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News

Catch up on the latest happenings across Scotland's inspiring development trust network, from impact stories to upcoming events near you.

We're hiring: Community Ownership Support Service Churches Programme Officer (fixed term)

Tuesday, 17 December, 2024 - 09:00

This post will cover Scotland – office based in Edinburgh or Inverness with the option for some home working.

This COSS Churches Programme Officer role will support the COSS Churches Advisors in the development of a central resource service within the COSS Team on the sustainable transfer of former places of worship into community ownership.

See Job Description - COSS Churches Programme Officer Dec 24.docx for more information.

Deadline to apply: Monday 13th January 2025 at 12noon

We're hiring: Community Ownership Support Service – Churches Advisor (fixed term)

Posted on: Tuesday 17th December, 2024

This post will cover Central and Southern Scotland – office based in Edinburgh with the option for some home working.

The COSS Churches Advisors will provide community groups with one-to-one advice and mentoring support at each stage of the acquisition process, signposting as appropriate to other support programmes, proving access to expert help, networking and training opportunities.

See the Job Description - COSS Churches Advisor Role Dec 24.docx for more information.

Deadline to apply: Monday 13th January 2025 at 12noon

Exploring Natural Capital: Opportunities and Challenges for Development Trusts

Posted on: Thursday 24th October, 2024

By: Julia Carreiro Rolim, Research Officer

The latest DTAS Debates session delved into a complex and timely issue: how Development Trusts can harness natural capital markets to benefit their communities.

As natural capital markets continue to grow, DTs find themselves at a crossroads, balancing opportunities for financial and ecological gain with the potential risks of corporate exploitation, inequity, and greenwashing.

The event brought together a panel of practitioners and academics: Professor Mark Reed (Huntly Development Trust and SRUC), Dr. Josh Doble (Community Land Scotland), Rowan Aitchison (Tayvallich Initiative), and Ewen Mclachlan (Assynt Development Trusts). The discussion highlighted both the transformative potential of natural capital projects and the challenges that communities must navigate to ensure that benefits are truly equitable and sustainable.

Several panellists shared practical case studies of community engagement with natural capital markets, specifically spotlighted was Assynt DT’s participation in the North-west 2045 Rural Land Use Partnership.

Assynt Development Trust: The trust’s natural capital audit revealed that the carbon stored in their land was worth an estimated £17 billion in social value, providing a powerful tool for community empowerment. Their efforts to engage youth, collaborate with landowners, and build local capacity show how natural capital projects can provide real social and environmental benefits when communities maintain control.

Key Themes and Challenges

Uncertainty and Regulation

One of the primary concerns raised was the infancy of natural capital markets. Panellists noted that these markets are still developing, with significant uncertainty on the long-term social and environmental impacts.
Speculative carbon credit sales, referred to as pending issuances units, were specifically mentioned as particularly risky initiatives in such a new market.
There is a pressing need for clear standards and regulations to ensure transparency and trustworthiness in these markets, with the British Standards Institution (BSI) aiming to provide accreditation from 2025.

Ethical Concerns and Greenwashing

Panellists repeatedly emphasised the ethical dilemmas inherent in carbon credit trading. The risk of companies using carbon credits as a "license to pollute", while failing to make meaningful reductions in their own emissions was mentioned several times.
Panellists also questioned the theoretical underpinnings of such a market, positing the question of if capitalist mechanisms can effectively address environmental problems created by capitalism.

Community Control and Land Ownership

Legislative levers that guarantee community decision-making and ownership were called for, ensuring that communities can retain control over projects.
Having final control regarding the sale of carbon credits, to avoid selling to companies with questionable social and environmental practices was specifically mentioned.
Natural capital markets have already begun to affect land prices, with "Green Lairds" driving up costs and complicating community land ownership.
Panellists emphasised that for natural capital to benefit communities equitably, it must be rooted in land reform and community ownership of land.

While landowning communities are currently better positioned to take advantage of these markets, non-landowning communities can still benefit through the development of community benefit frameworks.

What Needs to Happen Next?

The panellists left no doubt that, while the potential benefits of natural capital markets are significant, much work remains to ensure these benefits are shared equitably.

Strengthen Regulations and Standards: Governments must establish regulations that prevent greenwashing and ensure community control over natural capital resources. These regulations should also clarify environmental and social outcomes, allowing communities to assess the true long-term impact of projects.
Build Community Capacity: Communities need knowledge and resources to engage with natural capital markets meaningfully. This includes training, access to expert advice, and the development of internal governance structures that can handle the complexity of these projects.
Foster Collaboration: Successful natural capital projects will require partnerships between DTs, landowners, environmental NGOs, and access to patient capital (i.e. philanthropists and pension funds).
Ensure Community Control: Legislation that protects community rights over who can purchase carbon credits is essential. Communities must have a say in how their resources are used and who benefits from them, ensuring that local social and environmental rights are respected.

