Author: Jamie Carpenter

Jamie Carpenter, Regeneration & Renewal, 16 November 2009

Last week saw Tory leader David Cameron use a speech to set out his plans to use the state to stimulate social action, which he said would “help families, individuals, charities and communities come together to solve problems”. Cameron’s speech was thin on policy detail, but he suggested that public funding could be used to spread “proven social programmes” across the country by franchising them to social entrepreneurs and that a Tory government could create New York-style “block captains” to help make areas safer and better places to live.

Given the Conservative Party’s substantial lead in the polls, those involved in community regeneration will no doubt welcome Cameron’s recognition of the importance of social entrepreneurship. But some may also feel a little disappointed that his speech did not mention how putting assets such as land and buildings in the hands of community bodies can help to empower communities. This sort of activity is already widespread across England, according to a new report.

The study, published last week by the government-funded Asset Transfer Unit, gives the most comprehensive picture yet of the scale of asset transfer already underway in England. According to the report, 80 per cent of councils have transferred at least one asset to community organisations in the last two years. The study found more than 350 asset transfer projects in progress across the 119 local authorities it surveyed. “The future looks positive,” the study concluded.

Yet the asset transfer agenda faces a considerable challenge over the coming months and years. Councils face steep spending reductions in the next spending review period beginning in 2011, and potentially even earlier should the Tories win next year’s general election. On top of this, the Prime Minister recently announced plans to sell off £16 billion of public assets, including £13 billion of local authority assets, as part of his plans to address the UK’s growing deficit. When faced with these financial pressures, councils may think twice about transferring assets to community groups.

If the Conservatives really are serious about stimulating social action, they should include a commitment to community asset transfer in their election manifesto.

On 17th December, the motion set out below will be debated in the Scottish Parliament. SAGS would urge you t o ask your MSP to support the motion and if possible attend the debate.  The motion is getting good cross party support and is an excellent way to raise awareness.

Jim Tolson (Dunfermline West) (Scottish Liberal Democrats):

Allotments, Community Gardens and Grow-your-own Projects – That the Parliament congratulates the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society in its role supporting allotment holders and community gardens in Scotland, encouraging the development of new sites, enhancing biodiversity and preserving skills in gardening; acknowledges the valuable work carried out by other organisations in the promotion of community gardens and grow-your-own projects; recognises the links between green space, activity and good health and the social, financial, environmental and health benefits of gardening and growing one’s own food; highlights the need to protect and enhance green spaces, particularly in urban and deprived areas; notes that Crossford Community Council, in conjunction with Crossford Allotment Association and the Carnegie Trust, is investigating the provision of land for allotments, community gardens and social enterprise, and hopes that local authorities and other public bodies examine ways of transferring land to local communities to be used for such projects.

The Third Sector Online Interactive Evidence Library received a resounding welcome at its official launch during the SCVO and University of Edinburgh Joint Research Conference last month.

The Library is an easy to access resource for anyone interested in understanding the Third Sector in Scotland.  The easily searchable library already contains around 1000 documents, covering  a whole range of research and accessible briefings.  It is regularly updated with new publications and individuals can post their own research as well as comment on other peoples.

Mark Batho, CEO of the Scottish Funding Council who spoke at the conference and endorsed the library said:
“I am really impressed with the Evidence Library. It is a great resource which will make it so much easier for people to find out about the latest, up to the minute research.  I urge anyone interested in the Third Sector to have a look at what it has to offer.”

To access the library go to www.scvo.org.uk/evidencelibrary

Author: Jennifer Aird

Recently I was privileged enough to attend an extremely significant seminar discussing the future of land reform in Scotland. The event was hosted by Local People Leading……

….It felt very different to community sector meetings I have attended in England. I think the difference was the idealism, the faith that an abstract piece of legislation (Land Reform Act) could change lives. And such expectations! Expectations that politicians would deliver what was needed! I think someone actually bemoaned the lack of ‘political vision’. It is a long time since I  heard anyone in the community sector even referring to the possibility that there could be such a thing as political vision.

