Author: Tom Hughes-Hallett

Tom Hughes-Hallett’s new charity HelpForce has already achieved great results by recruiting volunteers. Now he challenges the nation to fulfil the original NHS vision of shared benefit and shared responsibility

I am a HelpForce volunteer, and I’d like you to become one too. It is a life-changing experience. HelpForce? You’ve probably never heard of us — so here’s the general idea. On one of my shifts I found a patient in great distress with obvious mental health problems outside our hospital. I brought him in, calmed him down and helped him to his appointment. Result: a contented patient, no staff time wasted and immense personal satisfaction for me.

A fellow volunteer rings and reminds patients to go to their memory clinics. Attendance has leapt from 15% to 100%.

Another volunteer, whose decision to join was spurred by a difficult patch in his life, told me his children are proud of him for doing so.

Motorbike fanatics across the country act as volunteer couriers, riding 900cc bikes to deliver urgently needed blood — saving lives and feeling useful.

This is what we do in HelpForce. We help hospitals, patients and staff in the NHS, and in return we achieve a sense of purpose doing something exciting and challenging. This is why I founded HelpForce.

When I was chief executive of Marie Curie, a cancer care charity, we had 10,000 volunteers supporting 4,000 staff, and they made all the difference. I now chair Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where 6,000 people work. I see amazing, committed staff supporting an ever-increasing number of patients, yet there are only a few hundred volunteers helping them.

Why is the NHS failing to engage its own citizens? It was this glaringly obvious question that led me to create HelpForce with the notable support of the Royal Voluntary Service and other charities and NHS trusts. We are on a mission to inspire as many people as possible to enjoy being part of the health and care of British people. I would like to see volunteers underpinning every aspect of our NHS, which is to my mind the world’s greatest health system.

I can imagine a Britain where millions of people are proud to be the HelpForce — a Britain where giving back to the NHS and other public services is ingrained in our social fabric, where you can expect companionship and support through your entire time in the health system and where communities support nurses and doctors to produce a more complete healthcare experience.

In our vision, vulnerable patients will be accompanied through the health system by a safe and reliable volunteer.

What could it look like? If you are a nurse, volunteers will take the pressure off you, happy to be bleeped to run errands, enabling you to provide more expert care. They will sit with the most vulnerable, lonely, distressed and even troublesome patients. In your hospital, fewer nurses will leave as they recognise they are working for a hospital that takes their health and wellbeing seriously.

If you are a patient, imagine never being alone on a visit to hospital. A volunteer will pick you up and take you to your appointment. They will stay with you during the appointment and take notes. They will explain what the treatment involves. They will take you home and pick the milk up on the way. They will sit with you until a friend or relative gets home. They will remain your companion. 

Ambulance services will send a paramedic accompanied by a volunteer. If all you need is to be checked, don’t worry, because the volunteer will stay with you until you feel better, and the guilt you felt for calling an ambulance that somebody else needed will go away. 

If you are in hospital, a trained volunteer will support NHS physios and help you out of bed every day so that you are in good shape to go home more quickly. They may help you with applying for benefits.

When it is time to leave, there will be no waiting around, because volunteers will collect your prescription and drive you home. When individual hospitals are facing bills of £12m or more to help patients get home, volunteers can reduce that cost, allowing the money to flow back to clinical services.

If you are terminally ill, you will not die alone. A volunteer will be with you. In the event that you want to go home for your final weeks, they will support you in doing so. 

Digitally, the possibilities for HelpForce are almost boundless: WhatsApp-style groups linking volunteers across the nation to share best practice; a “Tinder” for volunteering, matching safe and reliable volunteers with patients or staff who need their support; and a “TripAdvisor” of the best volunteer experiences.

In the past 18 months we have moved from being a concept in my imagination to the beginning of a nationally recognised movement in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England.

The HelpForce idea is so simple and could be so successful, yet most people do not even know it is possible to volunteer at an NHS hospital. 

In 1942 the social reformer William Beveridge published what became the blueprint for the postwar welfare state, using words that have been my constant inspiration: “The state, in organising security, should not stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility; in establishing a national minimum, it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.” 

We have moved far from Beveridge’s original vision of a shared project to build a better Britain — shared between the state and the population. Now we as citizens expect everything free in return for paying our taxes. We have moved from a society that balanced rights and duties to a society that believes in duty-less rights. Unsurprisingly, compassionate communities have become a threatened species. 

In the NHS there are too many patients supported by too few staff, who are becoming increasingly frustrated and exhausted. The NHS system has become gridlocked by demands for more funding, when innovation and new models have to be found.

 We are in an economic environment where rapid, bold, action-based solutions are needed. 

New figures show that in 40 years’ time our population of pensioners will have increased by 9m. Medical advance is to be celebrated, but the consequences can be complicated. Longer lives — yes. Better lives? Doubtful, when you may live your final decades with a host of chronic illnesses. 

