Scotregen 54

scotregensharing experience : shaping practice

SURFScotland's Independent Regeneration Network

issue 54 : winter 2011

• Regeneration developments in Wales – p3• Fourier’s utopian vision – p4• Devolution in Europe – p6-7

• Bridging infrastructure and communities – p14• Making the most of existing homes – p15• Planning, people and power – p16

The future for community empowerment:Special feature p8-13

Page 2 scotregen : issue 54 : winter 2011

Stephen MaxwellSURF Chair

Editorial

Andy Milne SURF ChiefExecutive

DAWNING DEADLINE FOR HOUSINGHousing is central to regeneration; but how often ishousing at the centre of policy debates aboutregeneration?There are many good reasons to read the 2011 edition ofPoverty in Scotland*. One of them is that it provides a conciseupdate on housing policy and practice in Scotland since 2007.Low income families have to choose between social housingand the private rented sector. In 1981, 50% of Scottishhouseholds lived in social housing. Today, after three decades of right-to-buy and demolitions,only 24% of households live in social housing. Since 2007,there has been a modest rise in the annual average of newsocial housing from 4300 to 4800 – helped by thereintroduction of local authority building and a fall in right-to-buy sales. But the net result is that the social rented stock hasremained static and waiting lists have continued to grow,reaching 160,000 people in 2010.The private rented sector has been equally problematic withcompetition increasing from East European migrants, youngprofessionals no longer able to afford to buy and single peopleconsidered low priority for social housing. Low incomefamilies have been dependent on housing benefit, butimminent UK caps on the value will force many low incomehouseholds into poorer accommodation or evenhomelessness.It is now accepted that regeneration areas need a mix ofhousing types and forms of ownership. Indeed, the authorsremind us that the five most deprived areas identified in the2009 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation werepredominantly made up of social housing. Their priorities are: • improving physical conditions at the bottom end of the

private rented sector• reviewing low-cost home ownership schemes • increasing support for programmes addressing fuel

poverty • instigating a new push from local authorities to assess and

support local homeless people as the legislated 2012deadline for rehousing all unintentionally homeless peoplebreaks the horizon.

* Poverty in Scotland 2011 is published by a partnership including theChild Poverty Action Group in Scotland (www.cpag.org.uk/scotland/)

TRANSFORMATIVE TIMES

Welcome to the 54th edition of Scotregen. This issue is later than planned as we are, asthey say, in a period of transition. We hope toemerge in our new fully formed, interactiveformat as the dynamic centerpiece of SURF’snew web site in early 2012. Meantime, the whole world appears in a state of transition. We hopethat the ‘assets and empowerment’ themed articles of this issue will beof interest, and perhaps some practical help, as we all strive to findsupport a more sustainable future form of future regeneration.

The factors that impact on our collective efforts are international aswell as local, so we have drawn on SURF’s extensive network ofpractitioners, policy makers and academics to offer views, news andinformation on regeneration responses across Scotland, the UK andbeyond.

As always we welcome your feedback and ideas on what we should behighlighting in future editions of Scotregen.

A view fromthe chair

Contents Page

Four Nations: Wales 3

Urban Imaginings 4

SURF Activities Update 5

Global Regenerating: Devolution in Europe 6

Community Empowerment: Whose Story? 8

Community Empowerment & Renewal Bill 9

Empowerment in England & Scotland 10

JESSICA Trust 12

Infrastructure & Communities 14

Existing Homes Alliance 15

Planning, People and Power 16

Review: Can Neighbourhoods Save The City? 17

Front cover image: ‘Empowerment’ by Laura Dryden. Pigeons sit on the Empowerment sculpture in Lincoln city square.

scotregen : issue 54 : winter 2011 Page 3

• The programme boundaries will be more flexible. Thismeans that there will be more attention to ensuring thatCommunities First supports the most disadvantagedindividuals and groups, as opposed to having rigidgeographic boundaries.

• There will be fewer Communities First areas, but mostwill be considerably larger than at present. Many willinclude several existing Communities First areas. Thenew areas will be known as ‘Clusters’.

• Funding will be provided to the new ‘Clusters’ tomaintain community involvement and encourage jointworking between areas with key partners.

• Greater efforts will be made to ensure that CommunitiesFirst areas are supported by a range of service providersand other Welsh Government programmes.

• The management and support arrangements at localauthority, regional and national levels will be reviewed inorder to make them more consistent and cost effective.They will also have more resources devoted to delivery.

• A New Outcomes Framework, using a Results-BasedAccountability Model, will be introduced to ensure thatthe contribution of Communities First to tackling povertycan be shown more easily.

Cross-government coordinationStrengthening links between community action and strategicregeneration is one of the key aims of these changes. HuwLewis AM, the Welsh Minister for Housing, Regeneration andHeritage, has also signalled his desire for greater coordinationbetween Communities First and future regeneration efforts.

There are presently several designated Strategic RegenerationAreas in Wales, including a large part of the South Wales Valley,several coastal Towns in North Wales, Swansea andAberystwyth. There are presently Communities Firstpartnerships in all of these areas, but the intention in future isthat the regeneration and community action plans and spendingwill be much more closely aligned.

Four Nations: Wales

Paul Dear

Head of Communities First, Welsh Government

[email protected]

The purpose of this regular feature is to updateScotregen readers on relevant developments in therest of the UK. It is widely agreed that more canand should be done to share lessons and bestpractice between UK nations in an era of divergentapproaches via devolved administrations. This was apoint emphasised by the Chief Executives of theJoseph Rowntree Foundation and the Homes andCommunities Agency at the 2011 SURF AnnualConference.

Here, senior Welsh civil servant Paul Dear highlightsthe Communities First regeneration programme.

Putting communities first Major changes are underway to Communities First, the WelshGovernment's flagship programme to improve the livingconditions and prospects for people in the most disadvantagedcommunities across Wales.

