Author: TFN

A community group wants to build dozens of homes on Arran based on economic need as a solution to the small island’s affordable homes’ crisis.

Campaigners say the island’s house prices are as unaffordable as London with the annual wage on Arran sitting at £24,000 – with house prices going for 10 times that figure.

Arran Economic Group (AEG), a community group formed by campaigners and local businesses, now wants government cash to build dozens of affordable homes aimed at local workers, which will be given out based on economic rather than social need.

The Scottish government is considering a bid from the Arran Development Trust – a company set up by the AEG – for £8.5m from its rural and islands housing fund to build 43 houses and supply 14 self-build plots, which will be prioritised for the island’s workforce.

Figures from North Ayrshire council shows that in some areas 40% of homes are for holiday lets. Sliddery, on the south of Arran, has nearly half of its 73 properties as holiday homes.

It means local people are being forced to live on the mainland, driving out families who have lived on the island for generations with many now commuting to their jobs on the island.

Research shows that when properties are used for tourists or bought by retirees it pushes up prices and results in shortages of homes to rent.

Joe Cullinane, council leader, said: “The AEG has shone a light on the situation on the island, which is probably one of the most extreme in the country and which is really quite staggering.

Author: David Bookbinder, GWSF

Mike Bruce’s article on paying housing association board members was thoughtfully put together, but, as I’m sure he’ll have expected, can’t go unchallenged.

Scotland’s housing association sector has always been a diverse one, and time will tell whether it ever becomes more than a handful which pay some of their board members. The long-standing commitment to the principles and practice of voluntarism is the DNA of the community controlled housing association (CCHA) sector but goes well beyond that part of the movement and, critically, doesn’t in any way signify a reluctance or inability to modernise.

Mike suggests that Kelly Adams might have given the issue a more positive spin in her original article (which noted that Scottish associations were ‘continuing to resist’ board remuneration) by acknowledging that the number considering payment was slightly increasing. I too would argue that Kelly’s wording was skewed but for a different reason. The words ‘continuing to resist’ could be taken as suggesting a luddite-like stubbornness in not bowing to the inevitable.

The CCHA sector has indeed, as Mike notes, been well served by a governance model based entirely on the input of volunteers. But sticking to that model doesn’t mean, as Mike implies, that we’re standing still in the challenging financial and regulatory environment we all face.

Quietly and organically, CCHAs have been looking at the mix of experience and skills they need to ensure a healthy board/management committee into the future. Some have chosen to advertise, and this has often led to them being able to bolster both the number of board members (some local, some not) and the range of skills and experience available to the association.

One continuing trend is for staff members of one association to serve on the board of another. Apart from being good staff development, this could be said to bring a ‘professional’ perspective to a board without compromising the voluntary ethos.

This ongoing refreshing of boards is genuine change. It may not always have been easy to achieve, but it has meant really effective succession planning whilst maintaining voluntarism. Right now I see no reason to believe such an approach won’t stand us in good stead for a very long time to come.

It’s not for GWSF to criticise individual associations which take a different view. But when we read that over 80% of larger English associations pay their board members it’s genuinely difficult to disentangle this from the undeniable commercialisation of much of the sector down south, where mega-mergers continue and the lines between associations and private housebuilders become ever more blurred.

OK it’s few years ago now, but I recall Julian Ashby, of the then Homes and Communities Agency, saying that there was no correlation between board pay and effectiveness. There have been and might again be some failures of volunteer-run housing associations, just as there have been failures within housing associations and private companies (including banks) with paid board members.

The issue of staff being part of the board is somewhat different from that of paying non-executive board members, but is part of the same debate. It’s worth noting that it has sometimes been cosiness between staff and board members which has caused serious governance problems in some associations, even without those staff being actual members of the board.

I do struggle to see how having staff on the board avoids conflicts of interest and achieves an appropriate separation between the governing body and staff, and between the operational and strategic. Nice, though, to be able to vote through your own proposals.

Big turnover and large loan portfolios can be managed by well-paid staff and judiciously appointed advisers where needed. Yes, the board needs to fully understand what’s going on and be able to ask the right questions, but it doesn’t have to include treasury experts to be effective.

Each to their own – we’re all independent bodies, thankfully. But I find it hard not to believe that moving towards paid board members can all too often mean a greater preoccupation with number-crunching and a move away from properly understanding what a local community really needs to thrive when so many of its people are facing incredibly difficult times.

Author: Scottish Government

Open Government Partnership

Scotland’s membership of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) supports our commitment to openness, transparency, and citizen participation across everything we do as a government.

Our second OGP Action Plan promotes trust and co-operation between government and civil society.

