From Barmulloch to Bonnymuir Green: How community ownership is changing the face of our towns and cities

Written by David Ross / March 2021 1 CONTENTS

DID YOU KNOW...? Foreword 3  As of 2019 there were 118 community Going back to the future 5 owned assets in cities and towns, 20% of all assets held by communities.1 The urban pioneers 6  38 Scottish Land Fund Awards since Galvanising the movement 10 2016 have been to urban groups, comprising £6,921,396. This is 19% Case study: Spire View Housing Association 12 of the total funding awarded from Case study: Action Porty 14 2016-2019.2 Case study: Viewpark Conservation Group 16 Case study: Linwood Community Development Trust 20  There have been more asset transfer Case study: Baths Community Trust 23 requests in deprived areas than areas Case study: Complex 26 of affluence.3  Communities own 191,290 Hectares Community Ownership Hub: and Clyde Valley 28 of land in , around twice Next steps 29 the size of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee combined.4 More inspiring urban community land stories 31

1 SG Community Ownership stats, 2019 Case study: Midsteeple Quarter 31 2 Scottish Land Fund Awards Case study: Bonnymuir Green 32 3 Carolyn McMillan, Artur Steiner, and Case study: Bridgend Farmhouse 33 Clementine Hill O’Connor. ‘Asset Transfer Case study: Community Carrot 34 Requests: Evaluation of Part 5 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015’. Scottish Government, 2020 4 SG Community Ownership stats, 2019

Front cover: Kinning Park Complex © Julian Bailey

2 FOREWORD, BY AILSA RAEBURN CHAIR, COMMUNITY LAND SCOTLAND

Land reform is not just a rural story. It is a story about all of Scotland.

In the five years since the introduction of the game-changing Community Empowerment Act and the extension of the Scottish Land Fund to all of Scotland’s communities, the energy, ambition and achievements of Scotland’s urban communities has been inspiring.

Although people owning assets was not a new phenomenon – the great stories of Glasgow’s first housing associations have much to teach us about a community’s refusal to take ‘no’ for an answer, often in the face of intransigent authorities – what has happened since 2016 places Scotland at the front and centre of international urban land reform and community led regeneration.

From Dumfries to Aberdeen, people have been using the new powers and funding made available to them by the Scottish Government to buy and run shops, redundant churches, community centres, woodland, parks, pubs, swimming pools, urban farms and bowling greens.

All were places and facilities loved by their communities and all had people prepared to commit considerable amounts of volunteer time and energy to save them.

The ‘People’s Pantry’ at When Covid hit, many of these community groups were able to build on the Govanhill Baths. credibility and reach of their organisations to respond quickly and effectively to © Govanhill Baths Community Trust the crisis, often being first on the scene and well ahead of larger agencies.

3 Now, however, we are seeing many of them turn their focus towards providing If all of this could be local leadership and action on the huge issue of the climate crisis. “achieved in just five years, it’s exciting to The struggles many of them had to go through – to save their local facility, or bring a derelict building or site back into use, or agitate for local regeneration – think about what the has given them the strength and skills to respond to these new challenges. next five will bring. We have only had space in this report to present a small handful of these inspiring stories, but there are many others. What links them all is local people energised by a passion to do something good for their local community and empowered by the new rights and funding available in the last five years.

If all of this could be achieved in just five years, it’s exciting to think about what the next five will bring.

4 GOING BACK TO THE FUTURE

Long before crofters To many in Scotland today, any mention of community buyouts or community ownership still conjures up images of the Highlands and Islands with their in Assynt, islanders on “ crofting townships, island shores and vast tracts of moorland with hardly a house Eigg or the residents of to see. the Knoydart Peninsula started to think they These are the pictorial representations that accompany the land reform narrative of the past three decades. It tells how communities took control of almost could do better than 600,000 acres of mostly Highland land. their private landlords – indeed couldn’t do This, however, is no longer just a rural story. In 2016 the Scottish Government extended its statutory Community Right to Buy to urban areas. Crucially it also any worse – people in opened up funding from the Scottish Land Fund to community bodies in our Glasgow’s East End had cities and larger towns. At the same time, there were new provisions to transfer developed a vision of publicly owned assets to community ownership. Local residents in could community control. now look for support for projects, just as the islanders on Gigha had done 14 years earlier.

