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: LPL

THE fate of Coldingham Sands Youth Hostel now lies in the hands of Coldingham and St Abbs voters.

A £425,000 valuation has been put on the building by an independent valuer appointed by the Scottish Government and since receiving the valuation last week the local community company, set up to buy the building and keep it open as a tourist facility, has a month to ballot local residents to see if the support is there for a community buy-out.

In September last year Scottish Youth Hostel Association announced that their building at Coldingham was one of seven across the country planned for closure.

As a result a local community company was set up by residents in Coldingham and St Abbs and under community right to buy legislation they registered their interest with the Scottish Government.

A viable business plan was approved, a positive response from the Big Lottery to help with 95 per cent of the purchase price is in place and local fund raising is continuing. But the whole thing could come to nothing if the support of local people is not there.

A ballot, under the control of a Scottish Borders Council returning officer, will take place on the weekend of October 18-20 (Saturday to Monday).

Ged Hearne, chair of the Coldingham Sands Community Company, explained the next step: “Under this legislation what we have to do next is conduct a ballot. We need a 50 per cent plus turn-out of the entire area of Coldingham and St Abbs and need to secure a yes vote.

“We need people to turn out and vote. We are now relying on people to come and vote to support this important community asset.”

With a purchase price of £425,000 the community will need to raise around £27,000 to buy the building, Ged explaining that the lottery “strongly indicated an ability to provide 95 per cent provided all goes to plan”. However, that is merely the start and as well as running costs a further £½ million is likely to be needed to carry out essential maintenance, repairs and refurbishment.

Voting will start in Coldingham Village Hall on Saturday, October 18. The hall will remain open on the Sunday and Monday for voters to cast their vote and postal votes will be available for those who cannot get to the village hall. On Monday, members of the community company plan to go house to house in an effort to ensure that as many people as possible vote in order to reach the 50 per cent requirement of eligible voters.

If votes are cast by less than 50 per cent of residents then the whole project will come to an end and the building will go onto the open market. And the same will happen if there is a negative response from voters to the community buy-out of the building

“We only have till the end of the year to have everything finalised,” said Ged. “Through working with Edwin Thompson we have come up with three options for the hostel, each in a different price range.”

Built at the turn of the 20th century and run as a convalescent home until just after the war, Scottish Youth Hostel Association bought the house from the Home-Robertson family and over the years hundreds of thousands of people have stayed there.

Speaking after a meeting held during the summer Ged said: “Since the hostel closed businesses in the village have noticed a massive drop in trade – having the occasional group booking at weekends has made little difference. Having the hostel up and running again would be a major result for Coldingham. Aside of farming, tourism is the biggest industry in the area. We’re highly confident that we can raise the money – we just need the community on board.”

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.”

Author: new sector magazine

What’s the link between a fair trade money lender and a community-owned wind farm? The answer is to be found in a new book written by Jim Brown and published by Co-operatives UK entitled Community Investment

Using Industrial and Provident Society Legislation.
As this issue of ns went to print final preparations were being made for the book’s launch by lain Wright MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government, at the unusual venue of the Financial Services Authority in Canary Wharf.

Jim Brown is a very experienced researcher, consultant and trainer who revels in the detail of co-operatives, community business and social enterprise. He has managed to make an examination of the use of fairly obscure legislation interesting, intriguing and inspiring.

There are about 8,200 industrial and provident societies in the UK ranging in size from the Co-operative Group, with a £9.4 billion turnover, to tiny allotment societies dating back to the nineteenth century. In recent years this old corporate model has been used by a new wave of community activists to raise money for (and stimulate participation in) a wide range of enterprises including wind farms, village shops, loan funds and telecommunications.

Since 2005 the number of community investment initiatives using IPS legislation has doubled. More than £47 million has been invested by over 65,000 people.

