Author: TfN

SCVO Advocates Community-based approach

THE Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is calling on MPs to consider an alternative community-based option to welfare reform in Scotland.

The voluntary sector umbrella body believes those finding it difficult to enter the job market can be encouraged to contribute to their local communities while developing the skills to gain meaningful work.

It is suggesting a programme that builds on initiatives like New Deal that would see people who are claiming benefits given extra support and credit for activities such as volunteering or caring.

SCVO believes that the high level of Incapacity Benefit claimants in Scotland plus the distinctive socio-demographics for lone parents, older workers and long-term unemployed presents a particular challenge for the government’s welfare reform plans. The organisation believes third sector bodies are ideally placed to support hard to employ people, many of whom it is already works with.

Elements of the alternative community-based option to welfare reform include:

• payment of a community allowance additional to welfare benefits in recognition of their contribution to their communities (suggestions to pilot this approach have also been mooted in other parts of the UK by others, such as the Create Consortium)

• support for disadvantaged people alongside conventional back to work programmes

• support for people to volunteer for community focused projects delivering public benefit without losing welfare benefits

• provision of an individually tailored programme of work experience in the third sector which equips people with the skills to gain and sustain employment

• support for others who would like to make a difference to their communities but need flexible support to do so

• development of a range of community based initiatives which fit with local and national policy priorities

• provision of a flexible package of support designed to tackle the needs of individuals with multiple barriers to employment

• provision of accredited placement provision in the third sector which meets Health and Safety and other compliance requirements

• a commitment to support people progressing satisfactorily through further or higher education

Letter from Wendy-Louise Smith
Community Engagement (Regeneration)
Housing and Regeneration Directorate, Scottish Government

Community Voices Network

In April 2008, Scottish Ministers agreed to fund successor arrangements to the Community Voices Network (CVN), to support learning and networking in regeneration, for community activists and volunteers. We recently went through a procurement exercise to appoint a contractor to deliver a successor Network on our behalf. Unfortunately, we were unable to award the contract on the basis that no bids were of a high enough quality to meet the needs of members. Based on this outcome, we have taken the decision to disband the CVN.

Scottish Ministers remain committed to supporting community activists and volunteers involved in regeneration, at a national level and so we have looked again at how we could meet this commitment, taking a different approach. Whilst the CVN will no longer exist, we will continue to develop opportunities for community activists and volunteers. Over the coming months, we will be exploring a range of ways to build capacity and support learning and networking around regeneration. This will involve looking at how a number of existing resources currently supported by the Scottish Government can play their part. We will also look to strengthen and develop resources through other organisations that are part-funded by the Scottish Government, as well as with other stakeholders.

We would welcome your input to the process, to help develop new and innovative approaches and identify opportunities. Please contact me to discuss any ideas or suggestions that you may have, on how we could work together to support learning, networking and capacity building for community activists and volunteers involved in regeneration.

A Highland community is drawing up a strategy for its economic survival after the closure of its biggest employer with the loss of 11 jobs.

Community councillors at Morvern have set up a steering committee to investigate options available for acquiring land to help secure a sustainable future for its 200 population.

The move comes in the wake of the decision by Tarmac, the UK’s biggest supplier of building and aggregate products, to close the silica mine at Lochaline late last month.

It followed a 30-day consultation period with employees with the company blaming the economic downturn, rising costs and increased foreign competition.

Last week, representatives from Highland Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise met with executives from an England-based company which is believed to be interested in acquiring the historic mine. A council spokesman said the company had agreed to look at figures and to report back at a later stage. “Everyone is being quite cautious and hopeful,” he said.

Meanwhile, go-ahead local councillors have set up a steering group under the auspices of the community council, which in the past has seen it create a new filling station after it was threatened with closure. However, community leaders have ruled-out a local buyout of the silica mine.

Group chairman David Robertson said it would attempt to identify options available to the community under land reform and crofting reform legislation and also the forest land scheme.

“The group will identify an area or areas of land where a community-based buyout could be undertaken with a view to empowering the community, encourage rural diversity, create new crofts and allotments and facilitate access to affordable housing plots for future generations,” said Mr Robertson.

“It is hoped that a diverse and dedicated group of volunteers will begin the hard work of collating information this month with a long-term aim to enable the community to join the growing band of west Highland communities who have a stake in the land on which they live.”