But in many ways, this was a case of going back to the future. Long before crofters in Assynt, islanders on Eigg or the residents of the Knoydart Peninsula started to think they could do better than their private landlords – indeed couldn’t do any worse – people in Glasgow’s East End had developed a vision of community control. What’s more, they put it into action to address the acute problem of local housing.

5 THE URBAN PIONEERS

In 1965 some 40% of Glasgow’s housing stock had no fixed bath or shower, 20% had no inside toilet, and 40% had no hot water supply. The health authorities found a clear statistical connection between residents’ poor health, poverty, and the condition of so much of Glasgow’s housing. Most were privately owned by landlords who often invested next to nothing in repairing or maintaining their properties. This only compounded the problem.

Glasgow Corporation (a predecessor of ) resolved to tackle the issue. Its solution was to compulsory purchase properties and move people from the worst areas of housing. Residents would go to new schemes built on the periphery of the city. The houses they left behind would be demolished. Whole streets of tenements would come down once those who had called them ‘home’ had gone.

But not everybody wanted to go. Many began to realise how much their local streets’ community life meant to them and their extended families who lived within a stone’s throw of the shops, schools, churches, pubs, public baths and the steamie. Buses had replaced the old trams by the early 1960s, but they still provided good transport links to the city centre.

Little of that would be waiting for them in the new schemes. Stories got back from those who had been relocated as to how their lives would change. News Many of ’s Victorian arrived in Dennistoun late in 1973 that bulldozers would clear all the Victorian tenements were slated for tenements running south from Duke Street. Residents would be moved to demolition in the 1970s. . Image by Graeme Maclean licensed under CC BY 2.0

6 There was a Residents decided they had to act. A meeting was called with “all people interested in the future of this community” invited to attend. That meeting represented the determination to take “ first step to founding the Reidvale Housing Association. This, in turn, helped lay the control of their own foundations for the creation of almost 80 community-based housing associations future. Arguably an early and co-operatives in Glasgow. manifestation of the ‘Yes One who attended that first meeting was the late John Butterly MBE, who was to we can’ attitude, more become one of the real driving forces of the housing association movement. He than 30 years before was interviewed by The Herald (it had dropped Glasgow from its title four years Barack Obama deployed earlier) in December 1996. The former dock labourer joked in the interview: the phrase to such “I only joined because I wanted a bath”. electoral success. He had moved with his wife and three daughters from a room and kitchen in to the comparative luxury of a two-bedroom flat in Dennistoun in the 1950s. It had an inside toilet, but if he wanted a bath, it was the big tin one in front of the fire or joining the queue outside Whitevale Baths on a Saturday morning. He told the Herald, “When I came here it was a bowler hat area but I watched it go down and down. A lot of those with families began moving out to Cumbernauld. The flats were mostly owned by private landlords and the factors were always watching their profits. You could never get repairs done. One bad winter there were burst pipes everywhere but folk waited two weeks for a plumber.”

But they had been told by their councillor that they would be moving to Easterhouse. They didn’t want to go, and neither did many others who attended that first meeting. There was a determination to take control of their own future. Arguably an early manifestation of the “Yes we can” attitude, more than 30 years before Barack Obama deployed the phrase to such electoral success.

7 Since 1975 Reidvale It may have been “Yes we can”, but John Butterly admitted they had no idea how they could, for example, get their “wretched damp mouldering flats” improved. refurbished over 1,000 “ Reidvale’s first move was to contact Assist, a group of architects, administrators and tenement flats and community workers based at Strathclyde University’s Department of Architecture, built 180 new flats. who were working with five other housing associations. It had been established to It now owns 914 flats advise community groups trying to improve local housing, for example, by putting baths into recesses. and provides factoring services to around 200 Eventually, after a long campaign, Glasgow Corporation was persuaded to owner-occupiers. give over the housing to the new community bodies, which would then access grants from central government to upgrade their properties. The 1974 Housing It also introduced Act previously had restricted grants to the building of new houses, but these traffic calming regulations were relaxed, and community housing associations were allowed to measures to most apply for support in improving existing properties. of its local streets. It had a huge impact. Since 1975 Reidvale has refurbished over 1,000 tenement flats and built 180 new flats. It now owns 914 flats and provides factoring services to around 200 owner-occupiers. It also introduced traffic calming measures to most of its local streets. Housing associations across the city were busy doing the same.

Ten years later, this community-controlled housing association model was refashioned in Glasgow to deliver a programme of small-scale, neighbourhood- level stock transfers to associations and co-operatives under the banner of ‘community ownership’.