Conclusion: Towards a Just and Sustainable Future

The DTAS Debates on natural capital revealed both the promise and the peril of this emerging market. While the potential for regenerating communities on a wider scale as exemplified by Assynt’s case is considerable, so too are the risks. By advocating for stronger regulations, building internal capacity in DTs, and ensuring that communities retain control over their natural resources, we can navigate these challenges.

The message is clear: natural capital markets must be approached with care, thoughtfulness, and a commitment to community-led solutions. As Ewen McLachlan aptly put it, "Nothing about us without us is for us."

For DTs, the path forward lies in collaboration, control, and capacity-building—ensuring that communities, not external interests, remain at the heart of this new green economy.

DTAS Conference 2024 – A review by Lochwinnoch Community Development Trust

Posted on: Tuesday 08th October, 2024

My second conference and although last year’s conference was a huge success, this years for me exceeded that.

My tardiness in writing this stems from an inability to decide how to succinctly list the many interesting, uplifting and fascinating discussions, conversations and encounters I was party to over those two days in August at the DTAS Conference. The highs and lows narrated in member stories intent on rescuing iconic buildings, the sketches of long attritional campaigns which rebuilt community, attacked poverty and rescued environmental decline in the landscapes, villages, towns and cities the length and breadth of Scotland.

The DTAS conference is a crucible for Scottish communities wherever they are. Like a seed bank, a receptacle for ideas ready for germination in our neighbourhoods. The workshops, visits, meetings and discussions allowed the cross pollination of new ways of thinking and doing, leading to new varieties of approaches. It helped focus us on the macro and the micro, to create new synapses, steering us to new ways of thinking. A meeting of the kindred to enthuse and energise, a place where alliances are built, novel democracies envisioned, and new strategies contemplated.

Along with the many friendly, positive encounters with people from the length and breadth of Scotland, one I wanted to mention. On leaving at the end of the day on Wednesday my head buzzing with ideas, I met with Alice Duthuille, Strengthening Communities Programme Development Officer of my patch in West of Scotland. Alice and Craig Allan have been at our side leading our work in Lochwinnoch. On our parting I realised that what the conference gave me was a recognition of the esprit de corps that DTAS inspire and that we go back to fight for our families and neighbours in our communities refreshed and invigorated and thankful that DTAS continues in its support for us sound and strong.

Diarmid Harris, Chair

Lochwinnoch Community Development Trust.

Community Shared Ownership of Renewable Energy - A Call to Action

Posted on: Tuesday 10th September, 2024

Did you know that an estimated 52% of the installed wind capacity in Denmark is owned by local communities through community shared ownership models? In Scotland, by comparison, only 0.2% of installed wind capacity is owned by local communities through community shared ownership.

This is despite community shared ownership being a recognised Scottish Government ambition since 2014 and forming a key objective in the Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. To quote the Scottish Government directly:

“Our ambition remains to ensure that, by 2020, at least half of newly consented renewable energy projects will have an element of shared ownership. Shared ownership will form a key part in helping to meet our targets of 1 GW of community and locally owned energy by 2020, and 2 GW by 2030.” (2017 Onshore Wind Policy Statement)

Given that shared ownership has been a Scottish Government focus since 2014, 0.2% of current installed capacity is falling significantly short of ambitions.

So what needs to change to propel forward community shared ownership and offer communities a fair and profitable stake in Scotland’s booming renewables industry? To answer this, the Scottish Community Coalition on Energy (DTA Scotland, Community Energy Scotland, Community Land Scotland, Scottish Communities Finance) has produced a community shared ownership Call to Action paper, setting out the key changes needed to deliver an improved system to enable more communities to take up shared ownership opportunities.

Our 5 Calls to Action:

Proactive and transparent mapping of shared ownership opportunities and more early-stage awareness raising
Further clarity on Scottish and UK Government shared ownership policy and targets, including a consultation on a mandatory approach to offering and reporting on shared ownership
A significant increase in support to build community capacity to progress, often complex, shared ownership opportunities.
Development of the funding market for shared ownership- including creation of bespoke, affordable and patient financing products for communities to progress shared ownership
Development of fairer investment opportunities for all – prioritising communities local to renewable developments but widening out shared ownership opportunities where appropriate.

Collective action is required to tackle these actions. We are calling on Scottish and UK government, renewable developers and key intermediaries to get behind our Call to Action and work with us to champion shared ownership in Scotland.

Scotland’s communities deserve a fairer share and stake in the ownership of and benefits from the renewables industry. Urgent action is needed to ensure a Just Transition does not remain a pipedream.

