Following years of uncertainty and possible demolition, the asset transfer between the City of Edinburgh Council and the management team and board of trustees of Duncan Place has recently completed. This firmly places the much-loved community hub in the ownership of the Duncan Place charity for the people of Leith for generations to come.
Duncan Place Community Hub was originally built in 1920 as Leith Academy Technical College & Gymnasium, it transitioned to a community centre in the 70s and has been home to the local artist group, Academy Arts since 1978.
In 2014, the council temporarily closed the building to carry out inspection works into its structural safety, which resulted in permanent closure the following year. The funds were not available for the council to carry out the required works to preserve and restore the building and so it faced potential demolition.
However, various members of the community came together in an attempt to rescue the building for the people of Leith. Duncan Place centre manager, Nicola Lamberton and the five strong board of trustees worked tirelessly over a seven year period to transfer the asset across to the community under the Community Empowerment Bill.
Working closely with the Economic Development team at the council, Duncan Place was able to access various grant funds to deliver the required refurbishment programme for the building.
Between funds awarded from Scottish Government and the Lottery, Duncan Place received in excess of £2.1m to carry out the restoration and refurbishment works to ensure the building was futureproofed for many years to come.
Commenting on the asset transfer, Nicola Lamberton, the manager of the Duncan Place Community Hub charity said: “This is a huge milestone for everyone in the community to know that the future of the hub is secure and it’s owned by the charity for the people of Leith.
“We always recognised the social value that the hub brought to groups and to individuals living in Leith and beyond. This is why we have been so determined over the years to ensure the building was retained in order to continue to support so many amazing organisations and local people.”
Operating as a social enterprise and registered charity, Duncan Place is now home to six organisations that have long term tenancies in place with the community hub using it as their permanent base, these include Duncan Places own space, LGBT Health & Wellbeing, Edinburgh Colleges English for Speakers of Other Languages programme, Kin Collective, Home-Start Edinburgh and AdvoCard.
In addition to these organisations using the hub, there are a further 40 community groups that regularly hire the space to hold their classes and events. Any profit made is used by the Duncan Place charity to offer low cost community activities.
The growing programme of events can be viewed on the charities website: www.duncanplace.org.
Ben Macpherson, MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leithadded: “Scottish Government provided much of the funding required to deliver the refurbishment programme for Duncan Place Community Hub and I’m delighted to see the building transformed and thriving.
“The model adopted by Duncan Place whereby local charities pay an affordable rent and in return receive a secure tenancy in the area is wonderful. To know that the rents raised ensure financial sustainability for the organisation, as well as enabling the hub to provide low cost community activities is something that I am proud to have supported”.
Councillor Mandy Watt, CECs Finance and Resources Convener, said: “This milestone has been years in the making and we’ve enjoyed seeing Duncan Place brought back into use. Now, the council is giving ownership of the building back to the people of Leith.
“It’s brilliant news for the area and a good example of collaboration and partnership working between the public and voluntary sectors. Everyone from local councillors to group members have supported this project moving forward.
“The revitalised Duncan Place building will not only help to reduce inequality by providing much needed affordable space for events, classes and workshops, it will support jobs and support local people, acting as a true community hub.”
Gracemount Mansion Development Trust has been given £167,340 to buy Gracemount Mansion in the south of Edinburgh in order to redevelop and reopen the asset as a community hub.
The grant is amongst 11 totalling £1,833,622 that have been given to communities across the country in the latest round of awards by the Scottish Land Fund.
The Scottish Land Fund reopened to applications in April 2021. The programme is funded by the Scottish Government and delivered in partnership by the National Lottery Community Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), both of which have extensive experience of helping communities to acquire and develop their assets for over a decade.
Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary, Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, said: “Over one million people across Scotland now live in communities where assets have been acquired with funding from the Scottish Land Fund. This is a remarkable milestone and displays just how large an impact the Fund has had on communities across Scotland.