The programme was launched in 2001 and there are presentlyover 150 Communities First partnerships across Wales. Each ofthese partnerships brings together members of the localcommunity with representatives of the public, private andvoluntary sectors to develop local Action Plans. Small staffteams support each partnership. These teams are normallybased in the heart of the community, and are familiar andaccessible to local people, whom they help connect to serviceproviders and support agencies.

Communities First partnerships support a very wide range ofwork with people of all ages and tackle very many aspects ofdeprivation, improving health, creating jobs, and bringingadditional funding into these communities. ThroughCommunities First, environmental and economic regenerationgo hand in hand with community engagement and action forsocial justice.

A flexible, focused future The National Assembly elections in May of this year resulted ina Labour Government in Wales. In the weeks that followed,the Minister for Local Government and Communities CarlSargeant AM launched a consultation on the future ofCommunities First. The consultation document (availableonline at wales.gov.uk/communitiesfirst) proposed somesignificant changes to how the programme will operate:


poverty and stultifying monotony of urban dwelling. The wholePhalanstery and adjacent workshops, halls, and storerooms would beconnected by covered passageways, an innovation the great socialtheorist Walter Benjamin dubbed ‘a city of arcades’.

Not for Fourier the Spartan image of utopia, but one with as muchopulence as the passions desire. He expected life to be so pleasurableand fulfilling that there would be little time or inclination to sleep past4.30 in the morning!

Real-world legacyAlthough later identified as a utopian socialist, Fourier defendedprivate property and arranged the Phalanx into three ‘natural’ classes:rich, poor and middle class. His model was that of a joint-stockcompany, not an egalitarian commune. Despite ’natural’ inequalities ofwealth and talent, class conflict would be assuaged by planned spaces,architectural design, universal education, ample and refined cuisine,and group participation in the Phalanx.

In the 1840s, Fourierism became something of a cult movementthroughout Europe and America. A number of short-lived Fourieristcommunities were established in America, perhaps the most notablebeing Victor Considerant’s doomed utopian experiment in Texas inthe 1850s. But instead of bequeathing a wondrous communal palacefor us to continue to marvel at, Considerant’s utopia today forms anindistinct suburb of Dallas.

Fourier’s utopianism led to failed communal experiments and bizarredreams about turning sea water into pink lemonade but it alsopresented a vision of human communities transforming theirconditions of life.

Urban Imaginings 12

Dr Alex Law

Lecturer in Sociology

University of Abertay,[email protected]

In the latest of his regular columns for Scotregen, AlexLaw investigates the utopian city visions of Frenchphilosopher Charles Fourier.

Charles Fourier: Utopian dreaming in asea of pink lemonade Slighted by an indifferent world, the utopian visionary Charles Fourier(1772-1837) was not a man for undue modesty. Comparing himself toNewton and Columbus, he set out to discover the ideal principles forbringing order and ‘Harmony’ to community life. In the aftermath ofthe French Revolution, Fourier felt that positive reconstruction on anew basis was necessary after the destruction of the old order.

A true obsessive, Fourier constructed grandiose schemes and preciseurban designs based on an elaborate theory of human passions.Fourier’s planned community was conceived as the built expressionof a psychological ‘calculus of attraction’ that supposedly underpins allpersonal and social relations. Extrapolating from twelve basic types ofpassion, Fourier dubiously arrived at an exact total of 1620personality types.

This psychological diversity provided the numerical basis for Fourier’sideal community – or ‘Phalanx’, as he called it. Laid out in a hilly, ruraland temperate location, Fourier specified the perfect social mix for‘Harmony’, including ‘characters regarded as peculiar’, the well-mannered, and a population carefully selected according to gradationsof age, wealth and knowledge.

Connectivity, flow and early risesThe focal point for Fourier’s utopian community was a hotel-stylepalace, or ‘Phalanstery’. The central space of the building wasdesigned for quiet study and contemplation. One wing was to beadapted for the noise of industrial work, music and children’s play,while the other wing would contain halls and ballrooms for meetingand socialising with outsiders.

A new architectural style was thought essential to overcome the

“Fourier constructedurban designs based onan elaborate theory of

human passions”

The artist Charles-François Daubigny’simagining of a Phalanstery


SURF Activities UpdateHere are some highlights on ourforthcoming events andpublications to look out for in2011 and 2012

SURF Awards for Best Practice in Community Regeneration- REDUX

The winners of the 2011 SURF Awards were due to be formallypresented by Cabinet Secretary Alex Neil MSP at a celebratorydinner gathering in Glasgow on Thursday 8 December. Due to theadverse weather conditions on that evening, however, many guestswere unable to attend and a postponement became necessary.

We are currently arranging a rescheduled date in mid/late February.The celebratory event will feature specially commissioned on-location short films highlighting the work of the four overallwinners. We will confirm the arrangements for this ‘redux’ event assoon as we can. The SURF Awards are delivered in partnershipwith the Scottish Government.

2011 Annual LectureOur Annual Lecture for 2011 was delivered by Baroness MargaretFord in Dundee City Chambers on Thursday 1 December.Baroness Ford is currently Chair of the Olympic Legacy Companyand in recent years she has held a number of high-profileregeneration-related positions in both Scotland and England.

The Baroness’ lecture was timely and engaging, and providedvaluable insights into the approach of using Olympic Games legacyinvestments to deliver sustainable long-term regeneration in someof London’s most deprived communities. A transcript publicationwill be made available to SURF members soon.

Reality, Resources and ResilienceSURF is investigating the impact of – and ameliorative responses to– recession-based policy decisions in disadvantaged communities inScotland in collaboration with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation,

and with support from the Scottish Government. SURF’s ‘Reality,Resources and Resilience’ programme comprises a series ofseminars, case studies and publications.

The two case study communities we are looking at in the initialstage of the process are east Govan in Glasgow and the Gallatownneighbourhood of Kirkcaldy. A series of events were held inNovember and December in Glasgow to explore the resonance ofkey emerging themes in other neighbourhoods across Scotland, andto feed key messages back to relevant policy-makers. Theprogramme will continue in early 2012 with events in Dundee andEdinburgh, and study visits to the 2011 SURF Award winners.

