Author: LPL

Spàrr is an exciting community project about the shipyards of Govan, its history, the community and the spirit of the people. Spàrr is a Gaelic word with a dual meaning: creating an opening and the act of riveting or joining together….. and that is what is happening in Govan through Spàrr. Local people are getting together to create new openings: new possibilities for themselves and their community to join together to create the future. The results of that process will be shared at a free event the Big Shed in Govan on 14/15 November.

Spàrr reveals the skills, motivations and inspirations of those Gaels from the Western Islands who were inspired by the craft of the shipwright and travelled to Govan at the time of the Highland Clearances, bringing their traditional shipbuilding skills to the newly industrialised Clydeside ship building industry. Spàrr looks at the significance of the industry, of the shipwright, and the legacy left by our seafaring and industrial cultures.”

The first stage of the project saw the partner organisations gathering oral histories, reminiscences and folk memories. These have been brought together and will be profiled at Govan’s ‘Big Shed’ – the former Harland & Woolf engineering shed which has hosted flagship productions such as ‘The Big Picnic’ and ‘The Ship’. A web based educational resource is also being developed by local people and trainees.

Spàrr is the brainchild of Govan based Fablevision, Scotland’s cultural planning resource. The main partners in the collaboration are CRAN Theatre company in Govan, and Theatre Hebrides in Stornoway.

Liz Gardiner, Fablevision Director says “Frank Miller of Cran Theatre is a spellbinding storyteller as well as an exciting and innovative director. Spàrr is an opportunity for Cran to raise it’s profile and showcase it’s wider potential, “The Big Shed is a really atmospheric venue and I’m convinced that Spàrr will be a truly magical experience for everyone who participates.”

“Govan has a vibrant, talented cultural community” Says Frank Miller from CRAN Theatre. “I have never been let down by their energy and commitment in the telling of their stories and I’m confident that they will pull together once again to ensure that this project, which is the most ambitious production I’ve worked on so far, really works and captures the imagination of Govan as a whole – individuals, groups, communities and organisations. It is a lot of fun discovering a part of Govan’s history which, to some extent has been forgotten. “

So wrap up warm and head down to The Big Shed to join Govan folk in celebrating their Gaelic heritage on Friday 14th or Saturday 15th November. Doors Open at 7.15pm. And the good news is that Spàrr is a FREE EVENT.

Author: David Stewart (SFHA) Scotregen

Like many of the members we represent, the SFHA recognises the importance of regeneration and social enterprise in building sustainable, balanced and successful communities. Earlier this year we published Making Places Work, a piece of research that reviewed successes in the Housing Association sector to date while looking at opportunities for the sector to develop its role in community development and social enterprise. There are many excellent examples of social enterprise in the Housing Association sector, for example -Ore Valley are developing a community energy project in Cardenden, Cordale have developed amenities for their community in Renton and Cunninghame provide training and employment opportunities in North Ayrshire .At the same time the SFHA are involved in discussions with the Scottish Government with the aim of introducing flexibility in phasing and in funding on large scale regeneration projects -we are aware that the credit crunch could have a major impact on mark led regeneration and are seeking in the longer term to develop a solution to prevent the affected communities from suffering.

Firm Foundations

While the SFHA believes that social enterprise and community regeneration is a major role for associations both now and in the future, a key theme of the present Scottish Government has been to promote an Efficiencies Agenda. Through ‘Firm Foundations’, the revision of Housing Association Grant assumptions and now the Housing Investment Reform Project the message has been clear – the government wants to see more houses built to meet need and promote sustainable economic growth, but the current economic climate means that any increase will have to be delivered through the same amount of grant funding. While the SFHA has expressed concern regarding possible impacts of the revised grant assumptions and the efficiencies agenda promoted in Firm Foundations, it is clear that the Scottish Government is determined to move forward on this basis, with regional competition where consortia can bid for housing association grant over a 3 year programme.