8 Dr Kim McKee is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at Stirling University and specialises in housing inequalities and housing exclusion. She wrote that the Corporation’s goal was “to lever in private sector funds to regenerate run-down pockets of council housing in a financial and political environment in which public sector investment in council housing was heavily constrained.”

However, there were challenges beyond housing that needed to be faced if communities’ quality of life were to improve. Urban groups began looking to other parts of Scotland for inspiration.

Peter Peacock, Policy Director at Community Land Scotland at the time of the introduction of the legislation and extension of SLF to urban areas, said: “The community land rights established in 2003 were only for rural communities of under 10,000 population. When the opportunity came to review those community rights and with the benefits of community ownership becoming ever clearer, the restriction on which communities could exercise land purchase rights just seemed anomalous and too restrictive. The case was made for the right enjoyed by smaller rural communities to be extended to towns and cities. This fitted well with ideas of rights to asset transfer of publicly owned buildings that were emerging. Together these new ideas would give equal rights to all communities in Scotland. That seemed only right and was readily accepted by Parliament. It followed that the Land Fund should also be open to any community.” Bellfield is a community hub within the former Portobello Old Parish Church. © Action Porty

9 GALVANISING THE MOVEMENT

There was clear Many in urban Scotland watched from afar the developments in the Highlands and Islands and then other areas of rural Scotland. Following the historic buyout at political will behind “ Assynt in 1993, community after community began to take control of their land. the movement to help local communities They could see the growing public support in Scotland and far beyond for these undertake buyouts. early buyouts. Not everyone could expect the generosity that the likes of Eigg enjoyed with a near £1 million contribution from a single anonymous donor. But with the establishment in 1997 of the Community Land Unit within Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the launch of the lottery-funded Scottish Land Fund (SLF) three years later to help finance them, there was clear political will behind the movement to help local communities undertake buyouts. Even when lottery funding ended, the Scottish Government put their money where their mouth was adding £3 million per annum rising to £10 million per annum in the latter years of the Scottish Land Fund.

But it wasn’t just large areas of land that were bought. Local post offices and shops were saved from closure by communities taking ownership backed by the SLF. Two or three plots at a time for affordable houses were being bought in areas where few people could afford to live. Woodland was acquired with SLF help for amenity and job creation. Redundant churches were adapted for community use. Urban communities knew what they would do with such support, but any with a population over 10,000 were excluded from benefitting from the SLF or the right to buy.

That all changed in 2016 when the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act of the previous year came into force. It extended to urban areas the community right to buy established in the 2003 land reform legislation. Separately access was given to the Scottish Land Fund. Importantly it also strengthened rights for community

10 bodies to take control over, through purchase or lease, buildings, land or other assets owned by public bodies. Such a transactions are called Community Asset Transfer (CAT), with transfer values in some cases being as little as £1.

The Act was a game-changer for many. In Glasgow, two community bodies were quick out of the blocks and received the first allocations from the newly structured Scottish Land Fund.

One was Barmulloch Community Development Company (BCDC) who received an £85,000 grant to save a community centre close to the notorious from demolition. The former All Saints Church and associated church house, known locally as the Broomfield Road Centre, was bought by the BCDC, who were also given SLF funding to employ a part-time development officer to help develop the property and the services offered.

The other getting off to a sprint start was Spire View Housing Association. It had recognised the pressing need for more community space in Royston. A crucial grant of £40,000 from the Scottish Land Fund helped them acquire an old church hall to establish a community facility. The grant was essential in getting the project to get off the ground

Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Barmulloch Residents’ Centre. Roseanna Cunningham, said at the time that she welcomed the inclusion of urban © Collective Architecture areas: “It is great to see the first awards from the new Scottish Land Fund being allocated to communities across the country. The Scottish Land Fund is making a real difference to many local communities across Scotland helping community groups to purchase their own assets.”

11 CASE STUDY: SPIRE VIEW HOUSING ASSOCIATION, GLASGOW

It was clear to local councillors and housing associations in Royston that there was a need for more community spaces in the local area. Spire View carried out a feasibility study, as part of a local consortium of interested groups including Copperworks Housing Association, and Rosemount Development Trust. The Spire View Housing Association had remained true to its grass-roots origins with 11 local people volunteering their time to govern the Association as members of the management committee.