2012 Annual ConferenceThe ‘Reality, Resources and Resilience’ programme outcomes willalso form a basis for our 2012 Annual Conference, which will takeplace in May in Edinburgh. Sign up to our mailing list (see below) tobe among the first to receive event details and booking information

ConsultationsSURF has been asked by the Scottish Government to participate inan initial consultation meeting as it seeks to develop the scope andcontent of the forthcoming Community Empowerment andRenewal Bill. We have asked key SURF member contacts for theirviews in advance of a December meeting. Meantime, see page 9 foran outline of the Bill’s purpose and timescale from senior civilservant Alasdair McKinlay.

SURF has also been continuing to contribute to the development ofNational Regeneration Strategy, which was formally launched by theScottish Government on 12 December. You can read our formalconsultation response, which was informed by a wide range of viewsfrom our membership, here: http://tinyurl.com/SURF2011response

New SURF websiteRegular Scotregen readers will be aware that SURF is developing anew website. We can now exclusively reveal the launch date, whichwill be… drum roll please… 31 January 2012!

The new www.scotregen.co.uk site will be more interactive,accessible and frequently updated with useful content includingregular Scotregen features. SURF willfurther be enhancing its online presence on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Are you on the SURF emailing list?Make sure you are among the first to receive news on SURF eventsand publications by signing up to receive our e-newsletter.

SURF events, big and small, take place across Scotland and cover arange of topics of interest to those working in all regenerationfields, from architecture to youth employability.

The e-mailing list is open to all. Sign up at:http://tinyurl.com/surfnewsletter

SURFWinners SURF Awards

2011

Derek Rankine

Events and CommunicationsOfficer, SURF

Tel: 0141 585 6879

Email:[email protected]


Andy Wightman

Author and commentator onland and democracy [email protected]

The SNP manifesto had 41 sections. Not one talked about localgovernment (to be fair, none of the other parties said verymuch about the topic either).

Yet if autonomy is to mean anything, the process must logicallycontinue beyond the national level. Even with devolution, theUK is one of Europe’s most centralised states in Europe withvery little autonomy at local government level. Around 80% oflocal government finance comes from the block grant from theScottish government accounting for around one third of alldevolved spending in Scotland.

The remaining 20% comes from business rates (the levels ofwhich are centrally set and the tax itself centrally collected andredistributed) and the council tax (which is frozen). Scotland’slocal authorities thus control virtually none of the revenueraised to finance their expenditure beyond library fines andparking charges. In Denmark, by contrast. local governmentraises over 60% of its revenue from local taxes and Swedenraises around 70%. Local government in Scotland is neitherlocal, nor does it govern. It is basically little more than acentrally-funded and directed service delivery vehicle.

Instructive practice in mainland EuropeA recent House of Commons committee report on the balanceof power between central and local government in Englandnoted that:

“The relationship between central and local government inEngland deviates from the European norm in at least threeareas—the level of constitutional protection, the level offinancial autonomy, and the level of central governmentintervention. All serve to tilt the balance of power towards thecentre.”

Much the same could be said about this relationship inScotland. The European norm that the Committee referred tois one where the basic unit of local government is genuinelylocal as the table illustrates.

Of these seven major European countries, Scotland has themost concentrated pattern of local governance. Even Sweden,with nine million citizens spread over an area six times the size

The purpose of this regular feature is to highlightlessons from the international arena for communityregeneration in Scotland. Andy Wightman, authorof ‘The Poor Had No Lawyers’ (2010) and ‘WhoOwns Scotland’ (1996), here argues that Scotland’sEuropean neighbours are streets ahead in usinglocal government structures to build greatercommunity identity.

Beyond Centralised PowerThe key argument in favour of devolution in 1999 was that wewould be able to find Scottish solutions to Scottish problems. Itseems self-evident today that Scotland’s laws should be madenot by British MPs in Westminster, but by MSPs in Scotland andthat the House of Lords should have no say in such matterseither.

Arguments for greater devolution, or indeed outrightindependence, reflect an extension of the idea that powershould reside as close as possible to the people and thatdecisions that can be made locally, should be. At the same timeas Scotland is on a journey to greater autonomy as a nation,however, the opposite is happening at the local level.

Local government: an oxymoron here?Political and economic power in Scotland are becomingincreasingly centralised. Local authorities are being asked tofreeze the only source of finance they have any control over.The debate (in as much as there is one) is about reducing thenumber of local authorities and making them more “efficient”.

Gl bal Regenerating

Country Number of municipalities Median Population Sq. km

France 36781 380 11

Germany 12013 6844 15

Spain 8112 564 35

Italy 8100 2343 22

Belgium 589 11265 40

Norway 431 4439 465

Sweden 290 15039 672

Scotland 32 115000 990


thus also a problem of connectedness to place and the sense ofwho we are and who we share the future with. In a system ofrepresentative democracy, it is vital that the first link in thechain is local, rooted and resilient.

New thinking?Today, proponents of the Scotland Bill, fiscal autonomy andindependence all argue for greater revenue raising powers forthe Scottish Parliament. Curiously, however, none of thesearguments says anything about local government. Recently, RobGibson MSP launched a consultation in his Caithness,Sutherland and Ross constituency on how to decentraliseservices in local government. It is one of a very few signs thatsome new thinking is emerging about local governance.

Many European countries enshrine local government in theirconstitution. In Germany, for example, Article 28(1) of theBasic Law guarantees the existence of elected councils forcounties and municipalities. In any new constitutionalsettlement, it is vital that the question of how we are governedat the local level is addressed. If it is not, then independencemay simply mean the perpetuation of national elite rule.

This article originally appeared in the online Scottish newspaper Bella Caledonia (bellacaledonia.org.uk).

of Scotland, has a more localised system of governmentcovering an average of two-thirds the land area and with amedian population of 15,039 citizens compared with Scotland’s115,000.

Were Scotland’s parishes to be resurrected as the basic unit oflocal government, then the number of Scottish municipalitieswould be 871 with an average population of 599 – in otherwords bang in the middle of the European norm.