“Community ownership is an effective way to revitalise local areas and improve the lives of residents . The latest recipients are no exception and I know that their projects will bring countless benefits to their communities.
“I’d like to congratulate the groups involved and I look forward to seeing their projects, and their communities flourish as a result.”
Lindsay Aitken, Chair, Gracemount Mansion Development Trust,said: “We are delighted to have been awarded funding from the Scottish Land Fund. The funds awarded will enable GMDT to purchase Gracemount House and surrounding grounds from the City of Edinburgh Council, as well as a significant contribution towards the essential works required to partially reopen Gracemount Mansion as a community hub in 2025.
“With further funding, the full reopening of Gracemount House will bring back a much needed and desired facility and resource for the community and beyond.
“We must say a huge thanks to the Project team who have progressed the project, GMDT charity Trustees and Members, Friends of the Mansion, the local community, stakeholders, CEC, and of course to the SLF and National Lottery for the funding.”
Cara Gillespie, Scottish Land Fund Committee Chair said: “Like all the groups that have been successful in this round of funding, Gracemount Mansion Development Trust will use their awards to make purchases that will directly improve the lives of people in their community.
“Targeted funding such as this gets right to the heart of local issues.”
And Sandra Holmes, Head of Community Assets at HIE, said: “The successful projects announced today across Scotland are all great examples of people taking control of local resources for the long-term benefit of their communities.
“Through the purchase of land and properties including a community hall and a former church, groups will be in a position to deliver economic, social and environmental benefits to the community. These latest awards will further strengthen the sense of community and empowerment.”
“All these projects announced today will help retain the population, attract visitors and create jobs. Ownership will give the community groups greater control over important assets that will reap rewards for people now and for generations to come. We wish all the successful groups the very best in their new ventures.”
Other groups receiving funding are:
Wigtown and Bladnoch Community Initiative
Award – £88,474
Wigtown and Bladnoch Community Initiative (WBCI) will acquire a former Church Hall in Wigtown. The acquisition will bring social benefits by providing space for meetings, classes and skill sharing workshops, as well as exercise, entertainment, and health & wellbeing activities. Alongside the social benefits, opportunities for digital access will also enable employment and enterprise skills.
Tighnabruaich District Development Trust
Award – £61,443
Tighnabruaich District Development Trust (TDDT) will purchase 2 retail units in Tighnabruaich, Argyll and Bute. The group will continue to use one of the units as the location for their heritage centre and will rent out the second unit.
Cockenzie House and Garden
Award – £227,400
Cockenzie House and Gardens will acquire the Cockenzie & Port Seton Old Parish Church and Hall, in East Lothian, and will use the asset as a community hub, offering community space for groups to meet, social activities, pop-up hospitality and childcare provision.
Dunvegan Community Trust SCIO
Award – £361,096
Dunvegan Development Trust will acquire a building known locally as the ‘Gaeltec Building’ in Dunvegan, Syke from a private business. The group will develop the asset into an energy efficient, multi-use commercial and community hub that includes office space, a gym and childcare facilities to address a range of community needs in a remote, rural community.
Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre Development Trust
Award – £267,948
Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre Development Trust will purchase the Taversoe Hotel on Rousay, Orkney. The hotel is the only current hospitality venue on all three islands. The group will operate the asset as a hotel, pub,
restaurant and community space. This asset will serve as a year-round gathering place for the community that will assist in combating rural isolation.
Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre Development Trust
Award – £262,188
Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre Development Trust will purchase a Manse in Rousay,Orkney from the Church of Scotland. They group will convert and renovate the asset into up to 3 separate housing units that will be used for affordable rent.
Toryglen Community Hall
Award – £171,272
Toryglen Community Hall (TCH) will acquire the building in Glasgow that they’ve occupied for 35 years. Community ownership will provide security enabling TCH to improve and extend the building thus, continuing to provide activities aimed at a range of groups.
