regeneration forum scotregen - surf€¦ · the ctog approach takes a broad based approach to...

scotregenScottish UrbanRegeneration Forum

issue 31 : summer 2005 sharing experience : shaping practice

In this issue:

• Poverty: back on the agenda?, Peter Kelly – pg 1 and 3 • Pay as you go, Ron McQuade – pg 4• Dreaming - West Lothian, Margaret Graham – pg 6 and 7

• Community Voices, Paul Zeally – pg 8• CEMVO Launch, Colin Lee – pg 10• SURF Seminar Report – pg 11

• and much more... now read on...

As Bill Clinton might have said ‘It’s the poverty stupid’. Atthe heart of all the debate and activity around regenerationsits the issue of poverty; real financial poverty, the poverty ofisolation from social, cultural and economic opportunitiesand, after generations of stagnation, a deadening poverty ofexpectations.

In Edinburgh on September 15th, Lord Richard Best, ChiefExecutive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, will deliverthe SURF Annual Lecture for 2005. He will argue that‘Poverty is the key challenge for regeneration. ‘

Here, Peter Kelly of the Poverty Alliance, notes the progressbeing made through government led action and thechallenges we still all need to address together.

In recent months the issue of extreme poverty in the developingworld has received unprecedented media attention. Although theMaking Poverty History Coalition may not have been entirelysatisfied with the outcome of the G8 summit in Gleneagles, there islittle doubt that hundreds of thousands of people across Scotlandnow believe that Governments can have a real impact on poverty.

To many readers of this journal that news may fall short of astartling revelation. Working in regeneration requires a belief thatGovernment policy can have a real impact on the poverty and canbring about real change. However, throughout the 1980s and 1990swe were told that there was little that Government could do tostem the increasing levels of poverty or to prevent the destructionof thousands of jobs. The best that we could hope for was for

Continued on page 3

photograph by Marcus Howaston

Poverty: Back on the Agenda?

Comfortable with Ambiguity

Earlier this summer I was asked to give a talk at the Joseph RowntreeFoundation’s summer school in Edinburgh on the topic of‘entrepreneurship and public values’. It seems to me that many of thekinds of things that SURF is trying to create, develop and support areconnected at both the policy and the practical level with these two themes.

Usually there are two types of arguments put up against the idea thatyou can connect entrepreneurship with public values. The first was putwith characteristic bluntness by Mrs Thatcher to British Rail Managers “Ifyou were any good you would be in the private sector” because that isthe home for ‘real’ entrepreneurs. The second comes from the publicsector itself, arguing either that entrepreneurs will undermine the publicsector ethos by pandering to markets rather than needs and that itwould undermine the accountability of elected politicians.

I want to say that we need public sector entrepreneurs for a number ofreasons. The private sector doesn’t meet a number of needs because of

the phenomenon of market failure, nor does the public sector respondeffectively to a wide range of service issues and this leaves us with fartoo many citizens who are outside of markets or put up withinadequate services. Furthermore, if we want to attract good peopleinto the public sector, we can’t just offer them the excitement ofadministering things.

My argument is that instead of calling for more clarity all the time frompoliticians we need to accept that the public mandate will always beambiguous and vulnerable to changing circumstances as we deliver it,and this means that we need to find and support people who arecomfortable with ambiguity rather than frightened and paralysed by it.As the American academic Mark H Moore puts it, we need officials whoare neither martyrs nor clerks but “Explorers, commissioned by societyto search for public value”.

Of course, none of this is easy and one of the consequences is that wewill fail from time to time. We need to be able to ‘fess up to our failures(of which I have had my fair share) rather than hide behind the mantraof “we did it in good faith”.

But the prize for connecting up an entrepreneurial attitude with aconcern for public benefit can be seen if we look at examples such asthe Simon Community in Glasgow or Greenwich Leisure Services inLondon. There is a distinction to be made between bravery andcourage. Bravery is, I think, instinctive – you are either brave or youare not- but courage can be developed and we can help people tobecome more courageous in their decisions and to take on greater(calculated) risks by supporting them in the right way. Rowntree hasbeen doing this for over 100 years and SURF has been doing it, in itsown way as well.

scotregen : issue 31 : spring 2005

A view from the chair

Alistair Grimes

SURF Chairperson

Welcome to the Summer 2005

edition of Scotregen.The purpose of this

quarterly journal is to use SURFs

independent position to raise important

developments in regeneration policy and

practice. In this issue;

• Peter Kelly of the poverty Alliance reminds us of thechallenges that still face us in terms of poverty as a crucial factorin the regeneration process

• Professor Ron McQuaid follows up on his prescient article inour last issue of Scotregen by raising some questions on thepotential implications of a national road pricing scheme.

• Margaret Graham explains how West Lothian are using art to‘Dream Something Better’ in West Lothian

• Paul Zeally is in search of Community Voices on page 8

• We report on a successful SURF seminar on how CulturalPlanning can put the community in Community Planning

• Colin Lee tells us how CEMVO is building the capacity ofethnic minority organisations in Scotland

All this and more including, Edward Harkins book review, hislatest SURF Networking Open Forum report, and details of someof SURFs future work, including our upcoming Annual Lectureand Awards. Chik Collins is hearing voices in his regular LanguageGames slot, and we kick of the SURF letters column where youcan get your views out directly to the 2000 plus SURF contacts inregeneration across Scotland who regularly receive Scotregen.

Your feedback on any of the above, or anything else youthink we should be looking at in future editions ofScotregen, is always welcome. Just e mail me [email protected]

Editorial

Andy Milne

SURF Chief

Executive

Government to create the conditions that would allow the freemarket to take care of these problems – eventually.

The release of the latest Household Below Average Incomes(HBIA) figures for 2003/04 give the lie to the idea that there islittle that can be done to tackle poverty. The figures in the graphbelow show that since 1996/97 the proportion of children living inlow income households in Scotland has fallen from 33% to 25%, afall of more than 100,000. The proportion of pensioners living inlow-income households has also dropped dramatically, from 30%to 18%. The improvement in the rates for adults is less significant,with the proportion falling from 20% to 18% over the sameperiod.

Real Progress

Reducing levels of poverty, particularly child poverty, by theseamounts is not simply the result of favourable economicconditions. Changes of this significance come about because ofspecific interventions on the part of Government. Over the lasteight years these interventions have included the NationalMinimum Wage, the New Deal, Tax Credits, Sure Start. TheGovernment at the UK level has taken the decision to worktowards ending child poverty by 2020, and as a result we arestarting to see a real improvement in the position of families withchildren, especially those who are in a job or have returned toemployment.

So there has been real progress in tackling low incomes over thelast eight years. However to continue to make progress thegovernment is going to have to meet some serious challenges indealing with the various problems that accompany a life on a lowincome: poor health, lower educational outcomes for youngpeople, low pay, over indebtedness, etc. In Scotland, theExecutive has recently revised its Social Justice Strategy as theClosing the Opportunity Gap (CTOG) approach to help meetthese challenges.

Challenging targets

The CTOG approach takes a broad based approach to tacklingpoverty and social exclusion in Scotland, one that attempts tofocus on both specific groups that experience poverty and specificplaces. Whilst the UK Government may set the overall policycontext in terms of employment, social security and taxation,much of the real change in reducing poverty will come from thoseworking ‘closer to the ground’. The Scottish Executive has chosensome highly challenging targets for its CTOG approach. Closing

the gap in terms of educational outcomes between young peoplein the poorest communities and the average will be a significantchallenge as there has been almost no narrowing of the gap overthe last five years. Similarly, reducing the number of young peoplewho are not in education, employment or training will be achallenge as there has been little progress in this area in recentyears. And making an impact on Scotland’s appalling record inhealth inequalities would represent a major success.