The UK signed the European Charter of Local Self-Government in June 1997. Over its 18 articles it highlights theimportance of local government where “Public responsibilitiesshall generally be exercised, in preference, by those authoritieswhich are closest to the citizen” (Article 4(3)). Yet the trendsince local government re-organisation in 1975 has been toconcentrate power in fewer and fewer larger units – preciselythe opposite of what the Charter advocates. In the course ofthis, most of Scotland’s 196 burghs have lost all of thegovernance they enjoyed for (in many cases) 500 years.

The lack of any real local governance represents not simply ademocratic deficit but a problem of practical politics. Scotlandis replete with a wide variety of definitions of community for awhole host of different purposes. Community Council areasmay be the closest we come to a geography of community butcoverage is patchy, boundaries unclear and powers non-existent.

Lacking a sense of identityWhenever a new initiative comes along (for example therecently announced Coastal Communities Fund), the firstproblem is almost always an agonised debate about how todefine community. This is not a problem facing the coastalcommunities of Sirdal, Flekkefjord or Songdalen in theNorwegian county of Vest-Agder.

The lack of hard-wired governance has led to chaotic andincoherent policy and decision making at the local level. Theopportunity costs in terms of efficiency in service delivery anddesign are quite probably far greater than the modestadditional direct costs of having a real system of localgovernment.

If you travel through Italy, France or Denmark and ask anybodywhich “community” they belong to they will tell you that theylive in Y (a commune in the Somme with 89 inhabitants) orSaint Colombe or Rudersdal. You will struggle to find manypeople in Scotland who can name the parish they live in. This is

“Local governmentin Scotland is

neither local, nordoes it govern”

Scotland has just 32 local administrativeregions; if it followed the European norm itwould have over 800

The special focus of this edition of Scotregen is on thefuture prospects for community empowerment. In thisarticle, Russell McLarty contends that local storiesshould be at the heart of new thinking on communityempowerment. Russell is Co-ordinator of a Church ofScotland project – ‘Chance to Thrive’ – which looks tosupport eight local community partnership initiativeswith volunteer mentoring support groups. Later on,we compare diverging approaches in Scotland andEngland, highlight the innovative JESSICA Trustfunding model, and offer a timely update on theScottish Government’s forthcoming CommunityEmpowerment and Renewal Bill.

As a storyteller, I am convinced that a story-led approach tocommunity engagement has a lot to offer.

In top-down regeneration, a regular complaint is that peopledon’t feel that they have any input to what has happened to theplaces in which they live. Their stories and the local contexthaven’t been heard or written into proposals and neither havetheir ‘imagined futures’ – these dreams they might want to seerealised.

Sadly, we hear all too often that when local people are asked fortheir ideas, this is called ‘wishful thinking’! I certainly believe thatit is possible to have a creative and fun approach in workingwithin communities to develop ideas which are properlyconsidered.

Rejecting tokenism by flying kitesLocal authorities have struggled to engage with communities andmany would openly admit to failure. When we speak of a localauthority, the very language speaks volumes about where thepower lies. If, however, we want to turn things around and givelocal communities some authority in what might happen, thenwe need to make sure that they are the authors of the storieswhich are heard. These stories must be seen to be the driversfor change.

Much of community consultation has been tokenistic andunimaginative, yet there are ways of working that local peoplecan really engage with and enjoy. Story-gathering is the firstcrucial step in the ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ approach, where thestories are then used in ‘flying kites’ – ideas for futuredevelopment.

The whole community can then be involved in selecting ideas in avery open way, choosing which kites should remain up there inthe sky and further developing the stories of ‘what might be’.Where people see their own stories headlining in developmentproposals, this immediately becomes quite different from thematerial so often written and distributed in glossy officialpublications; materials that often lie untouched in piles in publicbuildings.

Regular opportunities for participationWe have a lot to learn in these creative and participative ways ofworking. It goes without saying that there must be investment oftime, commitment and funding to make sure that anyengagement is properly worked through.

Just as important as generating ideas and deciding on priorities isthe ongoing dialogue at different stages of implementation of anyproposals. We are getting better at using the softer indicators ofdevelopment in evaluation and monitoring where communitymembers’ stories are recognised and valued.

‘Most Significant Change’ methodology is one way in which largegroups of people can have ongoing involvement in anydevelopment process. Stories of change are very much aboutheart and mind. Where these are gathered, they can be used todraw out patterns, common themes and divergences; also insharing the overall results.

I am not totally convinced that the selection of the ‘most’significant story of change is always the most important thing.But the gathered and ordered material will always contain awealth of wisdom to be highlighted and shared. If an imaginativeapproach is taken to show communities that their voice is beingheard, then people will be more convinced about ideas of localempowerment, authority and authorship.

For more on the ‘Chance to Thrive’ community partnership project, please click here.

Russell McLarty

Minister, Church of Scotland

[email protected]


Special Feature - community empowerment

Whose story?

“We need to make sure localcommunities are

the authors”



Join SURF

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By joining SURF, your support will help us

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To find out more and sign up for membership,please visit: www.scotregen.co.uk.

Application packs are also available from SURF Eventsand Communications Officer Derek Rankine (0141 5856879, [email protected]).

Alasdair McKinlay, who has responsibility fordeveloping the Scottish Government’s forthcomingCommunity Empowerment and Renewal Bill. offersSURF a brief outline on the early consultation stages.

The Scottish Government is pleased to be taking forward itsmanifesto commitment for a Community Empowerment andRenewal Bill, which aims to make it easier for communities totake over underused or unused public sector assets. It alsoincludes measures to enable communities to deal moreeffectively with derelict or unused property in their area.

In addition, the Government is hoping to address the ChristieCommission's recommendation that the Bill promotessignificantly improved community participation in the design anddelivery of public services, and action to build communitycapacity, recognising the particular needs of communities facingmultiple social and economic challenges.