About open government

The OGP aims to secure commitments from governments around the world to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

After launching in 2011 with eight founding governments, the OGP now has more than 90 member countries, as well as hundreds of civil society organisations.

When governments join the partnership they must endorse the Open Government Declaration and commit to the following principles:

·         increase the availability of information about governmental activities

·         support civic participation

·         implement the highest standards of professional integrity through administrations

·         increase access to new technologies for openness and accountability

Scotland in the OGP

In 2016, Scotland was selected as one of 15 pioneer governments around the world to join a programme to bring new leadership and innovation into the OGP at all levels of government.

We developed the first OGP Scottish Action Plan in partnership with civil society to set out how we would use the opportunity to improve the lives of people living in Scotland, to learn from others, and to share our experience of Open Government. We delivered the first Action Plan over 2017.

We have been invited to speak at a number of international conferences, and the Scottish Civil Society Network Chair has been selected to attend the International OGP Steering Group.

Second OGP Action Plan

Our second OGP Action Plan was published in January 2019 and contains five commitments to be delivered by September 2020. This follows approval by the Open Government Steering Group and Scottish Ministers.

In response to independent recommendations regarding our first Action Plan, we took the following actions in developing our second:

·         improving governance via an OGP Steering Group co-chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations and the Chair of the Scottish OGP Civil Society Network

·         widening our public consultations

·         using open planning methods that allow others to view our progress and get involved

Author: Rebecca Cooney, Third Sector magazine

Danny Sriskandarajah tells the NCVO annual conference that Oxfam plans to ask supporters, partners and the public to help it set out its 10-year strategic vision

Oxfam needs to focus on using its resources and its platform to support and empower other organisations, the charity’s chief executive has said.

Speaking at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations’ annual conference in central London this morning, Danny Sriskandarajah said he wanted the charity to be “less supertanker, more dockyard” in its approach and revealed that the charity planned to ask supporters, partners and the public to help the charity set out its strategic vision for the next 10 years.

He also said that civil society as a whole needed to “reimagine traditional organisational structures” if it wanted to effect real change in the coming years.

“We have, I think at our peril, seen civil society primarily as a means and not as an end,” he said.

“So if we do that, we end up, for example, seeing volunteers as instrumental income generators and not paying enough attention to the fact that we are there strengthening communities. We will fail to see that a strong, vocal civil society is an inherent good in itself.

“If we see ourselves as simply a means for delivering aid, collecting money or whatever else it is, we forget sometimes at our peril how we are in this together.”

Sriskandarajah said that after the Haiti safeguarding scandal that rocked the charity last year, the charity had “a fantastic opportunity to take all that is good about Oxfam and repurpose it for the rest of the 21st century”.

He said: “In the next few weeks, we’ll be opening Oxfam up to ask our supporters, partners and the public to help us create our strategic vision for the next 10 years.”

He added that Oxfam would join a network of organisations committed to taking forward the findings of the inquiry into the Future of Civil Society, chaired by Julia Unwin, which concluded that charities needed to address issues concerning power, accountability, connection and trust.

“I also want us to acknowledge our particular responsibility as one of the bigger, better-resourced organisations in our sector,” he said.

“I am determined that Oxfam will be better, less supertanker, more dockyard, ready to use our resources and platform to empower and enable others in the sector to speak up for the people and causes they represent.”

If the sector wanted to see power redistributed in society, Sriskandarajah said, it needed to consciously model that change, not “tinker around the edges” or “trade in incremental change”.

“We need to ensure that leadership of our own organisations is open to people of different ages, ethnicities, faiths, genders, politics and sexualities,” he said.

“We need a generation of leaders who are prepared to reimagine traditional organisational structures, who can take power off its pedestal and turn it into something much more accessible, collaborative and diffuse.

“Most urgently, we need to tackle the imbalances of power that enable bullying, racism and sexual abuse, including, to be frank, that which took place in Haiti.”

Charities also needed to think about how trust in them could be repaid and returned, said Sriskandarajah.

“We need to show people, communities and other civil society groups that we trust them to provide valuable insights, to make decisions, to own and control assets, to run projects,” he said.

In order to deepen trust, the sector needed to move away from “charity for charity’s sake, and towards a world of mutuality”, he said, adding that the bits of civil society he found most exciting were “cooperative-based initiatives” which looked different from the existing big NGO structures.

“As Oxfam, our challenge is to harness the very best of these participatory models,” he said.

“If we don’t find a way to trust and embrace these new movements, we risk becoming trapped in the institutions we have built. Trust must be something we live out in the way we work and the decisions we make.”

