Author: Scottish Government

Executive summary (Full report)

Purpose

Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) own 2.6% of land in Scotland and they play a crucial role in setting an example of progressive and sustainable land management. In their work, NGOs interact with local communities living on and nearby their estates. The purpose of this project was to examine the relations between NGOs and community groups in the light of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 and the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016. 

Background

This project aims to advance the understanding of the existing challenges and the potential for cooperation between Environmental NGOs and relevant community groups in the recent policy context. Drawing on the research findings, the report outlines the main challenges and puts forward recommendations on how partnerships between the different stakeholders can be supported.  

Key findings

Challenges for partnerships between Non-Governmental Organisations and community groups 

·         Some NGOs struggle to reconcile their mission and commitments made to their wider membership with the local needs of the communities living in and around their estates. The perceived conflict of interests can negatively affect prospective collaborations. 

·         The difference in reconciling NGOs’ mission and community needs are reflected in communication and engagement between NGOs and community groups. How consultations with the communities are planned and conducted is one symptom of this wider issue. NGOs interviewed engage in consultations with local communities but there is little evidence to suggest that communities are actively involved in planning and preparation of longterm strategy.

·         Overall, NGOs’ interviewed argue that from their perspective, change of ownership can negatively affect land management. The interviewees highlighted that Land Reform prioritises ownership over the type and style of management and that communities that come into land ownership often struggle to access resources for improving land management.  

 Opportunities, alternative approaches and potential ways forward 

·         Evidence from the case studies showed that effective communication, between stakeholders and with the local community, was key to overcoming differing priorities and finding common purpose from which mutually beneficial compromises were established and effective collaboration grew.

·         This research found that collaborative ownership can offer opportunities for both the NGO sector and the local community. For communities, working in partnership with NGOs opens a chance to own land in areas of high private land concentration, creates job, and provides training opportunities. For NGOs, it offers access to assets at a set price, an on-going PR value, and opportunities for bottom-up learning.

·         Moreover, the existing examples of co-creative partnerships and engagements that take people’s needs and concerns as a starting point, offer alternative approaches to community consultation. With adequate planning, communication, and compromise, conservation objectives can be interdependent rather than opposing to community needs. This, of course, does not mean there are always aligned, and continuous dialogue remains an important part of partnerships. Research shows that there is a momentum to formalise and systematise community engagement from both within and beyond charitable organisations.

·         There are untapped benefits of conservation work in urban areas. These share fundamental similarities with rural projects but are distinct and should be designed accordingly. Urban projects particularly benefit when staff, NGOs and community group members, are embedded in the community, which helps them be more aware of the concerns and challenges for a project so they can design relevant and engaging projects for that specific area.

 Recommendations

·         A networked approach, whereby local assets and local knowledge is augmented by external assets and resources, is likely to be the most effective way to bridge the gap in resources and expertise when land is transferred to community groups. 

·         Creating place-based plans and developing community projects, that are created by and for the local community, are more likely to encourage sustained community buy in and engagement with the project, helping to ensure long-term viability.

·         NGOs should engage in ‘bottom up’ communication as opposed to ‘top down’. Efforts should be made  to engage the community as opposed to informing them of plans. This is particularly relevant in the context of designing public consultations.

·         NGO senior staff should make efforts to be accessible to community groups living on their estates. This will help break down barriers and change perceptions, find common ground and shared purpose, and address engrained working patterns and practices that may hinder collaboration.

·         Scottish Land Commission is currently finalising a Code of Practice1. Therefore, there is a momentum to formalise and systematise community engagement from both within and beyond. Once the engagement guideline is published, it will be important to put mechanisms in place to hold organisations accountable to the new requirements.

Author: Maria Montinaro, Shieldhill & California CC

Maria Montinaro, Shieldhill & California CC, Falkirk is leading a group of community councils from the Falkirk area to mount a campaign of opposition to the extraction of unconventional oil and gas in Scotland. Below is a notification from the Scottish Government concerning the consultation that runs from now until 18^th December 2018. A QC and lawyers have been approached to represent the communities’ interests during the consultation (the same legal team that represented community interests during an earlier Public Enquiry). They have agreed and have set a fixed fee at a fraction of true cost – £2000.

Any community council or group that feels able to support this initiative are asked to consider two actions:

1)      Contact marmonti@blueyonder.co.uk with the name of your organisation so that it can be added to the list of objectors. The more names the better.

2)      If you are able to donate anything towards the cost of the legal support – no amount too small – please do. Simply pledge an amount in your email to marmonti@blueyonder.co.uk and Maria will be in touch to arrange payment.