BackgroundWe are at the early stages of developing the scope of the Billand will be doing so through a wide ranging engagement withstakeholders throughout Scotland. The first stage of theprocess, until the end of this year, will involve us speaking to arange of experts from the public, private and voluntary sectors,and with communities themselves, to explore ideas to include inthe Bill. We will then carry out a formal and wide-rangingconsultation next year on specific proposals.

Developing a Bill is a complex procedure. We are determinedto take the time necessary to work with stakeholders andcommunities in undertaking the research required to developsolutions that empower our communities. There are varioussteps to developing a Bill and ensuring it is fit for purposeincluding: developing policy, consultation (both formal andinformal), finalising policy, working up the provisions in the Bill,possibly more consultation and then the final drafting of the Bill.

This process varies in length depending on the policy andcomplexity of the Bill, but it can take around 18-24 months toprepare a Bill ready for introduction to Parliament. We will behappy to keep SURF members up to date with progress as theBill develops.

Alasdair McKinlay

Policy Manager, ScottishGovernment

[email protected]

The Community Empowermentand Renewal Bill

These are interesting times for communityempowerment both north and south of the borders.What impacts are the Big Society and Localismagendas likely to make in England, and might analternative Scottish approach prove more effective?Regeneration expert Annette Hastings tackles thesequestions for SURF.

How does a government make community

empowerment happen?

For some people, there is an inherent contradiction in such a

statement: it is not top- down government interventions which

make for genuine community empowerment. Instead,

empowerment is the result of an organic bottom-up process that

happens despite – or even because of – a lack of state

intervention.

This view, that governments undermine

local collective activity, is one of the

rationales underpinning the Local

Government and Decentralisation Bill which

is currently making its way through the

Westminster Parliamentary process.

Governments obstruct and undermine

genuine empowerment. If ‘Big

Government’ could only get out of the

way, the ‘Big Society’ will flourish.

Tipping the scales?

The champion of the Localism Bill,

Secretary of State for Communities and

Local Government Eric Pickles, suggests

that if only central and local government were less involved in

ordinary people’s lives, citizens would be energized to act

collectively on local issues. In the process, so this argument goes,

democracy would be strengthened.

Last year, David Cameron argued that a culture change was

needed so that people, “don’t always turn to officials, local

authorities or central government for answers to the problems

they face, but instead feel both free and powerful enough to help

themselves and their own communities”.1 To bring about such

change, the Bill proposes giving the public the power to veto

‘excessive’ council tax rises. It also gives community groups the

capacity to challenge a local authority’s right to run a local

service, and offers the public the right to force public agencies to

Community Empowerment in England &

Scotland



Annette Hastings

Senior Lecturer in Urban Studies, University ofGlasgow

[email protected]

“Eric Pickles argues that if onlygovernment were less involved inpeople’s lives, citizens would beenergised to act collectively”

hold non-binding referendums on any local issue. An additional

aim is to change the planning system so that it no longer inhibits

the creativity and innovation inherent in local areas. In effect, the

Bill aims to change the nature of the relationship between

citizens and the state, by shifting the balance of power towards

citizens and away from government.

A fundamental problem or two

Such ideas might indeed sound like a benign freeing up of the

citizen from the fetters of the state. Arguably, however, not all

neighbourhood community action is a force for good or ‘justice’.

David Cameron gives the game away when he says that he hopes

that communities will feel empowered “to help themselves and

their own communities”.

We only have to think

about NIMBYism and how

the public tends to interact

with the planning system to

recognise that justice for

one group can sometimes

result in injustice for

another. Wind farms and

affordable housing have to

go somewhere. Should the

planners be compelled to

listen to the loudest voices?

Some would argue that

government intervention is

not only about rising above

the clamour and the

conflict, but might

sometimes be necessary as

a curb to collective action.

But let us assume that we do want more and better collective

action. The Localism Bill imagines that there is a level playing

field when it comes to a community getting organised and

making a difference. We all know that there is not.

The injustice of inaction

While many communities in disadvantaged places have shown

that they can get organised when there is an opportunity to be

grasped at, or a threat to be rebuffed, not all have the

confidence, resources and connections required to get people

galvanised.

Disadvantaged communities do tend to need a helping hand –

and this is where an enabling state comes in. Perhaps the key

role for government to play is in enabling those with less to

demand more. This means, for example, putting resources into

community development; stepping in, not standing back.

A different approach for Scotland?

The Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill is expected to

be put before the Scottish Parliament in autumn 2013. It

provides an opportunity for Scotland to take a different path

from the one being taken south of the border.

The signs are that it will. The 2007 Community Empowerment

Statement places government in a supportive ‘enabling’ role, and

the reaction to the Christie Commission on public service

reform in Scotland suggests that government will play a key role

in making services work for local people.

Active government support will always be necessary to make

community empowerment happen, and to ensure that it happens

for those who need it the most.



1 David Cameron ‘Our Big Society Agenda’ Speech in Liverpool, July 19th 2010

“empowerment is theresult of an organicbottom-up process thathappens despite – oreven because of – a lackof state intervention”

The JESSICA (Scotland) Trust is a timely £15mresource that will offer substantial support tocommunity groups in some of the most economicallychallenged parts of Scotland to develop local assetsand enterprises. In this feature, Nick Addington fromthe organisation setting up the Trust – the ScottishCommunity Foundation – explains the thinking behindits establishment.

When we talk about regeneration today, we

increasingly talk about resilience. Indeed, it was the

theme of SURF’s Annual Conference earlier this

year. Regeneration isn’t simply about making

immediate improvements to neighbourhoods, but

about ensuring that communities can withstand the

future challenges of a turbulent world. They are able

to re-group, organise and take action for themselves

in the face of difficulties, and are set up to learn

from experience.

As important as it is to create housing, communications and

business facilities that are attractive to employers and residents,

physical investment has to be accompanied by steps to build the

capacity of local people and strengthen local organisations. To

genuinely address long-standing disadvantage and social

problems in our communities, we must recognise that resilience

is a function of the people and organisations within them.

