The Scottish Government has launched the Regeneration Discussion Paper ‘Building a Sustainable Future’. The paper is intended as a starting point for a wider debate and discussion about regeneration in the current climate. It is not an exhaustive review of regeneration policy but focuses instead on ‘key challenges, opportunities and priorities’.
One of these is community empowerment. The paper argues (#95-96) that
“In the context of regeneration, it is well proven that communities themselves have a valuable role to play in influencing and delivering aspects of the process, and that community involvement is likely to result in more sustainable and successful outcomes. This is equally true in urban and rural Scotland.
However, in our most disadvantaged and fragile communities it is particularly important that communities have access to adequate and appropriate support in order to fulfill their potential to do things for themselves. This need for high quality community capacity building is even more important today given the scale of the challenges set out in the other chapters of this paper.”
However there is little discussion of where such capacity building is to come from. The paper explores “three areas where we think more needs to be done to realise better the benefits of community‐led regeneration”. These are:
- Leadership – “in the public sector, the third sector and in communities themselves”
- Culture change – “in its simplest form, how we make developing and supporting community‐led solutions a part of mainstream business, rather than an occasional project, add‐on or experimental programme”
- Resources – it reviews a number of approaches such as community asset ownership and Social Impact Bonds and asks “What other innovative ideas do you have for resourcing support for community‐led regeneration?”
The discussion paper is not a consultation and the government is not seeking formal responses. But there are a number of ways to have your opinion heard. An Open Forum Discussion will take place in Glasgow on 15 March.
A summary of the responses will be published after the election. Supporting resources available include:
Presentations at the launch event on each of the discussion paper’s key themes:
- Development delivery – Richard Slipper, GVA.
- Community led regeneration – Stewart Murdoch, Scottish Community Development Centre
- Poverty, place and change – Jim McCormick, Scotland Adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Briefing papers capturing the learning from the first two years of the Scottish Centre for Regeneration’s regeneration learning networks:
- Community Regeneration and Tackling Poverty
- Mixed and Sustainable Communities
- Town Centres and Local High Streets
Research papers giving background and context to the discussion:
