An Open Goal? Fans involvement in football clubs

Working group makes final recommendations

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A group set up to look at how to get fans and communities more involved with the running of Scottish football clubs has published its final report.

The Working Group for Supporter Involvement in Football Clubs was set up by the Scottish Government in April 2014. Its remit was to identify, consider and recommend ways to increase and improve supporter involvement in Scottish football clubs

The group was chaired by Stephen Morrow, Senior Lecturer in Sport Finance at the University of Stirling. It comprised of representatives from the Scottish Football Association (Scottish FA), Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), Supporters Direct Scotland and sportscotland.

The recommendations include:

• Development of an annual Supporter Involvement Award
• All clubs should give consideration of the best ways that supporters can get involved in how they are run
• Training and guidance should be given to supporters’ representatives
• That the Scottish FA consider as a matter of priority how best supporters can be represented in its formal governance structures
• Clubs to make various key pieces of information available, including names of all board members, their involvement in the club and the reason for their appointment, details of the number of board meetings held and the number of directors attending
• All SPFL clubs to declare the identity of their beneficial owner
• That best practice guidelines be developed for community clubs
• To explore the establishment of a Business, Community and Football Enterprise unit to provide legal and financial support to supporters and club owners

Development and implementation of these recommendations will be overseen by the working group and taken forward by the clubs, governing bodies and relevant associated organisations

Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement, and Mental Health said: “Supporters should be at the heart of their football clubs, but too often they have felt marginalised and excluded. We established this working group because we wanted to find ways of making supporter involvement easier, and of strengthening the relationship between clubs and the communities they represent.

“The group has come up with some interesting recommendations and it is now dependent on everyone involved, including the Scottish Government, to make these work.

“These are challenging times for Scotland’s football clubs. The Scottish Government agrees with the working group that a legislative approach to addressing many of these issues is simply too prescriptive and not desirable or necessary at this stage.

“I thank and congratulate all those involved for taking part in this working group, and for taking the important issue of supporter involvement seriously. By working together to implement these recommendations I am confident both fans and clubs can bring about real improvements in how they engage and operate at all levels. ”

Stewart Regan, Scottish FA Chief Executive, said: “The Scottish FA acknowledges the need for greater supporter involvement in the national game. It is also supportive of the need to enhance fan engagement, not just in-stadia but expanding our digital provision. We have been pleased with the commitment shown by our colleagues in the working group and look forward to working together to implement the recommendations contained in the report.”

Neil Doncaster, SPFL Chief Executive, said: “Supporters are the lifeblood of the game in Scotland. We welcome initiatives that are designed to increase fans’ engagement with their clubs.”

Andrew Jenkin, Acting Head of Supporters Direct Scotland, said: “Supporters Direct Scotland were pleased to be an active member of this Working Group. We believe supporters are integral to the game of football and should continue to be further involved in the decision making with the group offering us the opportunity to shape future recommendations.

“The report rightly states that community ownership of clubs can come in many forms and brings a number of benefits to clubs, supporters and local communities. In Scotland there are various models and examples of fans joining together and offering new solutions in the future ownership of their clubs, from fully owned debt free Clyde, to the Foundation of Hearts”.

Stephen Morrow, who chaired the working group, said: “It is clear that Scottish football is in a period of transition. For example, after a period of great instability it is exciting to see one of our biggest clubs, Hearts, embarking on a journey towards supporter ownership. At the same time, another of our major clubs, Hibernian, is actively considering radical changes to its ownership and governance; proposals which are particularly interesting given that they are not emerging in response to financial crisis.

“One of the areas the Working Group focused on was how to reduce barriers to supporter ownership in circumstances where there is demand for this ownership structure. But it is important to stress that our group did not take the view that there was an ideal ownership model for Scottish football clubs.

“Our emphasis was on how best to encourage broader involvement of supporters, irrespective of the particular ownership structure adopted by a club and I am very grateful to the members of the Working Group for working so constructively to come up with proposals which have the potential to greatly enhance supporter involvement and supporter accountability in practice.”

