a real success for genuine independence.”

The SURF Awards are delivered by SURF (Scotland’s independent regeneration network) in partnership with the Scottish Government. 

People Category       

• Winner – Greater Easterhouse Alcohol Awareness Project (Glasgow)

• Highly Commended – Auchmountain Community Resource Centre (Greenock)

Place Category

• Winner – Dedridge Environmental Ecology Project (Livingston) 

• Highly Commended – Kimartin House Museum (Argyll)

Partnership Category

• Winner – Community Power Orkney

• Highly Commended – Pulteneytown People’s Project (Wick)

Employability for All Category

• Winner – The Coalyard (South Lanarkshire)

• Highly Commended – The Engine Shed (Edinburgh)

For more information on all 17 shortlisted projects for 2011, please click here to download a special SURF Awards publication.

The Institute of Local Television  

This comes at an exciting time for local TV, as 30 community TV news channels are set to follow the likes of Helensburgh.tv and leith.tv and launch this year. Social enterprises are being encouraged to become further involved in the movement and can register their interest by contacting the Institute, here. 

URTV is a network of hyper-local news channels providing a mix of informative and entertaining content to, and about, communities throughout the west coast of Scotland. 

Led by experienced reporters, broadcasters and technicians our team uses the latest social networking, broadband and mobile technologies to help promote the places, events and culture important to local people. 

Every town or village has storytellers, champions, bloggers, leaders and heroes. Our aim is to offer an informative and entertaining professional platform for them to develop the oldest social network there is – a sense of community. 

URTV Helensburgh, as befitting the birthplace of television pioneer John Logie Baird, is the first of a number of online channels providing communities with an interactive opportunity to celebrate their similarities, debate their differences and showcase their achievements and surroundings to the world. 

We operate channels in the West of Scotland near our HQ, but are licensing partners interested in operating their own channels across the UK. 

We currently have two partnering programmes one for business partners and another for social enterprises. Both have a zero startup cost, and will save you months and alot of money. 

If you think your town or area should have local TV and like what you see on URTV, then contact us with your details to have a chat about how we could work together. 

Email brian@urtv.co.uk or call 0800 098 8194.

Community Land Scotland has warmly welcomed the announcement that £6 million is to be available for the next generation of community land buy-outs.

Speaking after the announcement by Environment and Climate Change Minister, Stewart Stevenson MSP, David Cameron, Chairman of Community Land Scotland, the representative body for Scotland’s community land owners, said,

“This is first rate news. With this new land fund comes new opportunity for more communities to share in the benefits of taking control of the land on which they live and work. Already a new confidence has been growing within the communities which have taken control, new economic opportunities are being created, once dying communities are reviving and growing. It is simply great that more communities will now be able to get support to take the opportunity of owning their own land and future.”

David Cameron was speaking following the announcement made at the 5th anniversary celebrations of the last major buyout at Galson, on the island of Lewis.

Community Land Scotland, established only a year ago, has been campaigning for a new land fund and wider policy changes to promote more community ownership. David Cameron said,

“A year ago there was a sense that the momentum had gone out of the movement toward more communities taking over their land, following rapid progress in the early part of the new century. We are pleased the Scottish Government has taken action to ensure that momentum can be regained and I look forward to the new fund being heavily subscribed and used in the years to come, and I hope that, as in the first Land Fund, if demand is sufficient, the fund will be increased to meet that demand.”

Community Land Scotland particularly welcomed the involvement of Highlands and Islands Enterprise in the arrangements to administer the new fund, alongside the Big Lottery. David Cameron said,

“HIE have been the key agency in making things happen in the purchase of land in the past. They understand how communities work and the kind of support they need to progress and we are delighted they are again to have a central role, this can only be for the good and increase the prospects of communities making real progress.

”What we now need is active promotion of the fund to communities who can aspire to a better future, through their ownership and active management of the land they occupy, bringing new investment and the promoting new opportunities.”

The Land Fund announcement comes only hours after community land owners in Scotland were announced as one of “Britain’s New Radicals” in a national scheme recognising, people and organisations leading innovative solutions to established economic and social problems.

Welcoming the recognition by NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) and the Observer newspaper, David Cameron, Chairman of Community Land Scotland said,

“We are delighted to receive this recognition and for community land owners to take their place among others who are innovating and leading the way to find new ways to tackle long standing problems.

“Communities in Scotland now control some 500,000 acres of land and are turning round the fortunes of those communities, bringing hope of a better future where once there was despair and decline. New investment is being won for those communities, new opportunities created, and the means to a better future secured.

“What we do is a break from the past, it is radical, and it involves not just inspired individuals, but inspired communities. This recognition is for all those involved in the community land owning sector.”

Professor Jim Hunter, who nominated the community land sector for the Britain’s New Radicals award, said: ‘In the last 20 years, people in the Highlands and Islands have taken into community ownership an area equivalent to that of an English county like Nottinghamshire or West Yorkshire.  That’s remarkable enough. What’s still more remarkable is the way those same people have done things – like reversing population loss and growing long shrinking economies – once thought impossible. This award, I hope, will make these achievements better known – and maybe help persuade other communities in Scotland and beyond to take charge of their destinies in this way.’

Author: Sunday Herald

Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, co-director of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, says attempts to tackle society’s problems have become “over-professionalised” in recent years.

He said it was important to provide support to parents and focus on improving children’s lives in the first few years, but cautioned that sending in more workers was not the answer.