For more information / direct any questions to: morven@dtascot.org.uk

Community Shared Ownership - Call to Action

DTAS Annual Conference 2024: Local Democracy Panel Debate

Posted on: Monday 09th September, 2024

The Development Trusts Association Scotland’s conference gathered hundreds of representatives from community anchor organizations, local and national government, and other community sector stakeholders to address key issues impacting the development trust movement. On the first day, a widely attended debate on Local Democracy in Scotland featured Tom Sneddon (Carluke Development Trust), Lesley Riddoch (Journalist), Alastair McIntosh (Author), and Ivan McKee (MSP), who all demonstrated a strong commitment to enhancing local democracy through thoughtful devolution, strategic resource allocation, and active community involvement.

Below is a summary of each panellists main points and an overview of the core themes discussed:

Tom Sneddon:

Emphasized the importance of local democracy that reflects community diversity through deliberative and participative methods.
Stressed the need for innovative models of local investment and the importance of the Scottish Government seriously resourcing and investing in local powers and Community Anchor Organizations.
Suggested combining community councils and Development Trusts into a new body called "Development Councils," which would require statutory powers and per capita funding.
Highlighted that the National Planning Framework offers opportunities but lacks resources, placing pressure on community organizations and local councils.
Called for local communities to develop their own financial architecture and solutions.

Lesley Riddoch:

Questioned what an empowered community looks like and the effectiveness of current structures like community councils.
Criticized Scotland's large units of local democracy and called for a more decentralized and practical structure with adequate resources and a clear mandate.
Advocated for citizens' assemblies to gather local evidence and guide decision-making processes.
Brought up the point that we must focus on communities that are being left behind, those without resources.
Argued for fairer taxation and funding models, drawing on examples from Sweden and Norway, where local engagement and multiple roles within communities lead to better outcomes.
Highlighted the importance of building trust within communities and enabling structures that support it.
Highlighted the build local campaign launch.

Ivan McKee:

Discussed the necessity of balancing regional efficiency with local empowerment, focusing on the role of government support and how far powers should be devolved.
Recognized the need for a toolkit approach to account for varying community capacities, emphasizing that some communities can move faster than others.
Acknowledged the Scottish Government's commitment to moving quickly on local government reform but cautioned that structural changes take longer and cost more than expected.
Highlighted the need to empower existing community councils, which are often hyper-local but under-resourced.
Addressed the challenges of implementing decisions made through citizens' assemblies and the importance of carefully navigating relationships with local authorities.

Alastair McIntosh:

Stressed that local government reform must be meaningful at the individual level, particularly in small communities.
Highlighted the Isle of Eigg as an example of successful local governance and individual responsibility.
Emphasized the importance of community organizers in driving local government reform and the need for communities to support their representatives.
Discussed the importance of building trust within communities and recognizing the challenges of conflict and burnout among community organizers.
Advocated for political will, technical and financial support, and community desire to drive successful local governance reforms.

Core themes:

Devolution of Powers: There was a consensus on the need to devolve powers further down to local levels, ensuring that these powers reflect the diversity and specific needs of communities. This includes considering vertical devolvement (from central to local governments) and horizontal alignment among local entities like the NHS and local authorities.
Resource Allocation and Investment: Emphasis on the need for serious resourcing and investment in local powers and Community Anchor Organisations. For example, by implementing fairer taxation systems.
Local Government Reform: There was a call for meaningful local government reform, focusing on individual and community levels. This reform should empower smaller, remote communities and consider models beyond traditional community councils.
Citizens' Assemblies: Several speakers and audience members supported the idea of using citizens' assemblies to gather community input and make decisions. These assemblies could ensure that local voices shape governance structures and policies.
Building Trust: Trust was highlighted as a critical component in local governance. This includes building trust between communities and elected officials, as well as within communities themselves.
Youth Involvement: There was a recognition of the need to involve young people in local governance, as seen in examples from Norway, where young councillors are common.
Addressing Bureaucracy and Accountability: Focus on the need to address the bureaucratic barriers within local authorities and public agencies that hinder local accountability and effective governance.

Following the panel debate participants had the chance to discuss these themes more in depth in a participatory workshop. The round-table workshop re-emphasised the importance of themes such as community engagement, models of community ownership, cooperation with existing public bodies, with specific examples given by development trust officers, volunteers and board members.

Overall, both sessions highlighted the urgent need for systemic reform in local governance, and the ability of Development Trusts to take on responsibilities if properly resourced. With significant political will Democracy Matters 2 can contribute to a pathway toward a more empowered, community-driven model of democracy in Scotland.

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Our Partner DTA Scotland Services

The Community Ownership Support Service (COSS) is funded by the Scottish Government to support community based groups in Scotland take a stake in or ownership of previously publicly owned land or buildings.

www.dtascommunityownership.org.uk

Democratic Finance Scotland supports communities to raise money locally to take ownership of important community assets and run democratic community-led businesses.