Worried villagers claimed the closure would have a devastating impact on the isolated Morvern community, which is only accessible by a single-track road, and could result in plans for a new much-needed primary school being shelved.

However, Highland councillors have been told that the school will go-ahead – and will incorporate accommodation for local fire and coastguard staff.

A HOUSING co-operative is set to establish the first ‘next generation’ communications community in Britain.

New homes currently being constructed for West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, are having fibre optic cable installed that will provide next generation broadband access.

The housing provider is also setting up a communications co-operative – Whicomm Cooperative Ltd – owned and managed entirely by the community it serves – that will provide TV, phone and internet services at reduced costs in comparison with major providers.

Whitcomm Co-operative will be launched at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh today (Thursday 13th November 2008) and aims to reduce digital exclusion that compounds social exclusion.

Through Whitcomm, low-income families will be able to access the services that the majority of people take for granted.

James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, says: “I am delighted to be able to support the Whitlawburn Community Communications Co-operative. The launch of this initiative offering communications packages at reduced prices in comparison to major providers is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of Director Paul Farrell and his staff and Anne Anderson and the committee.

“This is a unique project which seeks to distribute the power of the internet to the local community in Whitlawburn.

“I am sure this ground breaking scheme will be followed by many other communities in Scotland. It illustrates powerfully the benefits of working together to overcome social exclusion.”

The 21st century technology uses fibre optic cables that provide the next generation broadband, allowing access to the internet at speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps).

It provides consumers with the infrastructure for the super-fast net connections creating a range of new applications including on-demand high definition (HD) television, DVD quality film downloads in minutes, online video messaging, CCTV home surveillance and high definition interactive games.

West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative already has a computer suite and plan to increase community based computer courses so that the most vulnerable people can use the technology to its full potential.

Once the infrastructure is in place, the plan is to develop a ‘Community Portal’ that will be a platform over which the community will be able to access voluntary and statutory services in their homes. In turn, these services will be able to utilise the new technology to respond creatively to the changing needs of the community and the individuals living there.

WWHC plan to use the project as a pilot with a view to promoting the model of community owned technology to other socially and digitally excluded communities around the UK.

Paul Farrell, Director of WWHC, says: “This project has the potential to be the most exciting development in social housing in decades and gives tenants, perhaps currently excluded from first generation broadband, the potential to leapfrog straight to next generation technology.”

The fibre will be used initially to connect 100 new homes currently under construction but plans are being developed to roll the service out to the co-operative’s 650 homes. Michael Appleford can’t wait for his new home to be ready. He has been confined to a wheelchair since breaking his back in a motorcycle accident 20 years ago.

A former World Disable Water Ski Champion, he is very active and drives his own car but he is also part of a worldwide games community.

Michael says: “Frankly, we just can’t keep up in this country because gamesters in Scandinavia and France have much greater speeds.

“Fibre optic connection will be great for me in the games sphere but in the longer term it also offers very positive health benefits.

“For example, certain weather conditions don’t help me so instead of going out to the doctor I could through the next generation technology have a consultation in my own home that does not require the doctor to have to leave the surgery.

“This really is a huge development. There is a lot more to playing games on line than people realise. You become part of a much wider community who look out to see you on line and are concerned when you’re not, a bit like neighbours looking out for each other.”

Web: www.wwhc.org.uk

Author: Stephen Maxwell, TfN

The Herald has launched a major promotion of the case for a new restructuring of Scottish local government. It argues that a combination of factors, most recently the economic recession, is putting Scotland’s councils under extraordinary financial pressure. It sug- gests that by reducing Scotland’s current thirty two councils to ten major economies could be achieved and better services provided.

These proposals may have a lot to do with The Herald’s need to boost its circulation. Certainly the prominence given to the views of Glasgow and other west of Scot- land council leaders suggest that The Herald has its sights on its west of Scotland base. Some elements of its case, for example that local government restructuring could contribute to meeting the challenge of the recession, seem eccentric given the timescale and the costs of restructuring. In any case as part of its Concordat the Scottish Government has promised councils that further restructuring is not on its agenda.

However the proposals have sparked a debate, at least in the pages of The Herald, which is raising issues of importance to the voluntary sector.

Part of the Herald’s case is that existing councils have failed to exploit their scope for achieving efficiencies through inter- council partnerships, for example by joint purchasing of back office and support functions as proposed by Tom McCabe some years ago. The current Scottish Government has been promoting similar proposals under its hub initiative and hopes that its Futures Trust will advance joint capital procurement. So far progress on both appears to be slow. Some concern has been expressed in the voluntary sector that the hub might be extended to front line services as part of an unspoken council strategy for extending direct council provision.

Diversity of service provision. An important intervention came this weekend from Douglas Sinclair, former CE Fife Council and COSLA now chair of Consumer Focus Scotland. He argues for more council partnerships in back office procurement and service provision but also insists that councils’ commitment to person-centred services means that they should embrace greater diversity of service provision via the private sector and the voluntary sector. The voluntary sector would want to insist that the terms on which it can engage with the local service markets are critical to its ability to provide added value including person led provision.

Accountability. The discussion so far has barely referred to democratic accountability. It is hot very long -1996 -that the two- tier local government set up in 1975 was dismantled on the grounds that it was too bureaucratic and too distant from the voter. The Herald’s restructuring proposals appear to be a case of back to the future.

Scale and empowerment. Several of the Herald’s correspondents have criticised the paper’s proposals on the grounds that they would represent a massive centralisation of decision taking at the cost of local power. They have cited France, Norway and Switzerland as countries which have successfully decentralised services including some health and education provision to local and community level. SCVO has of course argued for greater community empowerment as part of a wider national empowerment agenda. Should the voluntary sector’s voice be heard in this debate?

A possible position – while there may be scope for more joint back office and infrastructure procurement and shared management of service provision this should not be at the expense of public accountability. The potential for improving local government services through greater diversity of provision has not yet been fully exploited. The terms on which voluntary organisations are able to engage in service markets is more important in determining the quality of the services than the scale of councils. On general democratic grounds a general move towards larger council areas should be resisted. In- creasing councils’ fiscal powers should take priority over restructuring. Any restructuring that takes place should include giving local communities more opportunity to take their own decisions.

Author: inthenews.co.uk

The United Kingdom’s population enjoys the 13th best levels of wellbeing out of the 22 countries surveyed by a think tank that has developed a way of measuring wellbeing.

The New Economics Foundation’s (nef) National Accounts of Wellbeing take into account personal aspects; self-esteem, vitality, sense of purpose; and social aspects of wellbeing such as supportive relationships and trust in compiling a ranking of well-being for 22 European countries.

Its study found the UK came 13th in the rankings of the nations surveyed with UK citizens aged between 16 and 24 reporting the third-lowest levels of trust and belonging on both aspects of wellbeing.

The nef says the drop in the level of social satisfaction in the UK could indicate the rise of a more individualistic culture as those aged 75 or over showed much higher levels of trust and belonging in society.

The nef’s Nic Marks said: “Governments have lost sight of fact that their fundamental purpose is to improve the lives of their citizens. Instead they have become obsessed with maximising economic growth to the exclusion of other concerns, ignoring the impact that this has on people’s wellbeing.

“The UK’s long hours culture and record levels of personal debt, have squeezed out opportunities for individuals, families and communities to make choices and pursue activities that would best promote personal and social wellbeing. What’s more, the model of unending economic growth is fast taking us beyond environmental limits.

“These arguments make a compelling case for very different measures of human progress,” he added.

Commenting on the survey, a communities and local government spokeswoman said: “The 2007-08 Citizenship Survey – a robust, nationally representative household survey – found that 94 per cent of young people say they feel part of British society.

“We recognise that young people are a key part of society and play a crucial part in addressing issues facing their communities,” she added.

Denmark, Switzerland and Norway showed the highest levels of overall wellbeing in the nef’s report while Central and Eastern European countries such as Ukraine, Bulgaria and Hungary came last in the institute’s rankings.

A project to create a cycle route between Dingwall and Strathpeffer has taken another step forward.

Strathpeffer Community Council has won funding of £12,000 from the Scottish Government to pay for a feasibility study into an off-road link between the two communities, which are six miles apart.

A survey of prospective users last year was overwhelmingly positive about the plans.

The money from the government’s Climate Challenge Fund will be used to employ a consultant to find the best route for the path.

It is thought that the disused railway track could provide one option.

Strathpeffer Community Council chairman Alan Reid said: “I am absolutely delighted that our bid was successful.