Bailliefields Community Hub SCIO
Award – £27,500
Bailliefields Community Hub will purchase a small area of land adjacent to the boundary of their existing Community Hub. Acquisition will allow the group to extend existing walking/cycling routes and increase local walking access with a focus on active travel.
Raasay Development Trust
Award – £99,961
Raasay Development Trust will acquire an empty 2-bedroom house in Inverarish on the Isle of Raasay. The group will renovate the house to create affordable rented accommodation for the community.
North Yell Development Council
Award – £99,000
North Yell Development Council will acquire the units 3-4 at Sellafirth Business Park, North Yell, Shetland. The group will use the premises to provide a multi-use office, heritage, events and training space which will be used by local agencies, individuals and community groups.
Did you know 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of community ownership of land, assets and buildings in Scotland?
To celebrate this, and to mark North Edinburgh Arts coming into community ownership in 2022, we have commissioned a work from local textile artist Francia Boakye.
Francia will be weaving a set of baskets to carry our hopes and ambitions into the next 100 years of community ownership. Francia will be using a range of fabrics to represent the rich diversity of our local community. The many languages spoken across North Edinburgh will also be incorporated into the baskets, written on fabric woven into each piece.
The completed collection will be part of an exhibition in the Travelling Gallery touring Scotland between June and August this summer and will have a permanent home within the refurbished and expanded NEA building due for completion later this year.
If you live in North Edinburgh, we’d be delighted if you can take part in this project. Simply reply to this post with your hope for our community, and note additional languages spoken, or email these details to admin@northedinburgharts.co.uk by Friday 19 April 2024.
The Management Committee of C. C. C. (Corstorphine Community Centre) is delighted to announce that The Hub (formerly Westfield House) on Kirk Loan is now in community ownership.
Negotiations with the City of Edinburgh Council for the purchase of the building and grounds have been successfully completed, and the building became the property of C. C. C. on 20th February 2024.
It has been a long journey to secure a new home for a community centre in the heart of Corstorphine, following the fire in 2013 which devastated the Public Hall.
We are more than grateful to the individuals and organisations who have got us to this point, offering invaluable expertise and time, and raising and awarding funding over the 10 plus years it has taken.
We now have a building, situated in the heart of Corstorphine which will be devoted to promoting community wellbeing and activities.
We will do this by being the home for organisations needing a local base, by delivering a growing programme of activities in-house, by providing letting space for groups and organisations to deliver their activities within Corstorphine, and by offering space for events.
The next big task, so that this all becomes a reality, is to make the building fit for purpose by ensuring it is fully accessible, inviting to use, and environmentally sound. It will be a major works programme and plans are already in the making.
We want to ensure that the end result is a community centre for the 21st century, with a viable business model, which serves and enhances life for folk in our community.
Visit to group leading development of Inveraray Pier
First Minister Humza Yousaf met community group Inspire Inveraray to see first hand their ongoing work to regenerate the local pier as part of wider transformation plans for the area.
The community group purchased the pier in July 2023, using £121,374 from the Scottish Government supported Scottish Land Fund, to bring it back into operation, providing greater access for leisure and water sports, fishing activities and further connections to surrounding towns. The pier had previously been privately owned for 20 years and has been closed to the public for the past five years.
First Minister Humza Yousaf took a tour of the pier ahead of the 51st Travelling Cabinet and discussed how the funding had enabled the group to take on community ownership.
First Minister Humza Yousaf said: “Community empowerment is a key aim for this government and it was great to see in person a perfect example of a local group, supported by the Scottish Government, taking power of local assets for their community benefit as well as supporting the local economy.
“We are fully committed to ensuring that Scotland’s regions are able to thrive and contribute to a growing sustainable economy.
“I look forward to discussing this with the people of Inveraray and the wider Argyll and Bute area to achieve this within their local communities.”
Communities in Edinburgh have been slower to take control of their local assets than their counterparts elsewhere in Scotland, it has been recognised. But they are now catching up with a series of truly exciting projects.