Despite these real challenges, the improvements in low-incomefigures should give us hope that the enduring problems of povertyin Scotland can be tackled, that policy can make a difference. Inorder to make the difference however, there must be a muchbetter understanding of the problem of poverty in Scotland, notjust amongst those working in communities affected by poverty,but also amongst the general public. As the Make Poverty Historymovement has shown, it is in developing public awareness that wecan create the conditions to force governments to act. Witharound one in five people in Scotland still living in poverty thereremains much to be done.

Peter Kelly

Chief Executive of the Poverty Alliance


Poverty: Back on the Agenda?


There has been support for the Minister for Transport,Alistair Darling, as he took the major step of proposingtrials for a national Road User or Congestion Chargingscheme. According to a Department for Transportfeasibility study, the cost to drivers could vary from alow of 2p per mile up to £1.34 for congested roads.But what are its implications of national congestionpricing for regeneration?

The Congestion problem

With the remorselessly growing number of road vehicles and everworsening congestion there are limited options for government.Land use changes take considerable time to take effect, and it isstill common for retail, leisure, employment, and even newCouncil offices, to be located in areas most easily accessed bycars rather than public transport.

Some building of new roads may help in specific circumstances,but even the most diehard pro-road lobbyist recognises that thiswill not completely solve congestion and may even generate extratraffic in some circumstances. Raising fuel prices have only limitedeffects on car usage and making public transport more attractiveand affordable has a long way to go.

For decades many economists and policy analysts have arguedthat we need to manage the existing road infrastructure better.This basically means making more efficient use of the road spacewe have by reducing car use during peak periods and movingsome trips to less congested times of the day or onto othermodes of transport, such as public transport or cycling.

Implications for regeneration

As has been discussed before in Regeneration, there are gravedifficulties for local areas in introducing congestion charging. Sonational support makes it more likely that local initiatives may getoff the ground. However, there are some important regenerationimplications of the current proposals from the Department forTransport.

First, the introduction of national congestion pricing willinfluence the location of land uses and regeneration, andpotentially encourage both the greater dispersion andconcentration of activities. If there is a relatively high level ofcongestion, and hence congestion charge, in an area then theremay be a pressure for employers, retailers, customers and othersto move to areas with generally light traffic levels (or at least lightoutside of rush hour). These will usually be less urbanised places.There may also be a contradictory pressure as firms etc. maymove to areas with excellent public transport access (usually citycentres) as public transport users will not pay the congestioncharge and should have faster journeys. Squeezed between thesetrends, may be areas with relatively high congestion levels andcharges but inadequate public transport alternatives, includingmany urban regeneration areas outside city centres.

However, small local shops (even if owned by one of the majorchains) may make a comeback for non-car based shopping.Similarly there may be a move to longer opening hours as peopleshop at less road-congested periods. There will be the usualdelicate balance between the convenience and (financial andother) costs of customers accessing them, and the size of thecatchment areas for a shop or leisure facility (so a large potentialcustomer base will still keep many shops in an apparently lessattractive location). But the broad overall trend may be towards acombination of dispersion of facilities to lower density areas (orwhere there is a large amount of road infrastructure and henceless congestion) and/or towards central areas with high publictransport access.

It will be important whether the proposed road user chargingschemes are based upon absolute or relative levels of congestion,for example, upon the actual time taken to travel over aparticular piece of road or how long it takes to travel a milecompared to a different or ‘standard’ road. If the government isto maintain (or expand) income from the road user charging, thenthe pricing in an area may be based upon relative congestionrather than just on absolute levels of congestion. If congestionfalls nationwide by the same relative amount, then it is possiblethat no area would see a cut in congestion prices, otherwise totalrevenue to the government would fall. Hence if congestion fallsmore in, say, city centres but stays the same in neighbouringregeneration areas, the charges could rise in those areas. So thebasis of the road user charge is important.

A second related issue is the redistribution of taxes, andincomes, due to the shift from vehicle excise duties andfuel taxes to congestion charges. Everyone will pay lesspetrol tax and excise duty, but this will be more thancompensated for in congested areas like the southeast, wheredrivers there will pay high levels of road user charges. In lesscongested regions of the UK, particularly to rural areas, they willpay less overall. However, within each region there would alsobe a shift in overall taxes and charges towards more congested,generally urban, areas and away from less congested and ruralareas, even though income levels might be higher in some ofthese less congested areas.

Professor

Ron McQuaid

Director of the

Employment

Research Institute

and member of

the Transport

Research Institute,

Napier University,

Edinburgh

Regeneration friend- issues with national


The third issue concerns sustainability. The initial indicationsfrom the Minister were that there would be no distinctionbetween different vehicles, so a large fuel guzzling car, taking up alot of road space, would pay the same as a small fuel-efficient car.If, as is being suggested, all or most vehicle excise duties and fueltaxes are removed, then this will be a major reduction inincentives to have more environmentally friendly vehicles. It iseasy to see that from a pragmatic political perspective, there maybe a need to argue that congestion pricing replaces other taxescompletely (at least in the early days) but this will causepotentially significant environmental concerns.

Fourth, is the issue concerning the capacity to improvepublic transport if the road user charging initiative issuccessful. It is ironic that there have been recent suggestionsthat rail fares at peak times should rise in some cities to helpalleviate overcrowding. Yet one result of road user chargingwould be to increase peak hour public transport demand. Itwould be absurd, and counter productive for road user pricing, ifalternatives to car use simply increased their prices. It is essentialthat public transport prices be restrained and capacity increased,especially at peak times, in congested areas following theintroduction of road user charges

Fifth is the fundamental issue of equity. Currently road spaceis rationed by time. We all equally sit equally fuming at the delays.Road pricing primarily rations by price, with the result is thatthose who put a lower value on a particular journey will make itat a less congested time, on public transport, foot or cycle, or notat all. However, there is a high correlation between how muchyou value a journey and your income, or whether someone else,like you employer, is paying for it. So those in a company car, orwealthier people, will have access to quicker peak hour journeys,but those on lower incomes will disproportionately be the oneswho have to change their behaviour and drive less at congestedtimes. On the other hand less congested roads will improve thespeed and reliability of buses, used by a large proportion of thelowest income people.

There are many other issues only partly considered by thefeasibility study, from civil liberties and data protection to issuessuch as how to ensure that non-UK vehicle drivers pay the fullroad user charge, otherwise they may simply add to congestion(together with the growth of a grey market in foreign registeredcars). The technical problems of a nation road user chargingscheme are huge (e.g. how do people know sufficiently inadvance so they can alter their journey patterns, and there will beserious IT problems of a scheme covering tens of millions ofvehicles and journeys each day). Despite the less than perfectexperience of accuracy in London’s congestion charging schemes,it can only be hoped that these are overcome appropriately.

Although these are all serious issues that any proposal forcongestion pricing will need to deal with, they may not beinsurmountable if explicitly dealt with in the early stages of designof any scheme. It is time to put regeneration on the agenda forroad user charging.

or foe?congestion pricing

Professor Ron McQuaid,

Napier University

[email protected]

www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/home.htm

So how do you involve people at a local level inCommunity Planning? West Lothian Council believe‘locality planning’ and the use of the arts as a mediumfor enjoyable engagement is the answer. Here,Margaret Graham, West Lothian Councils CommunitiesTeam manager, explains how it works for the CommunityPlanning Partnership and for residents.

