We welcome Scottish Labour’s commitment to put local democratic structures and community empowerment at the heart of regeneration. Development trusts across Scotland are already leading the way in delivering place-based regeneration — building local resilience, driving inclusive economic development, addressing housing needs, and managing assets for long-term community benefit. Within the short timescales that have been provided we have developed a response based on our 20+ years of experience representing development trusts.   At the heart of our response lies a call for real local democratic reform—reform that empowers communities to shape their futures through the right structures, resources and mandates.

We focused on 3 of the 5 consultation areas.  Our key asks:

Models of Ownership

• Asset Audits
• Community Ownership of Renewable Energy
• Public Procurement Reform
• Access to Finance
• Urban Community Ownership

Rural Economy

• Community Wealth Building
• Housing
• Connectivity

Preventative Healthcare

• Mental Health
• Ageing Population
• Social Prescribing

Our full DTAS response to the Labour party manifesto consultation questions (part 2) can be found here

Stage 2 – Scottish Labour Consultation (2)