The initial study identified 14 sites that could potentially deliver a new community facility. Rainbow Hall, an old church hall in Royston owned by the Church of Scotland, was identified as the preferred site.

Around 95% of the community thought that the area needed this new facility, and there was agreement that a shop should be included. Many of the shops in the Roystonhill area had disappeared over the years. Residents had to go down the hill and almost into the city centre before they could shop in a general ‘convenience’ store.

At the same time, the local development trust had commissioned consultants to develop a vision and strategy. It identified a need for community services and facilities, adding weight to the case for a new community hub, which helped Spire View find funding. Royston Community Hub. © Community Land Scotland Funding from the Scottish Government, Scottish Land Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund, as well as several other funders, enabled the organisation to purchase the property from the Church of Scotland and build a community facility; Roystonhill Community Hub or the ‘Hub on the Hill’ as it is known locally. 12 When Spire View came to the stage where they were able to purchase the church hall, they began to work closely with the Rosemount Development Trust, which owned the 150-year-old church spire located adjacent to the hall. They created an integrated space consisting of the community building, outside areas, which include the historic church spire, and a publicly accessible park.

The original façade of the community building was retained, with notable cost implications. However, the resulting building is a remarkable combination of a historic structure and up-to-date flexible community space. It opened in the summer of 2019 and includes two community halls, a community café area, a large flexible meeting space, a commercial kitchen, a reception area with open plan office space, a smaller additional office space, an interview room and a community shop unit.

Alan Brown, Spire View Housing Association chairperson, said: “The Association is extremely proud to have delivered this outstanding facility, built to meet the needs and aspirations of our local community and to serve the people of Royston and beyond for many years to come. Little did we know what was around the corner when we opened the doors of our new state of the art hub. As a community anchor organisation, we are very grateful to have had this terrific asset to provide a base for delivery of much needed support to those that needed it during the Covid-19 crisis. We are very much looking forward to the day we can fully re-open.”

Royston Community Hub. In late 2019, Copperworks Housing on Royston Hill acquired a large area of derelict © Community Land Scotland land known as “the Park on the Hill”, which was remediated with support from the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund and turned into a public greenspace. In 2021 next steps for community led and owned development at Royston Hill include an options investigation for another vacant and derelict site along at Provan Hill, and regeneration of Royston Road, a historic through-road linking to the City Centre. 13 CASE STUDY: ACTION PORTY, EDINBURGH

We are delighted to If community groups in the west of Scotland were the first to be awarded financial support from the SLF, it had been a group on the other side of the country which be the first urban “ was the first in an urban area to benefit from the community right to buy powers. community to use This was in Edinburgh’s Portobello area, with its beach on the shore of the Firth the community right of Forth. to buy, but sincerely In September 2016, community body ‘Action Porty’ officially registered an hope that we will be interest in a property under the right to buy: Portobello Old Parish Church and the first of many. halls on Bellfield Street. The Kirk no longer needed these due to local church amalgamations in the area. IAN COOKE, The following May, Scottish Ministers gave consent to Action Porty to exercise its Director, right to buy the properties. This was with a view to transforming them into a multi- Action Porty use community hub. But predictably, in an area like Edinburgh with a booming property market, there was interest from private sector developers. However, the new powers meant that once ministerial approval was given, the property could not be sold without the community first being given the chance to buy. The community would have eight months to raise the necessary funds to meet an independent valuer’s price. The group worked with the sellers, the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland, to secure the property on behalf of the community.

Ian Cooke, Action Porty’s Director, said at the time: “We are delighted to be the first urban community to use the community right to buy, but sincerely hope that we will be the first of many. Given the commercial interest in the property, it is highly unlikely that the community would have been able to acquire the Bellfield site without this (SLF) support.”

14 Meanwhile, back across in , a 19 year-long campaign to save precious green space finally succeeded last year with the help of the Scottish Land Fund.

Viewpark Conservation Group led a bid to save the remaining acres of Douglas Support Estate, also known as Viewpark Glen, from further industrial development. The estate land had a historical connection to the 17th century Covenanters who sought to protect the Presbyterian Church of Scotland from the Stuart monarchy’s interference and its belief in the Divine Right of Kings.

The community of around 16,500, which had faced significant social and health challenges, was surrounded by major transport routes: the M74, A721, A725 and the M8 extension.

The woodland and fields of the Glen were assets which residents, walkers, cyclists and anglers could not afford to lose.

