Scottish residents: “We need communities, not just homes”

Two-thirds of people in Scotland feel that too much focus is being placed solely on the construction of new homes, as opposed to rounded communities with supporting infrastructure, a new report has found. Continue reading Scottish residents: “We need communities, not just homes”

Zakia’s home for lunch

Zakia Moulaoui worked up an appetite for her Big Lunch at Montgomery Street Park yesterday – she’s just returned from an epic 17 day journey  visiting towns, cities and places from Edinburgh to Orkney (and back again) as one of the walkers who has led Team Scotland of the Eden Project’s Big Lunch Community Walk.

Continue reading Zakia’s home for lunch

Tackling food insecurity during school holidays

More than 7,000 children from low income families will have access to healthy and nutritious food during the Christmas school holidays, Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said this morning. Continue reading Tackling food insecurity during school holidays

Community groups encouraged to Grow Stories as part of local campaign

Scotland’s Local Storytelling Campaign “Growing Stories” is underway and is running to Friday 30 November.

The Local Storytelling Campaign is a creative outreach initiative that bookends and runs alongside the Scottish International Storytelling Festival (SISF); an annual celebration of live storytelling & cultural diversity that takes place each year at the end of October, organised by Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland (TRACS). Continue reading Community groups encouraged to Grow Stories as part of local campaign

Democracy Matters: sign up for discussion event

Working together, Community Development Alliance Scotland, The Scottish Community Development Centre and the Poverty Alliance invite you to discuss the next phase of the Local Governance Review and  share your ideas about how local democracy could change.

Join us for the morning, chat to us over lunch and learn how you can help others have their voice and make a difference.

  • The Studio, 67 Hope Street , Glasgow
  • 10 am til 2pm
  • 9th August 2018

Register here >> 

Democracy Matters

The Scottish Government has launched the next phase of its Local Governance Review, inviting people to join a conversation called ‘Democracy Matters’.

The campaign asks five key questions about how decisions should be made at a more local level. It asks whether communities, of place or identity, should have more control of decisions and what those might be. It also asks how this should look and what new or existing decision-making processes could be used.

The Local Governance Review was launched earlier in the year aims to find out what changes are needed to encourage a more local, participatory and inclusive democracy in Scotland.

A short animation summaries the review and the five questions being asked:

“In modern Scotland power must work in a way that involves and benefits everyone. To get this right, we will review how responsibilities and resources can be shared across national and local government in a way that delivers the greatest benefit to Scotland’s different places. However, the starting point must be with our citizens and the power and potential within our communities themselves.”

The review encourages people to hold conversations in their communities to discuss Democracy Matters and includes a community engagement fund where groups can apply for £100 – £300 to help make conversations happen. They have also published guidance about how the discussion might work and how it could be facilitated.

The review of local governance was set out in the Scottish Government’s 2017-18 programme for government and will be part of the forthcoming Local Democracy Bill

You can download the report and view more information on the Scottish Government website here.

Register for the event here >>