Scottish Government notification:

On 03 October 2017, the Scottish Government set out its preferred policy position of not supporting onshore unconventional oil and gas development in Scotland. This announcement followed a period of extensive evidence-gathering and public engagement, with our consultation, Talking “Fracking”, receiving more than 60,000 responses from the people of Scotland, and worldwide. We are grateful to all those who responded to the consultation on this important issue.

During his statement to Parliament in October 2017, Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, confirmed that the Scottish Government would undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) on the preferred policy position, in line with statutory requirements.  This process includes a consultation on the SEA Environmental Report, which has been produced for the Scottish Government by independent environmental consultants. The Scottish Government is also consulting on a partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA), and the preferred policy position on unconventional oil and gas.

I can confirm today that the public consultation on the SEA Environmental Report, the partial BRIA, and preferred policy position is now underway and will run for eight weeks, with responses accepted until 18 December 2018.

Responses are invited via the Scottish Government’s online consultation site, Citizen Space https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/preferred-policy-position-on-uog/; alternative formats can be made available on request by emailing UOGSEAConsultation@gov.scot, or calling 0131 2449380. When providing views to this consultation, please be assured that there is no need to restate views already covered in the 2017 Talking “Fracking” public consultation analysis report, as these have been, and will continue to be, taken into account as the Scottish Government finalises a policy position on the development of unconventional oil and gas in Scotland.

Following the consultation closure, the responses will be analysed and published. It is anticipated that Ministers will inform Parliament of the finalised policy on the development of unconventional oil and gas in Scotland in the first quarter of 2019.

Author: Community Land Scotland

A short film produced during Community Land Week which focuses both on the achievements of Action Porty from Portobello, Edinburgh and the connections with forest communities in Kenya.

Author: Andy Wightman MSP

This briefing paper outlines the amendment to the Planning Bill proposed by Any Wightman MSP which was passed at Stage 2 of the Bill’s passage through the Scottish Parliament.

Author: Laura Ferguson, Evening Express

Aberdeen Climate Action (ACA) has hosted its first Climate Cafe event.

The session at Waterstones on Union Street looked at different ways people can tackle climate issues in the North-east.

The first of a new series of Climate Cafes addressed ways communities can use renewable energy.

The meeting looked at transport and finance, including how people can lower their carbon footprint by cycling or taking the bus to work.

ACA was formed four years ago by Alison Stuart, a human rights lawyer, and Erik Dalhuijsen, a petroleum engineer.

Alison, 43, of Cults, said: “I felt people needed more awareness about how serious this issue is. I really wanted to inspire people and show them what’s happening here in the North-east, just to know more, and that’s how we came up with the idea of the Climate Cafe.”

The first event also included a talk from Jim Currie, director of ACE Energy – the company behind the Donside Hydro.

The urban hydro electric station on the banks of the River Don in Tillydrone was the first of its kind in Scotland.

Alison said: “These events give people an idea of what’s going on in Scotland.

“We don’t want people to feel overwhelmed – we want to take away from the scariness of it and look more at the positive outcomes if we do act now.”

Since forming ACA, Alison, who has two children – Esmee, 7, and Kiran, 5 – has left her job as a lawyer to work on the project full-time.

She said: “For me, the real reason behind it is because of my children. I read what would happen and realised that the world I know isn’t going to be around for them if I don’t act.

“It’s the most important thing happening in our generation and we’ve only got a certain amount of time left to stop it. We want to bring people together and connect them.”.

Author: The Times

Scotland has too many councils and almost half of them should be scrapped to save money, a report has suggested.

The number of local authorities should be reduced from 32 to 17, according to an academic paper. The study, by the University of Sheffield, supported the creation of Greater Glasgow, which would be Britain’s largest local authority and combine Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and East and West Dunbartonshire with the city of Glasgow.

It also suggested that the Scottish capital could be united with East Lothian, West Lothian and Midlothian to form Edinburgh and the Lothians, while Aberdeen city and Aberdeenshire could become Grampian. Highland, Moray, Dumfries and Galloway and Borders would stay, while North and South Lanarkshire would merge and the Tayside region would be reborn as Dundee, Perth and Angus. Island authorities would remain intact but Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire would be united into Forth Valley, while North, South and East Ayrshire become a single authority.

The Scottish government has pledged to refresh local democracy, which has remained unchanged since the old regional structure was abolished in 1996.

