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31st May 2023
Reunions are strange affairs. Last week, I played some golf with a group I’d been at Uni with over 40 years ago. We’d all studied accountancy and all but one (me) had stayed the course and gone on to enjoy successful careers in industry and finance. Over the years, our paths have rarely crossed and so, somewhat warily, I pitched up. Physical wear and tear aside, most were as I remembered – character traits somewhat more entrenched and exaggerated by the passing years, but also, as I reflected afterwards, by their accumulated wealth. Most striking was the disdain they had for our politicians and a deep resentment of the State for any intrusion into their lives. Material success seemed to have inured them from everyman’s everyday concerns and the ‘soap opera,’ as they deemed Scottish politics to be, both enraged and amused in equal measure. It was a dispiriting insight into why many people, perhaps with much to offer, have become so disengaged from mainstream civic life. In one respect I had to agree with them – both locally and nationally, Scottish democracy desperately needs a reset. Not before time, the Local Governance Review will be restarted this summer. Democracy Matters.
In the most recent briefing…
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On the ground
Read moreInteresting session at the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee exploring the contribution of community councils over the 50 years of their existence. Particularly interesting was the appearance of Jackie Weaver of Handforth Parish Council fame. As she pointed out, the crucial difference between our two systems is that Parish and Town Councils have the power to raise their own income by setting local taxes as well as having borrowing powers. The degree of local transparency and accountability for locally raised finance ensures that even small amounts of money are well spent and have high impact.
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On the ground
Read moreCommunities are now able to invoke a right to buy land even when the owner doesn’t want to sell. This ‘absolute right to buy’ came into force in 2020 and can be used when a community is able to argue that the purchase is necessary to further the sustainable development of the area. North Queensferry Community Trust argued that the purchase of the Albert Hotel and its restoration as a community hub and pub was vital to the community’s future and judging by the whopping turnout (78%) and even bigger vote in favour (98.7%), so does everyone else.
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On the ground
Read moreThe challenge of how to decarbonise our economy is complex enough from a technical standpoint but when it’s resisted by consumers and communities that’s when it really begins to become unstuck. Just witness some of the local reaction to the introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods – a (relatively) benign attempt to get us out of our cars. Decarbonising the energy system is, by comparison, a much greater challenge and so it makes sense to place community benefit at the front and centre of its implementation. Germany seems to have embraced that concept. Why can’t we?
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Policy talk
Read moreThe furore surrounding privatised water companies simultaneously discharging copious amounts of raw sewage into rivers and huge bonuses into their CEO’s bank accounts, will have those who were responsible for keeping Scottish Water in public ownership wondering how they managed it. As we are currently witnessing with the monetising of Scotland’s landscape, natural capital and carbon sequestration, the markets rarely let an opportunity pass them by. Community Land Scotland commissioned writer and academic Alastair McIntosh to do some digging. His final report – The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black Black Carbon – is a long, but very worthwhile read.
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Policy talk
Read moreFor some time Ministers have been pushing public agencies such as Forest and Land Scotland and NatureScot to be more imaginative with their land disposals and help communities to acquire land where appropriate. In an even more proactive move, Ministers have asked Crown Estate Scotland to purchase land in the first place before offering to sell it on into community ownership. Leveraging state owned assets in a manner designed to deliver community benefits is a big step forward and one can anticipate that there will be pushback from within those agencies. Ministers will have a fight on their hands.
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Policy talk
Read moreWriting in The Herald last week, former First Minister Jack McConnell expressed his astonishment at the lack of interest over the past 30 years in reversing the local government reforms introduced by Tory Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Lang MP – a failed attempt to stem growing support for devolution. Other than a long since buried report from COSLA’s Commission for Strengthening Local Democracy, there’s been barely a peep from anyone within local or national government to suggest an appetite for change. Reform Scotland, the think tank which Lord McConnell now chairs, believes it’s time that changed.
Featured anchor organisation:
Twechar Community Action
A former mining and quarrying village, Twechar is one of Scotland’s 15% most deprived areas. Twechar Community Action was formed in 2001 as a response to the closure of the Local Aurthority owned recreation centre in Twechar. Twechar Community Action transformed the centre into the Twechar Healthy Living and Enterprise Centre – a community hub which houses a full time pharmacy, a satellite GP surgery, café, sports hall and meeting rooms, and a vast range of activities and services. Twechar Community Action has its origins in the desire of local people to retain and improve one of the few facilities…
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