Significant concerns

This begs the question, what effect might the efficiencies agenda have on Housing Associations involvement in social enterprise, and what can the SFHA and its members do to positively influence the direction of Investment Reform? An initial analysis of the likely impact of an efficiencies agenda seeking better value for the public purse suggests that there could be several significant concerns for the sector:
* Danger of rents rising to fund higher private loans, leading to tenants being caught in a benefits poverty trap
* Reductions in quality and energy efficiency to lower capital costs
* Housing Associations, with their resources squeezed to fund higher loans, focus on their “core business” of developing, managing and maintaining houses and partially withdraw from social inclusion and social enterprise agenda.

Positive signs

Were any of the above to come to pass it would be a huge set back, and that is why it is crucial that Housing Associations and other bodies involved in social enterprise and community regeneration work to influence the Scottish Government to ensure that the importance of sustainable communities is at the heart of the investment reform process. While it is early days, with a consultation paper on Investment Reform not expected until the end of November, the signs so far have been relatively positive. Having been criticised for its consultation on the new grant assumptions, where many responses registering concerns failed to change a single aspect of the proposals, the Government has been very willing to engage with associations, hear their views and listen to their concerns. Officials have also emphasised that they wish to avoid sharply increasing rents or drops in building standards.

The government agreed to the SFHA:s suggestion to run 6 regional seminars seeking association’s views on investment reform ahead of November’s consultation paper. The impression given at the seminars was that the government has an open mind on exactly how investment reform should take shape. Some of the key points made at the seminars were relevant to the social enterprise agenda, with a couple of associations suggesting that if the competitions contained the right criteria, there could be an opportunity to expand social enterprise by the sector -for example, points could be awarded for social enterprise proposals in bids or community benefits clauses could be included in construction contracts, in line with the pilot Community Benefits in Procurement schemes.

Clearly, the Investment Reform project represents a radical change in the way that housing association new builds are funded. It is vital that the Housing Association sector, and its colleagues involved in social enterprise and community regeneration, influence the shape of the reform to ensure that it furthers, rather than reduces, social enterprise in Scotland. To this end it is key that we become involved in, and help to shape, the debate.

Author: LPL

List of LPL Supporters
http://localpeopleleading.co.uk/supporters.php

Ian Cooke
As a community development worker, Ian Cooke has worked with communities within regeneration / partnership contexts for over 25 years (both in the West and East of Scotland) and has practised community development from both the statutory and voluntary sectors.

Since 1994, Ian has been the Manager of the Pilton Partnership, the strategic community capacity building organisation within successive regeneration / social inclusion initiatives in North Edinburgh. In addition to supporting community engagement, the Pilton Partnership was responsible for initiating, and developing a range of community based services which reflected community identified needs and priorities. In 2007, the Pilton Partnership became a community development trust.

Previously posts have included Senior Community Education Manager in Craigroyston Community High School, Community Development Worker in Muirhouse (Edinburgh) and Community Development Worker in Howwood Road, (Johnstone).

Author: LPL

At Hogmanay in 2004 there was a huge street party in the West Highland village of Kyle of Lochalsh. Across the water in the Isle of Skye village of Kyleakin there was similar celebration. Many hundreds joined the party and the fireworks display from both sides of the Kyle. The occasion was the scrapping of the tolls on the Skye Bridge that had taken place, without warning, ten days earlier. Behind this public display of joy is a story that had run for more than ten years. It is a story that goes right to the heart of government policy – the Skye bridge was the first Public Finance Initiative in the UK, where a public project is built by private capital and the investor charges for the facility for years to come.

The Skye and Lochalsh community felt a strong sense of injustice about what was being imposed on them from afar and The Skye Bridge Story is an entertaining and gripping account of events.‘We were not, as we first thought,’ writes Andy Anderson who has compiled this account of island protest, ‘just opposing a government. We were in fact opposing the whole mindset, which was itself a ‘captive’ of international companies who were determined to use the Skye Bridge project as an experiment.’

