N76 are rural remote, subject to geographic distances between communities and face similar factors around a viable and sustainable need for collaborative practice, joint funding applications and looking at ways in which to address issues and alleviate areas where there is a lack of service provision. Discussion with practitioners and volunteers on approaches that our island counterparts use to design projects and deliver tangible outcomes were invaluable. It was interesting to learn about the time and level of commitment required to drive this scheme forward. Critically, learning the need for increased focus on human behaviour and how many islanders mindset are reluctant to give up or move away from dependency on larger diesel engines. The scheme had experienced levels of visitor uptake. It was beneficial to hear and learn about the struggles. The value of being used by a few and the multi benefits brought to those who do choose to use the low-carbon car club far out ways the fear of perceived failure if at first we don’t experience a high uptake of a similar project here in the N76 area.

The Dial a bus scheme was of course a much different picture and reported to have a high uptake and impact on those eligible to access this particular service. There was incredible learning around how restricted the eligibility criteria is and that some service users may use up all their travel in a relatively short period of time. It meant a lot to engage and discuss with real lived experience from a variety of different participants within various organisations and volunteer groups etc. There were a great deal of shared learning and experiences from different perspectives and levels of experiences and stages of project/organisational development. Despite the differences between our Island & Rural communities in SW Scotland there were many identifiable
similarities including socio economic and political factors. We were able to also speak with residents on the island communities where further health & social inequalities were also identified and discussed such as child poverty, food poverty/insecurity, fuel poverty, lack of access to services etc.

Our communities often need to take two busses or a bus and a train to get to the next largest village – fares are not necessarily affordable to low income individuals/households, public transport often does not link up e.g. train does not run to connecting bus times etc. and transport providers in D&G lack in joint up thinking. The island communities and transport initiatives made big efforts to challenge this and are delivering a high and caring quality of service to the individuals who are engaged and accessing. It was interesting to visit Burgar Hill Wind
Farm and hear of the positive relationship with the RSPB. Learning about progress of the development of other Trusts and where they are with Local Place Plans, Community Action Plans and projects e.g. community buy outs of pubs/hotels and community housing etc. couldn’t have come a more timely point in our own community development activities and events.

Learning Outcomes

• To create a lasting connection with the REH community groups: The N76 partners have years of experience of working in partnership to share knowledge and build capacity,
  while partnership work between the Rural Energy Hubs groups is a newer development. We hope to share the benefits of partnership working and in turn develop a lasting connection with the Orkney-based REH groups. This visit will create an environment to replicate each other’s success and create a rare legacy of organisations in the extreme South and North of Scotland working together in the long term.
• To share successes, lessons learned and future plans from low-carbon transport initiatives in the N76 project area with the REH groups in Orkney: The N76 partners hope to share experience of their own sustainable transport projects and partnership work with the Orkney hosts. Orkney is a shining example in electrification of transport and use of electric car clubs, but active travel projects have been viewed as more difficult.
• To learn about successes, lessons learned and future plans for the low-carbon transport initiatives in Orkney: Over the course of the trip (24th-27th February 2025), the N76 partners will visit community transport initiatives around Orkney, to learn from their experiences and to see these initiatives in action. This will include visits to Rural Energy Hubs partner development trusts from the islands of Rousay, Shapinsay and elsewhere in Orkney. This will allow the N76 partners to learn about community transport initiatives and aspirations in these communities, as guests of the local development trusts. Other items on the agenda include a visit to the Orkney car club to see a successful low-carbon car club in action, as well as to a community windfarm. The N76 partners will also visit the Orkney Disability Forum’s Dial-a-Bus scheme, since Dial-a-Bus schemes have been a recent topic of conversation as part of the project and there may be interest in setting up a similar scheme with community transport operators in the N76 area in the future.

"The most useful learning was provided by dedicated staff and volunteers striving to design and deliver community led solutions to community identified need. It is inspiring and motivational for us here in SW Scotland to adopt a islander perspective and celebrate the small wins, gradually as they do occur rather than get caught up in looking at too big a picture - as it overwhelming in terms of geographic range and the real lived experiences that are currently impacting on our communities in terms of accessing services such as medical, employment, education and social etc."