The JESSICA (Scotland) Trust, currently being established by the

Scottish Community Foundation with an endowment from the

Big Lottery Fund, is expected to be operational from Spring

2012. The Trust offers an exciting and timely opportunity to test

out doing regeneration differently.

Two JESSICAs, one goal

The Scottish Government and the European Investment Bank

are establishing a £50m JESSICA fund. This will provide loan

finance for physical developments in the 13 Scottish local

authority areas that are currently eligible for European Regional

Development Fund support.

Alongside this, the Big Lottery Fund is providing £15m to

establish the new independent JESSICA (Scotland) Trust. This

Trust will make available grants and loans to commission or

deliver programmes of activity that catalyse or implement

community-led regeneration.

Operating across the same 13 areas, the intent is for the Trust to

complement and enhance the larger JESSICA infrastructure

investments.

With up to ten years to apply its £15m endowment, the Trust

will be an independent, innovative and flexible vehicle. It will be

able to take a long-term approach by acting on emerging learning

and adapting to a changing environment.

Supporting community assets and enterprises

In developing our thinking about how the Trust can best achieve

its aims, we have sought input – particularly from SURF and the

newly formed Scottish Community Alliance – to consider how to

best link the Trust to Scotland’s current regeneration context.

We are also keen to explore how it can most effectively

complement other developments in community empowerment,

especially in asset development and community enterprise.

A key conclusion from these discussions is that the harnessing

and controlling of assets and services can contribute to

community regeneration, but communities need support to

facilitate this. Ownership of local assets gives communities a

chance to ensure that local land or buildings are retained in

productive use. It also enables communities to use those assets

to provide locally-relevant services. Additionally, assets can



The JESSICA Trust: new support forcommunity-led regeneration

Nick Addington

Head of Philanthropy Services, Scottish Community Foundation

[email protected]



generate income from rent or trading to be reinvested in the

community.

Community-owned social enterprises also offer the opportunity

to involve local people in delivering local services and maximise

economic opportunities to retain wealth within communities by

creating local employment and again, reinvesting profits in the

community. Developing locally owned assets and enterprises

empowers communities to play a greater role in their future –

promoting resilience and sustainable regeneration. Locally

controlled income streams reduce reliance on competing for

external funding to support services or invest in new projects,

but can lever-in additional investment.

The experience of managing assets and enterprises fosters

increased skills and confidence amongst community-based

organisations and promotes

partnerships between

them; it can lead to a more

enterprising mindset,

fostering a ‘hands-on, can-

do’ attitude to address

further needs or

opportunities. Crucially, it

also enables communities

to be more active and

credible partners alongside

public agencies and others

by allowing them to bring

resources and capabilities

to the table when local

structures such as

Community Planning

Partnerships are planning or allocating resources.

Overcoming barriers

We recognise that there are significant challenges to developing

successful community-owned enterprises and achieving

community ownership of assets in a way that is genuinely

empowering. There is the potential danger of leaving local

volunteers drained of energy or enthusiasm or saddled with

liabilities and unrealistic borrowing commitments.

In many communities, however, ‘anchor organisations’ such as

development trusts or community-controlled housing

associations are interested in pursuing such opportunities. In

fact, there is a growing track record of such community-led

bodies successfully doing so.

Meanwhile, organisations such as the Development Trusts

Association Scotland, Community Energy Scotland and

Community Recycling Network Scotland offer support and

advice, drawing on the growing body of experience and

expertise existing in community organisations around the

country and further afield.

Building on best practice

Our hope is that the JESSICA (Scotland) Trust can use its

resources alongside the range of other development support,

funding and investment opportunities available in Scotland to

foster the further development of community-led initiatives that

can connect to and enhance the impact of the physical projects

that are enabled by the Scottish Government’s JESSICA fund.

By offering affordable loan finance where there is current

market failure, complementing this with grant aid and

development support, the Trust can offer a supportive, engaged

and flexible approach to finance.

We hope this will build on and extend existing good practice in

community-led regeneration, contribute to developing learning,

policy and practice and make some in-roads to breaking the

cycle of poverty and disadvantage in some of Scotland’s poorer

urban communities.

SURF will be working with the Scottish CommunityFoundation to identify and disseminate lessons fromthe use of the JESSICA trust fund over coming years.

“The Trust offers an exciting

and timely opportunity

to test out doing

regeneration differently.”


Edward Harkins

Knowledge and Research Associate, SURF

[email protected]

There is a growing awareness on the part of SURF

over the past year of the need to further develop

linkages and interfaces between infrastructure and

community regeneration. SURF Associate Edward

Harkins here outlines the opportunity for the two

sectors to build on their shared goals.

SURF members may have heard recent statementsby Scottish Government Finance Minister JohnSwinney, and Cabinet Secretary Alex Neil, that madeit clear that ‘infrastructure’ had been moved up inthe order of public policy and strategic priorities forthe Scottish Government. There was, of course, alsothe development of Alex Neil’s portfolio fromMinster for Housing and Regeneration to CabinetSecretary for Capital Investment and Infrastructure.

Meantime, examples of the growing linkages betweeninfrastructure and regeneration might include: the CharteredInstitute of Housing in Scotland’s policy paper ‘Paying the Piper’(2011) that posed the question: ‘is housing infrastructure?’, andthe paper ‘Time to get it Right’ (2011) in which the Institute ofEngineers in Scotland called for a step change in the levels ofinvestment in infrastructure.

At a UK Government level, the language used by TreasuryMinister Lord Sassoon in a speech to the infrastructure industrycited ‘transformational’ infrastructure projects as a priority forGovernment investment. This language is similar to thelanguage used for many regeneration projects. The TUC,Institute of Directors and CBI, among others, have also addedtheir support to higher investment in infrastructure - includingfor regeneration purposes.

SURF is, however, equally aware that engagement aroundcommunity and socio-economic considerations has not figuredmuch in policy and strategy making and practice in the

Infrastructure and community regeneration– time for SURF to link them up?