Community Engagement in Craigshill, Livingston

West Lothian Council is committed to the concept and practiceof Community Planning and has recently embarked on a newdevelopment, ‘Locality Planning’ which is about bringingCommunity Planning to a local level. A Communities Team hasbeen formed tasked with developing nine Locality Plans acrossthe West Lothian Community Planning Partnership area. A majortask is engaging communities in the process with an emphasis onreaching those not previously involved. This article describes thecreative process of involving the community in one area of thecounty. The action from this is being carried forward through theRegeneration Outcome Agreement and the process been adaptedas a blueprint for community engagement in Locality Planningacross West Lothian.

The project was based in the Craigshill area of Livingstonidentified in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation as beingone of the worst 15% in Scotland and the worst in West Lothian.It had been recognised that there were good services in the areabut, because of their life circumstances,many families were notaccessing them. As a result children were losing out onopportunities which had the potential of enhancing their lifechances.

The project aimed to achieve a more accessible, appropriate andbetter co-ordinated services to parents and young children in theCraigshill area by

• Mapping all services available both statutory and voluntary

• Running focus groups of front line workers to identify issues inthe community affecting their work

• Carrying out a consultation with the target group of parents

• Representing the results back to the community in a creativeway

• Forming an action group of parents

• Developing an action plan in conjunction with workers andparents• Adhering to the Standards for Community Engagement

Getting the messages across

West Lothian was chosen to pilot the new Standards forCommunity Engagement developed by the Scottish CommunityDevelopment Centre for Communities Scotland, and theStandards were integrated in all meetings. Thus the modeldeveloped was designed to ensure that even the mostmarginalised in the community were able to participate in puttingforward their views on what it was like to live in the area andidentify gaps in services. Methods used were designed to beparticipative and accessible. Art was used as the medium forgetting messages across.

In all, twenty agencies took part in the consultation with 120parents responding.

The process was as follows:

• Identifying agencies through accessing a variety of data bases

• Interviewing key personnel to ascertain the scope of services

• Pulling together and running focus groups to identify issues inthe community pertinent to workers

• Carrying out a consultation with members of the community.by using workers familiar to them as interviewers. The workerswere from the focus group

• Setting up stalls in Craigshill Shopping Mall to interview passersby who may not be involved in services.

• Having interviewers based outside places which are used byparents of young children

• Collating information and analysing results. The resultsindicated a divided community with long term residents reportinga feeling of belonging and satisfaction but others seeing it as not adesirable environment in which to raise a family. A major issuewas the neglected state of the area making it unsafe for childrento be out at play.

• Representing the results using art as a medium

• Renting a unit to display the interactive artwork. This involvedsetting up a display in the unit entitled “Dream Something Better”It was a bedroom scene with the cover being designed to feedback results of the consultation through photographs anddrawings. Parents and children were then invited to add to thequilt their own comments and drawings to illustrate their feelings- as pictured above.

• Forming a group of parents from respondents who indicated aninterest in being involve long term

• Developing an action plan to address some of the issues raised

• Taking immediate action where appropriate e.g. inviting the

NETS team in to do a clean up.

• Applying the Standards for Community Engagement at everymeeting as a check on appropriate methods of work.

Issues raised in the consultation included a lack of informationabout services and the poor state of the local environment. As a

Margaret Graham

West Lothian

Councils

Communities

Team manager


DREAM SOMETHING B

result other services were contacted to bring about immediateresults .One major issue was the run down state of the Mall.

A unit in the Mall was opened on the 22nd of August byChildren’s TV personality, Archie from Ballymory. The purpose isto provide a focal and directional point to services, and toprovide taster sessions to encourage involvement. These sessionswill be visible to passers by thus making it easier to join in.Several agencies have agreed to take sessions e.g. Surestart doingbaby massage, Oral Health doing sessions, and Libraries doingstorytelling. A wide variety of services will be advertised in theunit with a part time worker being employed from the localcommunity.

Issues overcome in the project

• Poor past experience of community action within thecommunity. Craigshill is an area which has seen its facilities e.g.schools eroded despite past Community action

• Identification of all of the agencies operating in the in the area.There are a plethora of voluntary organisations operating inCraigshill but not providing a service to the area

• Making the focus groups meaningful

• Ensuring a high response rate in the consultation from peoplewho are traditionally hard to reach

• Convincing workers from diverse fields the advantages ofhaving Standards for Community Engagement

• Ensuring a consistency in approach from workers carrying outthe consultations

• Overcoming any barriers to participation e.g. literacy

• Finding methods which would spark the imagination of workersand local people

Conclusion

The project has been a learning experience for the CommunitiesTeam charged with the task of Locality Planning. It hasdemonstrated how workers on the ground can be encouraged towork together. It has also strengthened the importance ofinvolving parents in shaping services in order to make them moreaccessible and appropriate. It has allowed a model of CommunityEngagement to be developed, which can be replicated, across thearea. It has resulted in:

• Continued involvement of workers leading to improvedpartnership working

• Agencies asking to be included in the process

• 120 parents responded to the consultation

• Ongoing work with parents to develop the new provision

• Wide interest in the methods used

• Agencies unaccustomed to community involvement beingconvinced of the benefits

• Services are adapting to local need

• The method is being adopted as a template for Locality Planning

• The project has been evaluated by the Scottish CommunityDevelopment Centre and is being used across Scotland as a goodexemplar of Community Engagement. The consultant involvedhas commented on the refreshing approach to CommunityEngagement, which was a welcome change from the traditionalapproach of meetings.

The long-term benefit of the project is yet to be established butis anticipated to be that more parents become involved withservices thus enhancing the early life experiences of their childrenand therefore the future of their community.

Margaret Graham

West Lothian Council

[email protected]


E T TERCommunity comments and ideas are displayed in the form of a ‘dream’ bedroom.

Local parents and children with the completed ‘consultation quilt’.

The consultation tent at the Whitburn Gala.


Community Voices:Networking communities across Scotland

Paul Zeally Associates have been asked by CommunitiesScotland to establish and develop a Community VoicesNetwork as a vehicle for supporting, and engaging with,unpaid community representatives in Scotland’s mostdisadvantaged communities.

Here Paul explains the task and how he is going about it.

The Minister for Communities is on record as keen to supportlocal people to have their views heard and to learn from eachother in relation to what works in community regeneration. Tohelp achieve this, Communities Scotland has a commitment –resourced initially for three years – to the development of a newnational network for local people involved in the regeneration oftheir communities. After a competitive tendering process, PaulZealey Associates was appointed by Communities Scotland tosupport the development and delivery of the network.

We have had a very useful round of meetings with key agencieswho have had some very interesting contributions to make to thedevelopment of Community Voices. We have also takensoundings from potential members and over all we have had avery positive response to what we are proposing

In September, we will be out on the road formally launching thenetwork with a series of events across the country. Quarterlybulletins will go live from September and the first nationalconference is planned to take place this Autumn

The key aim of the network is:

“To build the capacity of people who are active on an unpaidbasis in the regeneration of the 15% most disadvantagedcommunities in Scotland by sharing experiences and providingopportunities to influence national level community regenerationpolicy and practice.”

The network is primarily aimed at people who live in the 15 %most disadvantaged communities in Scotland, however,membership is welcome from community representatives,voluntary sector management committee members, activists andother residents who are involved in an unpaid basis acrossScotland. People from under-represented or hard-to-reachgroups such as black and ethnic minorities and young, older anddisabled people are particularly encouraged to join the network.

The development of the Network will be member led, andCommunities Scotland invited all existing members to putthemselves forward to serve on an advisory group for the initialsix months of the life of the Network.

A panel of 50 members from a wide geographic area expressedan interest in taking part in the advisory group and initial meetingstook place in July in Glasgow and Dundee.