You can see why so many NHS leaders have become pessimistic. But we can be optimistic if we think differently and build a new, shared NHS owned equally by citizens, communities and the state.

A seemingly impossible healthcare challenge is less daunting if we begin to balance rights with duties through volunteering support.

An exciting shift is evident, with people of all ages wanting to get stuck in to support our public services. Giving time and talent has become more important than giving money, and an increasing awareness of the inequities in our society provides fertile ground for the creation of a social movement that can bring Beveridge’s vision back.

This is timely, as confidence in established charities is falling. Charities that get too close to government lose public trust, find their hands tied and fail in their own stated mission, as we have seen with recent high-profile cases. When this failure happens, we all lose, but the beneficiaries lose the most.

There are many shining examples of charities that are getting it right — the Royal Voluntary Service, Marie Curie, Alzheimer’s Society, British Red Cross and St John Ambulance, to name only a few volunteer-driven organisations. HelpForce is working closely with them and smaller, local charities to bring the best of their work into the heart of the NHS.

We identify local excellence, evaluate it, share best practice and expand nationally to help the NHS everywhere to use volunteering to support patients and reduce the strain on our wonderful but often exhausted NHS staff. By doing this, we will see volunteering unblock the obstacles along the care pathway, ridding the chief executives and their staff of constant headaches.

Never do we seek to replace paid employment. We seek only to support paid staff, allowing them to carry out the roles for which they have been trained, and we are working closely with trade unions. Volunteering is a natural pathway into the NHS workforce at a time when the NHS needs more people to join its ranks.

All over the UK there are wonderful examples of NHS trusts benefiting already from new forms of care provided at least in part by volunteers through small local charities, and large ones such as the Royal Voluntary Service.

Now it is your opportunity. We are inviting individuals and communities: “Be the HelpForce. Get involved personally; put your own skin in the game.”

Contact your local hospital and offer to help, or email info@helpforce.community — or visit helpforce.community— to find out

Author: The Alliance for a Community Wealth Fund

Full report here

Foreward

This report is based on research and a range of conversations that reveal quite remarkable common ground on how billions of pounds could be untapped and released to local communities. But it also goes further than previous proposals – in suggesting a radical and ambitious partnership between government, the private sector and civil society.

Communities across our country are facing challenges every day. Increasingly, the case is becoming clearer for how an ambitious long-term endowment could help those areas that have – to date – missed out on the proceeds of a growing economy. This idea could be understood as a Community Wealth Fund, tasked with supporting long term, patient investment in the social and civic economy of areas that need it most. This fund would provide the investment and support needed to support strong relationships and social action across England, supporting a richer and more resilient civil society in areas which have struggled in the face  of economic and social challenges.  The government’s Civil Society Strategy, published in August 2018, offers a vision of substantial place-based investment programmes that introduce new models of investment to raise social and economic outcomes and new approaches in communities where there is a lack of capacity and capability to access investment. Our proposal is for the creation of a sustainable pot of money to reinvest long term in communities and to support the development of the community infrastructure that  underpins a strong civil society, from community ownership of assets to investment in networks of local community organisations. We hope this report is a constructive contribution to the debate. It reflects the view of those consulted so far. But it is the start of a process and significantly more consultation and dialogue is needed with stakeholders across the charitable, voluntary and community sector, and with the public and private sectors in order to develop and strengthen the idea. Our aspiration is, over the coming months, to further strengthen a broad alliance in support of the Community Wealth Fund. Much like the fund itself, we hope this report takes us forward, unites rather than divides, and empowers those who want to see local communities thrive. As the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, says, “Prosperity requires not just investment in economic capital, but investment in social capital”.

Executive Summary

A new wave of unclaimed assets could be worth billions of pounds. While this money may be a long way away, a consensus is already emerging around how these resources could be used most effectively for the benefit of society. The Government, NCVO, Locality and others are all keen to see the money used to provide strategic, long-term funding to support communities who need it the most.

Since the Brexit vote, many people in the UK have started to give greater consideration to how local communities might recapture a greater sense of empowerment and control over their futures. How can we bridge divides and address the feeling of being “left behind”? Rebuilding social capital and trust is back on the agenda – essential to the functioning of our society and economy. We know that civil society builds trust and connections and creates a sense of belonging. Associations enable people to participate in their communities. But civil society is fragile and held back from helping communities fulfil their potential, due to a mix of funding pressures, market forces, myths about charity overheads, and flawed policy responses.  We know we must address the fragility of the institutions and spaces that enable participation and association, in turn rebuilding social capital. This is how we can rebuild trust.

Some places have been left behind by globalisation as our economic model has not benefitted all communities equally. But areas of deep-seated deprivation can recover through emerging models of local economic development. Communities are seizing opportunities to do things for themselves. New Shared Prosperity Funds, which will replace European Structural Funds, will provide a unique opportunity to support and develop these solutions. But prosperity requires investment in social, not just economic capital. We need to nurture social capital in areas where it is weak or nonexistent and help communities develop the capabilities needed to participate in community economic development. This requires a new approach.