Nowhere more than in the north of the city, according to Community Land Scotland. There the community-led North Edinburgh Arts (NEA) is right at the heart of one of the most ambitious urban regeneration programmes in Scotland.
Its new venue, part of a £15m hub to be completed by the end of the year, will make up a third of the flagship building at the newly created Macmillan Square. Surrounded by 154 new affordable homes and 13 retail units it will anchor a new ‘town centre’.
It is part of a £200m plus programme of public and private sector investment. This is committed to revitalising an area which has long suffered from multiple deprivation, despite having some of the most affluent postcodes in the capital as neighbours.
NEA was founded 25 years ago bringing together Muirhouse Festival Association and Triangle Arts. It covers the Muirhouse, Granton, Pilton and Drylaw areas between the busy Ferry Road and the Firth of Forth.
Before that they met in huts, to drink coffee from chipped mugs and plan a way ahead. It didn’t take them long. Just over three years later NEA’s first building was opened. Financed by the city council and other public agencies the venue sat on land leased to the NEA charity.
At the time it was seen as a most impressive community asset, with its recording studio, 96-seater theatre and community garden.
These along with other facilities are being integrated into the new hub. But it will have significantly more capacity with a new enterprise wood workshop, learning and creative studio space, alongside an expanded café, hot desk youth area and shared atrium. Crucially NEA now will own the land on which the building and gardens sit. Support of £156,000 from the Scottish Land Fund has financed a Capital Asset Transfer from the city council.
Long-serving NEA Director Kate Wimpress is proud of what has been achieved already, and is thrilled by the prospect of what lies ahead: “The existing bright blue NEA building has been a beacon of hope for many years, not least throughout the lockdown.
“But our new extended hub will be taking us on to the next stage of a really exciting journey. The building will be a third bigger so we are hoping to add to the many hours of creative activitywe have been offering every week, from Saturday morning yoga to messy play for the under-fives.
“We also want to increase the 40,000 visits a year we have been attracting from those who come to learn how to sew to those who play an instrument in the local orchestra. Owning the property outright will change our psychology, our feel for the place. I am confident it will be bustling, a real draw, and ready for the next 25 years.”
Bridie Ashrowan, CEO of EVOC (Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council), part of the Edinburgh Third Sector Interface (TSI) Partnership, says there are complex reasons why Edinburgh has been slower to pursue community ownership.
The community right to buy in rural areas provision was contained in the Scottish Parliament’s 2003 land reform legislation, but wasn’t extended to urban areas until 2016.
But there have been other difficulties. She says it is not as easy to identify what constitutes an urban local community, as it is perhaps in the rural areas where there is so often, a geographical sense of place. Concern about the likes of housing or school rolls in rural communities, can motivate people to act and take control.
Bridie continues: “There have also been barriers in urban areas, where fewer community development trusts have emerged thus far, but there is a sense that things are now gathering momentum. There appears to be a recognition on the part of city council officials, that they need to make the process less onerous for the likes of capital asset transfer to the community and voluntary sector.
“Local activists are beginning to see that community ownership is a way to improve the future for their area. This is particularly true for the green agenda, from the Harlaw Hydro scheme at Balerno to the solar panels Action Porty has put on the roof of the old parish church halls in Portobello.
“There is no doubt that Glasgow has benefitted from the advice and encouragement given to local communities by Community land Scotland and being based at a successful site, at the Kinning Park Complex.
“The former school itself was only transformed after an extraordinarily resolute local campaign to acquire it. But Edinburgh is getting there: look at North Edinburgh Arts, Bridgend Farm House, Space and The Broomhouse Hub. Communities are coming together and are inspired by what has been achieved in rural areas, and island communities. But officialdom has got to keep removing the barriers.”
