Last week, I had the privilege of opening and closing our Local People Leading event at the Scottish Parliament as Chair of the Scottish Community Alliance.
Standing in that building – a place where national decisions are made – and looking out at a room full of community leaders, activists, practitioners, MSPs, funders and civil servants, I felt two things very strongly:
Pride.
And real pressure.
Pride in the extraordinary work happening in communities across Scotland – much of it unseen, often under-resourced, but transformative nonetheless.
And pressure – the weight of knowing this mattered. Pressure to honour the leadership in the room. Pressure to reflect both the urgency and the opportunity in front of us. Pressure to get it right – not just in tone, but in substance.
The Context We’re Working In
I began the day by acknowledging the wider climate we’re operating in.
Across the world – and here in the UK – we are seeing rights under pressure. Disabled people facing rollbacks. LGBTQ+ communities experiencing hostility. Racism on the rise. Violence against women and girls – and misogyny – becoming more visible and organised.
In that context, the role of the community sector is not neutral.
Community organisations are often the first place people turn when they feel excluded, targeted or unheard. They create belonging. They protect dignity. They amplify voices that power overlooks.
So, when we say Local People Leading, we must mean all local people.
Equity, inclusion and diversity are not optional extras. They are the foundation of resilient communities. If we are serious about redesigning systems around communities, those systems must work first and foremost for those pushed furthest to the margins.
Communities are strongest when everyone belongs.
We’ve Seen What Communities Can Do
We have lived through a global pandemic. We are still living through a cost-of-living crisis that is stretching families, volunteers, staff and organisations to breaking point.
And when Covid hit – when systems faltered – it was community organisations that stepped up first.
Food hubs appeared overnight. Neighbours checked on isolated and vulnerable people. Mutual aid groups became lifelines. Community anchor organisations became emergency response centres.
Not because it was written into a contract.
Not because it was mandated.
But because communities don’t wait to be told to care.
That spirit is still here – but it’s tired. It’s under-resourced. And it deserves better backing.
We’ve Been Having This Conversation for a Long Time
More than ten years ago, we hosted a community conference in this same Parliament building. The programme spoke about community ownership, community wellbeing, local democracy, climate action and community wealth.
Here we are in 2026 – still talking about many of the same ambitions.
That tells me two things:
First, communities were right then.
Second, change has been too slow.
While communities have evolved, innovated and professionalised, systems and funding models have not kept pace. We still see short-term funding cycles. Still fragmented decision-making. Still power sitting too far from the places it affects.
That gap – between what communities can do and what systems allow – is where frustration lives.
So I was clear: this event could not just be another conversation. It had to be about shifting the terms of the debate.
From “how do communities cope?”
To “how do we redesign systems around communities?”
From projects and pilots.
To permanence.
A Significant Moment for Scotland
As we closed the day, I reflected on something significant that happened just a week before our gathering: the passing of Community Wealth Building legislation.
Legislation can sometimes feel distant from lived reality. But this one matters.
Because where wealth is generated – and where it stays – shapes everything: jobs, local services, inequality, opportunity, wellbeing and ultimately the health of our democracy.
For years, communities have been making this case in practice. Keeping assets in local hands. Building community enterprises. Creating fair work. Reinvesting surpluses locally. Designing economies that serve people and planet – not the other way around.
Now that thinking is recognised in law.
But I was honest with the room: passing legislation is the easy part. Implementation is where the real work begins.
The World Is Watching
Scotland is not having this conversation in isolation. Internationally, governments and movements are looking here and asking:
Can a small country redesign its economy to be fairer, greener and more democratic?
Can it move wealth, land and decision-making closer to communities?
Can it prove that economic transformation and community empowerment go hand in hand?
That is the test in front of us.
Legislation alone does not build community wealth. People do.
Practitioners do.
Local authorities do.
Anchor institutions do.
Funders do.
National government does.
And communities – most of all – do.
If we get this right, community wealth building won’t simply be a policy programme. It will be a generational shift.
A shift where local economies serve local people.
Where assets are stewarded for long-term community benefit.
Where climate transition creates shared prosperity.
Where young people see futures in the places they grow up.
Where wealth circulates instead of extracting.
But that will only happen if we match the ambition of the legislation with the ambition of implementation.
We must move from rhetoric to resource.
From commitment to accountability.
From pilots to permanence.
What I Asked People to Take With Them
As I brought the day to a close, I offered three reflections.
First – pride.
The resilience, creativity and leadership we see in Scotland’s communities is extraordinary. We should say that more often.
Second – urgency.
We cannot afford another decade where community ambition outpaces system change.
And third -responsibility.
With global attention comes accountability. If the world is watching Scotland on community wealth building, we must show we are serious about delivering lasting economic change – not cosmetic change, not short-term change, but deep, structural transformation.
I hope those who joined us left with three things:
New relationships.
Renewed confidence.
And a shared determination to turn legislative progress into lived reality.
Because local people are not waiting for permission to lead.
They already are.