“The A834 is a very busy route with a number of sharp bends, and this is clearly a deterrent to people who might have substituted their car journey for a bike ride.

“We want to identify a viable off-road route, so that we can then deliver a project which helps both the environment and the local economy and makes this an even better place to live.”

Fellow community councillor, and the proprietor of the local bike shop, Square Wheels, Steve Macdonald said: “We need to do the feasibility study before we can apply for money to build it.

“We need to make sure that we know where the track is going.

“We hope to have the study completed early this year.

“This will allow people to cycle to Dingwall.

“The road is very dangerous. It is narrow with no verges.

“People would use the track to commute between Strathpeffer and Dingwall for work and for school.”

The Strathpeffer project was one of 24 to receive funding during the third round from the Climate Challenge Fund.

Author: The Herald

A historic lodge in the Highlands is set to undergo a £1.5m facelift after receiving funding that will help it to become a tourist attraction.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) revealed that it has awarded £250,000 to the renovation of Glencanisp Lodge. A grant of £785,000 was awarded by the Big Lottery growing community assets scheme for the project earlier this year.

The grants should ensure that the 10-bedroom lodge becomes a long-term source of income for the people of Assynt.

The community-led Assynt Foundation took advantage of new land reforms to buy the 44,500-acre Drumrunie and Glencanisp estates in Sutherland from the Vestey family in 2005 for £2.9m.

The two major grants will be added to its own fundraising to renovate the lodge. Built in 1835 by the Duke of Sutherland, and reached by a single-track road from Lochinver, it is now one of the main assets of the community-led foundation.

The group had been letting the lodge out to parties of up to 20. But there was concern for its long-term future, with signs of water coming in and damp in the dining-room rafters.

After the £1.5m facelift, the foundation hopes to safeguard the building for at least the next 50 years. It will be upgraded for a range of purposes, including luxury self-catering lets, residential training courses, corporate functions and community events.

The renovation will safeguard six jobs, created since 2005, and create seven others.

HIE said its funding would be used towards the lodge’s renovation and the funding of a project co-ordinator to provide support for the project. It will also be used to market the lodge when restoration work is completed.

Major work planned includes the installation of a new heating system using a wood fuel boiler, a new kitchen and improved access to allow all-abilities use.

Adam Pellant, of the Assynt Foundation, said: “We are delighted that we have been awarded grants towards the redevelopment of Glencanisp Lodge. It will become an example of sustainable and environmentally friendly development within our remote rural community.

“This project will be of benefit to not just our community but those who visit Assynt and the surrounding area as well.”

Alison Magee, of the Big Lottery Fund Scotland, said: “We are delighted to have been one of the first funders to have invested in this project back in January 2008. By restoring and protecting this iconic building, the Assynt Foundation will be able to create long-term employment opportunities for local people while generating an income for this remote community to invest back into local projects.”

Neil Gerrard, of HIE’s Community Land Unit, added: “The Assynt Foundation has been very successful in raising the £1.5m needed to refurbish Glencanisp Lodge. This project will help establish it as a focal point within the community.”

“We hope to encourage through a mixture of enjoyment and learning that there is a life beyond television in our community. We only have to “reshuffle” our priorities.”

The Reshuffle, which has been running each January for the last three years is a day event which fills the community centre with activities, talks and workshops in a variety of community themes – The reshuffle is completely run by volunteers and good-will and is in receipt of no funding. A major emphasis is on attracting families and all ages.
What we offer is an opportunity for folk to try out a few ideas and experiences that are different from the telly. The last Reshuffle dealt with Common Good issues and green space, as well as lots of things for kids to do – from science activities like experimenting with different materials, soldering and building small electronic circuits. The Galgael boat builders were at hand to demonstrate and let people try out different crafts and the Cardboard Club where weans can work together and build there own spaces. As well as these activities there will be a series of.
talks and films along with The Radical Independent Bookfair Project

This year its “The Art of Noise”
How to stand-up Shout-up and shout out for your community. As well as workshops on community journalism, making a news-sheet – Sunny Govan Radio will be there – cover the proceedings – you will also be treated to the Electron clubs (subtle) Noise Orchestra – electronic noise making; a voice workshop to encourage your confidence, and help you to express yourself, a community consultation wall, where you will be able to post your ideas drawings and photographs, a media workshop that will record and film the days events and what folk are saying and doing. The GalGael will be there to remind you of the beauty of hand skills and heritage – the cardboard club will be industrious and dynamic building play houses for the kids, there will be films from document 6, AnarchoTV will be streaming live internet TV, the RIB bookfair + videotheque free things, book swap and books to understand the world and much more… Join in Contact: bob@citystrolls.com

The JANUARY RESHUFFLE at the PEARCE INSTITUTE Govan on January, 31st 2009 12 – 6pm

RESIDENTS of a small Highland community have become the 100th group to launch a community buy-out bid, the government announced yesterday, revealing the extent to which land reform legisla tion has shaken up the traditional model of land ownership.