The full report can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/ArtsCultureSport/Sport/football/WorkingGroupSupporterInvolvment

Making Work Pay event – a few tickets left

tynecastle

The Edinburgh Partnership is hosting an event at Tynecastle Stadium next Wednesday (4 February) to promote the Living Wage. Ann Budge, owner of Heart of Midlothian FC, will be keynote speaker at the ‘Making Work Pay’ breakfast event and a few tickets are still available. 

Ann Budge will be outline the reasons why Hearts have recently adopted the Living Wage, and other local Living Wage employers including Standard Life, Rabbie’s and Bluebird Care will also share their perspectives.

This is the first event to be hosted under Edinburgh Partnership’s new ‘One City’ Corporate Social Responsibility Framework. The target audience is businesses of all sizes and sectors who operate in Edinburgh.

To register, go to:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-work-pay-a-one-city-edinburgh-event-tickets-15003804784

Active Kids is back at Sainsbury’s

ellie simmons

Active Kids is back at Sainsburys Blackhall. Customers can collect vouchers in store from 28 January – 5 May to help registered schools, groups and clubs across Edinburgh receive active and cooking equipment and experiences.

The scheme, which is celebrating its 10th birthday, is supported by double Paralympic gold medal-winner Ellie Simmons, world record breaking sprinter Jonnie Peacock and Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.

Active Kids is designed to inspire and enable children to take more exercise and to eat healthily. Launched in 2005, the voucher collection scheme is open to all nursery, primary and secondary schools, as well as Scouts, Girlguiding groups and sports clubs in the UK.

 

Since it launched, over £150 million worth of equipment and experiences have been donated to registered schools, clubs and organisations.

 

The programme continues to evolve and reflect changes to the curriculum, with developments such as additional cooking equipment and toolkits introduced to support this new emphasis in the classroom.

Community Regeneration: what is it all about?

Blue sky thinking: Granton Improvement Society calls for real community planning

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The idea of  “community regeneration” certainly is not new but at this time in Scotland, with new Scottish government legislation on Community Empowerment, the time is now better than ever before for communities to take more control of assets. We can shape our community involving all who live, work and play within it. Now that would be real community regeneration! 

Politicians talk about regeneration but do they deliver? What does that mean for the residents of North Edinburgh? We have a badly needed housing development in Muirhouse but without complementary services. The rest of the locality is left to decay with budget cuts making it harder for politicians (the council) to regenerate the larger area.

The people of the area know what is needed to regenerate their environment and it is not just housing. The Granton on Sea project can be the corner stone of such development. A project that provides benefits across a wide spectrum of issues that have been unresolved over the past 20 years – even though the area was designated as a major regeneration area within the City of Edinburgh.

A community regeneration project requires the assets of the community to be in total, outright ownership of that community: this is not in place.

Why then, when Scottish government policy is to transfer assets to communities have EDI, chaired by Councillor Frank Ross who is also convenor of the Economic Development committee, denied the project Granton on Sea the opportunity to begin one of Scotland’s largest and most ambitious regeneration plans?

The EDI Finance Director and Waterfront manager both recommended that Granton Improvement Society be given a two year period where it would fully develop the project with the Lottery’s Growing Community Assets unit. After eighteen months it would begin to provide employment, training, tourism opportunities, visitors and more economic benefits to North Edinburgh.

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How will the project bring benefit?

The acquisition of the land by the Granton Improvement Society will see the development of 54 luxury houses stopped and replaced with an International Garden Festival and create artisan studios in green space on the adjoining plot of land.

The proposal will provide upwards of 100 permanent full time and part-time jobs, training and education in horticulture and other professions and trades. It will be an opportunity for local people to start up business in affordable workspaces. The unique visitor attraction of the International Garden Festival where each year it is different will ensure returning visitors to the project. That influx of tourists both national and international will see their spending retained in the local economy.

The real main benefit that the Granton on Sea project will bring is a local charity The Granton Improvement Society, whose main objective is the regeneration of the North Edinburgh area. It will manage the income from the artisan village and the Garden Festival for the benefit of other projects throughout the North Edinburgh area.

 What do we need from you, the community?