So our proposal envisages the creation of a Community Wealth Fund, providing long term, patient investment in support of place-led change – a fund to create opportunity and unlock the power of communities. This fund would seek to empower people to develop solutions and enable communities to develop  their own responses.

Unclaimed assets in insurance and pension funds, bonds and stock and shares are potentially worth billions of pounds. But we could see the creation of a fund worth £4 – £5 billion if a range of resources were brought together. This could include the release of share capital from the private sector, civil society’s stranded assets, other unclaimed assets not yet identified and community assets which already exist at the local level.

It is too early to specify in detail how such a fund would be managed and distributed. But our consultation suggests considerable consensus around the principles of a place-based model, long term funding, community control, national support and collaboration with other stakeholders.

 A fund on this scale could deliver transformative social, economic and financial impact. It could also support community commissioned services, save assets, build new infrastructure, enhance democracy and build new relationships across society.  We therefore recommend that civil society establishes an independent and credible taskforce, with the support and endorsement of Government, to take the Community Wealth Fund proposal forward over the coming months. We look forward to playing our part in its development, creation and success.

  August 2018

Author: Rob Edwards, The Ferret

Scotland must “rapidly” shut down its North Sea oil and gas industry to cut pollution and combat climate change, according to a new report from scientists.

Carbon emissions from petrochemical plants, oil terminals, cement works and other major polluters will have to cease if Scotland is to play its part in reducing the risk of heatwaves, droughts, storms and floods caused by global warming, they warn.

They also call on the Scottish Government to “decarbonise” transport and heating, boost energy efficiency in buildings, cut waste, expand forests by a third and restore peat bogs. Ministers must toughen their targets to cut climate pollution to “net zero” by 2050, they say.

The oil industry, however, stressed its value to the Scottish economy and urged a “pragmatic approach”. Other industries highlighted the efforts they were already making to reduce their carbon emissions.

The report has been written by leading experts from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester and Uppsala University in Sweden. It was commissioned by the umbrella group, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, and the environmental group, Friends of the Earth Scotland.

For the first time the scientists worked out Scotland’s carbon budget under the international climate agreement made in Paris in 2015. They conclude that for Scotland to meet its global responsibilities it can only emit a total of 300 million tonnes more carbon dioxide – meaning it has to cut emissions by at least ten per cent every year starting now.

The Scottish Government needs urgently to enact policies to rapidly cease hydrocarbon production from its oil and gas sector.

The report points out that if the world is to meet international climate targets 70-80 per cent of known fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground. “Scotland needs to begin an urgent and phased closure of its oil and gas sector,” it says.

“Scotland is a wealthy industrial nation with excellent prospects for renewable energy. The Scottish Government needs urgently to enact policies to rapidly cease hydrocarbon production from its oil and gas sector.”

Scotland should “eliminate all its industrial process carbon dioxide emissions prior to 2050,” the report argues. The country should help lead the global effort to reduce industrial emissions “particularly from cement production”, it says.

According to the pollution database maintained by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, 12 of the top 20 carbon polluters are linked to North Sea oil and gas. In 2016 they emitted a total of over six million tons of carbon dioxide.

Four of the most polluting plants are run by the petrochemical giant, Ineos, at Grangemouth, with others operated by ExxonMobil, Shell, Total and SSE. Other major emitters include the Tarmac cement works near Dunbar, two paper and board factories and a whisky distillery.

Scotland’s top 20 climate polluters

Plant      Tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted in 2016

Petroineos refinery, Grangemouth         1.65m

Longannet power station, Fife   1.64m (now closed)

ExxonMobile ethylene plant, Mossmorran          885,580

Combined heat and power plant, Grangemouth               614,863

SSE power station, Peterhead    602,641

Tarmac cement plant, Dunbar    537,029

Ineos Infrastructure, Grangemouth        495,214

Ineos Chemicals, Grangemouth 486,809

RWE biomass plant, Glenrothes 438,000

E.ON biomass plant, Lockerbie   370,965

Shell gas plant, Peterhead           356,334

Ineos Forties Pipeline System, Grangemouth     351,262

UPM-Kymmene paper mill, Irvine            279,483

Norboard chipboard factory, Cowie         268,160

Total gas plant, Shetland               235,234

Engie oil terminal, Shetland         211,741

Shell gas plant, Mossmorran       193,554

William Grant whisky distillers, Girvan    152,913

Repsol oil terminal, Orkney         144,206

O-I glass plant, Alloa       141,902

source: Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

One of the report’s authors is Dr Jaise Kuriakose, a climate expert from the University of Manchester. “We need a significant change across our entire economy,” he said.

“It is not a case of one sector being able to do all the work whilst others carry on as they are. Because the remaining carbon budget is so small, we must genuinely deliver a transition to living in a low carbon way across all sectors.”