Ailsa Raeburn, Chair of Community Land Scotland says “The popular image of community ownership may still be that of mountain, moor and woodland, but Community Land Scotland is immensely proud what has been achieved since the community right to buy was extended to urban areas in 2016. Some 28% of the purchases of land and assets recently supported by the Scottish Land Fund, were in towns and cities across Scotland.
“There have perhaps been fewer in our capital Edinburgh, which is popularly seen as an affluent place. But there are significant areas of deprivation. Not least around Muirhouse, where community-led bodies are leading the way in addressing the challenges. The city’s communities are now increasingly taking control of assets and improving local life.”
FROM URINAL TO YOGA
Communities are often sparked into action when faced with losing an important element of local life. It can be a bus or ferry service, a primary school or post office. In the case of Juniper Green, the village on the south-western outskirts of Edinburgh at the foothills of the Pentlands, it was the public toilet.
It marked the continuing retreat from the civic provision long accepted as part of normal life.
The City of Edinburgh Council closed the public convenience in 2015. But it was to provide an important local opportunity, which a determined community took. The community council persuaded the local authority not to sell the building or site immediately.
Residents were consulted and there were suggestions that it could be used to replace the local post office which had already closed. In 2017 the Royal Bank of Scotland branch shut its doors and a community bank or credit union were mooted.
Cliff Beevers, a retired professor of mathematics at nearby Heriot-Watt University who chaired the community council recalls “First the post office then the bank, they were devastating blows. Soon after we lost the fishmonger and the butcher had gone too. The village was losing much of its retail infra- structure which is so important to the older members of the community.”
Both the PO and bank replacement ideas proved too impractical. Plans changed. The old toilet building was demolished. It was replaced by a new building at 531 Lanark Road, incorporating a much-needed community space for events, activities and classes, with a flat upstairs for affordable rent. But it took till December 2022 before it could open its doors having battled through covid and rising material costs.
Today it is the venue for a huge range of activities from: yoga sessions to Nordic walking; a knitting group to keep fit classes; guitar lessons to first aid classes and wreath-making. It is where the community council meets, and possibly reflects the long journey from urinal to yoga.
One of the crucial milestones on that near eight-year journey was the founding of the charity Pentlands Community Space (PCS) to raise the best part of half a million pounds (community councils are not allowed to own property), and to navigate the red tape and bureaucracy. But the support of the local community made it work.
Crucially a local builder Domenic Tedesco, agreed to act as contracting consultant. Professor Beevers, who had become PCS chair, describes this as “A generous pro bono offer worth, it was estimated, at around £75,000 for Domenic’s time, experience and know how.”
A local lawyer also gave of his time. Importantly a £33,000 grant from the Scottish Land Fund allowed the toilet building to be bought and demolished. Private, corporate, public, third sector, charitable and individual donations followed. The list is long, but those on it will not be forgotten in Juniper Green, according to Professor Beevers.
SWIFT ACTION IN PORTOBELLO
While some localities in Edinburgh may have been slow to take the opportunities community right to buy offered, not so the good people of Portobello. They were the first in an urban area to use the provision when extended from rural areas to Scotland’s towns and cities.
In 2016, community body ‘Action Porty’ officially registered an interest in Portobello’s Old Parish Church and its halls on Bellfield Street. Despite interest from property developers, a grant of over £600,000 from the Scottish Land Fund and other fundraising delivered the church.
It was built in 1809 by the Kirk, with a mission to save souls. Action Porty’s ambitions for the Bellfield building are to help save our planet, while providing a vital community resource. Solar panels have been installed on the roof of the halls, capable of producing 20kw of electricity. It cost around £25,000, of which the Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) fund paid £17,740, and the rest an interest free loan from a Scottish Government fund. Two 10kwh batteries were installed for when the sun doesn’t shine.
Action Porty’s chair, anthropologist Justin Kenrick, explains the background: “We are lucky to live in a seaside community, but we are painfully aware the threat rising sea levels from climate change poses.