This community has waited for regeneration benefits for decades with the community being told that the benefits are coming, this has clearly not happened. We are not giving up! We are asking you to join the Granton Improvement Society and create a place for people to live work and play!

Application forms for the Granton Improvement Society can be downloaded at

https://grantonimprovementsociety.wordpress.com/

and are available from the secretary, email 

info@grantonimprovementsociety.org

 

 

More cracking news from Craigie!

Positive Inspection Report for Learning Community around Craigroyston Community High School

Craigroyston HSThe ‘Learning Community’ surrounding Craigroyston  High  School was inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education  at the same time as the High School and also  received a very positive report. 

The inspection looked at services provided by  Community Learning and Development and partners in the voluntary and public sector . Areas highlighted were:

  • Strong focus on prevention and support for families and children.
  • Breadth and range of voluntary sector contribution to the learning community.
  • Total Craigroyston  having a positive impact on partnership working across the area and improving outcomes for learners.
  • Improvement in key indicators such as attainment, children’s and young people’s literacy and numeracy, positive destinations and reducing school exclusions.
  • Increasing number of opportunities delivered by local people that are creating positive role models.

Inspectors  particularly noted the range and strength  of partnership work.  The full report can be found  at:

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/

and a link will be put on the Total Craigroyston blog.

I tell you, you wait ages and ages for a positive report to come along and then two come along at once! Congratulations, again!

Still caring after all those years

Caring award for Stockbridge charity

lifecare

Care at LifeCare (Edinburgh) in Stockbridge extends far beyond attending to health necessities. Be it music and singing in the St. Bernard’s club, or a nutritious meal at the on-site community cafe, LifeCare Edinburgh has enriched the lives of older people for over 74 years.

Earlier this month LifeCare Edinburgh was awarded a Carer Positive certificate to acknowledge their commitment to caring.

The recently-introduced Carer Positive kitemark is awarded to employers in Scotland who have a working environment where their staff, who are also carers for family members, are valued and supported. This might be through flexible working policies or with simple practical measures which can make a big difference to carers.

Care Services Manager Margaret Stewart said: “This award is proof that we do what we say we do. LifeCare is set apart from other organisations by how we look after our staff as employees and in their caring role. We are very proud to be one of 16 organisations across Scotland to be recognised for this award.”

Fundrasing manager Vicki Bradley added: “LifeCare Edinburgh is known for caring for others whether in their day centre or at home, so it seemed natural that it should support its staff who are carers personally,”

And such is the commitment of the Stockbridge team that they are already working towards the next level of the Carer Positive kitemark!

 

Citizens have their say on council budget

Five-fold increase in public response to budget proposals – but only 3500 take the opportunity to have their say

CityChambers

es more responses than last year have been received through the City of Edinburgouncil’s budget engagement and consultation exercise.

The results are detailed in a report which will be considered by the Finance and Resources Committee on Tuesday, 3 February. The Council received comments on topics such as allotments, early years and adult education, Edinburgh Leisure, library opening hours, public toilets, homelessness and third party grants.

For the first time the Council used a new online tool enabling residents to have their say on how the Capital invests and saves over the next three years.e report includes feedback from around 3,525 Edinburgh residents, key stakeholders and local businesses including 1,719 people who used the online planner.

The city’s population is around 490,000.

The Council also received 782 telephone calls, emails and letters,145 budget leaflets were returned and 524 comments were made through social media.

A budget question time event was also attended by over 40 people, viewed by 200 people on the live webcast and watched another 862 times using the archive.

In order to meaningfully engage with a larger and more diverse group, the online planner allowed the Council to show where it expects to incur costs in 2017/18, to demonstrate the impacts of increasing or decreasing spending in all of its services, and to give respondents the opportunity to express what they feel the Council’s priorities should be. Impacts shown in the planner were indicative of what might happen as a result of budget changes. The Council also asked for public views on this year’s 2015/16 budget proposals.

Cllr Alasdair Rankin, Convener of the Finance and Resource Committee, said: “I would like to thank the thousands of residents and businesses who took part in this open and democratic 11-week engagement and consultation process. A broad range of channels were used to ensure that everyone had the opportunity to have their say as an individual and or as a group to influence how the Council should invest and save money.