Richly illustrated and presented as a bilingual Gaelic/English text, The Skye Bridge Story is a life-affirming account of what is possible when people exercise their sense of justice. Andy Anderson was a Skye Bridge campaigner who was charged and served a prison sentence for refusal to pay the tolls. He has been assisted by numerous local people in the compilation of this book. ‘in the face of one of the most successful campaigns of public protest seen in Scotland, or Britain, in recent times, the Skye Bridge experiment failed. . . because the tolls on which it depended proved unsustainable. . . What it took to win that victory is what this book’s about – a book that’s greatly to be welcomed.’ James Hunter

The Skye Bridge Story is on sale through Argyll Publishers priced £14.99. Copies of the book are available from argyll.publishing@virgin.net

Author: Assist Social Capital

Definitions of Social Capital

Social Capital: the glue and the lubricant of community life.

Whereas physical capital refers to physical objects and human capital refers to the properties of individuals, social capital refers to connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. In that sense social capital is closely related to what some have called “civic virtue.” The difference is that “social capital” calls attention to the fact that civic virtue is most powerful when embedded in a sense network of reciprocal social relations. A society of many virtuous but isolated individuals is not necessarily rich in social capital. (Robert Putnam 2000)

Social capital consists of the stock of active connections among people: the trust, mutual understanding, and shared values and behaviours that bind the members of human networks and communities and make cooperative action possible. (Cohen and Prusak 2001)

Social capital refers to the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society’s social interactions… Social capital is not just the sum of the institutions which underpin a society – it is the glue that holds them together. (The World Bank 1999)

Social capital refers to the internal social and cultural coherence of society, the norms and values that govern interactions among people and the institutions in which they are embedded. Social capital is the glue that holds societies together and without which there can be no economic growth or human well-being. Without social capital, society at large will collapse. (Christiaan Grootart ‘Social Capital: The Missing Link’)

Social capital refers to the amount of interpersonal trust individuals in a given community have in the institutions and systems that are instituted to benefit their social, economic and political welfare. Social capital differs from other types of capital in that while physical capital is embodied within tangible goods; and human capital is embodied in the skills and knowledge acquired by an individual, social capital exists in relations among people. The concept of social capital refutes the notion that all individuals act in a utilitarian fashion to maximise their own self-interest (Coleman 1990)

Networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate cooperation within or among groups (The Wellbeing of Nations: The Role of Human and Social Capital OECD 2001)

More info can be found at http://www.social-capital.net/index.php?W21ID=118

Author: Alan Hobbett, Chair of Community Energy Scotland

Address by Alan Hobbett at CES’s formal launch at the Scottish Parliment
Alan Hobbett, Chair of Community Energy Scotland

The success of our predecessor organisation HICEC, which has worked with some 500 community groups and projects throughout the Highlands and Islands and further afield, resulting in over 200 completed projects on the ground, has enabled our growth to a membership based, Scotland-wide organisation, which seeks to build confidence, wealth and resilience at the level of the community through the application of sustainable energy. Thanks to staff and directors without whom CES could not have been established. Without your success we wouldn’t be here tonight because there simply would be no CES. So thank you to Nicholas and his team. Thank you also to the Scottish Government for their SCHRI which underpins much of our work and thanks to HIE who have been supportive of us throughout these crucial years of development. And we are grateful for the continued support of our funders as we grow in terms of scale and geography.

Background to post war UK energy policy:- “An island of coal in a sea of oil” Tony Benn, UK Energy Minister 1976-79.” “A perennial fountain for world prosperity” Winston Churchill on the commissioning of the UKs first nuclear power stations. It was this perception of cheap and abundant fossil fuels and nuclear energy that shaped the UK energy policy in the second half of the twentieth century. However it was not until we approached the 21st century that the true cost of this approach became widely apparent. The costs of global warming and a 1000-year-plus legacy of nuclear waste.