The advisory panel discussed the purpose and aims of theNetwork, identified the types of services they would like to seedelivered by the Network, and considered the structures fordelivery both for services and a programme of events.

Advisory panel members are keen that the Network provides aplace to exchange information, share knowledge and experiencesand increase their understanding of regeneration issues and a realopportunity for communities to come together to influencenational policy.

Lucy Gillie joins the Network as Development Manager fromAugust, and brings with her significant experience of networkdevelopment in Scotland. The Advisory Panel convenes again inSeptember and aims to agree the scope and purpose of thenetwork, and advise on how the programme of events andsupport materials will be developed.

People interested in joining the Community Voices Networkshould contact

Community Voices Network, PZA, Freepost SCO6961, GlasgowG1 1BR or call 0141 564 7600

Paul Zealey Associates

42 Miller Street, Glasgow G1 1DT, ScotlandTel: +44 141 248 9900 Fax: +44 141 248 3522email: [email protected]

Community Comment

The Community Voices Network supersedes thePartnership Representatives Network (PRN) which was aprevious attempt at establishing an effective communityinput to the Community Planning at a process at astrategic national level. The former Chairperson of thePartnership Representatives Network, Murray Webster,commented;

'I would like to hope that the new Community VoicesNetwork would build on the work and experiences andknowledge gained by the Partnership RepresentativesNetwork, and that it will become a forum for communityand voluntary reps involved in regeneration to share theirexperiences and knowledge. I would also like to think thatthe CVN would act, at this important time of transfer toCommunity Planning, as a strong voice for communities asthey work with other sectors in helping to shape futurepolicies in this arena.'

If you have any views on this article, or any other topics

raised in Scotregen, we'd welcome them for inclusion in our

next issue which is due out in November.

Just e mail your points for publication to

[email protected]

SURF Awards 2005

Information and Nomination forms for the SURF RegenerationAwards 2005 are now available from the SURF office or on ourwebsite at www.scotregen.co.uk

As always, we are looking for as many entries as possible. Theprocess is straightforward and does not need to take lots of yourtime. We just need contact details and a description of the projectand its work on less than 2 sides of A4 by 30th September 2005.

If you need any further clarification please call Andy Milne on0141585 6848 or e-mail [email protected].


Green Gains

Ryan Noble of Forward Scotland reports

on new research pointing to large scale

job opportunities in supporting

sustainable development.In support of the ‘Green Jobs Strategy’ published by the ScottishExecutive in June this year, Forward Scotland has established theEnvironment Jobs Scotland (EJS) initiative to contribute to themaximising of the job potential of a greener economy.

EJS has looked at a number of issues around the emerging jobopportunities within the environment sectors and a number ofresearch studies have been commissioned to examine:

- Skill set mapping of the Renewable Energy, Waste andNatural Heritage Sectors

- An examination of emerging jobs within the environmentsectors and how they fit with the current system of StandardIndustrial Classification (SIC) and Standard OccupationClassification (SOC)

Findings from the research indicate that:

• an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 additional jobs are possible inthe waste industry in Scotland

• the waste industry will, in the near future, require moreprofessional skills for specific areas of management and businessdevelopment

• there is a need to develop the skills of the low and semi skilledworkforce to address the needs of the changing regulatoryframework and the growing complexity of the industry itself

• up to10,000 additionalScottish jobs could be createdby 2020 within the RenewableEnergy sector

• there are a rangeopportunities for unemployedpeople in the differenttechnologies of renewableenergy at ‘entry level’.

• while there appears to belimited requirement for newskills, the renewable energysector will be affected byendemic skill shortagesincluding graduate engineers,skilled operators, scaffolders,LGV drivers and forestrycontractors.

• to measure environmentaljobs in Scotland, it is necessaryfor the SIC system to beadapted so environmentalsectors can be classified

separately from non-environmental sectors

• some environmental occupations are not covered by the SOCcodes and require the creation of new SOC codes

Each of these reports are available to download from theForward Scotland website www.forward-scotland.org.uk or theEnvironment Jobs Scotland website www.ejscotland.info

The skills set mapping study of the Natural Heritage sector, whichhas been commissioned in partnership with Scottish NaturalHeritage, will be available from August 2005.

In addition, Forward Scotland is currently developing two furtherpieces of work:

- A training and skills development package which is intendedto be a flexible tool for advisors, training providers andemployers to assist in providing comprehensive guidance onjobs in the environment

- An overview of skills requirements for environmental jobswithin the community which will highlight gaps in provisionand suggest measures to build capacity

Forward Scotland welcomes any comments or feedback on thesereports or on any aspect of the company’s work. ForwardScotland is keen to work in partnership with a range oforganisations to promote sustainable development.

Forward Scotland 6th Floor, Portcullis House21 India Street GlasgowG2 4PH

Tel: 0141-222-5600Email: [email protected]

10,000 NEW ENVIRONMENT JOBS IN SCOTLAND


Following the Scottish launch CEMVO inEdinburgh at the end of June, Colin Lee, itsScottish Director, explains how it is helping tobuild the capacity of local ethnic minorityorganisations. The Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations(CEMVO) is a Scotland (and UK) wide organisation with the aimof building the capacity and sustainability of the Ethnic MinorityVoluntary sector. Our organisation has a network of over 600ethnic minority voluntary organizations and community groupsthroughout Scotland and over 10,000 throughout the UK.

CEMVO was founded by The Ethnic Minority Foundation (EMF)in 1999 with its head office in London. The Scotland office isbased in Glasgow and began its operations in April 2003. Ourvision for Scotland is for the minority ethnic voluntary sector tobe stronger, more sustainable, and more self-sufficient. Our visionis also for minority ethnic communities to be more involved ininfluencing policy debates that affect their individual lives. This, inthe longer term, will lead to the social and economicregeneration of ethnic minority communities.

CEMVO Scotland has clear objectives in realizing its vision forScotland. Our main objectives are:

• To build an endowment fund that will become a dedicatedsource of funding for the minority ethnic voluntary sector

• To build the capacity of the minority ethnic voluntary sectorthrough running specific programmes that address their needs

• To develop a national volunteering programme that willcontribute to the development of the minority ethnic voluntarysector

• To establish a community asset and core grants programme thatwill directly support the minority ethnic voluntary sector

• To influence policy debates through research and consultations

In achieving our vision, we are undertaking a programme of workto meet our objectives:

• We will help build an EMF UK endowment fund throughvarious fund raising strategies, which will include donations of£8.50 per month from minority ethnic professional people to helpsupport the Ethnic Minority Foundation. This will be the heart ofthe EMF endowment fund which is used to help support theethnic minority voluntary sector.

• We are delivering a unique and highly structured CapacityBuilding Programme that has so far helped 30 Scottish ethnicminority organizations and community groups. The aim of thisprogramme is to strengthen the management, business planningand operational processes of ethnic minority organisations so thatthey are more robust, professional, and able to attract diversefunding streams that will ensure their longer-term sustainability.We have 3 highly skilled, MBA qualified capacity building officers(CBOs) that undertake this capacity building work. To date, wehave helped the organisations on the programme to raise over£600,000 worth of funding as well as helping the majority of themto develop business plans and other organisational developmentwork. We will be building the capacity of another 40 ethnicminority organisations and community groups during 2005-06.

• We have run seminars to increase the participation of ethnicminority communities with statutory, public and executiveagencies. For example we ran a training seminar in partnershipwith The Scottish Parliament for ethnic minority groups toincrease their understanding of the workings of The ScottishParliament.

• We undertake research to influence social policy. An exampleof this is the publication of a good practice guide for voluntarysector employers on “Religion or Belief. This was undertaken incollaboration with The Scottish Inter-Faith Council, ACAS, andThe Scottish Executive, with funding support from TheDepartment of Trade and Industry (DTI).