Alasdair Rae, a professor in urban studies who co-wrote the paper, hoped that it would put council boundary reform back on the political agenda. He and his colleague, Ruth Hamilton, used commuting data and an algorithm, that groups areas with the strongest ties, to produce a new local government map of Scotland.

“Over the years there have been calls to reform council boundaries and give authorities a greater say in decisions made at Holyrood,” Professor Rae said. “But so far nothing has been done and the 32 council areas remain. We accept that from a government point of view it’s a politically difficult issue. However, it’s far too important to ignore.”

In the absence of action by politicians, he and Dr Hamilton thought it would be useful to make their own suggestions. “If things are going to change we need to have fresh ideas,” he said. “Despite the political risk associated with boundary reform, other governments across the world have grasped this nettle because it can lead to more efficient governance and cut costs. Recent regional rejigs in Denmark and France show it can be done and we believe an algorithmic approach can at the very least contribute to this debate.”

However, a spokesman for Cosla, the body which represents Scotland’s councils, said: “This study is the opposite to what we hear from communities in Scotland. Local government is a legitimate sphere of government and as such wants the powers and financial levers to respond to the specific needs in their communities. They do not need an arbitrary increase in size and a reduction in influence.”

In 2012, Reform Scotland, an independent think tank, called for the number of councils to be reduced to 19. Scottish Borders council has taken steps towards the becoming the first local authority in Scotland to merge with its local NHS board. Last month Shona Haslem, council leader, said: “Rising costs and decreasing funding mean we have to think of new ways to protect our public services.”

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: “We have no plans to change council boundaries. The local governance review asks public service partners to propose alternative decision-making arrangements at council level or more regionally.”

Author: The Courier

The Scottish Government has been warned against launching its own energy company to rival a not-for-profit supplier it supported with millions of pounds of public money.

Our Power, which was founded with £6 million of state help, said it does not see how spending taxpayer cash on another government-backed energy firm can be justified.

The charity Community Energy Scotland branded it “perverse” for the SNP administration to use more public funds to take on Our Power in a fiercely competitive market.

In written submissions to a Holyrood committee, it was also claimed the government is underestimating the challenges for a new publicly-owned energy company (POEC).

The Scottish Government says the firm would be an alternative to what is already being offered and a business case is being developed.

Our Power, which supplies gas and electricity to 30,000 homes in the UK, was established by social housing providers in 2015 with an “essential” £6m investment from the Scottish Government.

Writing to the economy committee, it said the government should not be setting up its own supplier company, adding: “Given that Scottish Government is an investor in Our Power, it is difficult to see the case for public funding to be used for a second energy supply company.”

The firm also said the POEC’s strategic case has “underestimated” a number of challenges “including the cost of business start-up, working capital requirements and operating margins”.

An EY report published this year for the Scottish Government estimated it would cost up to £3.5m to set up the company, with first-year running costs at £9m.

Community Energy Scotland, a charity promoting local ownership of renewable energy sources, welcomed the government’s motivation to tackle fuel poverty.

But it added: “It is clear that energy supply is a complex and challenging business especially for small companies wrestling with wholesale market price fluctuation and this may mean the POEC may struggle to become profitable whilst undermining the fledgling non-profit energy supply company, Our Power.

“It would be perverse for a Scottish Government initiative to have this impact on a supply company developed with strong Scottish Government support and encouragement.”

Scottish Renewables, which represents the industry, is broadly supportive saying the state supplier has the “potential to perform a vital role in securing and expanding both the energy and socioeconomic benefits generated by renewables in Scotland”.

MSPs will hear evidence from energy figures on Tuesday as part of their scrutiny of the SNP’s plans, which were revealed in last year’s programme for government.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We have been clear that our ambition is to see a public energy company that offers an alternative to the existing main suppliers and which provides an attractive price to consumers as well as supporting our efforts to tackle fuel poverty.

“The outline business case is being commissioned and will include detailed commercial, economic and financial analysis.”

Author: Kirsty Weakley, Civil Society

Civil society is too divided with local and newer organisations not feeling that the established charity sector “has got their back”, Julia Unwin said yesterday.

Unwin has been chairing the Civil Society Futures Inquiry, which will publish its final report in November, and was speaking at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Charities and Volunteering.

As part of the inquiry she has visited many communities across England and closely interrogated some areas.

“The environment is changing fast and is hugely challenging,” she said, adding that she has learned “how detached and divided we have become – not just as society, but as civil society.”

She said society is divided along generational, class and racial lines, and civil society is “equally divided”.

“There is a lack of trust and deep connection between some larger organisations, not necessarily national, and some community organisations and new start-up organisations,” she said.