Viewpark, where valuable greenspace was threatened by industrial development. © Becky Duncan / Open Aye

15 CASE STUDY: VIEWPARK CONSERVATION GROUP, NORTH LANARKSHIRE

The landmark buyout In 2020 Viewpark Conservation Group purchased 171 acres of the Historic Douglas Support Estate, following a 16 year-long campaign. Fondly referred to by the local (the largest amount of “ community as “our Glen”, the landmark buyout (the largest amount of urban land urban land acquired acquired to date under the Scottish Land Fund) secured the historic piece of green to date under the space for future generations. Scottish Land Fund) Plans to expand the nearby Strathclyde Business Park in 2004 led to the formation secured the historic of a community group, which initially opposed the planning application but piece of green space continued on to explore ways to ensure this well-used green space was protected for future generations. from further development. Scottish Land Fund granted the project £512,600 in 2020, enabling the land purchase. Additional funding was raised to cover development and administrative costs.

The funds awarded will help restore a former farmhouse to create a reception area for people visiting the Glen, with information and education facilities, a café and an exhibition area to showcase the estate’s history. The Group will appoint a project manager, a ranger and administrative support.

The focus for the first five years will be on developing infrastructure to support sporting and commercial activities to sustain the initiative. The commercial aspects will go towards ongoing maintenance costs and remove some of the dependence on grant funding.

16 Viewpark Conservation Group plans to increase the range of visitors and increase participation through community and volunteering activities. This will, in turn, improve the park’s management, maintenance and security, including improving paths and managing woodland.

The Group’s vision is that “Our Glen will be a place where future generations can be secure in the knowledge that the asset has been retained for them. It is a place where everyone, but particularly children and young people, can learn in a clean, healthy environment. We will create infrastructure and activities that will substantially add value to their experiences.”

Another key area of interest for the team will be creating activities to tackle poor general and mental health, offering memory walks for all generations and guided walks that will cover various topics. Working alongside health professionals and other partners, the proposed activities will strive to improve health outcomes for the local community.

With the site’s long heritage, interpretation boards will be produced to inform local people and visitors of the centuries of history. This will be in addition to a vibrant events programme, continuing the success of previous Halloween walks which were attended by 500-700 people.

A map from Viewpark’s Development Plan. © Viewpark Conservation Group

17 On receiving the news of the buyout funding, Grace McNeill, Viewpark Conservation Group’s Chairperson, said: “My feet haven’t touched the ground! The historic Douglas Estate now belongs to the people. After many delays, issues and hurdles, we now own the historic Douglas Estate. Thanks to all the board members, volunteers and fantastic community support – our Glen is finally legally transferred into community ownership and we are most grateful to the Scottish Land Fund for their financial support.

We have been top of all the lists for all the wrong reasons here – recording the highest levels of asthma and coronary heart disease in North Lanarkshire. This is an important step towards preserving and protecting Viewpark Glen and giving back something of natural beauty and benefit to the health and wellbeing of our local community.

We wanted to preserve this dear green space for future generations, so that they could be persuaded away from a sedentary lifestyle constantly on computers and iPads, and come out into the great outdoors for healthier exercise and fresh air.

There are woods with mature trees, fish in the North Calder, and habitat for deer, badgers and otters. It is a real asset to the area and the county.”

Grace McNeill, Viewpark Conservation Group’s Chairperson. © Becky Duncan / Open Aye

18 Linwood no more. Throughout modern Scottish history, communities have had to face the challenges of deindustrialisation, with principal employers closing their gates to relocate their “ operations or consign the business to history. The Renfrewshire town of Linwood has had to deal with the impact of such events over the course of several centuries, from the cotton and flax mills at the end of the 18th century to the shale coal oil works, ironstone and cotton production in the 19th.

In the second half of the 20th century, the town became synonymous with car manufacturing and one, in particular, the Hillman Imp. The car factory was opened by Rootes Motors Ltd in 1961 and continued for 20 years until the later owners, Chrysler, conducted a review of the models they were producing and the location of their plants. They decided to close the Linwood plant, shifting operations to a plant near Coventry.

The Linwood site closed in 1981, heralding serious unemployment. This was recalled in The Proclaimers’ lament for those who suffered in Scotland’s deindustrialisation, Letter from America, “Linwood no more”. It also became the title of a play about the town’s decline.

In subsequent decades there have been enormous local efforts to bring new life to the town. Early on, Linwood Community Development Trust acquired property, then through Renfrewshire Council’s emerging Asset Transfer Policy, which had been developed in advance of legislation coming into force in 2016.