The recently completedGlasgow M74 extension

infrastructure sector. It is, conversely, probably also the casethat many practitioners and practitioners in the community andsocial fields are not conversant with what exactly‘infrastructure’ is. It might even be the case that some policyadvisors in those fields do not feel themselves conversant withwhat exactly ‘infrastructure’ is.

SURF is, therefore, assessing the existing and emergent factorssuggesting that it should or could have a role in enablingmembers take a more active interest and involvement ininfrastructure policy, strategy and practice. The factors include:

a) Relevance to community regeneration of developments in policy and strategy on infrastructure.

b) The scale of public and private sector expenditure on infrastructure envisaged;

c) Wider cross-sector impacts of infrastructure policy and operations;

SURF is currently taking soundings with members and otherstakeholders to ascertain their views on any appropriate andfeasible role or services that SURF could be providing for itsmembers in this area of policy and practice.

As SURF’s Knowledge and Research Associate, my role is inco-ordinating this exercise. If you have a role or interest inthis area and would like to be included in SURF’sdeliberations, please contact me [email protected].

“Engagement around community andsocio-economic considerations hasnot figured much in policy andpractice in the infrastructure sector”

Home Rule – the Existing Homes Alliance

In a time when resources are shrinking and climatechange, fuel poverty and regeneration imperatives areever more important in Scotland, a new alliance oforganisations is seeking to promote a programme ofactions to help tackle these issues.

The Existing Homes Alliance (ExHA) Scotland is acoalition calling for urgent action to transformScotland's existing housing stock and make it fit forthe 21st century. The SFHA has signed up as part of apowerful coalition including the Scottish BuildingFederation, the Chartered Institute for Housing inScotland, Energy Action Scotland and a number ofother environment and housing groups.

The case for a new approachThe coalition believes that too many of Scotland's homes are in apoor condition, leading to unnecessarily high fuel use. Homeenergy use accounts for around a quarter of carbon emissions inScotland. It is clear that cutting emissions from existing housingmust have a central place in the Scottish Government’s plans tomeet the Scottish Climate Change Act’s emission reductiontargets of 42% by 2020 and 80% by 2050.

Over 25% of households live in fuel poverty and 33% of homesare hard-to-treat. Only a bold approach to retrofitting homesthroughout Scotland can tackle these problems at the pace ofchange required. Improving the energy performance ofScotland’s existing homes presents massive opportunities:helping to eradicate fuel poverty and its associated mortality andhealth problems; stimulating green jobs and boosting the hard-pressed building industry; and reducing greenhouse gasemissions.

A gap in the policy debateWhile the SFHA is still extremely concerned about the need tobuild more affordable homes – and to as high a standard ofenergy efficiency as possible – we feel that the policy debate hasnot focused sufficiently on how to deal with existing stock. Thisis where the majority of the population will still be living formany years to come.

Improving residential energy and water efficiency is one of themost cost-effective ways of reducing carbon emissions whilesimultaneously addressing fuel poverty. Urgent investment andaction is required to seize this opportunity.

ExHA Scotland is therefore calling for an ambitious nationalprogramme of low-carbon refurbishment across the country'sexisting homes to help cut greenhouse gas emissions and tacklefuel poverty.

We believe that such a programme makes sound environmental,social and economic sense. We are working with all sectors todevelop this programme of radical low-carbon refurbishmentand explore the role each sector can play in making it a reality.

ExHA Scotland: 10 key recommendations

1. A strategy and action plan for existing homes, aiming toachieve at least 42% carbon emissions reduction by 2020.

2. A clear timetable for the introduction of new regulation andplanning controls to improve the energy efficiency of existinghomes.

3. Scotland-wide area-based schemes to deliver retrofit ofexisting homes.

4. A range of financial incentives to encourage investment inenergy efficiency and micro-generation.

5. New service offerings, products and packages for retrofit.

6. Better information on household energy use and its carbonemissions for consumers.

7. Better energy performance data on existing housing.

8. Reliable quality control and up-skilling on low and zero-carbontechnologies.

9. A major programme to catalogue and showcase existing andongoing exemplar low energy refurbishments.

10.UK-energy and tax policy provide incentives to cut emissions

You can find out more and show your support at the ExHAScotland website: www.existinghomesalliance.org.uk/scotland/

There is a great policy appetite to develop

affordable, energy-efficient housing, but it’s not

obvious that the same could be said of the

opportunity to make existing housing stock green-

friendly. The SFHA’s Claire Munro provides details of

a campaigning coalition that aims to change this.


Claire Munro

Press and Public Affairs Manager, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA)

[email protected]

People and PlanningPlanning Aid for Scotland is a unique andindependent charity that helps people to engage inthe planning process. In this article, Planning Aidfor Scotland Chief Excecutive Petra Biberbachdiscusses the changing role of communityempowerment in the planning process in Scotlandand England.

What’s power got to do with it?The answer is: a great deal. It has often been said that the mostcommon way people give up their power is by thinking that theydon't have any. When I heard this repeated recently, it promptedme to reflect upon the growing realisation amongst ourcommunities that they in fact hold a great deal of power.Scotland’s move towards greater community empowermentparticularly through the planning system stands in increasinglystark contrast to the direction of travel elsewhere in the UK.

Audit Scotland’s recent report, Modernising the planning system,examines the efficiency and effectiveness of the recent planningreform in Scotland. Whilst the report finds much to applaud, italso indicates important work to be done on ensuring greaterinclusivity and community engagement. We must work harder toensure that processes are in place to enable better and morecreative community engagement – and to empowercommunities to have a greater say in the shaping of theirstrategic and local development plans.

Great expectationsThe next step on the horizon for community empowerment willbe the Scottish Government’s commitment to introduce aCommunity Empowerment and Renewal Bill – notably one ofthe clear recommendations emerging from the findings of theChristie Commission. The future bill has the potential to greatlystrengthen communities’ hands and may have substantialimplications for how we go about regenerating our communities- particularly around issues of asset transfer.