Clearly we have come a long way in a short time with the Scottish Govt now having set ambitious targets for renewable generation. Alex Salmond has said that “Scotland has the potential to be the Saudi Arabia of the renewables world”. Clearly, based solely on our staggering renewables resources, the First Minister is right. We thought we had a lot of coal, oil and gas but these pale beside our renewable energy resources.

The potential economic and environmental benefits of a major shift to renewable energy are readily apparent at the national level, but what will be the impact at the level of the community?

If we simply apply the template of centralised energy generation developed in the twentieth century, where very large units of production generate huge amounts of power which is moved around the country on the high voltage transmission network, ultimately to flow into the local distribution networks that serve our communities, if we simply adopt this twentieth century template, then the direct benefit at the level of the community will be limited. For in the same way that there will never be a community owned Longannet or a community owned Torness it is doubtful that there will ever be community ownership of mega-renewables.

However, if we take this once in a lifetime opportunity, as large parts of our generating infrastructure are decommissioned and renewable energy embraced, to reconsider this template, to remould this template. And if we learn from our neighbours in Denmark where 55% of electricity is generated at the local level, or the Netherlands were almost forty percent of energy is generated locally (compared to just 8 per cent in the UK) and if we accept the compelling arguments our neighbours put, recognising the benefits of greater efficiency, reduced pollution, greater grid manageability and, the jewel in the crown, accessibility to community ownership. If we move to a greater mix of large and small, centralised and decentralised generation, local generation for local supply as well as central generation from larger units, then the potential for the community ownership of renewables is limited solely by our aspirations.

If we do our job well, if Community Energy Scotland does its job well, if we engage our Government effectively and ensure the mix of generation we seek, if we engage effectively with the communities we seek to serve, then in ten years time the financial benefit to communities will be measured not in the hundreds of thousands of pounds that it is measured today, but in the hundreds of millions of pounds. What’s more, if we adopt the target for community owned renewable generation that we propose tonight, that 10% of Scotland’s electricity be generated by community owned renewables by 2025 then the direct benefit to the community will be £400 million pounds a year. £400 million pounds to the very heart of our communities, communities urban and rural, £400 million pounds to be applied for the benefit of our communities according to the priorities set by our communities. £400 million pounds, each and every year.

Ladies and gentlemen, 250 years ago, renewable energy brought the modern industrial age to Scotland, for it was the power of our rivers that drove the first mills of industry, it was renewable energy that brought the industrial revolution to Scotland. If we do our job well, if we engage effectively with our Government and with the communities we seek to serve, then renewable energy will bring a second revolution to Scotland, a revolution of community ownership, a revolution of community confidence, a revolution of community wealth. Ladies and gentlemen a revolution of community power.

See flyer here http://www.senscot.net/docs/cesleaflet.pdf

Website: http://www.communityenergyscotland.org.uk

Author: Cumbernauld News

Recent campaigns against the proposed closure of the sub post offices at Kildrum, Banton and Queenzieburn have failed to save these community facilities.

The Post Office’s decision has been widely condemned locally, with many saying their public consultation exercise has been exposed as a sham.

But this week campaigners vowed the battle is not over yet.
NORTH Lanarkshire Council was this week urged to save the three Post Office branches.

Central Scotland MSP Jamie Hepburn said the authority should consider following the example of an English county council which successfully took over a branch post
office which had been axed.

He said that in Essex, the county council successfully took over Buckhurst Hill branch, on the outskirts of Epping Forest, after it had originally been closed by Post Office Ltd.

Glasgow City Council is also reported to be considering a similar move for redundant branches, he said.

The SNP List MSP added: “I have written to North Lanarkshire Council, asking them to urgently consider what options are available to them and whether they can save any of these Post Office branches.

“Local Post Offices are vital community assets, not simply commercial operations, and the local authority has a responsibility to make sure communities have the facilities they deserve.