Jim Brown describes how the fair trade movement was responsible for starting this phenomenon. In 1989 at the same time as Oxfam, Equal Exchange, Traidcraft and Twin Trading were arranging to import coffee directly from producers (the initiative that led to Cafedirect), many of the same people were also involved in setting up an organisation to finance fair trade.

Shared Interest (the ‘fair trade money lender’ mentioned earlier) was the first IPS to raise share capital by inviting members to invest in withdrawable shares. Members can invest anything between £100 and £20,000 in their share accounts and the combined capital of all their shares is used to lend money to fair trade producers in developing countries. Shared Interest now has 8,575 members who have between them invested £25.5 million.

Recently local communities in England, Scotland and Wales have used the IPS model in a similar way to raise capital for wind farms. That’s the link.

Jim Brown explains how a number of unique attributes make IPS legislation the ideal format for community investment initiatives. These include shareholder democracy (one member, one vote regardless of number of shares held), withdrawable share capital, limits on shareholding and interest payable and the option to install an asset lock. Raising investment via shares in an IPS is very much cheaper than a public share issue in a public limited company (because of the regulations involved). But much more important, Brown says, is the community engagement. “Instead of turning to the private sector and wealthy individuals for support, community investment is about engaging communities to invest in themselves. …The full power of community investment does not stop with the amount of capital raised. Community investors are often the best customers of the venture, their loyalty contributing to its sustainability. It provides a new business model for communities to help themselves, and create viable ventures where the private sector has failed.”

This timely book is being published just when the government is considering various reforms to the IPS legislation. Co-operatives UK has worked closely with the Treasury and Financial Services Authority on the proposals. Co-operatives UK is hoping that the reforms will make IPSs an even better model for community investment. In the foreword to the book Dame

Pauline Green, chief executive of Co-operatives UK wrote “Democratic community engagement is a powerful force for regeneration and for new business ventures. IPSs marry and blend the roles of member, investor, customer and volunteer. The model had a great past and has an even greater future.” Community Investment Using Industrial and Provident Society Legislation, by Jim Brown, published by Co-operatives UK, ISBN 978-0-9549677-1-0,40 pages, price £15.00, is available from
Co-operatives UK, Holyoake House, Hanover Street, Manchester M60 OAS, tel 01612462900.

A download is available at www.cooperatives-uk.coop

Author: Speech by The Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP

‘Confident Communities’
Date of speech 17 September 2007
Development Trusts Association Annual Conference 2007

Introduction

It’s a pleasure to speak to you, to celebrate your wonderful work, and to look forward to what I believe is an exciting time for everyone who wants to be part of building flourishing, confident communities.

I’m delighted to be in Oxford – not just because of this amazing venue, the seat of civic life for more than a century – but because sixty years ago and five minutes’ walk from here the first OXFAM shop opened, born out of a desire to make a practical difference to those in need; destined to do so much to realise what John Smith called “the extraordinary potential of ordinary people”; and disproving utterly the tired old myth that people are apathetic about social change – when the fact is, they leap at the chance to get involved when given the right opportunity.

So what better place to look ahead to what the Prime Minister has called “a reinvention of the way we govern.”
The Rationale

Bringing Government closer to people, passing power from Whitehall to the town hall and direct to local communities, isn’t just the right thing to do.

It’s the best way to revitalise the local roots of our democracy.

It’s the surest way of making local services reflect people’s needs.

And it’s the only way we can get to grips with some of the biggest challenges we face – from climate change to childhood obesity – where people making little changes in their everyday life is a vital part of the solution.
Personal Commitment

All my life I’ve been a firm believer in local activism. Not just my CV, but also my whole political approach, fashioned on the streets and estates of Salford, is anchored in localism and devolution.