In such a short time, CEMVO has contributed significantly to RaceEquality work within Scotland. The work of the organisation wasvalued and recognized by The EMPOWER Scotland’s awardceremony where CEMVO Scotland was nominated, and camesecond in the category of “Race Equality Impact.” The award wassignificant because it was voted for by a panel of people thatworked within the ethnic minority voluntary sector. There isnothing more significant that your peers telling you that you aredoing a good job in not only supporting them, but also, inadvancing the Race Equality agenda within Scotland.

CEMVO Scotland will be delighted to work in partnership

with any organisation in strengthening and supporting the

ethnic minority voluntary sector and its communities.

If you wish to find out more about the work of the

organisation or have ideas for partnership working, then

please feel free to contact Colin Lee,

Director of CEMVO Scotland, on

0141-550-7564 or email: [email protected].

CEMVO in ScotlandKrishna Sarda - CEMVO UK Chief Executive, Dinesh Goshi of ‘SEMPER’ and Colin Lee - CEMVO’s Director in Scotland at the CEMVO Scotland Launch.


A report from the recent SURF Seminar on linking Culturaland Community Planning

Over the last two years SURF has done a lot of work in connectionwith the development of the Community Planning framework as theScottish Executives main policy for the successful and sustainableregeneration of disadvantaged communities. We have often focusedon the issues of leadership and community engagement. Morerecently, SURF has supported the emergence of the NationalCultural Planning Steering Group (NCPSG) as an important newbody dedicated to ‘creating the climate for culture’. The NCPSGhopes to promote Cultural Planning as ‘a potentially unifyingstrategic framework for community rooted regeneration plans andactivities.’

On June 9th this year SURF organised a seminar on behalf of theNCPSG, on the subject of Cultural Planning and CommunityPlanning. It was designed to increase awareness of the potential ofthe Cultural Planning approach and to indicate the resourcesavailable for successfully incorporating Cultural Planning in thepracticalities of regeneration, inclusion and service deliverystrategies.

Cultural Planning Consultant, Lia Ghilardi, provided a definitionof Cultural Planning and a critique of top down, iconic or ‘cosmeticcultural branding’. She went on to outline her view of the position oflocal culture as ‘a central support for successful regeneration’.

Lia stated ‘Cultural Planning takes a holistic approach and putsculture and people at the core. Cultural Planning is not the ‘planningof culture’, but a cultural approach to locality planning and policy. Itoffers the potential of participatory opportunities which developleadership and management skills for a variety of social and culturalconstituencies.

In his presentation, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Council,George Black outlined the steps already taken in Glasgow toprovide a firm foundation for the flourishing of community ledcultural generation. He noted the considerable progress alreadymade in ensuring a firm physical fabric to build on. He emphasisedthe importance of ensuring that the focus now shifts to socialregeneration through work by and with Glasgow’s people

A Cultural Plan for Scotland

Working in small groups and with support and guidance fromFablevision workshop leaders and experts in the field of culturalplanning, the 60 delegates developed ‘a Cultural Plan for Scotland’.

Liz Gardiner, Director of Fablevision noted the vibrant image ofScotland emerging from the workshop discussions. ‘The picture ofScotland drawn together from the four individual feedback reportspresented a pretty vibrant looking Scotland with loads of wonderfulprojects. Each one started from identifiable potential communityresources.

Potential resources

Liz contended that ‘all of these potential resources (and many more)exist in our villages, neighbourhoods, towns and cities throughoutScotland. There are many projects up and down the country verylike some of the ones created today. However, they tend to beisolated and regarded as one off’s: - innovative, exiting but veryrisky, rather than the only reliable way of delivering on successfulregeneration or community planning. Often, they don’t know abouteach other so they can’t learn from each others experiences. Twokey organisations have been established to address this;

• Connector (www.connectorscotland.org) has been developedby the arts and communities association as a web based learningresource and the Scottish Centre for Regeneration withinCommunities Scotland has been working with us to gather casestudy evidence of best practice for both websites.

• The National Cultural Planning Steering Group has beenestablished help to mentor, monitor and develop culturalplanning practice in Scotland. You can find out more about theNCPSG by emailing [email protected] or through theconnector website and weekly newsletters.’

However Liz concluded that ‘There is still one missing piece of thejigsaw. Cultural Planning is developed at the grass roots, but withouttop down policies that endorse the practice and (through all thestatutory bodies from Communities Scotland to the LocalAuthorities), support, resources and underpinning, it cannot flourish.Without specific Scottish Executive policy backing, the status quowill continue. ‘

Linking Culture and Regeneration

Rounding off the successful seminar, Alisdair McIntosh, Head of theRegeneration Section of the Scottish Executive stated that‘We areclear that regeneration has economic, physical, social andenvironmental aspects. It is about place, but it is also about people;about economic development, but also about community renewaland quality of life. The policy approach has to recognise and respectthat balance. The same elasticity of meaning applies to “culture’’.Alisdair congratulated SURF and the NCPSG on their timelyintervention in this debate. He then posed some questions that needto be answered and issues that need to be addressed before it ispossible to judge what contribution a “Cultural Planning” approachcould make: These included;

• Whose culture is it anyway? Is there a shared view?

• How, in practical terms, can/should local government and itspartners engage communities on this territory?

• What is the right level(s) of geography?

• The danger of raising expectations beyond capacity to deliver.

• The risk of creating another bureaucratic, strategising process, ordistracting from the business of creating real and positive change.

The National Cultural planning Steering Group will be consultingwidely on these questions and others, as well as exploring howCultural Planning fits into the aspirations of the recent muchanticipated Cultural Review report in which the NCPSG was cited asa potentially useful vehicle for linking culture and regeneration.

SURF used its Jully 1st Networking Open Forum to present the firstpublic exploration of the Culture Commissions report in thepractical context of Community Planning and Regeneration. (seeEdward Harkins report on page 13.)

SURF will be continuing to work with the NCPSG and others tohighlight the potential and practical application of the CulturalPlanning approach as a means of meaningfully involving localcommunities in supporting successful and sustainable regeneration.

Copies of the SURF seminar report and the key speaker’s fullpresentations are available on the SURF web site atwww.scotregen.co.uk

A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS?


DUNDEE UNIVERSITY, The Geddes Institute

• Monitoring and evaluation of community planning in Dundee(Dundee Partnership) - Greg Lloyd, Deborah Peel, Emma Colesand Sue Sage

• The Employability Framework and Worklessness in Dundee(Dundee Partnership) Greg Lloyd, Emma Coles

• Cultural Quarters for Urban Regeneration: a comparison of practice in the UK (Carnegie Trust) - John McCarthy

• Urban Universities and Real Estate Development (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy) - Deborah Peel

• Professional and grass-roots exchange: finding innovative ways forward in community planning(Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation) Greg Lloyd, Deborah Peel.

• A comparative study of marine spatial planning in Japan and Scotland (The Carnegie Trust) Deborah Peel

More information from Prof. Greg Lloyd

[email protected]

or see the Geddes Institute web site at http://www.trp.dundee.ac.uk/research/cpr.html

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW,Department of Urban Studies

• Surveyors in Regeneration: an Audit of Community Regeneration Skills;This study explores the regeneration skills and competencies of RICSmembers in Scotland;Sponsor: Communities Scotland, Scottish Centre for Regeneration. Contact:Prof David Adams

• Strengthening Communities - A Review of Existing Evidence and Activity in Scotland;This study aims to help the Scottish Executive Task Force to begin its work on strengthening communitiesin Scotland. Sponsor: NHS Health Scotland. Contact: Maggie Reid

• Which House Price? Finding the Right Measure of House Price Inflation for Housing Policy; This project is sponsored by the Nationwide Building Society. Contact: Dr Gwilym Pryce

• Tobacco and Inequalities Initiative - An evaluation; This study aims to assess the projects supported by the ASH Scotland Tobacco and Inequalities initiative.Sponsor: ASH Scotland. Contact: Dr Linda Bauld.