“It is in our faces every day. We have to do our bit. The solar panels mean that we earn around £700 p/a in feed-in tariffs, as well as significantly reducing our electricity costs. But perhaps more importantly, they were a real catalyst for us thinking how we decarbonise our operations, and about the role the Bellfield building should play within our community.”
Action Porty has been working with fellow travellers Porty Community Energy, to help Portobello transition to low carbon living. One measure is to pursue an e-cargo bike ‘library’, allowing local residents to borrow them.
Justin said “One is already used to pick up food from supermarkets that is about to go out of date, and take it to the community fridge at the Baptist Church. The Community Fridge project is just one of many organisations we work closely with, to improve local life in the face of the social, climate and nature emergencies.”
There were public events to promote cycling and walking as active travel options and to advise on heating and insulating homes. Action Porty also initiated an ultimately successful campaign to save local five-aside football pitches and is currently helping monitor plans for the major new Seafield housing development to ensure they are socially just and ‘climate aware.’
Meanwhile the Bellfield building is being used daily for classes and events from pilates to adult drawing, baby & toddler music to the Scouts, weddings and jazz nights.
Outside on the north-facing wall of the old church, bird boxes have been fixed, as part of a partnership with RSPB. They are there to encourage the return of the swifts, which used to grace Portobello. Fingers are crossed they will be back this spring. It’s really a sort of metaphor for Action Porty.
Port Bannatyne residents will launch a community share offer next week, in what will be the last piece of the jigsaw that allows the village to complete the purchase of the Anchor Tavern and the former off-licence at 34 Marine Road which will become a flexible community hub space.
An information drop-in was held in the Port Hall last night.
Residents and supporters will be invited to buy shares in Port Bannatyne Development Trust, the Community Benefit Society (CBS) that will own the Anchor.
The Scottish Land Fund announced last month that they would provide the funds to purchase the building, subject to a successful community share offer to raise funds to cover renovations and working capital.
The shareholders will then control the CBS, on a one member one vote basis. The CBS’s rules have been designed to comply with Scottish Land Fund requirements, which include a majority of shareholders being resident in the village and a £25 minimum shareholding.
The majority of the funds raised will be spent on refurbishment. In particular the parts of the building which customers don’t normally see are in urgent need of attention, with vegetation now growing inside the building. The share offer aims to raise between £50K and £105K, with the extent of the renovations carried out dependent on the total raised, and priorities to be decided by the new CBS.
Jon Sear, Vice-chair of Port Bannatyne Development Trust said “We know £105,000 is a lot of money to try to raise for a small village like Port Bannatyne, but we are encouraged by the success of other communities, in particular Knoydart, whose pub Share Offer just raised twice this amount and had to be closed early, despite their smaller population.
“Our biggest challenge is that we can’t accept more shareholders from outside the Port Bannatyne area than live locally, so unless the number of applications from Port residents exceeds our expectations, we have no choice but to prioritise higher value applications from non-residents”.
After shares have been allocated to village residents, the Trust has committed to prioritising applications for £200 or more of shares from other island residents and second home owners, and applications for £1000 or more of shares from supporters wherever they are.
The society aims to pay investors 2% interest after year three and is applying to register for HMRC’s Social Investment Tax Relief scheme which offers attractive tax incentives for larger investors.
Pubs, restaurants, woodlands and a church are to be brought into community ownership and use through new funding.
More than £1 million of the Scottish Land Fund is being awarded to eight local community groups to help them take ownership of the land and buildings that matter to them.
The funding was announced by Land Reform Minister Mairi McAllan on a visit to Newcastleton and District Community Trust, which purchased part of the Tarras Water and Holm Hill Estate with a grant of £850,000 from the Scottish Land Fund last year.
This is Community Land Week, which is profiling organisations that have taken ownership of land and buildings during the pandemic.
Minister for Environment and Land Reform Mairi McAllan said: “All across Scotland, communities are taking ownership of the land and buildings that matter to them with the support of the Scottish Land Fund.