I believe that the best experts, advocates and leaders for local communities are local communities themselves. And there isn’t a single service or development in Britain which hasn’t been improved by actively involving local people.
Praise for Existing Schemes

Your work is a wonderful example of this. For fourteen years your members have brought new hope and new life to towns and villages up and down the country – from Plymouth to Sheffield, coastal Hastings to rural Leicestershire. For example:

* In Maltby, near Rotherham, you’ve transformed a disused Wesleyan Chapel into a lively centre providing managed workspace and conference facilities
* In Nottingham, thanks to you, an old school complex is now home to a youth and community centre, a refurbished sports hall and a business centre
* And over the years your local member, East Oxford Action, has transformed Manzil Gardens from a place people consciously avoided into a green space everyone can enjoy, and started the Cowley Road Carnival – now an annual celebration of one of Oxford’s most diverse areas

Your annual survey, published today, paints an astonishing picture of the scale and range of things you do – 5,000 staff. 15,000 volunteers. A combined income of £240m. And support for everything from allotments, to community newspapers, bakeries, nurseries, after school clubs, street wardens, and recycling facilities, often in the heart of some our most deprived neighbourhoods.

Every story one of commitment, energy and civic pride.
What Government has Done So Far

Over recent years, in recognition of your excellent work and of many others’, we have seen significant steps from a Government increasingly aware of the need to pass more power to local people.

The Local Government White Paper made clear that unprecedented freedom for local authorities needed to go hand in hand with strong links to local communities.

We’re paving the way for the new statutory duty to engage local communities that comes into force in 2009.

Tomorrow I’ll be talking at the Local Government Association about how local people need to be involved in setting the vision for an area – and as I work with local authorities, I’m greatly encouraged by the fact that very many see community empowerment as an opportunity – and very few as a threat.

Indeed it is the efforts of pioneering local authorities like Newcastle, Bradford and Sunderland with “community kitties” that inspired government to help spread the lessons about the benefits of involving local people in budget decisions.

And finally, I am a big fan of Barry Quirk’s review about asset transfer, a topic, I know, very dear to your hearts.
Time To Step Up a Gear

This is all great work and we’ve seen good progress – but it’s time to step up a gear. To go further, faster. And to be more ambitious about what we can and should achieve.

I’m part of a Government proud of our civic heroes, and led by a Prime Minister who wants an end to “Whitehall knows best.”

The Green Paper The Governance of Britain is the first step on that journey. Its proposals include

* New powers for parliament.
* A Speaker’s Conference – all parties coming together to examine how the machinery of democracy, such as the voting system, could work better.
* And citizens’ juries on the issues people care about, starting with health, crime and children, with Whitehall listening and learning from their views.

But the kind of change we envisage – “politics that embrace everyone in the nation, and not a select few” – means change at a very local level. Devolution right to the doorstep.

I see it as my job to make that change happen, working closely with people like you, with local authorities and a whole range of other partners. I want to make the Department for Communities and Local Government the Department for Governing Differently.
Where Next?

It’s time for a little less conversation, and a lot more action. Today I want to set out some of my ambitions and practical proposals to turn all the rhetoric into reality.
Asset Transfer

First, as I’ve said, I warmly welcome Barry Quirk’s brilliant report into asset transfer. Not only were the Development Trusts Association the host for the launch of our implementation plan, you have been an intimate part of turning the ambitions into reality. And already we’re seeing good progress.

Demonstration projects off the ground in 20 areas, from the rural district of Restormel in Cornwall to the largest local authority in England, Birmingham. Local authorities are exploring what is possible in a way they simply weren’t before, thinking about the potential for iconic places like an old town-centre court house, disused markets, and even piers, to be part of community life again. And new guidance is taking shape.

I want to keep working with you as we think together about the next steps, and I want to be ambitious about where we go from here. One question in particular I want to explore with you is how we make sure that asset transfer isn’t just a flash in the pan.