“The Council received five times more feedback through this year’s budget engagement and consultation than last year. The online planner was extremely successful and we ensured it was promoted to all age groups and people from all walks of life to help us understand more fully where Edinburgh residents think Council money should be invested and saved. We will be taking this success and working with people right through the year to develop a more participatory process throughout the city.

“The comments and the results of the budget planner are now being carefully considered along with all the other feedback we received. This will help us to make the right decisions for our residents now and in the future when setting our budget. I would encourage people to watch councillors making these important decisions for the city live, via our website, or catch up afterwards on the webcast archive.”

The budget for 2015/16 will be set at a meeting, which will be webcast, on Thursday 12 February.

Fracking on hold in Scotland – for now

Moratorium called: Scottish Government consultation to seek public’s views on fracking

frack

Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has announced that there is to be a moratorium on granting consents for ‘fracking’ whilst further research and a public consultation is carried out – but Green MSPs say the ‘door has been left ajar’.

The decision comes days after the UK Government voted against a moratorium.

Last Friday, following the publication of the Smith Command Paper, Mr Ewing wrote to UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey requesting that the UK Government do not issue further licences in Scotland as the powers over licencing are due to be devolved.

In his statement to Parliament this afternoon Mr Ewing set out that the Scottish Government will undertake additional work to increase the evidence base for decision-making on this issue.

In particular Mr Ewing set out that the Scottish Government will:

• Undertake a full public consultation on unconventional oil and gas extraction

• Commission a full public health impact assessment

• Conduct further work into strengthen planning guidance

• Look at further tightening of environmental regulation.

Mr Ewing said: “I am announcing a moratorium on the granting of planning consents for all unconventional oil and gas developments, including fracking. This moratorium will continue until such time as the work I have set out to Parliament today, including a full public consultation, is completed.

“The Scottish Government has taken a cautious, considered and evidence-based approach to unconventional oil and gas and fracking.

“I have listened carefully to concerns raised by local communities and environmental campaigners. We have put in place robust environmental regulation, tougher planning rules and successfully opposed the UK Government’s plans to end Scottish householders’ rights to object to drilling under their homes.

“We recognise that local communities are likely to bear the brunt of any unconventional oil and gas developments, particularly in terms of increased traffic and related emissions and noise impacts. These are issues that must be researched further.

“We have listened to legitimate concerns about potential negative impacts. However, we must also acknowledge that some take a different view and see opportunities in unconventional oil and gas extraction.

“We should never close our minds to the potential opportunities of new technologies – but we must also ensure that community, environmental and health concerns are never simply brushed aside. This government will not allow that to happen and I hope the actions I have announced today will be widely welcomed as proportionate and responsible.”

Scottish Green MSPs have welcomed the Energy Minister’s announcement at Holyrood today – but warn that that the Scottish Government’s position still falls short of a full ban.

Scottish Green MSPs Patrick Harvie and Alison Johnstone have campaigned against unconventional gas extraction since the 2011 election. As well as proposing a ban, which all other parties voted against, they have urged ministers to provide funding for local authorities to develop robust policies to handle any fracking applications.

A Scottish Green petition calling on the UK Government to halt the imminent awarding of licenses to frack for gas across Scotland has achieved over 5,700 signatures since being launched last week.

Alison Johnstone MSP said: “A year ago the First Minister said shale gas was an undoubted opportunity; today the Energy Minister announced a pause but asks us not to rule it out. It is clear that the sustained pressure we’ve been putting on the Scottish Government has paid off, but we do not intend to rest here.

“The SNP and Labour voted against a ban last year when I led the Scottish Parliament’s first debate on fracking. While a delay to allow for further research is a welcome step, it remains a worry that neither SNP ministers nor Labour are talking about ruling it out.

“Leaving the door ajar to a new wave of fossil fuels is incompatible with our climate change ambitions and risks diverting attention and investment from the undoubted opportunity we have to pursue clean technology and energy efficiency.”