Environment Minister Michael Russell promised that 2009 would see improvements in the groundbreaking land reform system, paving the way for other rural communities to take control of their local areas.

Evanton Wood Community Company, based near Dingwall, has registered to buy 64 acres of woodland on the Novar Estate, Ross-shire. The company plans to maintain the wood and improve the road and path system. The creation of a shelter, toilets and information will boost the amenity for visitors, the proposal states.

Russell Morrison, the group’s chairman, said: “At the moment, children are bused to various places for nature studies when we have a wonderful facility right on our doorstep.”

The buy-out plan follows a number of high-profile local takeovers, and comes less than a month after the 30 residents of Rum backed a scheme to take control of their island’s key assets .

Supporters of the Rossshire bid are hoping for Big Lottery backing for their buyout, which is expected to cost several hundred thousand pounds at least.

Announcing the landmark community plan, Mr Russell stressed the importance of the Land Reform Act 2003, brought in under the previous Holyrood administration.

He said: “The community right to buy is incredibly important, particularly to rural Scotland. Giving communities control over the way their land is managed inspires greater power to shape their own futures, creates a strong sense of ownership and provides rights and opportunities to help realise local ambitions.

“Rural communities throughout Scotland are continuing to recognise the real benefits of the community right to buy legislation. As a result registrations have been made on a wide range of assets including churches, woods, fields, estates, a golf course, a youth hostel and even an avenue of trees.

“The legislation has been very popular. However, more can be done to assist community bodies in working their way through the processes and we’ll be providing further help for them in 2009.”

Though initially viewed as a controversial idea, unpopular with many land owners, the act has allowed a number of small rural communities to gain unprecedented control over their local affairs.

With first-refusal buying rights for successful applications, many communities have been able to emulate the experience of the small group Assynt which, in the early 1990s, launched the modern land reform movement when it bought a large North Lochinver estate from a bankrupt Swedish property company.

Funding for community buy-out projects has come from a variety of sources, with lottery money adding to grants from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. In 2006 islanders on South Uist, Eriskay and Benbecula benefited from a GBP2m lottery grant to buy their islands from a consortium of absentee landlords, though they did so without using the Land Reform legislation.

Community buy-outs have been held up as a key force in bringing economic recovery to outlying areas.

After the South Uist, buyout, a GBP12m pier regeneration project was unveiled, which islanders said would not have happened if the land remained under private ownership.

Landing parties

2002 – Residents on the tiny island of Gigha paid GBP4m to buy out their land, raising money in part by selling Achamore House, the traditional laird’s home. The flag of the community trust was hoisted to fly between the Union Flag and the Saltire above the island’s hotel.

2005 – Crossgate Community Woodland became the first group to secure land under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. The former mining community of Crossgate, Fife, raised GBP150,000 to buy land from the Coal Authority.

2006 – South Uist residents undertook the biggest “friendly” land buy-out to date, spending GBP4.5m to take over South Uist, Eriskay and most of Benbecula from the South Uist Estate company, a consortium of absentee landlords and property owners.

2006 – Residents of Neilston, East Renfrewshire, became the first in Scotland to use the Land Reform legislation in an urban location. Concerned that a former Clydesdale Bank would be turned into flats, they bought it to provide opportunities for self-development, training and employment.

July 2008 – An Aberdeenshire community won the right to buy its local pub, the Midmar Inn.

Locals feared the loss of the inn would tear the heart out of the village’s social life, and hundreds of names were gathered on a campaign petition backed by government ministers.

Dec 2008 – The 30 islanders of Rum looked set to take over their island’s key assets in the smallest community buyout to date. The 23 residents on the electoral register are due to vote on a transfer this month.

Credit: Newsquest Media Group