Covid poses challenges for community ownership - Duncan Thorp

Community ownership has a long and rich history in Scotland. From the islands of Gigha and Eigg to Inverclyde and Helmsdale, the local ownership of land, housing and other assets is driving regeneration in many places.

Duncan Thorp, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Social Enterprise Scotland

The community groups behind this renaissance are often development trusts, co-operatives and other similar organisations. Dedicated to the success of their local community, they form a key part of Scotland’s diverse social enterprise movement.

The community ownership agenda is of course now taking place in the context of a lockdown economy. The movement faces a crucial test to see how much can be achieved in the midst of a pandemic and the related economic impacts.

The Community Ownership Support Service (COSS) offers specialist support to groups in Scotland to take a stake in or ownership of previously publicly owned land or buildings. Linda Gillespie, Programme Manager, Community Ownership Support Service:

"The Covid pandemic has seen communities across Scotland respond to the challenge of delivering services on a hyper-local level. Communities have without doubt been agile and innovative in their response to community needs.

“As we come through Covid there will undoubtedly be challenges in securing finance and adapting buildings and operations, but there is also opportunity. This, on top of the resurgence of community activism that Covid brought means that development trusts and their community anchor counterparts are well placed to lead a community-powered recovery.”

Sarah-Jane Allsopp is Project Development Officer at the Castle Douglas Development Forum in Dumfries and Galloway. Their team has worked hard to build support in the face of tourism challenges:

“We started from a very crisis-driven point of view, when VisitScotland closed the visitor information centre, while our small agricultural market town had been increasingly relying on tourism to support the population.

“Our development trust struggled to capture the local community’s support but when we decided to ask VisitScotland for a temporary lease on the building we had no idea the positive effect it would have.

“The heart of Galloway Visitor Centre is now a thriving community-run visitor centre providing information to thousands of visitors all year round. It also hosts products from over 50 local small businesses, providing them with high-profile retail space.

“We’re now in the process of completing our next much larger community land project. This will see us apply for the community asset transfer of the closed local authority outdoor education centre and the town’s caravan park which sit on the edge of the stunning Carlingwark Loch.”

Land ownership in Scotland continues to be a serious concern in the context of our economic challenges. Scotland still has a very concentrated pattern of land ownership, with around half of privately owned land in the hands of just a few hundred people.

Linsay Chalmers, Development Manager, Community Land Scotland: “In normal times, people come from across the world to learn from Scotland’s community landowners and how their democratic approach to ownership has tackled issues from depopulation to the loss of urban greenspace. Thanks to their deep community connections and entrepreneurial approaches, community landowners have shown in the past six months how effective they can be in an emergency. They are now turning their thoughts to supporting their communities through further potential lockdowns and into the recovery phase.”

With continued and increased funding and the right business support communities in both rural and urban Scotland can open up new opportunities. Just knowing that community ownership is a possibility can galvanise people into action.

The lockdown economy has already seen a huge community effort, increased volunteering and people taking action to help their neighbours. Taking community ownership forward will play a key part in creating the new, wellbeing economy that we so urgently need.

Duncan Thorp, Social Enterprise Scotland