Planning Aid for Scotland is increasingly working with communitygroups on asset transfer, principally through the PlanningMentoring Scheme – designed for communities seeking toundertake development or build their own assets. Empoweringcommunities to have greater control over public assets not only

generates direct local benefits, but can stimulate the localimagination and lead to a variety of associated opportunities for acommunity – in effect, helping to create a positive momentum inthe local society and economy.

The localism paradoxThere is, however, a contrasting picture south of the border. Thecurrent furore surrounding the Localism Bill and proposedNational Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) suggest a differentpicture for community empowerment in England. Localcommunities will have the opportunity to develop their ownNeighbourhood Plans and exercise greater control in localplanning matters. But Neighbourhood Plans can only permitgreater – not less – development than that currently agreedwithin the existing local plan policy.

The move towards greater localism on the one hand appears toconflict with the automatic presumption in favour of sustainabledevelopment on the other. The presumption in favour ofsustainable development will limit the ability of communities inEngland to respond to incoming development proposals. How

much power thegovernment willeventually cede tocommunities comesdown to a questionof trust and theextent to which thegovernment hasconfidence in localcommunities to takegreater responsibilityfor local planningmatters.

Rights and responsibilities

Back in Scotland, one of the most vital current issues forcommunity involvement is the Scottish Government’s ZeroWaste Plan. The Plan pinpoints the land-use planning system as akey delivery mechanism to achieve Scotland’s zero waste targets,and it’s important that people know what this means for theircommunities and how to get involved in decision-making. In lightof the importance of waste planning for all communities, PAS hasdeveloped a unique training programme for community councilswhich we are currently delivering across Scotland.

The direction of travel in Scotland is clearly one of greater rightsfor communities. With rights, of course, come responsibilities –that people play an increasingly active role in decision-makingwithin their own communities. Addressing national problemssuch as waste will require everyone to play their part at the localand community levels.

www.planningaidscotland.org.uk

Planning Aid for Scotland helpline: 0845 603 7602

Petra BiberbachChief ExecutivePlanning Aid for [email protected]



ScotregenScotregen is the journal of SURF, Scotland’s IndependentRegeneration Network, and is distributed free to its membersthroughout Scotland.

Editors: Andy Milne and Derek Rankine

Typesetting and production: Blueprint Productions (Glasgow) Ltd

Relevant articles are welcome but may be subject to editing.

Any contributions should be sent to Andy Milne,

SURF, Fairfield House, Ibrox Business Park, Govan, Glasgow G51 2JR.

Tel 0141 585 6848 Fax 0141 445 2024 Email [email protected]

The views expressed in Scotregen are not necessarily shared by SURF,and therefore SURF is not responsible for the statements made orviews expressed.

SURF is an independent company Limited by guarantee.Registered in Scotland as ‘Scotregen Ltd’ No. SC 154 598. VAT Reg. No. 735 2880 21

Can NeighbourhoodsSave The City? By Frank Moulaert et al.

- Reviewed by EdwardHarkins MBA FRSA,Knowledge and ResearchAssociate, SURF.

This book is a presentation of the maintheoretical and empirical findings of thethree-year multinational research projectSocial Innovation Governance and Community Building(SINGOCOM), funded by the European Commission. The findings arefrom sixteen case studies in Europe, and are presented by variousurban planners, economists, and other social scientists.

The case-by-case perspectives throughout the book are diverse.These perspectives are, nonetheless, continuously relevant, andcontribute to the body of knowledge in the community regenerationand development and social innovation fields. Studies include:

• The ‘rare possibility afforded by the community associationAssociazone Quartieri Spagnolis in Naples of, “checking the dynamics ofinnovative processes at every stage of the entire life cycle of theassociation, from its spontaneous appearance in the neighbourhood inthe form of a voluntary action, throughout the period of consolidationand institutionalisation as a development agency, to the present daystagnation, in which its role and philosophy are increasinglychallenged…”;

• The community-owned enterprise Arts Factory as a study ofrenegotiating social relations in the traditional working-class communityof Ferndale in South Wales. The researchers describe this as a casestudy where, “all three dimensions of social innovation… are present:responding to basic needs, including personal development, socialcontacts, community work; empowerment… through major culturalchange; change in power relations within the community and betweenthe community and local authorities.”;

• The success of the Ouseburn Community Trust, in Newcastle, “inrevalidating the Valley [neighbourhood] from a marginal area in the cityto a vibrant and culturally rich place for visitors, workers andcompanies.” The researchers, “deal with the question of how acommunity group can find space to innovate in their environmentwhere local governance practices are to a large extent structured bypressures from national and international scales to be moreeconomically innovative.”

It is perhaps debatable as to whether the book succeeds to the extentthat the authors assert in establishing that, “There are sufficient singsthat socially innovative governance is becoming mainstreamed as part ofreformist attempts to find a new socially acceptable gravity point for thestate-market-civil social triangle.” The follow-up by official institutions,and government agencies, to the good intentions and commendablerecommendations of the Christie Commission on Scottish publicservices will test how far, “socially innovative governance is becomingmainstreamed.”

The authors, however, do undoubtedly succeed in demonstrating theextraordinary importance and promise of what they describe as‘quilting’ points or marginal spaces. These are the social, cultural andeconomic spaces left unoccupied by the global urban order thatregulates, assigns and distributes such things. It is in these ‘quilting’points that: all manner of new urban social and cultural practicesemerge; new forms of urbanity come to life; new forms of social andpolitical action are staged; affective new forms of economy arepractised; and where creative living is not only measured by the rise ofthe stock market and pension fund indices.

This is very much a text-book and an academic work. It isrecommended for serious students, researching practitioners and policymakers seeking to build a comparative social innovation framework foranalysing community development and regeneration.

Can Neighbourhoods Save The City? Frank Moulaert et al. (2011)ISBN 978-0-415-48588-3Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

SURF is grateful for the support of its key sponsors, who are:

Review:

“The follow-up to the commendable recommendations

of the Christie Commission will test how far socially

innovative governance is becoming mainstreamed”

Scotregen 54

Documents

housing policy

housing benefit

social rented stock

regeneration areas

social housingand

regeneration developments

private rented sector

local authorities