Immediate action was essential if Scotland was to make a fair contribution to the Paris climate agreement, Kuriakose argued. “Scotland should begin an urgent and phased closure of its oil and gas sector and move to a 100 per cent renewable energy economy while ensuring a just transition for the workers in the sector.”

He called for “complete decarbonisation of road transport, increased energy efficiency from buildings and decarbonised heating in the next two decades”. To ensure net land emissions reached zero by 2050 he argued that “a 35 per cent increase in total forest land is required along with restoration of peatlands and wetlands”.

According to Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, the Scottish Government’s draft climate bill would fail to deliver the pollution cuts needed. “It is almost beyond belief that the bill requires almost no further emissions reductions any time in the next decade,” he said.

“Instead we need radical action in housing, agriculture, farming and industry. We need emissions from industries like refining, cement making, steel works and chemicals plants to fall to zero.”

Author: Jason Shroeder

These conversations are being had due to the widespread growth in Men’s Sheds. It is my aim here to bring some clarity and direction to these conversations.

Are Men’s Sheds for men only ?

Men’s Sheds are a 100% male health initiative started in Australia in the 1990’s to create a different place in our society for all men to socialise with a purpose besides the pub and the betting shop. The whole Men’s Shed ethos is designed to fit the needs of the male psyche and body. This is why the Men’s Shed voluntary grass roots movement is so successful compared to existing places which offer sessions often run in community centres and outside agencies. As there is no ownership of sessional experiences which the male psyche often doesn’t like, many men do not find the concept engaging or challenging enough to get a continued buy in.

Men’s Sheds by their definition are what it says on the label, are for men. In Scotland unlike Australia where it’s designed primarily for retired men we are championing it for any man over the age of eighteen who has time on his hands, wants to socialise and do something productive with his time.

Men’s Sheds are now helping reduce health inequalities across the population. Presently there is an increasing awareness and concern regarding the burden of illness experienced by men. In our opinion

Men’s Sheds are about social male inclusion and should remain true to its new roots. If the Sheds become mixed gender, then this new ‘successful recipe’ of healthy male engagement is lost. Both genders benefit from having their own place to be together for some of the time.

We are therefore also seeing the emergence in Scotland of what some people are calling, She Sheds – women only Sheds. Some of the inherited stories of our society which still continues today are the Victorian attitudes and behaviours like men must be tough, boys and men don’t cry, offensive male banter, it’s a dog eat dog world, trust nobody especially men and survive for yourself in your own Kingdom. I see this in the western world work model which most of our over 45 year old Shedders have been a part of. How can we change this unless we have a new place for men to experience a different way of interacting and as the saying goes, if you can see it, you can be it.

We need a new place to ‘see it’ and that new male environment is the Scottish Men’s Shed which works on kindness, fun, trust, making new friends, and self-generated projects. A welcoming place for all men where they can relax in male company, not have their guard up all the time and be a part of something bigger than their own self.

Is it legal in Scotland and the U.K. to have single sex associations?

The answer is yes. Why do we have them and are they beneficial in the 21st Century? In my opinion and over seventeen thousand women’s opinions (Scottish Women’s Institute’s female only membership) we see a big value in spending time with our own genders. We speak and share about things which we don’t when we are in mixed company. Often by our male nature of not looking after ourselves very well, more prone to risky behaviours and not speaking up for ourselves health wise we haven’t had a centralising voice or the inclination to channel our male concerns and issues. For example we are witnessing Men’s Shed groups not knowing their rights and don’t know how to counter the conversation when some funders and members of their community say they must become mixed gender and be a type of workshop community hub. It is easy to get confused and fearful about equality and inequality issues from the work place environment and the wider world through social media. The SMSA is now providing that clarity and conversation (like this article) and we are encouraged by having these conversations with our members. By giving it a voice there is the opportunity of positive change.

Health professionals, MSP’s, Community Engagement Officers, our loved ones and men themselves have been looking for many decades for a such a place. Now we have it and it is steadily growing but also struggling through confusion, fake news and old fears. The SMSA’s work is to support and educate by being at the forefront of male health needs and support the independent Scottish Men’s Sheds movement thrive well beyond the 21st Century.

Men’s Sheds are for men to also be able to spend valuable time apart from their loved ones and not having to live in each other’s pockets all the time. Many women in Scotland have been enjoying this experience and continue to do so for the past 100 years by being members of the Scottish Women’s Institute. The Scottish Men’s Shed is the 21st Century equivalent for Scottish men. I hope that has given some deeper understanding of what we are working on achieving. It’s a complex social ‘inherited’ knot, but together we can unravel it and create better life experiences for ourselves, our loved ones and our communities.

Author: Catriona Stewart The Herald

WHEN the Victorian philanthropists gave up their land for the common good of the common man, could they have imagined what like those greenspaces would be 175 years later?