People I work with in England don’t expect anything from the government or from politicians. This is how bad it has become. Westminster seems remote to most of the country, and is now tarnished by so many scandals. The contrast really struck home to me the lack of faith we have in our London politicians to do anything they say they will. How much power do they have, anyway? Hazel Blears really seemed to believe what she said about communities, yet residents in her constituency of Salford have been scandalously treated by the City Council, and her public support was insufficient to progress a proposed community buy-out of a hospital site in Stroud. How can we trust our ‘democratic’ institutions – when they produce men who announce quite publicly that taxpayers (peasants?) are simply jealous of their vast estates?

In Scotland, on the other hand, there is a feeling that the devolved government is more accountable, more responsive. It is newer, younger, less tainted by scandal. The first Labour government won on the basis of many promises to resolve longstanding injustices and reform land tenure. As a result there are now very high expectations. It is important that these expectations are not frustrated. ……

However if there is one thing we have learned in England, it is that you don’t need to wait for permission to take action – you could be waiting a long time. Yes, land reform is important. Yet it is more likely to happen as the result of a groundswell of unstoppable community successes that show how urgently it is needed. Society does not change to fit legislation, legislation changes to reflect society.

…….I understand the need to change the system. For the Scots the history is present. It is not remote, in the past, but something that is still felt, that still hurts. But in trying to repair past injustices, taking on long, slow battles over points of principle, are we missing out on smaller, easier wins? I felt that all the resources to achieve a brighter future were in that room, or represented in that room. Do we really need local government or politicians? Let’s get on and show what is possible, then wait for them to catch up! They soon will, if it’s popular and successful…..and then they’ll appear for that photo opportunity!

Edinburgh Council has been told to remove references to Meadowbank Stadium from its local plan.

Scottish Government reporters Richard Bowden and Dan Jackman made this recommendation after considering objections from over 1,700 individuals and organisations.

In their report, which has been published on the Council website, they wrote: “At this stage the plans or proposals for the Meadowbank site are not sufficiently advanced or robustly articulated within an overall sport and recreation development strategy to justify any designation or allocation to be placed on the Meadowbank site when the local plan is adopted.”

They went on to say they do not endorse a pre-inquiry change proposed by the Council. Instead, they recommend the deletion of several items relating to Meadowbank from the local plan.

Save Meadowbank campaigners today welcomed their recommendations. Kevin Connor said: “More people objected to the proposals for Meadowbank than any other item in the Edinburgh local plan. I am pleased the reporters listened to what was said and seem to have agreed with our view that the Council’s plans for Meadowbank make no sense.

“Despite this victory, Meadowbank’s future remains in doubt. Although the public want to see an upgraded Meadowbank, the ruling Lib Dem/SNP administration still want to demolish the popular international facility and replace it with a mini version surrounded by luxury flats. Just because it has been removed from the local plan doesn’t mean they have changed their intention.”

Author: John Thomson

The first stage has been completed in a move to recruit artists for an ambitious north-east project to create art at run-down properties.

A Scottish Arts Council grant of £15,472 has been awarded to the Coast visual arts festival for a temporary art initiative at Banff and Macduff.

The scheme will involve efforts to see if derelict buildings can be made more attractive through art so they can enhance the area instead of bringing it down.

Coast festival organisers hope to appoint two artists before the end of the year to take on the job.

Chairman Bryan Angus said: “We now have a brief drawn up for the project and we are on the point of issuing it.

“Given the commission, we expect responses from artists nationwide and, hopefully, we can have two appointed before Christmas.”

The project is called Living Spaces and two run-down properties, one at Banff and one at Macduff, will be chosen.

Work the artists will do on the buildings will form a major part of next year’s Coast festival.

The initiative has developed from a photographic campaign run by the new community trust at Banff and Macduff.