“The truth of the matter is we have got enough professionals doing this,” he said. “I would much rather start to see communities moving towards doing things for themselves, so we don’t have community development workers or this or that support worker.”

Carnochan said residents in communities did not often have enough influence in decision which affect their lives, such as the opening times of community centres or schools.

“They might say we would like the school open at 6am in the morning so we can run a breakfast club,” he said.

“Or they might say we would like the school open at night, so our kids can go and play in the playground in there, and it’s safe and we have got a couple of dads who will supervise that. 

“They don’t need any money. They just need you to open the gate for them. It is about people in communities doing things, as opposed to coming home at night, closing their front doors and that’s it.”

He said more support had to be given to “great” voluntary groups which have started in many areas, particularly in deprived communities.

But Carnochan added: “I don’t mean we turn them into professional organisations with evaluations and outcome plans and project initiation documents and business managers – we don’t need that. 

“If there are 10 or 12 young guys who want to play football and a couple of dads who want to help them do that, great, what do they need? Do they need £50 to buy football strips or orange juice every night? Do we need to let them into the school for nothing to do it? We don’t need the big things.”

Carnochan also argues there has been too much emphasis on “value for money” when evaluating the work which has been carried out by professionals such as health visitors and social workers.

“What we seem to have done over the past 20 to 30 years is we have tried to apply business models to everything,” he said. “So what has happened is the only way we value things is about how much they cost. 

“It is not just about that – you can’t say how long a health visitor will need to work with somebody before they establish a relationship, or how long a social worker will need to work with a family to get an established relationship and get results.

“With some it might be an hour, with others it might be two months, and it is that idea we need to understand.

“It is not to say we don’t have to account for every penny we spend –we absolutely must – but we need to be smarter about how we measure value.”

Carnochan made his comments ahead of a major conference on parenting hosted by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde last week. The three-day event brought together specialists from around the world to discuss the effects of positive parenting and the growing focus on the importance of the early years of a child’s life. 

Peter Taylor, organiser of network body Community Development Alliance Scotland, said listening to communities was already a core aspect of such work and there was increasing emphasis on the building of strong communities to help deal with problems such as violence.

“Clearly there are things which we would like people across a whole range of services and voluntary organisations to get better at, such as listening to people, helping them to develop, and perhaps that has been lost sight of in some services,” he added.

“But I don’t think the actual core of community workers that do exist have ever lost sight of those approaches.”

Author: Third Force News

CHARITIES have this week called for banking giant Lloyds to drop a “shameful” legal bid aimed at avoiding paying over £5m to Scottish voluntary organisations.

Lloyds Banking Group this week announced it will appeal a Scottish Court of Session decision to award the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland £5.25m the granting-giving body claims the bank owes it for 2009 and 2010.

However, Scottish charities this week said that the funds are vital to help boost charities in the current economy and urged the bank, which is 40 per cent owned by the taxpayer, to drop its appeal.

They highlighted that the sum is small in banking terms – Lloyds Banking Group chief executive Antonia Horta-Osorio waived his claim to a personal bonus of upto £5.4m in January – but very significant to community and voluntary groups in Scotland.

Anne Houston, chief executive of major children’s charity Children 1st, said: “The Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland has been a friend and supporter of Children 1st, along with other charities, for many years and its involvement is invaluable.

“It saddens and disappoints us that Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland’s vital work is threatened by the recent action of, and pressures being placed on it by, Lloyds Banking Group.”

The bank is legally bound to pay a proportion of its pre-tax profits to the Lloyds TSB Foundation.

However, following a major fall-out between the two in 2009, they have been arguing over the definition of pre-tax profits.

The bank argued it had no pre-tax profits in 2009, so paid the foundation just £38,920.

The foundation disputed this, arguing that the assets from the take-over the Halifax Bank of Scotland should be considered and so sued the bank for £3.5m.

In September 2011, Judge Lord Glennie ruled in favour of the bank. However, in December an appeal in front of three of Scotland’s most senior judges at the Edinburgh Court of Session ruled in favour of the foundation.

Earlier this week, the bank announced it is launching a fresh appeal, which will be heard at the UK’s Supreme Court in London.

The Lighthouse Foundation, a small Ayrshire-based organisation working with families affected by drug and alcohol problems, joined calls for it to reconsider.

Its project manager Kathleen Bryson said: “Lloyds Banking Group’s decision to appeal the decision of The Scottish Court of Session will have a devastating effect on many charities who like the Lighthouse Foundation depend on the foundation’s generosity.

“£5 million is not a large amount in banking terms but it is a lot of money when you consider the impact that this decision will have on disadvantaged families and children who reside in Scotland.”

The Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland’s chief executive Mary Craig this week asked why the bank was being allowed to waste time and money on legal action against a charity.

“Questions must now be asked as to why a major institution of its size, owned in part by the taxpayer, feels the need to pursue a charitable organisation in this way.”

She added: “Worse still, this shameful turn of events means that monies due to us will be held back for a third year until this further appeal is heard and decided – and that is money we should be awarding to Scotland’s hard-pressed charities, now and in the future, as they are crying out for support at this difficult time.”

A spokeswoman for Lloyds Banking Group said: “We can confirm that we have decided to appeal the Inner House decision and have filed our Notice of Appeal with the Supreme Court in London.

“Lloyds Banking Group is proud of its track record as one of the largest corporate funders in the UK, including Scotland.”