Much they would recognise: the fine entrances of imposing iron gates, the ornate railings, the avenues of trees, grand terraces and rainbow flowerbeds.

How would they feel, however, to see their gifts fenced off from general use and trampled by festival fans?

In Glasgow this summer, Kelvingrove Park has been commandeered by Fiesta x FOLD, an event that began last year in the park’s bandstand but this year spreadeagled into the greenspace proper. This meant large hoardings going up to prevent passers-by being able to glimpse performances for free and a national cycle route closed to accommodate it.

Residents at Glasgow Green had it the worst in the city with the TRNSMT music festival, which ran over two weekends before the singer Bruno Mars took up residence. The combined events put the space out of use for a month. Local residents complained of having what is, essentially, their garden removed from them without their say-so.

Of course, the organisers of TRNSMT came back swinging, saying the event was of wider economic benefit to Glasgow, residents had been offered tickets and it was a chance to show off the city to the international performers who took part.

Kelvingrove and Glasgow Green are not the only city parks being hawked for profit. There is a licensing application in for a German beer festival on Queen’s Park Recreation Ground, which was already used in June by Zippos circus.

In Victoria Park there is a stooshie over plans from Glasgow City Council’s Land and Environmental Services to grass over 28 of the main flower beds in the formal gardens at the end of the summer.

These are Victorian flower beds, part of a landscape listed by Historic Environment Scotland, and the Friends of Victoria Park group puts up a thin edge of the wedge argument against the local authority’s intentions, believing the remaining flower beds will soon also be under threat. Already the park has lost planting at its bowling greens and in its, again historic, Fossil Grove.

The council suggests the Friends might like to take over the flower beds but, firstly, it is a large ask from a small volunteer group and, secondly, that takes paid work from council employees.  

Trying to pass responsibilities for parks onto Friends groups is a common tactic seen from local authorities around Britain as maintenance budgets are slashed.

Victoria Park recently hosted FriendsFest, a festival based on the American sit-com. Friends of Victoria Park wanted the council to pledge to use any money from FriendsFest to maintain the flowerbeds, however, income generated by the parks is pooled and shared out generally among the council’s Land and Environmental Services.

In Edinburgh, hoardings have gone up around Princes Street Gardens to prevent sight of the Summer Sessions event, to general dismay.

Surely an entrepreneurial city should monetise its assets in straightened times, even if that’s using a park as a drive-in movie theatre or music venue? When budgets are tight, low priority issues need special case pleading to ensure they have the resources they deserve. It’s interesting, given all parks provide for communities, that there isn’t a national body to defend them.

Parks, the lungs of our cities, surely are a special case and not to be colonised by private events. Functional and beautiful playgrounds for adults and children, they are gardens for those who live in flats. They cool the air of cities in summer temperatures. Parks support current key policy areas – outdoor play in education and a need to encourage exercise to stave off obesity. They are good for mental health.

Most of all, they are “ours”, a collective, shared and, importantly, free amenity, and so the privatisation and commercialisation of open spaces feels jarring. It is cannot be right to prevent use of these common plots for the sake of limited numbers of people.

There is, however, only so much charity to be gleaned from local communities and only so much revenue in council coffers.

If the parks must earn their keep, above all they already give us, then there should be discussions about more creative, less intrusive ways to do it. A good start would be a cap on the number of days a year a park can be out of general commission. They must not become event spaces first and parks second.

Parks exist as rare egalitarian spaces where equal access for all should be enshrined.

They are public property, not revenue streams and to make them so would be a short sighted move. Without a campaigning body, it’s up to communities to protect their parks. Start by using them: the more people are using them, the less likely we are to lose them. 

Author: Greg Hurst, Social Affairs Editor, The Times

Residents are to be offered radical powers to veto or approve plans that affect their communities in an attempt by ministers to reconnect with voters who have lost faith in conventional politics.

Decisions to approve housing developments, sell public assets such as community centres and swimming pools, or spend more on fixing potholes could be made using new forms of direct democracy. Ministers are proposing that local authorities use online polls and “citizen juries” to give residents a direct say in their communities, particularly in poor or remote areas.

Local authorities in six areas will take part in a trial over the next 12 months. It is part of a government strategy announced today with the aim of strengthening communities

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said that the issues at stake and the precise decision-making methods would be up to individual authorities, which will submit applications to take part in the trial. Some councils may see it as a threat to their powers. As an indicator of the proposal’s potential, officials pointed to the Irish referendum on abortion laws in May, which was held after a citizens’ assembly of 99 people backed reform.

They also highlighted the role of a citizens’ jury in overturning plans for a nuclear waste dump in South Australia last year.

Such a jury would be a group of people selected at random — in a similar way to those used for criminal trials — to spend several days considering an issue. They would often be led by a facilitator, examining evidence in detail and cross-examining experts before making a recommendation or report.

If the trial is successful, the methods could be incorporated more widely into council decision-making. Ministers could even consider making some funding for local authorities conditional on proving that communities were consulted over how it was spent, a scenario that would heighten existing tensions between central and local government.