There’s no use starting up a centre if it doesn’t develop the links it needs to thrive under its own steam: no good if it just withers once the tap is turned off. I don’t need to tell you here the importance of building in viability from the start, through enterprise and strong partnerships. And so today I will be writing to the CBI and other business organisations to encourage them, as part of their work on corporate social responsibility, to see what more support and advice they could offer to help local groups run their assets successfully.
Participatory Budgeting

The second big change I want to see is an increase in the use of participatory budgeting. First pioneered in Porto Alegre, Brazil, among some of the world’s most deprived people, participatory budgeting means giving the local community a direct say in how money is spent. It means giving them the choice over whether they want to prioritise street cleaning, leisure facilities for young people, traffic calming or whatever the local concerns might be.

While it doesn’t mean everyone gets what they want, it does bring transparency to the way difficult decisions about how to use limited resources are made. It encourages debate between local people about the future of their area, and helps to build links between them. And it gives more people the confidence to be able to say “this is my community – and I want to do something about it”. In some cases it’s even the doorway to standing as a councillor, school governor, magistrate or other role.

We are supporting the work of the Participatory Budgeting Unit and I see no reason why, in five years’ time, there shouldn’t be a “community kitty” in every local authority in the country.
Petitions

Third, I want to look at how we use petitions.

One in five of us sign a petition each year. The European Social Survey showed that out of 21 different countries, only 2 signed more petitions than we do. It’s an easy way for us to voice our opinion on an issue we care about. For example, the McClintock family in Taunton Deane collected 11,000 signatures [after their daughter Louise was blinded in one eye by a shattered pint glass] and this has resulted in the Taunton Dean BC’s ‘Drink Safe Be Safe’ scheme, encouraging responsible landlords. And for many more it’s way of raising local issues crying out for action – whether that’s

* sprucing up a run-down street
* installing better lighting to make estates safer
* Or getting rid of the blind corners in parks or estates which can be a magnet for criminals and drug dealers

But some of us will sign a petition and never be quite sure what happens next. We have a rich history of writing petitions, but do we have a rich enough history of answering them?

I plan to consult in the coming months on how we can make petitions a more effective tool in enabling communities to raise issues with local councils. Through the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, we are already introducing a power for elected councillors to call for action. And as the Governance of Britain Green Paper has set out, we want to explore a similar power for communities. But we want to get the balance right. For a petition to be one to which statutory bodies are to be duty bound to respond, there must be a sensible threshold for the number of backers for the petition.

If the number is too low, say, just 25, a small group of people could waste the time of the wider community by demanding attention from public services, but if the number is too high, for example, something like 500, it would make it very difficult for communities to get enough signatories to guarantee that the issue they want raise will get due consideration. This is why I want to consult and hear your views before fixing on a policy position.

I also want to consult about what kind of response a petition would trigger. Now of course I’m not suggesting an automatic change of policy – democracy defined by Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is no democracy at all. But if enough people agree, I think there’s a very strong case for the council to take a hard look at their policy. I’m interested to hear what you and the wider public think so we will be launching a formal consultation this autumn.

This is not just a local issue; we will also be looking hard at how central government can more effectively respond to petitions.
Community Land Trusts

Fourth, I’m keen to explore further the potential role of community land trusts in supporting the affordable homes desperately needed by young families today and in the future. I will be watching with interest the pilots led by Salford University and the Housing Corporation – seven in rural areas, seven in urban areas. There’s potential for us to learn from a model that has already proved, in places like Letchworth, that the right circumstances can make it a great way for communities to take control of their future and make an investment that benefits generation after generation.
Community Anchors

Finally, I want to take a good hard look at the role of community anchors. As this audience knows only too well, anchor organisations can be a vital part of bringing together everyone in a local area, giving a home and support to a whole range of people and groups – whether it’s workshops for developing adult skills, a young mothers’ association, refugee organisations, or lesbian and gay youth groups. Look, for example, at the Goodwin Trust in Hull, that for 12 years has helped people on the Thornton Estate access vital services more easily – from postnatal support, to skills training, to community wardens – and has a turnover of £9 million, 200 staff, and a presence across 38 different sites. As a result of the Trust’s actions, crime has fallen, and 99 per cent of residents feel their quality of life has improved.