“A council in England has successfully pioneered the operation of a Post Office, saving it from the ‘network change’ axe, and I hope North Lanarkshire Council has the ambition and ingenuity to take action in its area.”

Constituency MSP Cathie Craigie called the loss of local post offices “devastating news” but said she is determined to make sure Cumbernauld and Kilsyth post offices will be improved to the point that they can cope with increased customers.

Mrs Craigie said: “I know this will be devastating news to the residents of Banton, Kildrum, and Queenzieburn. They have turned out at the public meetings and have contributed fully to the consultation through letters, emails and petition signatures.

“This decision is a real kick in the teeth after all the hard work the community put in. The closure of these Post Offices will result in many residents having to travel to Cumbernauld or Kilsyth to access an alternative service.

“That’s why I’ll be supporting local calls for an Outreach service. I will also be seeking action from Post Office Ltd to make sure Cumbernauld and Kilsyth’s main Post Offices are up to scratch.

“We now need to make sure access and service see real improvements.”

And elsewhere……..
……in Linwood, Renfrewshire community activists are urging local people to come together and save an under-threat post office.

Shutters have been down at the site of the former post office on Burnbrae Avenue since the closure of RS McColls almost two years ago.

Royal Mail insisted at the time it was to be a temporary closure, however, the facility has now been earmarked for permanent closure as the company cuts back
Ian Wilson, Linwood community council’s secretary said: “There is a real danger of losing this important, even vital service from this neighbourhood – a service which will be of great importance from many people from a wider area once the new Tesco superstore is in operation.
“Plans for the Tesco superstore also include some smaller retail units and a recent survey by town planners has indicated that the opening of the Tesco store will attract many more small retailers to open up in the area and will provide an opportunity of a new home for this vital Post Office.”

Author: new start

Third sector leaders have accused the Scottish Government of being lethargic about community empowerment, claiming ministers would rather people were ‘passive and compliant’.

In April ministers and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities pledged to work together on a community empowerment action plan to provide capacity-building programmes and help residents acquire assets.

Although the plan is not expected until early next year, community leaders say progress has become ‘invisible’ and they fear it will be forgotten unless more pressure is put on ministers.

Local People Leading (LPL), a community sector coalition comprising the Development Trusts Association Scotland and social enterprise network Senscot, this week said the action plan’s announcement ‘was light on detail and didn’t commit any party to do anything they couldn’t reasonably argue they were doing already’.

‘It’s a starting point but there’s still a big question mark over just how much genuine commitment there is towards community empowerment.

We need to get some indication, both from local government and national government, that there is real enthusiasm and commitment for this agenda.’

LPL spokesperson, Angus Hardie, said the situation contrasted with England where there have been recent announcements, including details of a new asset transfer unit last month and July’s empowerment white paper.

LPL said Scotland’s action plan should include a new asset transfer fund for councils to help them refurbish properties for transfer to community ownership.

It also called for a national capacity-building programme, investment in community-led organisations in the poorest areas, and extra training for community development workers.

Laurence Demarco, founder director of Senscot, said the Scottish National Party (SNP) did not understand community empowerment.

‘The SNP is no less “municipalist” than the previous administration. They think the council should do everything and control everything and the community should be grateful recipients. They want a passive, compliant and grateful population,’ he said.

Details of the plan will be announced ‘in due course’, according to the Scottish Government.

A spokesperson said: ‘Scotland is in many respects ahead of England on this agenda, for example, in the fact that we have developed national minimum standards for community engagement, which have just been the subject of a very positive external evaluation.’

Author: Andrew Simms, The Guardian

Too many of us ended up believing in the reality of economic Narnia. Now it is left to the real economy of households, communities, natural resources and productive work to pick up the pieces. Standing in the wreckage of the old illusion, it’s easier to see the importance of the operating systems that underlie and underpin the economy, which too often are undervalued and taken for granted.