Interest in giving communities greater say over decisions has grown since the Brexit referendum in 2016. Many poorer communities backed the Leave campaign, a signal that was interpreted as a disaffection with politics.

Today’s strategy has echoes of Vote Leave’s “take back control” slogan used during the referendum. The strategy says: “Many people feel disenfranchised and disempowered and the government is keen to find new ways to give people back a sense of control over their communities’ future.”

It also cites an inquiry into civil society, chaired by Julia Unwin, former chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which found that many poorer communities feel neglected. Ms Unwin said last night: “Across England people have told us that they feel ignored, and that decisions that directly affect their lives are taken without their involvement. A shift in power is needed so that the voice of people in communities is not just heard, but heeded. A much more developed and engaged democracy, including citizens’ juries, is urgently required.”

In a joint foreword, Jeremy Wright, the culture secretary, and Tracey Crouch, minister for civil society, said: “To meet the opportunities and threats of the future a new approach is needed that gives greater freedom and responsibility to our communities.”

The Local Government Association gave a muted response, saying that it would work with ministers to test ideas. A spokesman said: “Increased community involvement must go hand in hand with further devolution of funding and powers to the local level if the pilots are to be meaningful.”

Author: Indigo House Group

To read the full Executive Summary click here

Cash is critical to the day-to-day functioning of the local economies and the communities across the Highlands and Islands. The most striking conclusion from this research is the persistence of the need for cash, amongst individuals, businesses and community groups. The survey evidence revealed some reduction in the use of cash, and a much larger decline in the use of cheques. There is a corresponding

increase in the use of debit and credit cards, as well as electronic payments, whether online or by card, but cash is still critical. Current patterns of usage and the rate of change suggests the move to different payment channels will be relatively slow in the Highlands and Islands.

There is still a need for cash, particularly within the more rural and remote communities. Cash is particularly crucial to the functioning of small retail shops and businesses, prominent in rural areas, and access to facilities to process both cash and cheques is thus fundamental to their day-to-day functioning and long-term viability. Cash was also found to be core to the functioning of tourism, agricultural and fishing businesses, partly because of their seasonal demand for labour. These businesses need access to cash beyond that which is available at ATMs

Having banking facilities and the ability to deposit and access cash also underpins the day-to-day functioning of many community organisations. There are 1,196 social enterprises currently operating in the Highlands and Islands, with 85% of these led by, and accountable to, people in a particular

community. In remote and rural areas, these groups are often providing key services not otherwise available. Banking facilities also need to be understood as being a core to the functioning of local community infrastructure. It is clear that community organisations’ banking methods are more traditional, and while much could be done to encourage channel shift for these businesses, that change will take time. In the meantime, bank branch closures could negatively impact on the operations of these organisations, the life blood of many communities.

Residents, tourists and many businesses in the Highlands and Islands need ATMs to be present and reliable. The findings show that while ATMs may be present, they are not always available 24 hours, and more critically are not reliable, especially those based within shops or other premises.

Taken together these findings show an apparent disconnect between banking closures and economic development initiatives driven by public sector agencies, especially in relation to tourism. Successes in growing tourism as a means to generate income within local and fragile communities could run the risk of being undermined by the loss of access to cash via local banks. This potential undermining of the local economy is not only in relation to the apparent lack of support for the cash economy, but also the apparent ‘running down’ of communities where banks as the linchpin of the local high street is lost, and with it there is a perceived impact on the economic wellbeing of places.

Author: Kirsteen Paterson , The National

It is thought that more than 37,000 homes lie empty across the country, with an area twice as large as Dundee vacant.

In urban areas, almost three- quarters of this land – 11,600 hectares – is in private hands.

Now the Scottish Land Commission (SLC) has outlined plans to force gap sites, derelict commercial buildings and vacant homes back into use through compulsory sales orders (CSOs).

The powers would apply to sites and buildings left unused for an “undue period of time” and have a detrimental impact on the surrounding community.

Commissioner David Adams said: “CSOs could be part of a toolkit to bring unused land – especially small parcels of land that have lain unused and unloved, in our city and town centres – back in to productive use.

“Such sites often act as magnets for crime and anti-social behaviour. This damages quality of life for residents and can act as a deterrent for inward investment, making it more difficult to bring about long-term regeneration and renewal.”

The SLC says the scheme aims to tackle what has become an “entrenched problem”, with the “headline figures” on derelict and disused places largely unchanged “since the late 1990s”.

Adams, one of five SLC commissioners, went on: “We envisage it being used as a power of last resort. Councils and landowners should be working together to try to find solutions first.”

Bringing the orders forward within the course of the current parliament was an SNP manifesto pledge in 2016.

The SLC’s work will form a basis for a public consultation on the law change.

The report, published yesterday, suggest councillors and local authority officers should identify sites for compulsory sale, with community groups also able to request that planning bodies investigate properties for CSO.