“I know how hard people will have worked to develop their projects and to achieve this success, and I look forward to seeing the benefits for their communities. They follow in the footsteps of an ever-increasing number of communities who have taken ownership of vital local assets with support from the Scottish Land Fund.
“With another £1 million of funding being announced, community ownership in Scotland looks set to continue to go from strength to strength.”
A total of £1,112,787 has been awarded to the following projects:
Group
Total award
Local Authority Area
Project
Old Forge, Knoydart
£508,000
Highland
Pub/restaurant
Port Bannatyne
£150,190
Argyll and Bute
Pub/hub and community garden
Canna
£89,700
Highland
Affordable Housing
Easter Breich
£128,637
West Lothian
47 acres of woodland for amenity use
Carloway Estate Trust
£61,619
Western Isles
Doune Broch Visitor Centre and car park
Bigton Collective Ltd
£90,950
Shetland
Disused church for community hub
Balquhidder, Lochearnhead and Strathyre Community Trust
£11,840
Stirling
4.4 acres of parkland, mixed forest and car park for amenity use
Inchinnan Development Trust
£71,851
Renfrewshire
Teucheen woodland for restoration and community use
£792,000 for Victoria Primary School community project
A primary school in Newhaven, which was about to fall empty, is set for a new role at the centre of the community following an award £792,000 from the Scottish Land Fund.
On hearing news of its successful application, Rodney Matthews, Chair, Heart of Newhaven Community, said: “This grant will cover the purchase price of the property and help with initial development costs.
“While the date when the children will move into their new school in Western Harbour is not yet known, we are now able to move forward confidently with our plans for what is a much-loved icon of Newhaven.”
In the project’s latest newletter, released this morning, The Chair told Heart of Newhaven supporters: “The site of Victoria Primary School IS going to be the Heart of Newhaven Community!
“This time last year the City of Edinburgh Council approved our request to take over the school and reduced the valuation price by £85,000 because of what we’ve promised to do, especially for the very young, the elderly, isolated and most vulnerable. Provided we could pay them£700,000, they would sell the site to the community.
“The Scottish Land Fund (SLF) has just given us that whole amount – and more!
“This SLF was set up by the Scottish Governmentto help charities just like ours working to improve local communities in the ways we have set out for the site, in order for it to become a vibrant hub of activity of people of all generations working and playing together; as we have often said, ‘the beating Heart of Newhaven’.
“All approved. We are now poised to sign two contracts: one with the SLFand the other with the Councilfor vacant possession of the site on a date yet to be announced, dependent on the completion of building works across the road. When we do get the keys, there will be much work to be done to get the building safe and ready for use, so bear with us. We will go as fast as we safely can.
“There will be plenty of exciting things to share to take us on through the challenge of the months ahead right through the inevitably unknown autumn and winter to come and into the spring of 2022 – when you will really begin to see things happen.”
The Heart of Newhaven funding announcement – and welcome news for three further community projects – was made yesterday (29 July) by Environment and Land Reform Minister, Mairi McAllan (below), while visiting EATS Rosyth.
Last November EATS Rosyth received £284,500 from the Scottish Land Fund in order to purchase a disused Clydesdale Bank Building in order to relocate and expand its community activities around cooking and food.
Ms McAllan said: “Communities across Scotland are achieving great things with support from the Scottish Land Fund. These awards will be a boost to the four communities who’ve worked so hard to keep their projects going through all the challenges of the last year.
“Visiting the Rosyth Community Garden and Orchard has shown the value of placing ownership and decision-making in the hands of local communities.
“By relocating the community hub to the new premises acquired through the Scottish Land Fund, EATS Rosyth aim to expand their existing services and offer a suite of new activities aimed at growing and sharing food, reducing waste, helping the environment, and improving food education.
“These projects will make a big contribution to their communities, to local resilience and recovery.”