Author: Pauline Radcliffe, Carnegie UK

We probably all have vague memories from school of being told that our town is twinned with a European counterpart. The European town twinning was established in the immediate post-war period and there are now around 17,000 twinning links across Europe.

When the Carnegie UK Trust was thinking through how to support towns to learn from each other, we were surprised to find that there was no intra-UK twinning programme. There have been learning exchanges over the years, but nothing that proactively built longer-term relationships. With Brexit around the corner, we felt the time was right to think about establishing such a programme.

Twin Towns UK aimed to reinvigorate local towns through a process of learning and collaboration. By pairing towns across the UK that had similar characteristics and socio-economic challenges, the towns were encouraged to think differently about what they could do to improve their local places.

The towns we worked with faced a range of challenges, similar to those experienced by towns up and down the country, including recent or historic loss of employment due to the decline or closure of major industries, empty shops on the high street and low energy and motivation of community.

The partnerships included Broughshane (Northern Ireland) and Wooler (Northumberland), North Shields (North East) and Merthyr Tydfil (Wales) and Whitburn (Scotland) and Ostwaldtwistle (Lancashire), with the towns having been partnered as a result of sharing similar characteristics or challenges, but with different back stories and approaches.

Over the course of 18 months the participants inspired each other, establishing new cycle routes, digital gateways, heritage trails and pop up markets. But I think most interestingly, they reported that the process of introducing themselves to strangers from other parts of the UK helped them to understand themselves better, and see their positives as well as the shared challenges. They emerged with a stronger sense of their unique value and contribution.

Our new report was written by Carnegie Associate Pauline Radcliffe. Pauline was integral to the process and she says it best: ‘These inspirational place-based communities have demonstrated the positivity, re-visioning and ‘can do’ energy that is created when towns come together to build honest relationships rooted in trust, exchange ideas and ‘hold a mirror up’ to their own town. Despite the challenges facing our high streets, these community organisations are ‘using the strengths and people of their area to do the work that’s needed’ to sustain their communities and tell their story.’

Thank you to all the participants, and the support team around them led by Pauline. We will be continuing to explore methods of engaging with towns over the next two years to support them practically and to amplify their voice in policy and media discussions.

Author: Engage Renfrewshire

The Renfrewshire Tapestry Group (RTG)  have been working with communities, schools and groups, since 2017 to create  a series of Tapestry panels and stitched samplers depicting the Old County of Renfrewshire  from the 16th century to the present day.  To date, over 500 samplers have been created, 11 panels have been designed and a team of over 300 volunteer stitchers have been working to tell the story of Paisley and her people.   

The project’s second phase is now poised ready to start within 9 rural communities in East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde.  Entitled “Threads across the County (Rural Reams),”   this phase of the project will tell the history and stories of the communities and people of Eaglesham, Neilston, Uplawmoor, Bishopton, Kilbarchan, rural- Linwood, Lochwinnoch, Kilmacolm and Quarriers Village.  The research, story gathering, sampler stitching and panel designs will take place over 12 months from March 2019-February 2020.

Before we are able to take this exciting, life affirming and transformative project forward, we need to raise an additional £2000 pounds to secure our funding package, which includes monies from Leader, Awards for All, and a contribution from the Renfrewshire Tapestry Group.

We are inviting you to visit our Crowdfunding site to find out more about project, how you can help us to take it forward and help capture, conserve and celebrate the wonderful and unique history, heritage and stories that make the Old County of Renfrewshire. We plan to celebrate the past, present and the years to come.  You can help secure the future of the project by making a financial contribution, which, however large or small, will make a huge contribution to the communities and individuals taking part in this project this coming year, and beyond.  

You can also help us by sharing our campaign with as many people as you can who may be interested in the project and supporting it in some way.

If you would like to find out more about the Threads across the County (Rural Reams) project, the wider-project (Tapestry of the Old County of Renfrewshire) or any aspect of our crowdfunding campaign, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Author: Scottish Government

Island residents are being asked to give their views to help shape Scotland’s first National Islands Plan. 

The Scottish Government consultation seeks information on the challenges and benefits of island life.

Respondents are asked to give their opinion on challenges faced by those living on Scotland’s islands, such as retaining population, connectivity, transport links, economic development and housing. 

They are also asked about the positives of living on the islands and examples of good policies. 

Creating a National Islands Plan is a key part of the new Islands Act, passed at Holyrood last May.

The new law stemmed from the Our Islands Our Future campaign, carried out ahead of the Scottish independence referendum to demand more power for the islands. 

The legislation will mean public sector legislation and policies have a duty to take the impact on the islands into consideration, known as island-proofing.