If implemented, the scheme “would give planning authorities the ability to directly limit individual property rights”.

However, the SLC says legal advice was taken to ensure that “the details of the proposal are consistent with human rights law and in particular the European Convention on Human Rights”.

According to the blueprint, it could take up to three years to resolve each individual case, with owners able to submit evidence in their favour and appeal any CSO applied to their properties.

On selecting sites for CSOs, the body suggests those that “do not have major development potential” and “are not used for any productive purpose”.

Other criteria includes “causing demonstrable harm to the surrounding community” and being “located within or on the immediate periphery of existing settlements”.

It is expected that greenfield sites will not be eligible for CSOs.

Land reform campaigner and Scottish Greens MSP Andy Wightman described the SLC paper as “important”.

Shelter Scotland currently works with councils to bring accommodation back into use through the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership.

But while officers can advise owners on funding available to bring properties back up to scratch, they cannot force them to act.

The charity’s Shaheena Din says these homes are “a wasted resource” and called for coordinated action to tackle the situation.

Author: Lesley Riddoch , The National

 ‘It was a marvellous sight – and sound. Hundreds of people leafing through thousands of maps. All you could hear was the sound of paper rustling. If you want to pick some of the maps that are left, we’ll send someone to get you in 10 minutes. People totally lose track of time in there.”

I climbed the stairs of the former supermarket – now the giant Reuse Hub in Dunbar – and found a magical room containing piles of vintage maps. I took one of Finland (so old it was still labelled Russia) and another of Trondheim, for a local friend now “exiled” in Oslo. And it’s true, time did stand still.

If one of the 12 employed staff at Scotland’s most ambitious reuse centre hadn’t come in, I’d still be there now, rifling through this vast, fascinating repository of the world’s dimensions collected over decades by a local university, headed for paper recycling and saved by a social enterprise that could soon be the new face of retail in Scotland, the saviour of recycling and a shot in the arm for failing town centres.

The Zero Waste Reuse Hub in Dunbar is described by managing director Simon Glover as a “reuse superstore”. It’s a canny mix of conventional retail language with some absolutely disruptive ideas about how to save objects, tackle poverty, encourage reuse, reduce greenhouse emissions, divert the shopping urge into a search for genuine one-off, never-to-be-repeated unique goods and connect all the people offering and wanting goods who currently get no social buzz or human warmth from watching perfectly good things being chucked into municipal skips. And this social enterprise employs 12 local people at above living wage rates of pay. It seems to be a tale of unalloyed success based on a very simple, but potentially planet-saving proposition – that the reuse of objects rather than the recycling of materials in those objects should be the new green objective for Scotland.

According to Glover, most current recyclers – including the mighty Swedes – either incinerate or sell material on to China or Eastern Europe despite the fact it could still be reused. That has to change.

The “mother” company behind the Reuse Hubs in Dunbar and Musselburgh is Miixer CIC (Community Interest Company). The name spells out the company’s philosophy: Make Innovate Incubate eXtend Educate Reuse.

It was established by Glover and Guy in April last year to develop the legacy of Dunbar as Scotland’s First Zero Waste Town, a scheme established by Sustaining Dunbar (a local development trust and environmental charity). Social enterprise status is vital to Miixer’s success – whilst most other green “players” are part of national charities with the inevitable guidelines, structures, high command and bureaucracy or projects dependent on funding from councils, government, quangos, trusts and other public bodies, the folks at Miixer are their own bosses. The Reuse project receives no external funding because all its costs are covered by trading income, even though Miixer gives tonnes of material out for free to schools, charities, social enterprises and community groups who don’t have the money to buy. Right now, for example, there’s a free school clothing container at the entrance to the Dunbar shop.

“Why doesn’t every school do this at the start of the year? It would save families hundreds of pounds and take old uniforms out of skips and landfill. But people don’t have the time to connect their stuff with other folk who need it. Also the message promoted by recycling is that you’ve done your duty to neighbourhood and planet by chucking perfectly good objects into municipal dumps to be crushed, landfilled or – in the case of clothing – sent on to Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa. That’s so short-sighted,” says Guy. She’s right.

Miixer CIC diverts over 30 tonnes of material from landfill every month and their latest clothing initiative “Big Pick” aims to eradicate clothing poverty in East Lothian – this year. That’s ambitious but eminently do-able.

The prospect of tackling clothing poverty is a big incentive, but there are other factors behind the likely spread of reuse centres across Scotland.

New rules will soon make it illegal to dump textiles and organic waste in landfill. Which means conventional council recyclers – and the private companies they’ve used to outsource rubbish collection – will soon face big problems. Will they simply burn unwanted textiles? In a country where some people can’t afford to buy clothes that would be absurd. Yet, without the sense of mission and the network of contacts developed by social enterprises like Miixer, these companies have very few options, because the option of exporting material for recycling is rapidly closing.