This is partly because “the shape of civil society is changing” with new movements and networks “challenging existing institutions; sometimes operating alongside each other, sometimes tripping them up”.

She said this was a “real challenge” and that established bodies shouldn’t ignore “these angry outliers of people telling us we got it all wrong”.

“We would be ignoring the message that local organisations, start-up organisations, social enterprises and community organisations don’t feel that this establishment has got their back. They don’t feel supported and protected or engaged,” she said.

‘We squander trust at our peril’

Unwin said that “trust is our biggest currency” which is “worth more than our brand names or our balance sheets”, and that “we squander that trust within civil society at our peril”.

This means that the established parts of the sector need to pay “really careful attention to the challenges that are coming our way” and listen to what communities tell them.

They might be “irritating” or “disruptive” but “they may be right”, she said.

“We have been completely thrown by inability to listen” on issues like Brexit, Unwin told the audience.

‘Re-energised civil society’

Unwin said if civil society can “build the deep connections within it” and “if it can invest in trust within it”, then it will be in a good place to respond to challenges.

“A re-energised civil society, with a different way of operating and different set of behaviours, has got capacity to start to rebuild trust in democracy,” she said.

She said: “There has never been a moment of huge change in this country where civil society did not step up.

“Our enduring purpose has to be to connect people with power to those without power and people who feel they haven’t got power to each other. I think if we really address that civil society is in a very strong place.”

‘There are some things legacy organisations do better’

Kirsty McNeil, executive director of policy, advocacy and campaigns at Save the Children, was also speaking at the session and said there is still a role for “legacy” charities such as hers.

She said there had been a “profound disruption to our monopoly” but there is still a role for more established charities.

There is still a need for some things such as emergency humanitarian relief to be delivered at scale, she said, adding that established bodies are often better placed to defend policy wins over the long term as they have access to political and media contacts.

This means they can help provide a “platform” to other campaigns. She said the sector should “get better at this”.

McNeil gave the example of Save the Children offering a meeting space to other organisations to work collaboratively – not insisting on leading the discussions, but saying “you know where to find us”.

Author: Kate Holman Social Europe

Forgotten by time and abandoned by most of its younger generation, the old village of Riace in Calabria, clinging to the steep hillsides above the Ionian Sea, would be unknown to the outside world had it not become the reluctant embodiment of the political and social divisions tearing Italy apart.

On Saturday 6 October, in dismal weather, some 5,000 people – three times the local population – climbed Riace’s narrow streets to support its embattled Mayor, Mimmo Lucano.

Over the last 20 years, Lucano has gained a growing international reputation as the Mayor of accoglienza – welcome – after he started opening Riace’s empty houses to refugees. Since then, thousands of migrants from some 20 different countries have found shelter in the town. And that success has infuriated the xenophobes and extremists who now play a leading role in Italy’s government.

In mid-October Lucano was placed under house arrest, accused of assisting illegal immigration and abuse of public office by awarding contracts for refuse collection and recycling to two cooperatives set up to employ local people. Neither of the unproven offences – and the Mayor defends himself vigorously – would seem to merit long-term detention in his modest home. Indeed, Lucano is not alone in questioning why he was locked up when many of Calabria’s ‘Ndràngheta families go freely about their daily lives, even though their identities are well-known to their neighbours. (He has now been released – into ‘exile’.)

But the charges are just the latest in a series of threats and allegations that have swirled around Riace’s first citizen in recent months. First, the state funding awarded to local authorities to host refugees was slow to arrive, and then blocked altogether. Last year Lucano was accused of misuse of public funds – a charge later dismissed. He has suffered abuse on social media and attacks by the ‘Ndrangheta. RAI, the Italian TV, recently suspended broadcasting of a fictional film based on his work. Finally, this summer, Lucano started a hunger strike, warning that mounting debts would mean the end of the ‘Riace model’, throwing 165 refugees onto the streets, including 50 children.

The stakes rose when in June, in a video clip that rapidly went viral, Matteo Salvini, leader of the extreme right and avowedly anti-immigration Lega and now Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, launched an unprovoked attack, calling Lucano “a nothing”. Not hard, then, to see a political motive behind the charges and delays.

Milan-born Salvini, whose party has long sought ‘independence’ for the prosperous Italian north, was elected to his Senate seat last March ironically to represent the impoverished south – with a little bit of help, according to a Guardian investigation, from local politicians closely linked to the ‘Ndrangheta. A few days before Lucano’s arrest, Salvini’s swingeing new anti-immigrant measures were approved by the government.