It also banned Shetland from being boxed off on official maps, ruling that it must be accurately geographically represented and not moved to a box in the North Sea or missed off maps entirely as has happened in the past.

Speaking on the consultation launch during a visit to the Hebridean island of Canna, Islands Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “The passage of the first ever Act of Parliament aimed specifically at islanders’ needs and the positive contributions made to Scotland by our islands marked an historic milestone for our island communities. 

“This included providing formal recognition of their unique characteristics and challenges, and tailoring policy to support our islands effectively.

“Now we are asking residents and other stakeholders what their concerns are, and where we should be focusing resources in future to help our islands and all who live on them flourish.

“This is an opportunity for us to develop a strategic direction for optimising support to island communities, taking into account factors like ageing populations, public service provision, biodiversity and enhancing skillsets.”

The consultation is open until July 6 and the National Islands Plan will be delivered to the Scottish Parliament by October 4

Author: Nasim AslBBC Scotland

A basket full of high-quality food for £2.50 may seem too good to be true – but that’s now the reality for shoppers at Scotland’s first food pantry.

The Woodside Pantry in Aberdeen provides people living in one of the city’s most disadvantaged areas a way to shop for a lot less.

It is an innovative, community-run project.

The aim is to combat food poverty, and it has been hailed as a sustainable alternative to food bank use.

“I can get some really good healthy food at a very reasonable price”

For a small weekly charge, members get access to food donated by supermarkets and a local charity.

Clare Whyte, one of the workers at the community centre where the pantry is based, told BBC Scotland’s The Nine: “Food banks are not a long-term solution. It’s an emergency food service, really.

“This could be a way to reduce food waste which is massive and a huge issue as we know and also tackle food poverty at the same time.

“It’s amazing that we can do that.”

Food parcels from food banks are often only available to people who have been referred by frontline professionals like GPs or advice agencies.

But membership of the Woodside Pantry was initially open to anyone living in the immediate area around the Fersands and Fountain Community Centre, where the project is based.

It proved so popular that the catchment area has now been widened and the membership cap extended.

Almost half of the people using the service receive benefits or Jobseeker’s Allowance. A quarter of the users are single parents.

There are now 83 households with membership to the pantry, and more than 200 local residents – including children – are directly benefitting.

“I can get some very good, healthy food at a very reasonable price,” said Margaret Aisbitt, who was one of the first to sign up.

 Image captionMore than 200 residents of the Woodside area of Aberdeen are already benefitting from the pantry

“It’s a great idea because you feel like you’re contributing something, but you’re not getting anything for free.”

She said she is more than happy to pay the membership fee of £3, and the weekly charge of £2.50.

‘More dignified provision’

She explained: “The range varies because it’s all donated, so you’re not sure what you’re going to get.

“Today I picked up a lovely piece of venison, some nice apple juice, something for my store cupboard, and mushrooms.”

All of the food in the Woodside Pantry is donated via supermarkets or through food-distribution charity Fareshare Grampian, operated by Community Food Initiatives North East (CFINE).

Some of the donations are often close to their “best before date”, as supermarkets try to clear their shelves for a new batch of produce.

Unlike food banks where people are given pre-made food parcels, the pantry sees users pick their own items from the shelves.

“We think the pantry model is one which is a much more dignified provision,” said Dave Kilgour, a development manager at CFINE.

 Image captionAll of the food available to buy has been donated to the project through Community Food Initiatives North East

He said he has seen an increase in the amount of people in Aberdeen who have been dependent on emergency food supplies.

“Because of the massive increase in terms of people who are having to come to food banks we need to look at more alternative models, particularly those which have a bit more dignity and respect.”

The Woodside Pantry is open on a Tuesday and a Thursday for a limited number of hours.

It is run by volunteers, who are also local and users of the service.

 Image captionAfter the success of this pilot, the founders are planning more pantries across Aberdeen

Ian Armstrong is one of those who helps out.

He said: “Since its opened I’ve been meeting different people, it’s nice working all together. Most people’s on benefits, so it’s really good. They’re saving a lot of money on their food.

“It gets me out the house, for one. For two, it helps me budget more cause I can save a bit more money and spend it on other things that I need.”

CFINE has identified seven similar areas in Aberdeen where they want to open pantries and create a network across the city.

Meanwhile, the shoppers at the Woodside Pantry want to see it rolled out further afield.

Mr Armstrong concluded: “It’s such a good thing, it should definitely be all over Scotland. People would benefit so much from it.”

Author: Alistair Grant The Herald

IT is the pioneering project that offers a tantalising glimpse of a cleaner, greener future free of mass pollution.