In January, China banned the importation of 20 kinds of foreign waste – including paper and plastic. China has imported 45% of all plastic waste since 1992 so their ban means waste plastic is stacking up all over Scotland and the world because the supply greatly exceeds any demand. Some American towns have given up collecting recyclable waste completely.

With Scotland’s tough stance on recycling, that won’t be happening here. Indeed, with Scottish Labour joining the Greens with a call for net zero emissions by 2050, MSPs will be pushing the SNP towards an even stronger stance on greenhouse gas emissions when the Climate Change Bill is debated this autumn.

All of which means we Scots must change our thinking about rubbish very quickly. Processing waste and making new products require huge amounts of energy, which create more carbon emissions. Yet, even though most is currently bound for landfill, and only 9% of all plastic produced globally is recycled, a 2017 survey found 75% of consumers think recyclable packaging is environmentally friendly.

So the consequences of the closed door in the Far East are enormous. Given that the days of exporting our rubbish are over, the only way out is to stop creating so much waste in the first place. That’s where the reuse philosophy comes in and, like any good revolution, its early adopters are special folk.

Glover is an entrepreneur and retail specialist who originally developed the Miixer idea to help connect artists working with reuse materials and still helps run the Found Gallery on Dunbar High Street.

Guy has worked with communities throughout Scotland for more than 20 years and was the project manager for Dunbar as Scotland’s first Zero Waste Town.

The spur to action occurred when Glover and Guy discovered Dunbar (and every town in Scotland) has usable buildings sitting empty, leased out rather than sold to guarantee no development will take place. But these “onerous leases” benefit no-one, and are a lost opportunity for towns experiencing dramatic decline in High Street shopping. So a social enterprise using the building for next to no rent works for everyone.

And if the materials cost nothing, the rent costs little and diversion from landfill saves the local community thousands in landfill taxes, the money from reused objects can be used to fund good jobs. What’s not to like?

Could this kind of social enterprise help save ailing town centres across Scotland? Well, the Scottish Government has made every one of Miixer’s aims a political priority. Glover is optimistic; “It’s time to rethink our relationship with waste. Businesses and communities often have nowhere to turn to when they’ve finished with their stuff, and are lacking in manpower, time and money to find ethical, green alternatives to landfilling or recycling. Our experience has taught us that when a community-minded solution exists, doors spring open. Scotland is already seen as a leading light in social enterprise and circular thinking, and through harnessing the value embedded in reused materials we can build strong, local circular economies from the stuff we were going to bury or burn. The opportunities are endless and we are just scratching the surface.”

If other communities want to use the Miixer model, the folk in East Lothian are happy to help.

www.miixer.org

Author: Andy Wightman, MSP

The strength of free peoples lies in the municipality. Municipal institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to learning; they put it within easy reach of the people; they let it taste its peaceful exercise and accustom them to making use of it. Without municipal institutions a nation can give itself a free government, but it will not have the spirit of liberty. Alex de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835)

Scotland’s local government has a long and varied history since the 12th century when the first Royal Burghs were established. These local institutions and the later parishes, counties, districts and regions have provided the people of Scotland with the most local and continuous governance of many of the things that matter most to them. 

Over the past century, however, the status, powers and freedoms of local government have been slowly eroded and marginalised. Governments of all persuasions have tended to assume that the answer to providing more effective public services is to exercise power and control from the centre. At the same time, whole spheres of local governance (such as Scotland’s former 196 town councils) have been eliminated. 

Over the 19 years since the Scottish Parliament was established, local democracy has been seen as the unfinished business of devolution.  Whilst not all agree on the specifics, there is a growing political consensus that the challenges and opportunities facing communities across Scotland require more local solutions. 

That’s why I believe that we need to deepen and strengthen our system of local governance and this proposed Member’s Bill is a step along that road. 

As the McIntosh Commission on Local Government noted in 1999: 

“It could be said that Scotland today simply does not have a system of local government in the sense in which many other countries still do. The 32 councils now existing are, in effect, what in other countries are called county councils or provinces” 1 

In 2013, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) argued that: 

“Scotland is one of the most centralised countries in Europe. It is no coincidence that our European neighbours are often more successful at improving outcomes, and have much greater turn out at elections. 

“We cannot hope to emulate the success of these countries without acknowledging that these councils and their services are constitutionally protected and their funding secured by law, even with regard to national policy making.”

It was in this context that COSLA established the cross-party Commission on Strengthening Local Democracy.3 In its final report, published in August 2014, it recommended that all of the articles of the European Charter of Local Self Government (hereafter referred to as the Charter) be incorporated into the law of Scotland.

The Charter is a Council of Europe treaty, ratified by the UK in 1998, which seeks to enshrine a series of legal rights for local government. Incorporating the Charter into Scots law would strengthen the constitutional role of local government and provide citizens with a domestic remedy in the event that the provisions of the Charter were being violated.