• Books: Changing Cities: Rethinking Urban Competitiveness, Cohesion and Governance; Buck, N.,Turok, I et al. (Palgrave Macmillan) Planning, Property Markets and Public Policy; Adams, D., Watkins,C. and White, M. (Blackwell)

For more information contact Professor Ivan Turok – [email protected] or see our websitewww.gla.ac.uk/urbanstudies/

A 'SECTOR CONNECTOR' LINKING ACADEMICRESEARCH WITH POLICY AND PRACTICE.

SURF's Academic Panel links the research resources ofuniversities in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow with SURFs ownextensive network of practitioners and policy makers.

The intention is to support the practice based information andviews, that SURF's networking brings forward, with academicevidence. In this way SURF hopes to add weight to proposals formore effective regeneration policy development.

Here is a list of some of the relevant research and reports thatthe panel members are involved in producing.

SURFs ACADEMIC PANEL

HERIOT WATT,CRSIS, Centre for Research into Sociallyinclusive Services

• Improving Council Tax Collection in ScotlandThe project is seeking to understand the factors behind non-payment including issues of financial inclusion.

• Housing Investment and Neighbourhood Market Change Fundedby the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, this project will look at housing investment and neighbourhoodmarket change. Some interim results from initial statistical analysis are available.

• Fife Social Justice Analysis System – Policy and Organisational DevelopmentDeveloping a framework and a software analysis tool to facilitate flexible monitoring, profiling andresearch into social justice issues. A presentation of the system is scheduled for August 2005.

• Effects of Homeownership on Educational Attainment of Children in Deprived Neighbourhoods This project aims to determine the extent to which homeownership affects children’s educationalachievement in selected areas in Scotland. A copy of the final report is now available to download fromCRSIS website: www.crsis.hw.ac.ukFor further information on any of the projects listed above please visit our website: www.crsis.hw.ac.uk

CRSIS has recently won two new ESRC Collaborative (CASE) Studentship Awards and is now seekingapplications for these PhD Studentships. Application packs are available fromwww.sbe.hw.ac.uk/researchopps/index.htm.

• Working with Fife Council and its Community Planning Partnership on ‘The Development and Impactof a Local Social Justice Analysis System’. For further details contact Professor Glen Bramley Tel: 0131451 4605 Email: [email protected]

• Working with the Scottish Executive (Social Inclusion Division) on ‘Closing the Opportunity Gap:Exploring the impacts of improved financial inclusion on disadvantaged households’. For further detailscontact Professor Moira Munro Tel: 0131 451 4612 Email: [email protected]

NAPIER UNIVERSITY, Employment Research Institute

• Working for Families Evaluationhttp://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/wff.htmA Scottish Executive fund aimed at improving theemployability of parents. The ERI are evaluating the first twoyears of the project.

• Employment in Rural Areas: Demographic and Employment Trends and Typologies of Rural Areashttp://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/employmenttrendsruralareas.htmStudy for the European Commission on Employment in Rural Areas.

• Working together for employment and inclusion in Edinburgh - a baseline studyhttp://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/ccp.htmTo review the labour market and policy context for the Capital City Partnership's 'Joined Up For Jobs'(JU4J) strategy (Edinburgh's employability agreement).

• Social Networks of Older Workershttp://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/equal.htmTo examine the social networks of different groups of older workers and how these networks affect theirparticipation in the labour market.

• Western Isles Ferry Fares Mechanism Studyhttp://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/WIFFM.htmThe key purpose is to help Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) analyse the arguments forre-casting the fares and charges regime to increase traffic volume on island ferry services.

• One Workplace - Mapping Approaches to Equal Opportunities in Scottish Trade Unionshttp://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/oneworkplace.htmMapping research, identifying gaps and establishing the key challenges faced by Trade Unionrepresentatives and officials in promoting equality in the workplace.

Contact: Professor Ronald W. McQuaid, Employment Research Institute, Napier University, CraiglockhartCampus, Edinburgh EH14 1DJ

[email protected] http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/home.htm

Many Scotregen readers will beaware of the very sad and untimelydeath of Professor Robina Goodlad,in June this year. Robina was afounding member of the SURFAcademic Panel. Her involvement inthis initiative was consistent with hermuch wider life’s work in constantlyforging links and sharing expertise inthe cause of promoting social justice.

Her enthusiasm, intellect, humour and passion will be greatlymissed.

Robina's family have set up the Robina Goodlad Memorial Trust towhich you can contribute in her memory if you wish. For detailsof the trust and how to contribute, go to -http://www.gla.ac.uk/urbanstudies/news/RobinaMemorialTrust.pdfor contact the Robina Goodlad Memorial Trust at TheDepartment of Urban Studies, Glasgow University, Bute Gardens,Glasgow, G12 8RS. Robina Goodlad


The SURF Open Forum programme events around Scotland arefunded by Communities Scotland and provide those involved incommunity regeneration with opportunities for practice-basedexchange and learning. The current programme continues withina context of Community Planning.

The 2004/2005 programme of Open Forums across Scotland wasanother busy and productive one. Topics covered were:

- Equalities and Regeneration in a Community Planning Context

- Race and Community Planning (a joint event with GARA SIP)

- Engaging with Communities

- Sustainable Communities and Regeneration and Community Planning

- Community Planning Partnerships (case studies and experiences)

- Health and Regeneration and Community Planning

- Implications of the Cultural Review for Regeneration and CommunityPlanning

Report from the July Open Forum in the COSLA ConferenceCentre Edinburgh:

‘Implications of the Cultural Review for Regeneration and

Community Planning’. This was a highly opportune and timely Forumwith which to end the 2004/2005 series. Thanks are due to the severalspeakers who responded to the challenge of delivering relevant andinformative presentations within the short timescale of the Review beingpublished and the convening of the Forum.

• Cultural Planning consultant Lia Ghilardi, made use of informativeand stimulating references to the Australian experience in asserting howCulture has advantages as a tool in regeneration efforts; it can helpreposition a city, revamp its image and offer opportunities forinvestment. Lia went on to argue that there are also risks anddisadvantages where a Cultural Planning strategy is detached from reallocal culture. Often conventional Cultural strategies are just based onthe policies of consumption - middle class art galleries – coffee/giftshopping. This is not a sustainable approach as its too easily replicatedand therefore no competitive advantage. For Lia, we need tosystematically map the real local cultural resources and formulatepolicies, projects and actions on them. Whilst she acknowledged theexcellent examples of local work and projects undertaken by the likes ofHousing Associations, Lia argued that it would most appropriate andeffective if Local Authorities were to take the lead in Cultural Planning inthe context of Community Planning.