It issued the public with cameras this year to take pictures of good and bad aspects of the twin towns and the results showed that derelict and run-down properties were a major dislike.

The trust is making a survey of boarded-up buildings from which it is planned that two will be chosen for the Coast project.

Local people will be able to play a part by participating in workshops the artists will organise.

Community trust operations and development manager Fiona Poustie said the Living Spaces project was a first step in tackling the problem of derelict buildings.

The trust photographic project has the long-term aim of trying to get such properties either tidied up or re-occupied.

Mrs Poustie said: “I can’t wait to see the transformation of the buildings chosen at Coast 2010 next May.

Author: David Ross

The waters around Bute have become a battleground between boat owners and the Crown in a case that will be closely watched by other coastal communities round Scotland.

A case in the Court of Session in Edinburgh will decide between the merits of two historic royal charters.

The row centres on whether boat owners will have to pay to put down a mooring in Kames Bay to the north of Rothesay.

They have long argued have argued that the terms of two charters granted to the Royal Burgh of Rothesay, in 1400 and 1584, mean they do not have to pay to put down moorings on the seabed.

The Crown Estate, owner of the seabed within Scottish territorial water, has publicly stated: “Anyone wishing to place a mooring or any other structure on the seabed in Kames Bay requires a licence from The Crown Estate. The cost of a mooring licence is £70 per year for an individual or £35 per year for members of the local moorings association.”

However, Rothesay was established as a royal burgh by King Robert III of Scotland in 1400 and was declared a “free port” by James VI in a Charter of Confirmation granted in 1584.

The terms of the latter document are rehearsed in the latest edition of the island’s local paper, The Buteman, reminding islanders of the words of the last man to ascend the Scottish throne on the subject of Rothesay.

It said: “We give and grant to the magistrates and inhabitants of the said burgh, present and to come, a free port and harbour for ships in the bay and station of the said Burth of Rothesay and the Kyles of Bute, the stations of Cumbray and Fairly and Holy Isle, and all others within the foresaid bounds, with free entrance and exit for ships and boats for carrying burdens with all kinds of goods and merchandise not prohibited by our laws and Acts, with all the privileges and liberties of a free port, and receptacle for ships, with power for the support of the foresaid port, to receive and raise off goods, merchandise, ships and boats”.

Craig Borland, editor of the Buteman told the Herald: “The impression, however unintentional, is that the Crown Estate forgot all about Kames Bay for years and years, and has come along pretty late in the day and started insisting that people pay to do exactly what they had been doing anyway, so far without getting anything in return.

“But there’s potentially a lot riding on the outcome of this case. If the Crown Estate loses, there could be quite a few seafront royal burghs dusting off their own charters to see if something similar might apply to them.”

Andy Wightman, the leading land reform and community rights campaigner, said: “This case is an excellent example of how land rights which communities traditionally enjoyed have been eroded over time. In an ideal world, the citizens would have full knowledge and control over their common good assets which include mooring rights.

“These are inalienable community land rights and must be asserted and defended. If they are not, then powerful interests will once again have won over the common rights of the public.”

Argyll and Bute Council challenged the Crown Estate on the issue but threw in the towel in 2006, although many thought it had wrongly focused on ownership of the sea bed, rather than the right to use it.

In the aftermath the Port Bannatyne Moorings Association (PBMA) was formed in early 2007, and agreed to collect fees for the Crown Estate.

But in 2008 the association decided not to pass these on without the Crown Estate taking action against those who had moored without paying.

Later that year the Crown Estate, which has a property portfolio valued at £6bn, raised a petition at the Court of Session, to prove they were legally entitled to remove unauthorised moorings from the bay. But a fund was established to help those who had not paid to fight the case.

Most of principal figures in the dispute are witnesses in the hearing so did not want to comment.

Author: Rosie Niven

Rural development trusts are short of cash, but provide a flourishing participatory form of democracy, research published this week has revealed.

