Land Reform Secretary highlights right to buy opportunities
Cabinet Secretary for Land Reform Roseanna Cunningham is urging communities across Scotland to make the most of the opportunity to own and manage land and other shared assets. Continue reading Call to increase community ownership
Funding will enable communities to buy out buildings and land
Communities across Scotland will now receive support to become land or buildings owners thanks to a £350,000 fund. Continue reading £350,000 to support community ownership
Continue reading Reminder: Asset Mapping Research launch tomorrow
The Scottish Land Fund reopens for business – and now includes urban areas
Wednesday 13 April, 2 – 4pm
EDINBURGH Social Enterprise Network (ESEN) is hosting an event at the Grassmarket Community Project next week to highlight and disseminate information about the Scottish Land Fund as urban areas will be able to apply for funding for the very first time. Continue reading This land is your land
New report highlights the benefits and challenges of Community Right to Buy
Community Right to Buy can make a real change to local communities, according to more than half of respondents who took part in a report published by the Scottish Government yesterday.
The report shows that over the last ten years, 206 community bodies have been established, 72 of which have successfully registered an interest in land under the Community Right to Buy.
Those surveyed identified a range of skills that had been improved in the community as a result of the Community Right to Buy process including legal knowledge, knowledge about the community and its aims, communications skills and organisational skills.
The report also showed that:
Speaking at Comrie Development Trust, Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Dr Aileen McLeod said:
“I’m delighted to be here at Comrie Development Trust, who successfully used the Community Right to Buy to purchase 90 acres at Cultybraggan Camp. Since purchasing the Camp in 2007 the Trust has worked closely with the local community to develop a range of activities including a community orchard, allotments, sports and recreational facilities and renewable energy projects.
“Comrie Development Trust is an example of the benefits the Community Right to Buy can bring to local communities. I welcome today’s report which looks at the impact of community right to buy legislation over the last 10 years, for the first time.
“The report identifies examples of successes by community groups purchasing land through Community Right to Buy and also identifies barriers that face community groups and what we can do to address this.
“This report will contribute to our on-going work on community ownership of land through the Community Empowerment legislation, as well as our proposals for communities to compulsory acquire land for their sustainable development through the Land Reform Bill.”
Chair of the Comrie Development Trust Board, Bill Thow said:
“Investment funds to achieve the community ownership of Cultybraggan Camp has already brought many benefits to the local area. The Trust is now looking to build on that foundation of ownership to generate significant investment funds back into the village community, both through its share offer and consultation events.”
The report comes as the Scottish Government awards £175,000 over the next three years to Community Land Scotland, to promote community ownership across the whole of Scotland.
Dr McLeod added: “As part of our commitment to encourage other groups to follow successful communities like Comrie, we have recently awarded Community Land Scotland a grant of £175.000 over the next three years, to promote community ownership across the whole of Scotland.
“This grant will also help to facilitate the exchange of information so that communities can learn from others experiences and successes. This is an important way to inspire communities to see the benefits of community land ownership, and to provide help and support through the community landownership journey.”
Chair of Community Land Scotland, Lorne MacLeod said:
“Community Land Scotland is delighted that the Scottish Government is recognising through this grant that our organisation and members have an important role to play over the coming years in helping promote and explain community ownership, in supporting communities to realise their ambitions to own land, and in strengthening the sector.
“We look forward to playing our part in this ever evolving story of how Scottish land is being owned and managed differently, by local communities, and contributing to a more sustainable future.”
The report can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/10/8581
Research findings are available here http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/10/9555
A Way Forward for Community Regeneration?
A local project which hopes to oversee the regeneration of Granton’s waterfront is asking the local community to support a bid for Lottery funding.
Granton Improvement Society says, if successful, a lottery grant would be used to stage art work for a garden festival, employ a member of staff and take regeneration plans on to the next stage.
Granton Improvement Society administrator Ross McEwan explained: “GIS was invited to make an application to the BIG Lottery Peoples Project for an award of £50,000. The process involves joining the community blog that they had set up – we had to write a 500 word submission on the blog page together with three images.
“The shortlisting process will take into consideration comments made on the blog, so we are asking members to please make comments in as positive a way as possible, especially about what huge benefits would come to the community from the income generated and from the major new facilities in the area.”