• Sheena Wellington, former member of the Cultural Commissionwas a committed advocate on how ‘people are the source, and thesource of support, for culture’. For example, ordinary citizens are thebiggest sponsors of the arts through their purchase of tickets for events,books, TV licences etc. Sheena described her role on the Commission as‘to talk to lots of small groups’. She found that what they felt would

make a difference with culture in their lives were the small practicalthings – like bus travel vouchers to enable isolated young people to getto venues. She found confirmation that people know what they want outof culture, and they want more. Looking forward to where we nowneed to take things on Cultural Planning, Sheila urged that we:

- Nourish the Roots

- Appreciate that access and excellence should always go together

- Know that our natural wish is for us to be all we can be

• Liz Gardiner for the National Cultural Planning ScotlandSteering Group (NCPSG) had accepted the opportunity of the Forumto briefly update participants on the emergence of the Steering Group.Liz acknowledged the recent work of SURF and the Scottish Centre forRegeneration in partnership with the NCPSG to promote the concept ofCultural Planning in its relevance to Regeneration and CommunityPlanning. For the open debate session Liz encouraged participants torefer to a paper listing the key questions and challenges provided byAlisdair McIntosh, Head of the Regeneration Section of the ScottishExecutive at SURFs earlier Cultural Planning/ Community Planningseminar on June 9th. (A report from this seminar is available on theSURF website at www.scotregen.co.uk)

The range and nature of the topics and issues raised in the open debatesession reflected the cross-sector backgrounds of the participants. Coreissues included:

• The use of language with which to effectively engage communities onCultural Planning. The complexity of a new environment in whichCommunity Planning was emerging

• The matter of how Cultural Planning Partnership will interface withCommunity Planning Partnerships.

• The need to work hard for real partnership or consensus around theCommunity Planning table.

The issue of evaluation generated contrasting views. For someparticipants evaluation had become a complicated and burdensomerequirement that was often irrelevant and ineffective in the way it wasdesigned or required by funders. For other participants, evaluation was acritical opportunity for practitioners and activists to learn from their ownexperiences and the experiences of others.

The Forum ended with evident strong support for the view that CulturalPlanning, and culture in general, had much to offer, particularly withregard to real engagement and self-realisation for individuals and thecommunities they are part of.

Speaking after the forum about the Scottish Executives formal responseto the Cultural Review report, Angela Saunders, who is head of theNational Cultural Strategy Unit in the Cultural Policy Division of theScottish Executive's Education Department, explained, "The CulturalCommission's report of its review of cultural provision was delivered toScottish Ministers on 23 June. The Executive is now considering thereport and its recommendations carefully to examine how the proposalscan help to realise the Ministers' vision for culture in Scotland. TheExecutive aims to publish its response before the end of the year."

Future Open Forum programme

The next Open Forum will be on Thursday 29th September 2005 in theDiscovery Centre, Dundee, on the theme of Regeneration OutcomeAgreements (ROAs). SURF is pleased to have already enlisted the inputof Tribal HCH who are working on a ‘How To’ programme forCommunities Scotland. Other speakers will be Peter Allan, CommunityPlanning Manager at the Dundee Partnership and Mary Castles of NorthLanarkshire Council both of which have secured early Scottish Executiveapproval for their ROAs.

The following Open Forum will be on 24.11.2005 in Perth, topic to

be confirmed.

SURF Open Forum Networking -Programme Update

Edward Harkins

SURF Networking

Officer


LettersFunding Real Engagement

Dear Editor,

The day conference on Cultural Planning at the Lighthouse in Glasgow was very encouraging.As a local community group in Glasgow looking to stimulate an arts-led approach to communitydevelopment it was good to hear people from across the country speaking this same language.From the Scottish Executive to those employed by local authority to private practitioners wewere all able to share in a workshop based exercise where the hallmarks were fun and creativitywith real engagement of local people. Royston Road Project has now been asked by localcommunity groups to provide a lead in participative arts approach where local people can reallyenjoy community planning. Our frustration in Royston Road Project remains moving beyond aproject to project funding strategy where we know that a more strategic long term approach isneeded. It would be marvellous if the Scottish Executive were to make funds available to allowthe cultural planning arts-led approach to be tried and tested.

Russell McLarty – chairperson Royston Road Project, Glasgow

Financial Inclusion and Regeneration

Dear Editor,

I would be grateful if I could use the pages of Scotregen to provide some information on thework of the UK Financial Inclusion Forum. This is a rapidly developing network of individualsfrom many backgrounds but all with a common interest in tackling the injustices of far too manypeople being excluded from mainstream financial services.

The aims of this Forum (FIF) for 2005 include:

• building a tangible network of people involved in financial inclusion through FIF events and website

• providing a place where ideas can be exchanged, best practice promoted and brave failuresshared

• acting as a gateway to information about practical and policy based work

• stimulating new work through its events and the RBS Financial Inclusion Innovation Fund

• establishing an Advisory Panel from throughout the UK to guide FIF's activities

There are a large number of people in Scotland with an active interest in these matters. This issoon likely to increase even further when both Scottish and UK wide financial inclusion supportfunds come on stream.

A common concern has been the difficulty in gaining access to the wealth of experience that hasbeen accumulating on the successes, and occasional disappointments, around a range of differentfinancial inclusion approaches. This is perhaps especially relevant in Scotland where - postdevolution - there is arguably still some fine tuning required regarding the role of UKGovernment Departments where issues and policies impacting on financial inclusion/ exclusionremain as reserved powers.

I would hope therefore that as many Scotregen readers as possible could take advantage of theFIF network to share experiences on the relationship between financial exclusion andRegeneration with colleagues in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Membership is free and registration can be carried out online at www.fif.uk.

It is also hoped that area and issue based "sub-forums" will emerge where there is regional ornational demand and Scotland seems like an ideal place for this to be considered.

Thanking you all in anticipation....

Eoghan M. Howard – Community Activist, Wester Hailes

Thursday 15 & Friday 16 September 2005

A network of cultural organisations in North

Glasgow share their story and explore with you

the benefits of working in partnership to develop

vibrant and inclusive communities. Facilitated by

Liz Gardiner of FablevisionThis is one of a series of learning journeys which invite youto look, question and learn from the experience of socialentrepreneurs around Scotland. The Journey is designedto inspire, to forge connections, to offer practical tips andencouragement to those in a position to make a differencein their own community.

This Journey looks at the strong contribution of a culturalapproach to regeneration in communities and willparticularly appeal to those working in the cultural sectorincluding teachers, local authority officers, arts councildevelopment officers, regeneration professionals. It is alsorelevant and interesting for those working in other kinds ofsocial enterprises who would benefit from the creativeinspiration from colleagues in the arts.

The Journey is based in North Glasgow and participatingorganisations include:

• Fablevision

• NGARN (North Glasgow Arts and Regeneration Network)

• Royston Road Project

• Northern Rock Festival Group

• Bolt FM

• Toonspeak Young People’s Theatre

Some of the issues that we will be looking at include:

• Dreams and Visions - the creative approach

• Wider inclusion of diverse cultures

• Integration of rival communities

• Stealth Education

• Working in partnership

• Income streams

• Marketing positive images

The fee of £495 includes hotel accommodation and dinner inGlasgow between the two days and all facilities and refreshmentsduring the two days.

To book your place, phone Jayne on 0131 220 5333.

www.theacademy-ssea.org

Enterprise Academy Director, Jackie Scutt.

Cultural Planning and creative social enterprise


LANGUAGEGAMESIn the third edition of his regular column Dr Chik Collins of

Paisley University continues his personal look at the roll

language plays in social change.

Ventriloquationand Voice

No one wants to be called adummy. It’s an offensiveword. Originally used tomean a “mute person” (fromdumb), and later extended toa “figure representing aperson” – as in aventriloquist’s dummy – itlater came to mean “a stupidperson; a dolt”. Theconnotations are clear: ‘Voice’ is a defining feature of a ‘realperson’, and those lacking it are liable to be treated as lacking inbasic intelligence. For those who literally can’t vocalise, this can betremendously offensive – there is more to voice than vocalising –but nonetheless it tells us about how our culture values voice.