By contrast, Lucano avoids personal attacks. Asked if the accusations are political, he replies mildly that “strange things” have been happening over the last two years.

Not that he enjoys uncritical backing from Italy’s fragmented left. Some people ask whether it is appropriate for an elected mayor to be sidestepping legal tendering rules, for example. “I would do something illegal 1,000 times to save just one human life,” replies Lucano defiantly. Even supporters question the sustainability of the project. Calabria is one of the EU’s poorest regions. Just as local inhabitants are forced out to find work, most of Riace’s refugees have to move on in the long term. Other commentators fear that going to the barricades over Riace will merely increase support for the far right, given the widespread anti-immigrant sentiments in Italy.

Not all local citizens are enthusiastic, either, although it is hard to find anyone in the streets of Riace with a bad word to say about their Mayor. And Lucano has some influential supporters, including anti-Camorra journalist Roberto Saviano and the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau. According to Saviano, Lucano’s arrest is the first step in transforming Italy from a democracy into an authoritarian state. Speaking at the Le Monde festival in Paris last weekend, he claimed that Italy has always been a testing ground for populist and fascist ideas, and that Salvini aspires to lead a Europe-wide movement.

So why should Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister get so excited about events in a tiny town in the far south? The fact that the Riace model of hospitality and integration works, and could work in many other ageing and depopulated communities, poses a direct challenge to everything the Lega stands for. It offers a viable way forward towards a European immigration and integration system that benefits everyone. By converting the refugees’ grants into coupons that must be spent in local businesses, for example, Lucano revitalised the economy of a dying town, creating jobs through ‘social tourism’, restoring social care and repopulating schools and creches. Why send immigrants home when they’re making Italian lives better?

But beyond the practical considerations, it’s ideological. In an open letter thanking his supporters, Lucano urged them to maintain the courage of their convictions. Riace has been described as a “heritage of humanity”. The Mayor’s inspiration for action in a small place was wanting to contribute to something much larger: to demonstrate that there are alternatives, to respect human dignity, and to understand that migration is the product of injustice around the world. That’s what makes Riace a European issue.

Author: David McPhee Oban Times

Oban is well on its way to becoming Scotland’s first ‘health town’.

The journey officially started on Saturday at a health fair in Atlantis Leisure, where people were encouraged to try out a new activity or sport.

Dozens of organisations that help improve people’s health, turned out to offer advice.

Attendees were also given the opportunity to take part in taster sessions, such as walking football, CPR training, tennis coaching, Tai Chi, as well as other sports and fitness classes.

Roy Cloonie, a voluntary director at Healthy Options, said: ‘We are launching Oban becoming Scotland’s first healthy living town.

‘Forty per cent of the population is not active enough to stay in good health, but today is not about being scared. In Oban we have fantastic organisations.

‘What we are doing and what these organisations do is fantastic, but it’s still just reactive. We  want people to stay healthy – that’s what healthy Oban is all about.

‘There are 150 different organisations either directly, or indirectly improving our health.

‘Not just sports clubs and gyms, but walking and social groups.

‘They all improve our health, reduce isolation and loneliness, and get us active.

‘As a town we have our own sports centre, a cinema, and we are working towards having a community centre at Rockfield.

‘Today, we are saying to the Oban community, this is us making a commitment and the journey has started – and the journey will never end. This is a long-term project.

‘It’s a mindset thing. We never think, “I am going to brush my teeth today”, we just do it. We want the same for exercise – we just go for a walk.’

Discussing the next steps, Roy said: ‘We have a group of committed people from voluntary organisations who are all pulling together. We just want to support, encourage and provide opportunities for people. We need to support these organisaitons.’

Andy Spence, chief executive of BID4Oban, said: ‘We have a very keen interest in what’s happening with Oban as a healthy town. It’s essential to the residents and the businesses that we support this and make it a success.’

Councillor for Oban North and Lorn, Elaine Robertson said: ‘We are so fortunate to have a community that responds to a call such as this one.

‘This includes physical and mental health because unless you have both, your wellbeing and quality of life are diminished.

‘Unfortunately not everyone enjoys good health, but we can all do something to help ourselves.

‘Exercise does as much for us than anything prescribed. Just get out there and go into the community and you will feel better.

‘One of the great things about being the first is you can’t make a mistake as there are no rules.

‘Having fun and enjoying yourself is better than any medicine you can prescribe.

‘Look around and see if there’s any activity you might enjoy – such as walking football.’