In ‘Granton on Sea – A Way Forward for Community Regeneration’, their submission to the webpage, GIS say:
‘We held several public events with guest speakers, this has increased the membership from local people considerably and means the GIS is now the largest membership organisation in the area.
‘A new exhibition of the current project proposals and promotional material have proved to be a great success especially when attending events and for getting the project more visible in the local community and with City Councillors.
All of these new initiatives have helped in being commissioned by Scottish Government Regeneration Unit and DTAS/COSS to undertake an Asset Mapping exercise over the whole area we have chosen to work within.
The project will allow us to find out what the physical and social assets are of the area. As part of this we will identify the wider community need and aspirations, this information will lead to a community plan and strengthen the communities
Since the Granton Improvement Society was established in January 2013 the membership from local residents has gradually risen to just under 200, The management committee of 11 trustees is comprised of seven local residents and four who are just on the boundary of the EH4 & EH5 area that we have chosen to operate within.
If we were successful the new money would take the project to a stage where we would do small art interventions related to the garden festival in underused derelict green space, the focus of which is creative design, all will be for the community to undertake. We will show the health and wellbeing benefits of the outdoors and creative process.
As part of the new exhibition we have taken the design proposals to another more detailed stage in preparation for a future planning application in doing so it has brought the landowner to the table to negotiate the sale of the land.
New money would allow us to commission architects and energy consultants to explore the sustainability and environmental impact of the project. A model of the project will be commissioned something which is more accessible than architectural drawings. A more detailed financial impact study should prove the community benefit of the project locally and nationally.
A Social Hub: reaching out to a wider community base.
Sea containers will be bought and converted using local people gaining construction skills, this would be the studio space for the GIS, the local community could come and interact with the project and talk about needs and aspirations. This will inform the project.
It will allow us for the first time to employ a dedicated project worker and not rely upon volunteers all of the time, local people will gain skills, training and education.
More community events would be organised, creating greater community involvement and a more cohesive and resilient community.
All of these bigger initiatives will create a sense of community ownership, pride and care for the future when the project is realised. It will be owned by the community through large community consultation and participation.’
To make a comment on the Granton submission, go to
Ross added: “Go to top right of page ‘Not a member yet?’ and join. Just follow the instructions. After registering you are directed to a Welcome page. Go to the heading The Peoples’s Projects. On this page go to Search Blogs by ITV region – we are in STV East.
“Our blog is the fifth one in the list. Open the blog and and join the group at top right of the page then you should be able to begin commenting at the end of the blog in the comments box. We want as many of you as possible to do this!”
‘This bill is a momentous step in our drive to give people a stronger voice in the decisions that matter to them’ – Community Empowerment Minister Marco Biagi
More support and advice will be available for communities to take over land and buildings in their areas, Community Empowerment Minister Marco Biagi has announced.
The Community Ownership Support Service, which helps groups and local authorities transfer buildings or land assets, will see its funding increased to £400,000 over the next year.
By offering advice COSS has already helped communities turn council offices, schools, libraries and empty shops into sports centres, community shops and arts venues.
The funding boost will be used to spread the word through roadshows and by providing advice directly to community groups on the benefits of asset transfer.
It will also help the organisation support the implementation of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill which reaches its final stage in Parliament today.
The bill will give local authorities and public bodies a statutory duty to weigh up the benefits of transferring their land and buildings to communities.
Mr Biagi said: “Every community across the country has a building or area of land that could be transformed if local people were in control. This funding will help communities realise their ambitions, and find a way to improve their areas by injecting life into an old office block or waste ground.
“Taking over land or buildings can give communities the opportunity to protect services that might otherwise have been lost, it can provide jobs, training and opportunities to generate income or allow groups to refurbish and make alterations to buildings they already use.
“COSS has already supported nearly 50 asset transfers across Scotland and through this funding and the work of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill I know even more communities will benefit.
“This bill is a momentous step in our drive to give people a stronger voice in the decisions that matter to them.
“The bill will give communities more rights to take over land in both urban and rural areas, provide protection for allotments, introduce new powers to transform abandoned or derelict land and opportunities to be involved in decisions around the delivery of services, community safety, healthcare or education from day one.”