It’s because a community anchor can be a support to so many people, can build a sustainable future not just for their own organisation but those which they support too, can strengthen the links between different groups within a neighbourhood, and be a way of reaching those that central government simply can’t get to successfully on its own, that we should be ambitious for their future. And I hope very soon to announce plans for increased finical support.
Conclusion

Now the measures I have outlined today – from asset transfer, to participatory budgeting, to petitions, to land trusts and to community anchors – are wide-ranging.

To ensure a joined-up approach, I am delighted to announce the formation of the National Empowerment Partnership, led by the Community Development Foundation and bringing together practitioners including the Community Sector Coalition, IDeA and the Urban Forum – who will play a crucial role in making a difference on the ground in every region.

The measures I have outlined today are also the first steps, not the last. There will be a lot more that I will talk about in the months to come that will help give power to local leaders and communities, including the concordat between central and local government, and new ways to support people who want to serve their communities as local councillors, coming out of Dame Jane Robert’s Commission.

100 years ago the socialist writer GDH Cole – just up the road in Balliol – called for the

“widest possible diffusion of power and responsibility, so as to enlist the active participation of as many as possible of its citizens in the tasks of democratic self-government.”

A century later we have every reason to be positive that it is in our reach. And though there are significant challenges ahead, if we work together just think what things could look like in ten years’ time.

* When Government at any level and in any place is designing policy, instead of asking “Why should we involve local communities?” it will be asking “How can we”?
* When a community sees a way of making their area better, they will have the confidence and support to get things done
* And when someone wants to get involved in civic life, they will know the opportunities open to them – and we will be ready to make the most of their enthusiasm

I look forward to it – and invite you to be part of it too.

Author: Craig Brown

OLD tyres, beer cans, wood off-cuts and discarded rubble may not be the most divine of materials, but they might be used to construct Scotland’s greenest church.
Parishioners have secured funds for a study to look at building a new place of worship out of the contents of landfill sites.

The congregation of Colston Milton Parish Church in Glasgow has received a £42,809 grant to carry out a feasibility study on constructing an ecologically and environmentally sustainable church using recovered rubbish.

The plan came about after the minister, the Rev Christopher Rowe, was told by the Church of Scotland’s Board of Trustees that the building needed replacing. “We were already facing energy bills of £8,000 and we were told that the building did not even have a medium-term life-span,” he said. “I proposed the idea of building an ecologically-sound church to the congregation and they thought it was fantastic.”

With the help of an architect, a proposal was put to the Kirk, which gave the green light to the project, followed by an approach to the Scottish Government’s Scottish Climate Challenge Fund, which awarded the funding to carry out the feasibility study.

The design will be based on the Earthship template, an eco-design developed in the United States during the 1970s using natural and recycled materials and built by the owners themselves, relying on natural-generated heating. Several examples have already been in Scotland.

If it is given the go-ahead, the congregation hopes to begin construction next spring.

Mr Rowe said: “A wonderful group of men and women who drink in the woods got inspired by the idea, so they started bringing their empty beer cans to the manse to use in the new building.”

The cost of the project is estimated to be between £500,000 and £750,000 for a building that will include worship space, meeting rooms and a cafe, compared with a starting price of £1.5 million for a more traditional structure.

“In a conventional building project, all the money goes straight into the pocket of big construction companies,” said Mr Rowe. “By using simple construction methods, we hope that local people will actually build the building themselves. It will be built by them, and owned by them, and used by them. It would be a church built by the community, for the community.”

Sarah Sutherland, vice-chair of the Scottish Ecological Design Association, said: “There isn’t a viable use for car tyres, so it’s better to see them being used in this way than dumped in landfill sites. It’s great that people are looking to do something different. It will encourage other groups to consider this type of design.”

