This section archives contributions to the national dialogue about community empowerment originating from Think Tanks, Universities, Third Sector organisations etc. The emphasis of this content is evidence based research. Arranged by date of posting.



September 2007

Making a difference in Scotland's communities (20th Sep 2007)
The report was published on 9 September and  is based on a significant range of inspections on local authority and voluntary sector CLD providers across all of Scotland over the last five years

Sustaining Grants (14th Sep 2007)
This pamphlet argues that grant aid is an essential part of the local funding mix for community organisations and remains essential for thriving local communities.

August 2007

Third sector review final report - July 2007 (7th Aug 2007)
The Government's final report of its review of the third sector sets out a strategy to work with third sector organisations over the next ten years to promote social and economic regeneration. (excerpt from the introduction)

July 2007

Tide changes for community anchor organisations? (26th Jul 2007)
For a couple of years, Senscot has been trying to promote the term ‘community anchor organisations’ - strong locally controlled organisations which provide leadership in many of our communities. We adopted the term from the Home Office report, ‘Firm Foundations’ (2004). This week’s Treasury Review also adopts this term - and cites the same source. The problem is that the Treasury Review significantly dilutes ‘locally controlled’ to ‘locally based’ - we have reproduced both definitions below.

June 2007

Let rural communities map their own future (28th Jun 2007)
The Carnegie Trust's recommendations on rural communities are as complex, diverse, contrary, and sometimes as confusing, as rural Britain itself.

May 2007

No Small Matter - A Surf Seminar On Small Town Regeneration (24th May 2007)
Event Summary and main outcomes. The title refers to the fact that 30% of the Scottish population live in small towns (up to 20K population.). Much of the Scottish community regeneration debate, policy and resource allocation of recent years has been focused on the cities and their surrounding areas of concentrated disadvantage.

Think-tank attacks city's rebirth (23rd May 2007)
Poorer parts of Scotland's largest city have been left behind by major regeneration projects, according to a new report from think tank Demos.

Changing neighbourhoods: The impact of 'light touch' support in 20 communities (11th May 2007)
The past ten years have seen a range of new policies to close the gap between the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and the rest of society. This summary, written by the team evaluating the programme, highlights the key findings from Neighbourhood Programme

Light touch support for communities (10th May 2007)
'Changing neighbourhoods: lessons from the JRF Neighbourhood Programme' is a report on the impact of a 'light touch' approach to supporting groups at neighbourhood level across 20 very different organisations working in a range of different national and local settings.

Interim Evaluation of the Community Voices Network (2nd May 2007)
This report presents the findings of an interim evaluation of the Community Voices Network. 

March 2007

Two year review of the Community Right to Buy published (14th Mar 2007)
The Caledonia Centre for Social Development have published a briefing paper on land reform called The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 - Part 2 the community right to buy: a two year review.

Feburary 2007

TheCrown Estate in Scotland – New Opportunities for Public Benefits (26th Feb 2007)
A major new report sets out the case for a review of the Crown Estate in Scotland so that the resources involved, including Scotland’s seabed and much of its foreshore, produce greater benefits for local communities.

Strong and prosperous communities - The Local Government White Paper (8th Feb 2007)
The English local government white paper published in October now has a strong implementation plan on the DCLG site.  This extract from its introduction shows that it aims at a fundamental re-balance of the central/local relationship.

January 2007

Motivations and barriers to citizen governance (22nd Jan 2007)
A new report  “provides an insight into people's awareness and knowledge of citizen governance, the barriers and motivations to involvement and the types of people who get involved in these roles."

December 2006

Plan for third sector role in public services and interim third sector review published (8th Dec 2006)
Alongside today's Pre-Budget Report two reports were published to strengthen the partnership between government and the third sector.

July 2006

‘Worst first approach’ to regeneration ‘not working’ (24th Jul 2006)
Proactive and preventative policies to create mixed communities should be the top priority for regeneration and growth strategies, argues a new piece of research

Support for future 'active citizens' (14th Jul 2006)
A Government plan to give more power to local people will not succeed unless people are given the support, skills and confidence needed to participate, claims a third sector organisation.

June 2006

Double devolution: the renewal of local government (22nd Jun 2006)
A new collection of short essays by key experts in the field calls for a cross party consensus with a ten year programme to shift power downwards from Whitehall to local government, and from town halls to neighbourhoods.

May 2006

Issues and Implications Arising from ‘People and Place – Regeneration Policy Statement (24th May 2006)
Edward Harkins gives a summary of the recent SURF forum on the Scottish Executive’s “Regeneration Policy Statement” on March 30 2006. He writes that “for many participants the priority issue was the need to provide adequate and appropriate channels for the community and voluntary sector.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (11th May 2006)
First annual review of Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company

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