On Friday 27 February the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament was filled with ordinary members of the public representing a diverse range of organisations which all work within and for their local communities. What was discussed, and what was the outcome of the day long event ?
The Local People Leading event was organised by the Scottish Community Alliance and chaired by the Rt. Hon. Alison Johnstone MSP, the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. The Orkney News was there as members of the Scottish Beacon, an umbrella group covering independent local media from all across Scotland.
Kim Wallace, Chair of the Scottish Community Alliance explained that with rights under pressure, the role of the community sector could not be neutral. That they must represent ALL local people to celebrate, amplify, and strengthen the diversity of voices in our communities.
One sign of progress highlighted by Kim Wallace, was the recently passed Community Wealth Building Bill in the Scottish Parliament. She emphasised that systems require to be re-designed around local communities if the grass roots was to be involved in decision making and benefit from the wealth generated where they live.
The Chamber heard from representatives of organisations drawn from across Scotland telling the real stories and the impact of what they were involved in to drive change in their communities: Carolyn Powell (Huntly Development Trust), Richard Whitcomb (Bute Community Land Company), Pasna Sallis (Weekday Wow Factor), Ian Harley (Climate Action Strathaven), and Kate Wimpress (North Edinburgh Arts). Delegates also viewed a short film – ‘This is Community Wealth Building’.
Many of the developments which have taken place, and which continue, shared similar problems of initial enthusiasm followed by volunteer fatigue; minefields of paperwork; negotiating through the planning process; and a variety of obstacles, not least of all funding.
All of the developments listed above, however, have become successful and have gone far beyond their original reach. Their impact in their local communities has been outstanding, for example, Kate Wimpress of North Edinburgh Arts had calculated that for every £1 that they had invested, £2.37 was spent locally. In Strathaven, the Climate Action group has reduced the number of car miles by 2 million – through 500 EV hires, 1,262 e-bike hires, and importantly providing a bus service to Glasgow which did not exist before they started.
The Orkney News took part in the workshop ‘Why Democracy Matters’ – “ a chance to explore how we can build new, more local democratic structures that match the energy and ambition of our communities.” It was disappointing and became dominated by a small section of men obsessed with Community Councils. (Community Councils had already had their day in Parliament ). I did prick up my ears when our own OIC Councillor Steven Heddle was mentioned because of the work he has been doing on local democracy in his COSLA role. The Scottish Government will be coming forward with proposals on improving local democracy and we had a brief explanation of the general drift of those.
Representing The Orkney News, I raised the issue of Island Impact Assessments and their failure to deliver true consultation with islanders before public organisations and the Scottish Government implemented new developments. I also asked the MSPs in the afternoon Q & A about this failure in the First Islands Plan. The MSPs on the Cross Party panel were : Lorna Slater (Scottish Greens), Mercedes Villalba (Labour), Jamie Halcro-Johnston (Conservative), and Christine Grahame (SNP).
I wanted an assurance that the Second Islands Plan would properly deal with Islands Impact Assessments and that we don’t have non-islanders deciding what should happen in our islands. Time was short, and my impression was that only Jamie Halcro Johnston was aware of the issue around the failure of Island Impact Assessments to deliver what they are intended to. Will this situation improve with the second Islands Plan? – unfortunately only time will tell, but the Scottish Government is well aware of the discontent in the islands about the poor application of the Impact Assessments which has led to dreadful decision making.
Orkney probably does better at Community Wealth Building than most places across Scotland, but always we could do so much more, so that wealth created in our islands, stays in our islands. It was interesting to find out and hear the stories from across Scotland. I was also able to make connections with others who were interested in what Orkney is doing.
It is also good that the Scottish Parliament is reminded that it belongs to the people of Scotland, and community representatives from across the nation filled the Chamber to overflowing on Friday.
Fiona Grahame