Ahead of the Stage 3 proceedings, Mr Biagi will visit the Crags Centre in Edinburgh. The centre was closed by the local authority in 2010 and reopened by the community two years later.
It received advice from COSS to help it reopen and it now serves as a sports centre for a thriving local basketball club and a wide range of other activities.
Simon Turner, co-founder of the Crags Centre said: “We’re looking forward to the Community Empowerment Bill coming into force so that other communities can create a home for their sport and cultural groups just like ours.
“The Crags has been turned around from a failing facility into a community hub that is accessible for community groups and local people. It’s the volunteers who have made it work and further support from the Scottish Government will be welcomed by those in the social enterprise sector.”
Linda Gillespie from COSS said: “We are delighted with the increased level of funding which will enable COSS to engage with a wider range of public bodies on asset transfer as well as with Community Planning Partnerships around asset rationalisation processes.
“The increased funding will also enable us to increase the technical capacity of the COSS staff team which will further benefit the groups we work with.”
Parliament to debate fan ownership as support grows
Green MSP Alison Johnstone has lodged amendments to the Community Empowerment Bill that would bring in a fans’ right to buy their football clubs – and those amendments will be considered by Holyrood’s Local Government and Community Committee later today.
The amendments have been signed by Labour MSP Ken Macintosh and are also supported by the Liberal Democrats, while the Conservatives’ 2010 Westminster manifesto pledged to ‘reform the governance arrangements in football to enable co-operative ownership models to be established by supporters’.
The campaign has also been backed by Scotland’s leading anti-sectarianism charity Nil By Mouth, Supporters Direct and by other leading lights in the supporter ownership movement.
Over the last fortnight Green MSPs received more than 250 replies to a survey of supporters and members of fans’ trusts on the proposals.
More than 95% supported giving fans the first right of refusal if their clubs are sold or go into administration, and 81% of those expressing a view backed a right to buy at any time. The proposal that trusts should be able to bid for government support to buy their clubs, whether as grants, loans or to underwrite bids, was backed by 89% of those expressing a view.
This response confirms the results of a Survation poll commissioned by Green MSPs last year, which showed overwhelming public support for a fans’ right to buy. 87% of those expressing a view backed a right of first refusal if a club comes up for sale or goes into administration, and 72% supported a fans’ right to buy their local club for a market value at any point.
Alison Johnstone MSP, who lodged the amendments, said: “You don’t need to be a football fan to know that Scottish football lurches from crisis to crisis, and that the current model of ownership has led to disaster at clubs from Gretna to Hearts.
You also only need to look at Germany, where almost all clubs are fan-owned, to see how well this model can work. But it’s not just about fans stepping in to save their clubs once they’ve fallen into administration. There are many well-run Scottish clubs in private hands, but those owners come and go, and when they go, we want to see fans have the first right of refusal. And where there’s a committed and well-organised group of fans with strong support on the terraces for a takeover, we want them to have the power to do so.
“The Community Empowerment Bill is a good piece of legislation, but this one small change could make it a landmark law. Football clubs are at the heart of many of our communities, large and small: what could empower those communities more directly than helping them run those clubs more successfully? I’m delighted to have Labour and Liberal Democrat support for these plans, and the Conservatives formally backed fan ownership in 2010. I’m hopeful that SNP MSPs will join the consensus and vote this week to put Scottish football fans first.”
Andrew Jenkin, head of Supporters Direct Scotland, said: “Supporters Direct Scotland was set up to support fan ownership of Scottish clubs, and we believe a well-constructed right to buy could be a game-changer for Scottish football.
“We welcome the principle of these amendments, although we recognise that another round of discussion will be required before the Community Empowerment Bill is considered at Stage 3, and that additional changes may be needed to allow other ownership models to be included. Using our considerable expertise and experience in this area we stand ready to help the Scottish Football Association, the Scottish Professional Football League and the Scottish Government refine these proposals so they can best empower supporter ownership and enshrine the voice of supporters in our game.”