The inventor of TimeBanks, Edgar Cahn, writes of two economies, the money economy and the core economy, and the former depends on the latter. The core economy consists of family, neighbourhood, community and civil society. It is what you and I do when we provide care for children, families and the elderly. It produces safe neighbourhoods, makes democracy happen, and produces community and civil society. It’s what comes to your rescue when you need it.

Now, it seems, we’re going to need the core economy rather a lot. But how can it be reinforced?

We need to imagine a significantly expanded and broadened role for public services, but one built on reciprocity in which the manner of delivery builds self-worth, and in the process strengthens the human relationships on which resilient societies depend. One such approach produces the so-called extended schools and health centres.

Through these, people become involved in helping to “produce” their own wellbeing. An elderly person visiting the doctor complaining of symptoms linked to the cold, might, for example, be prescribed help from another patient able to fit insulation or low-energy light bulbs to lower fuel bills. In return, they might discover that they are able to offer to make supportive phone calls, checking on people returning home from hospital.

It’s called “co-production”. It’s based on reciprocity, can be applied in a huge range of circumstances, and it works. To develop such initiatives, however, there will need to be a duty on public services to collaborate among themselves, and with the voluntary sector. It is, perhaps, also time to rehabilitate the idea of a shorter working week. Even if it happens as a consequence of the current economic shock, it could be turned to society’s advantage, freeing people’s time to engage with the core economy.

For too long, the invisible hand of the financial market has been squeezing the life out of the invisible heart of the core economy. But it is the latter that we really cannot do without, and it must now take precedence.

Author: Marianne Taylor, Evening Times

A CAMPAIGN to persuade hundreds of tenants in the East End to say yes to community ownership has been launched.

Residents in Shettleston – and five other areas of Glasgow – will be balloted next month on whether they want their homes to be transferred from GHA to smaller, locally-based landlords.

Shettleston Housing Association say the transfer would benefit all tenants and will spend the coming weeks campaigning for a yes vote – complete with specially emblazened, environmentally friendly shopping bags.

The association wants to take control of almost 900 rundown properties in Shettleston and South Greenfield.

It has promised to spend millions upgrading them with new kitchens, bathrooms, roofs, windows and cladding for 750 homes.

Part of the transfer plan would see 150 derelict homes in Pettigrew Street demolished, with 90 new homes built in their place.

They have also vowed not to raise the rents of those transferring for at least three years, and say tenants will benefit from more local accountability.

It seems their message is becoming increasingly popular with residents.

Tenants Mamie Hain and Morag Allan, both pensioners, have lived in Etive Street for more than 40 years between them.

Mamie, 71, said: “I’m definitely going to be voting yes. We see improvements going on elsewhere in Shettleston and we want to see the benefit of them too.

“The only way I can see that happening is if my home is transferred.”

Morag, 64, added: “Most people I’ve spoken to are going to vote yes. We’ve been forgotten for years and have waited long enough for change.”

Tenants in four other Local Housing Organ isations – Ardenglen, Castle Stewart, Crossview and Hyndland (Glasgow West) – will also be given the chance to vote.

Tenants will have a three week period, due to start on November 17, to cast their vote.

If successful, homes could be transferred as early as March 2009.

These five areas are the first in the city to proceed to the next stage of community ownership.

A further 31 LHOs – who manage almost 21,000 homes on behalf of GHA – are waiting to hear whether tenants will get to decide on stock transfer, the process known as Second Stage Transfer.

Chris Cunningham, director of Shettleston Housing Association, said: “We believe the transfer is in the best interests of the GHA tenants, the association and the wider Shettleston community as a whole.”

Annie McAllister, chairwoman of Shettleston Local Housing Organisation, the body which currently manages the homes on behalf of GHA, fully supports the transfer.

She said: “The vote is very important for all of us. I hope that my neighbours and my fellow tenants in Shettleston and South Greenfield will vote yes.

“It is the right thing for our community and for all the tenants.”