BACKGROUND

THE Climate Challenge Fund was established in June this year to support community-led action to reduce carbon emissions. The £18.8 million fund is open to a wide variety of organisations working at a local level for projects such as energy efficiency, encouraging people to walk and cycle more, or using local, sustainable food. It is part of a wide range of efforts by Holyrood to reduce Scotland’s carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

Author: Press and Journal

Residents of west Harris voted to buy out their crofting estates yesterday. A postal ballot returned a 77% vote in favour of a takeover.

Tenants and residents in all three estates which make up the district agreed to take control of the land.

The turnout was 95%.

A government estate has never been passed directly to crofters, but now the first three will be taken over by tenants in one swoop.

Last month, the West Harris Crofting Trust was established and will now negotiate the terms of the takeover with the Scottish Government.

The original farms at Luskentyre, Scarasta Mhòr and Borve on the scenic coast of south-west Harris were taken over by the Government after World War 1.

Now, there is only one child under school age in the district. Residents hope to tackle the issues of depopulation, lack of jobs, and scarcity of housing.

A feasibility study has explored ways of regenerating the community and attracting investment.

One idea is to build a renewable energy hydro scheme which could pave the way for other revitalisation projects. About £32,700 could be made available annually.

The community may build its own whisky distillery and grow barley for a Harris malt on the flat, sandy machair, with the first test crops expected to start next spring.

Land has been identified for potential house building to try to encourage young families to stay and work locally.

The trust would negotiate with the Church of Scotland to buy a glebe at Scarista for housing plots.

New legislation would be used to create crofts, with new holdings planned for each district.

The area could capitalise on its stunning white sand beaches and mountains for tourism and the promotion of the Scarista golf course.

The need to develop and exploit broadband connections is considered essential to allow workers to work at a computer from home.

Scottish Crofting and Environment Minister Mike Russell said: “I would like to offer my congratulations to the people of west Harris for realising the potential benefits of community ownership.

“I hope that a conclusion is reached as soon as possible.”

Western Isles MSP Alasdair Allan said: “This is, I hope, the first step towards a better future for people in this part of Harris.

“These estates were created by the Government after World War 1 and it now makes sense for the people to be masters in their own land.”

Author: TFN

A West Lothian town is celebrating being the only Scottish nomination for a prestigious environmental and community award thanks to work done by many of its voluntary organisations.

Linlithgow is nominated for an International Award for Liveable Communities (LivCom Awards).

The awards are given to towns and cities which improve the quality of life for their residents and visitors through environmental work and community organisations.

Linlithgow, which is already classed as a Fairtrade town, is famous for being the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. The Linlithgow Heritage Trust has taken care preserving both the ruins of the palace and surrounding loch for visitors and wildlife.

As well as looking after its environment the town was judged to have created a vibrant community through a variety of clubs, societies and voluntary organisations.

Its Burgh Beautiful group has involved the local community in making over specific areas of the town to generate civic pride and a number of local clubs have helped promote healthier lifestyles for its residents through activities such as cycling.

This is not the first time Linlithgow has been recognised for an international award. It is one of only two Scottish towns to be awarded Cittaslow (Slow City) recognition.

Earlier this year the town joined the Cittaslow movement, which gives recognition to towns that care about the people who live, work and visit them as well as protecting its local environment, promote local goods and produce, and encourage the individual character of the town.

Linlithgow is a finalist this time around in the Category A (Whole City) section of the LivCom Awards for towns with an average population of up to 20,000 and will be competing against towns from Ireland, China, Belgium, Australia and Canade for the title awarded at Dongguan, China, next month.

The nomination came after West Lothian Council, who will be sending someone over to the ceremony, submitted a 13 page application highlighting the sustainability of the town in June this year.

Council leader Peter Johnston said: “This is wonderful news for the town of Linlithgow and it adds to the growing list of prestigious accolades that are associated with the town.