Stephen Lynas, Chairman of EATS Rosythsaid:“We’re grateful to the Scottish Land Fund for their assistance in helping us purchase the building. Following a successful round of fundraising and getting in place the various consents required, we will be starting the renovation works for our new hub premises in the very near future.
“We’re looking forward to providing a brand-new community facility that will give us with a fantastic platform to grow our services and support our local community in Rosyth and Southwest Fife.”
Other projects benefiting during the current round of funding include Forgan Art Centre, which has been given £292,800 to buy the Leng Home, a disused care home in Newport on Tay and turn it into a space for social and economic activities and to increase social interaction.
Forgan Art Centre Chairperson, Gillian Burch, said: “The management team at Forgan are really delighted that we have secured the funding to buy the Leng Home and take the Forgan Arts Centre forwards onto the next phase of its journey.
“The continued support from our local community, who want to see the Leng Home kept for community use, has encouraged us to keep going and we now look forward to expanding the Forgan Arts Centre in its new home.”
Carluke Development Trust has been awarded £112,000 to buy a two-storey house adjacent to Carluke High Mill, which the Trust already owns. This will allow it to continue its project to reduce dereliction and promote regeneration in the town.
Bill Anderson, Carluke Development Trust, said: “We are delighted to receive support from the Scottish Land Fund for the acquisition of the former Millers House that sits within the Carluke High Mill and ONECarluke Community Growing & Learning Garden site.
“The acquisition of the house will complete the community ownership of the whole site and allow the project to create a larger Community HUB and move into an even more exciting period of delivery and further development.”
And Edinbane Community Company on Skye has been given £135,000 with which to buy three serviced building plots on which it plans to erect six affordable homes that will be rented to the community.
Alistair Danter, Chair, Edinbane Community Company,said: “This is great news for the community who have been working for over three years to tackle the lack of affordable housing in Edinbane.
“We are immensely grateful to the Scottish Land Fund for its support of our community initiative, and we look forward to working with the private developer SLL to deliver six new affordable homes in 2023.”
The new Chair of the Scottish Land Fund, Cara Gillespie, said: “We are delighted to make these awards, the first for our new Committee.
“It is a privilege to support communities with their efforts to improve where they live. These awards will make a positive difference, strengthening communities and empowering local people.”
The Scottish Land Fund is funded by the Scottish Government and delivered in partnership by The National Lottery Community Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
Sandra Holmes, Head of Community Assets at HIE, said: “It’s great to see more dynamic communities taking control of resources for the long-term benefit of their local areas and people.
Having greater control over such assets will help ensure their long-term future. I am delighted we have been able to provide Scottish Land Fund support and wish all the groups the very best in their new ventures.”
After three years of planning, community-led Bruntsfield St. Oswald’s took ownership of the historic church and hall known as St. Oswald’s from the City of Edinburgh Council on 31 March.
The B-listed building on Montpelier Park was left vacant in February 2018 when Boroughmuir High School relocated to its canal-side site. The purchase was enabled under the Community Empowerment Act 2015 and supported by a generous grant from the Scottish Land Fund.
David Urch, Chair of Bruntsfield St. Oswald’s, said: “We are delighted to have brought St. Oswald’s into community ownership and would like to thank all our members and supporters, the Scottish Land Fund, the Community Ownership Support Service as well as the City of Edinburgh Council for making this possible.
“Our work now turns to transforming this historic building over the next year into a vibrant place for children, their families and our wider community to participate in a broad range of activities and events.”
Councillor Rob Munn, Finance and Resources Convener, the City of Edinburgh Council said: “As we start to move out of lockdown, it’s really encouraging to see fantastic projects like this going ahead.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the building brought back to life when it opens, filled with local families, the elderly and carers being offered valuable services in their local community.
“It’s so important that we give local people a say on the facilities they need for their area and this is one of four community asset transfers which are taking place over the next few weeks. Well done to the local people for making this much-needed project happen.”
The building is expected to open to the public in 2022 after a period of extensive refurbishment.