Experts have launched the first phase of a ground-breaking £28.5 million energy system which it is hoped will eliminate the need for fossil fuels in Orkney — and eventually the whole of the UK.

The scheme includes plans for a locally-powered electric bus and electric bike “integrated transport system” on the islands, as well as the mass roll-out of electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, up to 500 domestic and 100 large-scale batteries will be used to store renewable energy, allowing it to be pumped into the grid when winds drop or the sun disappears.

Dubbed the “energy system of the future”, those involved hope it will prove such a success it will eventually be rolled out across the UK and beyond – helping to create a future powered entirely by renewables.

Mark Hamilton from Solo Energy, one of the firms involved in the ReFLEX (Responsive Flexibility) scheme, said it was a “world-leading example” of how innovation can drive the transition to green energy.

He said: “In Orkney, we’ve got a very high level of renewable generation from wind and solar, and other forms of generation such as wave and tidal.

“All of these renewable generation sources are obviously low carbon, but they are intermittent – so the wind comes and goes, the sun comes and goes.

“The ReFLEX project involves deploying battery systems and smart electric vehicle charging to balance the intermittency of renewables.

“So what Solo does, we have a software platform which we use to control battery systems across the grid to respond to the intermittency of renewable generation.

“So basically, when there’s lots of renewables generating, we charge battery systems across the grid, store that low-cost renewable energy, and then release it back to the grid when renewable generation decreases.”

Mr Hamilton said 25 per cent of the UK’s current electricity needs are met by renewable energy.

He said it would realistically be 20 to 30 years before the country’s entire energy system could become fully reliant on renewables.

He said: “We can have all the wind and solar farms we want but unless we have the means to store and balance renewables we will never fully wean ourselves off fossil fuels and get to the root of the climate change problem.”

The Orkney scheme uses a “virtual power plant” model which sees rechargeable lithium-ion battery systems controlled remotely using special software.

This allows them to be charged when renewable energy – such as wind – is abundant. They can then release that energy when the supply drops.

Orkney is already a world-leader in wave and tidal technology and boasts a high uptake of electric vehicles.

The latest project aims to deploy up to 600 extra electric vehicles and 100 flexible heating systems, as well as a Doosan industrial-scale hydrogen fuel cell which produces eco-friendly energy and heat.

Once demonstrated in Orkney, experts hope the “virtual energy system” – which aims to link up local electricity, transport, and heat networks into one controllable, overarching system – will be rolled out across the UK and internationally.

To encourage uptake, electric vehicles will be provided through a low-cost leasing arrangement, while batteries will be provided free on the basis customers will benefit from lower energy bills.

Led by the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), the ReFLEX Orkney scheme brings together an expert consortium including Solo Energy, Aquatera, Community Energy Scotland, Heriot-Watt University and Orkney Islands Council – as well as multi-national energy company Doosan Babcock. It is funded by UK Research and Innovation through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Scotland Office minister Lord Ian Duncan said £14.3 million of UK Government money was being pumped into the project to help “establish the Scottish Islands as an energy powerhouse”.

UK energy minister Claire Perry said: “What we are seeing here on Orkney is a test bed for the energy system of the future.

“These smart systems are a key part of our modern Industrial Strategy and will provide cheaper, greener and more flexible access to energy for everyone.

“What we learn from these innovations could one day be rolled out across the UK and exported around the world and we’ll be able to say it was ‘Made in Orkney’.”

Professor David Flynn of Heriot-Watt University said it had the potential to “deliver global change in how we achieve our low carbon objectives”.

Speaking on behalf of the ReFLEX Orkney project partners, Neil Kermode, managing director at EMEC, said: “We’re delighted that UK Research and Innovation have funded this project.

“This new model will demonstrate how we can better interact with, own and manage our integrated energy systems locally, both at individual and community level.

“50% of the project is being funded privately indicating the appetite that exists within the partners to make this project work.

“Orkney has already demonstrated high commitment for local sustainable energy solutions and the county is well on its way to decarbonising each aspect of the energy system.

“The target for Orkney is to have a negative carbon footprint and this pioneering project will build upon the existing local energy system, local infrastructure and local expertise, to accelerate this transition to a fully sustainable and flexible energy system.”

The Scottish Government aims to generate 50% of the country’s overall energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030.

Author: CSS

Community business survey

Community Shares Scotland and Co-operative Development Scotland are looking to understand the challenges and support needs faced by community groups developing a community-owned business or enterprise.  

Completing this five minute survey will help guide their future support.

The survey ends on Wednesday 17 April.