The Russian writer Mikhail Bakhtin brings another dimension to thisdiscussion. For him, all of us are born into a sea of already-existingvoices which, at the outset, ‘speak through us’. This process hecalled “ventriloquation”. No one gets to invent their own language,and so we all begin to speak along the familiar lines laid down bythose around us. We all, he seems to say, start out as ‘dummies’.

More generally, even for ‘grown ups’, ‘speaking for ourselves’ is anachievement. It always involves the struggle of assimilating andmastering the multiplicity of voices ‘out there’. These voices arenever ‘innocent’, but express the needs and intentions of others –typically those who are most powerful. Finding our own voicemeans clarifying our own needs and intentions – which are by nomeans always the same as those with most power. If we are toavoid having these other people ‘speak through us’, we must findan adequate – authentic – way to express who we are, and whatwe need and intend.

Bakhtin warns us that, particularly for those on the receiving end ofsystematic inequalities, this process is “complicated and difficult” –and he was writing before the age of ‘public relations’, ‘spin’ and‘image management’. Today these practices seem to be at theheart of just about every organisation that can muster thenecessary resources – including the bigger beasts in the field of‘urban regeneration’. From Bakhtin’s perspective, such practiceshave “ventriloquation” as their primary purpose.

In this light, and in view of the known history of what we used tocall ‘community participation’ in regeneration (now “communityengagement” for those ‘on message’), the creation of the new“Community Voices Network” seems profoundly, troublingly,problematic.

Further nominations for the ‘language games’ dissectingtable to: [email protected]

Annual Lecture 2005 – September 15thLord Richard Best, Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Trust willdeliver the 2005 SURF Annual Lecture on the morning of September 15thin the Royal Society in Edinburgh’s George Street. Lord Best will contendthat ‘Poverty is the key challenge for Regeneration’SURF members and a limited number of guests have been invited to whatshould be an interesting morning. A copy of the lecture will be posted onthe SURF web site after the event.

Networking Open Forum - September 29thThe next SURF Open Forum event will be on the morning of Thursday29th September in the Discovery Centre in Dundee. In continuing thewell-received programme of forums concerned with regeneration in thecontext of Community Planning it will focus on Regeneration OutcomeAgreements (ROA’s) – Making them work. The confirmed speakers areSpeakers: Tribal HCH, Consultants, who are completing work for CommunitiesScotland on the ‘How to Programme’ on ROAs) and Peter Alan,Community Planning Manager at the Dundee Partnership and MaryCastles Assistant Chief Executive at North Lanarkshire Council, twoCommunity Planning Partnerships who achieved early Executive approvalon their ROAs.

Awards for Best Practice in Regeneration 2005 – September 30thWe are now looking for nominations for the SURF Awards 2005. This isthe 7th year of these truly independent Awards, which are intended tohighlight successful community regeneration efforts and to boost thepositive image of community regeneration efforts generally. So, if youknow of a project that has made a difference, and deserves some morerecognition, why not nominate it for a SURF Award. Copies of thenomination and entry form are available by contacting the SURF office orvia the SURF web site at www.scotregen.co.uk the closing date fornominations (just 2 sides of A4) is the 30th of September and thecelebratory Awards presentation dinner will be in the Radisson Hotel inGlasgow on the evening of the 1st of December.

For more information on these events, or any other aspect of SURFswork, contact Andy Milne at [email protected] or call him on 0141 585 6848.

SURF stuff Dates for your dairy- Join SURFSURF’s membership is the backbone of its work.

Become a SURF member and get:

• A guaranteed 33% discount on SURF seminars conferences, and study visits.

• Advance notice of all of our events.

• A complimentary invitation to SURFs’ annual lecture and a free copy of the speech.

• Priority access to our programme of Open Forums

• Information on SURFs annual Regeneration Awards for best practice and reduced rates for the Awards presentation dinner.

• Copies of our quarterly Scotregen journal sent directly to you and your key colleagues.

• Access to our members’ library of SURF publications and reports on our Website.

Get connected to a truly independent and informed networkof regeneration organisations and individuals. Your support willhelp SURF be an effective catalyst for improving all our effortsto create successful and sustainable communities acrossScotland.

To find out more and for a form to join SURF visit our web siteat www.scotregen.co.uk

Or contact Andy Milne directly by calling 0141 585 6848 or e mailing him at [email protected]


New Wealth forOld Nations –Scotland’sEconomicProspectsA review by Edward Harkins SURF Networking Officer In this book the editors, including MSP Wendy Alexander andBrian Ashcroft of the Fraser of Allander Institute, place Scotland’seconomic issues in an international perspective. They presumethat economic growth is essential to a better future for Scotland.The relevance to Regeneration policy and practice is pepperedthroughout the chapters by various contributors; for examplewhere Professor Edward Glaeser, Harvard University asserts:

“ the one challenge to the Edinburgh – Glasgow corridorbecoming a high human capital economy is the legacy of povertycreated by the decline of manufacturing”

The editors accept that tackling this poverty is a pre-requisite toimproving opportunity and enhancing growth because, as Glaeserpoints out, “the skilled fear living among the poor”. A relatedconcern to do with poverty is what is described as the‘polarisation of motherhood’. In essence the trend in Scotland isfor early child-bearing and upbringing to be increasinglyconcentrated among the poorer off. This trend is impactingadversely on early life chances, and this in turn decisively shapeseconomic opportunities over a lifetime.

There are assertions on the dominance of the public sector inScotland and the need to recognise its potentially limiting andliberating role. These will make for challenging, if notuncomfortable, reading for some policy makers and practitioners.For example where it is asserted that “In Scotland as elsewherein Western Europe, lip service is often paid to a reform agenda”.It is implied that Scotland is part of a scenario of European(regional) economies where the state is typically responsible for

spending approaching 50% of GDP,and it is stated that “In these advancedand relatively high-cost locations , thedrag-anchor ofwidespread public-sector inefficienciescannot easily bedismissed”.

Professor NicholasCrafts of LondonSchool of Economicschallenges the“overwhelmingly target-driven approach toperformance managementin the public sector”. Hecites the 109 metrics foreach of Scotland’s areahealth boards and 47targets for each school.However, in this scenario the editors see distinct advantages :

“ Herein lies a real opportunity for using experimentation andevidence to accomplish reform. Scotland’s smaller scale certainlyoffers advantages ; after all, it is easier to turn a rowing boataround than it is a supertanker”.

On another more optimistic note Glaeser is upbeat about thepotential for both Edinburgh and Glasgow (readers from outwiththe Central Belt may be dismayed by the general premise in thebook that it is the Edinburgh-Glasgow conurbation that willdetermine Scotland’s economic prospects). However, Glaeserdoes cautions Edinburgh against constraining development bybecoming a ‘boutique town’ and urges Glasgow to understand thenecessity of becoming more like Boston, skills and amenity-led,rather than looking back to past traditions and in the manner ofDetroit.

This is an excellent text for those in Regeneration in Scotlandwho are seeking a general framework for their strategic thinking.Contributors such as Professor Paul R Krugman of PrincetonUniversity on ‘Second Winds for Industrial Regions’ give a robustglobal and economics context to the book but one that does notrender it inaccessible to the general reader.

New Wealth for Old Nations – Scotland’s Economics ProspectsPrinceton University Press

(http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/titles/7949.html)ISBN 0-691-12256-3

£29.95 (Cloth)

Review:

ScotregenScotregen is the journal of the Scottish Urban RegenerationForum and is distributed free to its members throughoutScotland.

Editor: Andy Milne

Typesetting and production: Blueprint Productions (Glasgow) Ltd

Relevant articles are welcome but may be subject to editing.

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