Dave Scott, campaign director for Nil By Mouth, said: “In 2011 we published an action plan arguing for supporters trusts to be given funding to run their own anti-bigotry initiatives, and last year we worked with Supporters Direct Scotland on its ‘Colour of our Scarves’ project, which has been touring across SPFL clubs and the communities in which they operate to highlight the positive contribution the game brings to society. We have also had strong support for our work from a number of Supporters’ Trusts, as highlighted at the Supporters Direct Scotland conference last summer, where we led a session on sectarianism in the game.
“When we called for the introduction of ‘strict liability’ into the Scottish game, to make clubs responsible for sectarian behaviour by their fans, the strongest support we received came from supporters groups. For example, the Raith Supporters Trust officially wrote to their club asking them to place the proposals on the SFA’s AGM agenda. With all of this in mind, NbM would be supportive of proposals for greater fan control and ownership of their clubs and feel that this could be an exciting opportunity for the silent majority of fans to find their voice and use their increased position to bring about the real changes required to bring the Scottish game into the 21st century.”
Stuart Duncan, a former Director of Greenock Morton Football Club and Supporters Direct, said: “As an advocate for fan ownership since the establishment of Supporters Direct Scotland in 2002 I’m very excited at the prospect of fans being given the right to buy. Clubs, provincial and otherwise, are community assets as shown by my own club Greenock Morton who now have a vibrant and highly successful community trust, a fan led initiative, which is in their own words ‘the heartbeat of Inverclyde’. These community assets are best protected by people who have the club as the hub of the community at heart: fans.”
One Falkirk fan who completed the Green MSPs survey said: “My club went into administration in the late 90s and it was an awful time, not just for the club and the fans but the local communities in and around Falkirk as well as the dozens of small businesses depending on trade with the club and the ordinary people who worked at the club.
“The worst thing was to realise how important the club was to the town and people’s sense of connection to it, through the football, and to see it all play out as a big business game and feel totally disempowered. These proposals would give well organised groups the opportunity to act on behalf of communities and create something tangible to go with that feeling of a sense of belonging that goes with being a fan of a football club, especially a local one.”
A Pars fan said: “”I am a Dunfermline Athletic fan, and a member of Pars United, the majority shareholder of DAFC. Fan ownership has prevented our football club from being wiped out, brought a valuable community asset and stadium into public ownership, increased volunteering and employment opportunities in the area.
“Without the vision and dedication of those that led the buy-out effort we would not have a club any more. Every fans group in Scotland should have the opportunity to do similar for their club.”
Working group makes final recommendations
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
Hearts were on the brink, there’s deep disquiet about investment at Hibs and the mighty Rangers are in trouble once again. All is far from well in the world of football finance, so can the Scottish Greens score with Fans First?
The Green MSPs have confirmed long-standing plans to bring changes to land reform legislation to give football fans the right to buy their clubs.
The proposals were set out in a consultation response to Holyrood’s Local Government and Regeneration Committee, which is about to start consideration of the Scottish Government’s Community Empowerment Bill.
The submission also sets out plans by Green MSP Alison Johnstone, who is leading the Greens’ “Fans First” campaign, to broaden the 2003 Land Reform Act to include intangible community assets, not just land, in line with the general principles of the Scottish Government’s proposals. This would help communities to take on and run vital services like pubs, local cinemas, and even public transport.
Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian, said: “The time has come for the Scottish Parliament to give fans the power to take on their clubs when they come on the market or when they go into administration, or possibly even at any time for a fair price.
“We’ve always argued that fans will tend to be the best custodians of the clubs they love, and that the long-term security and strength of Scottish football requires a move towards the kind of community ownership common elsewhere.
“Scottish Ministers have set up a working group under Stephen Morrow to look at this issue, which we support. However, the group will report after this legislation has been considered, so it’s vital that this legislative opportunity shouldn’t be missed. The changes we’re proposing will still mean fans’ trusts will require Ministerial signoff, just as is already the case with land reform, so the only risk would be if Parliament rejects our proposals, leaving fans with no prospect of progress any time soon.
“So we’re encouraging all the trusts in Scotland to make their views known. Do they want to cross their fingers and rely on the current slow move to fan ownership, or do they want Parliament’s support to put them in the driving seat?”