“Linlithgow has a community with an array of voluntary organisations and community groups who are all committed to enhancing the vibrant town. Linlithgow residents have a great deal of civic pride and I am delighted that their efforts are being recognised on an international stage.”

Author: Paul Gosling, The Independent

One third of the local economic infrastructure of the UK – the corner shops, post offices, pubs and bank branches – is predicted to disappear between 1990 and 2010. That is more than 100,000 independent businesses and local branches of national companies that are going bust or giving up.

The result, in the words of the New Economic Foundation that made the prediction, is both ghost town Britain – with large numbers of shops boarded up – and clone town Britain – because every shopping mall looks much the same. A symptom and cause of the problem is the domination of the major supermarket brands, the subject of the continuing Competition Commission inquiry.

Now independent retailers are fighting back. Across much of the country local loyalty schemes are springing up, which aim to get consumers to come back to local shops time and again. Some of these are issued for individual towns and villages, while many shops have started their own schemes.

The most ambitious project is the Wedge Card. It was established by Big Issue founder John Bird and his daughter Diana. “It’s going very well,” says Diana Bird. “We launched in December and it’s been a really interesting time.” Initially Wedge is operating in London, but there are now four pilot projects to assess its expansion into other localities.

Within London there are already 23,000 individuals who have bought Wedge Cards at £10 a time, with about 500 retailers signed-up. Holders of the cards obtain discounts on purchases – for example, 20 per cent off a meal at an upmarket restaurant – and at least a quarter of the joining fees goes to local charities. Unlike loyalty cards used by supermarkets, shoppers’ buying habits are not recorded and there is no use of information through database marketing.

Traders are promoted as members of the Wedge network, through the card’s website (www.wedgecard.co.uk) and e-mails to members. One new restaurant member told Wedge it had one hundred reservations in the first month from its Wedge membership. The scheme also binds local retailers together within the network, encouraging them to promote each other. Future developments include the possibility of either using Wedge as a prepaid payment card or integrating it with mobile technology as a payment method.

Matthew Knowles of the Federation of Small Businesses believes other local loyalty card schemes are “in germination”. “They are probably working well in some areas,” he says. But, he suggests, retailers can achieve similar benefits without the need to formally join a scheme. Knowles points to the trading advantage obtained by the big supermarkets because of their large, free, car parks and says that town centre retailers can join together to repay car parking fees when shoppers spend a lot of money.

Another option, the FSB suggests, is discounts for repeat business. This can be done by printing an offer on the back of a receipt. But the FSB would also like stronger regulatory action to prevent supermarkets abusing their dominant position. The FSB is lobbying for the supermarkets to be banned, as is the case in France, from offering loss leaders, and questions whether they should be allowed to offer free car parking.

The New Economics Foundation is itself involved in an initiative that intervenes to challenge ghost town Britain by encouraging a rebirth of entrepreneurial spirit in those areas of sharpest local economic decline. Together with the Civic Trust it has set-up BizFizz, which coaches individuals to help them set-up their own businesses. In Clownes, Derbyshire, the project achieved its objective to get all the high street shop units let and used, where previously a third were empty. BizFizz has worked in 30 local areas in the last six years, with almost 5,000 clients – many of whom have gone on to set-up their own businesses.

Natalia Fernandez of the New Economics Foundation, who is national co-ordinator of BizFizz, says: “We have a clear intention of trying to promote enterprise within communities, to regenerate communities. Local businesses are more likely to recruit local people and this can reduce unemployment. They can provide services within those communities and improve local communities. It circulates wealth within that local economy.”

While BizFizz concentrates on supporting new businesses, it also works with established small firms in deprived areas, stimulating greater mutual trading and networking – assisting with business support services such as marketing and public relations. Mutual support networks can, like loyalty cards, offer real benefit to independent traders battling against the might of the massive multiples. In truth, independent entrepreneurs need all the help they can get.