The Carnegie UK Trust’s manifesto for rural communities finds development trusts punching above their weight when it comes to promoting local democracy as traditional representative structures struggling to attract voters.

The evidence gathered through a collaboration with the Big Lottery Fund and 44 frontline organisations reveals that that while rural and semi-rural development trusts are increasing in number, they are much smaller than their urban counterparts.

The research suggests that many are struggling financially with limited access to assets and earned income, both key indicators of sustainability. This means that many trusts are not achieving as great an impact in their communities as they might.

The report explores in detail ten characteristics of the resilient community of the future. It suggests that dynamic, vibrant and sustainable communities need creative people working together, assets to support their aspirations and agencies, and local people collaborating to an agreed plan.

Development trusts and representative structures each have distinctive and complementary roles, the report notes. It suggests that a local council or community council could commission a local plan and the development trust deliver the actions.

‘A positive relationship with the town or parish council is a strong enabling factor for effective community partnership. Efforts by external bodies to isolate community partnerships from their local council are counterproductive, although a degree of independence is positive,’ the report says.

The experiences of pioneering rural communities in championing sustainable lifestyles can inspire neighbourhoods everywhere, it adds. It builds upon the vision provided by the trust its 2007 charter for rural communities, but acknowledges the accelerating pace of economic, environmental and social change.

Kate Braithwaite, director of Carnegie’s rural programme said: ‘Although this report draws on innovative ideas from rural communities, it is relevant to neighbourhoods everywhere. All communities are increasingly faced with radical change where there are no existing solutions. We need new structures and new thinking to achieve our vision for the future.’

A petition calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to “save” the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland has attracted 1,540 signatures.

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations set up the petition on the 10 Downing Street website on 27 October.

Click here to sign the petition.

The petition calls on Brown to intervene to save the foundation, which has said it will suspend its grant-making in less than two months after rejecting a funding proposal from the Lloyds Banking Group.

The group offered the foundation £25m of bridging funds over four years. But the offer was conditional on the foundation accepting a cut in the amount it receives from the group in future from 1 per cent to 0.5 per cent of pre-tax profits, the placing of senior bank staff on its board and the ceding to the bank of decisions about where money is spent.

Mary Craig, chief executive of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland, said the proposal would make the foundation into a marketing arm of the group.

Lucy McTernan, deputy chief executive of the SCVO, said: “Over the past year the Lloyds Banking Group has received billions in government bailout.”

“It is now 43 per cent owned by the taxpayer. The SCVO calls on Gordon Brown to step in to ensure that the Lloyds Banking Group commits to retaining the existing terms and conditions of the Lloyds TSB Foundation”

Since it was established in 1985, over 12,000 awards have been made to charities working with disadvantaged communities and people across Scotland. Although existing commitments will be honoured, communities across Scotland will be hard hit by the closure of the foundation which has provided over £84 million since it started. The Foundation’s ability to continue to support good causes is now under threat, as it relies on a percentage of pre-tax profits from Lloyds Banking Group for its funds. As the Bank has announced that it will make no profit this year, the future of the Foundation is at risk. In these tough economic times, charities, community groups, voluntary organisations and social enterprises need the support of organisations like the Lloyds TSB Foundation more than ever.

For decades, there have been areas in Scotland where a variety of complex, interrelated factors such as economic decline, unemployment, low levels of educational attainment, and poor health have combined to create concentrated multiple deprivation and significant challenges for the people living there.

These are our most disadvantaged communities, and for the past thirty years a series of national programmes have attempted to accelerate improved living conditions, opportunities and outcomes in local areas. By targeting ring-fenced investment, government at national and local level has been trying to reduce the socio-economic inequality that exists between these communities and the rest of Scotland.

Despite the best efforts of these community regeneration programmes, stark inequalities between geographical communities persist. There are still too many communities in Scotland experiencing very high levels of multiple deprivation relative to their neighbours. Release of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2009 (SIMD 09) demonstrates this once again.

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