19 CASE STUDY: LINWOOD COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TRUST, RENFREWSHIRE

The children are The Linwood Community Development Trust (LCDT) is located in Linwood, a town of roughly 9,500 people whose economy was formerly dominated by automotive all grown up now, “ manufacturing. left home, gone to university. That whole Spurred on in part by several major regeneration projects in the area that had generation missed out. proceeded without meaningful community consultation, LCDT was set-up in 2011 to tackle the area’s decline. The Trust was initially formed by six women Hopefully the next who wanted to improve their community’s health and wellbeing, reduce social generation won’t. inequalities and build social capital within Linwood.

KIRSTY FLANNIGAN, Kirsty Flannigan, one of the founders, explained “This started with a group of ordinary working mums who didn’t like seeing the community left as it was and Founding member, wanted better for their children. The children are all grown up now, left home, gone to Linwood Community university. That whole generation missed out. Hopefully the next generation won’t.” Development Trust Having secured the funds required in 2017, the Trust purchased and transformed Mossedge Primary School into Mossedge Village, a £2.4 million facility owned and run by the local community.

Extensive engagement with the local community also identified several projects which would address issues identified by local residents as being important. These became ‘Roots of Linwood’, a green grocery delivering fruit and vegetables within the community, ‘Linwood in Bloom’, a community flower gardening project, Linwood Community Choir, plus many more community-focused initiatives.

20 Looking ahead, the Trust hopes that they can create a sustainable local economy that reinvests in the community, achieving financial self-sufficiency in four to five years. They are also keen to ensure Linwood’s long-term regeneration and to encourage people in the community to “do it for themselves instead of waiting”.

LCDT sees their and other community centres as “essential to the survival of sustaining community spirit within local communities, as they are not merely buildings but the cornerstone of the local neighbourhood. They should be welcoming venues that serve the needs of residents seeking a traditional, informal and affordable way to meet with friends and neighbours in their local community.”

Linwood Community Development Trust board and staff members. © Linwood Community Development Trust

21 The determination of community bodies to protect and enhance local assets in the interests of residents has been displayed over and over again throughout the length and breadth of Scotland. But there were two examples in Glasgow where that commitment was carried to extraordinary lengths. In Govanhill and Kinning Park, local campaigners literally refused to leave until they won a reprieve for important local facilities earmarked for closure by the authorities.

They occupied the buildings under threat.

On 15th January 2001 Glasgow City Council decided that it would be too costly to upgrade the last remaining Edwardian bathhouse in the city: Govanhill Baths on Calder Street would close.

Two days later, a campaign was launched by local residents to ‘Save Our Pool’. Such was the level of local feeling that it was to lead to the longest-ever protest occupation of a public building in British history – 140 days. In August that year police – including mounted officers – removed the campaigners from the Baths.

But the swimming pool complex was to come under the local control of the community-led Govanhill Baths Community Trust (GBCT), a body that had made good use of the new legislation and funding introduced in 2016.

Community members occupied Govanhill Baths for 140 days. © Govanhill Baths Community Trust

22 CASE STUDY: GOVANHILL BATHS COMMUNITY TRUST, GLASGOW

Govanhill Baths Community Trust (GBCT) is a grassroots organisation whose purposes are to preserve and conserve for the public benefit buildings of interest, including Govanhill Baths, and promote recreational and leisure-time activities for local residents.

The Trust runs the historic Govanhill Baths building as a community hub providing health and wellbeing workshops and classes for the local community. Following a vibrant community campaign to save the Baths, the Trust was formed in 2004, ensuring the future of the last surviving Edwardian public bathhouse in Glasgow. As one of Scotland’s most ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse communities, as well as one of its most deprived, GBCT’s mission was to support this unique community, returning the Baths to their original function and returning it to the heart of community life.

For nearly two decades, the Baths building has provided a varied programme of arts, wellbeing and community events, as well as being a much-used venue for voluntary, statutory and community groups for the delivery of services.

An enormous range of programmes are run, such as the award-winning ‘Rags To Riches’, an upcycling social enterprise based on a circular economy model that uses waste to promote environmental sustainability, community engagement and education. The Govanhill Youth Club and the Trust Archives project have made Govanhill Baths hosted the 30th accessible a collection of materials reflecting the varied activities that have taken anniversary launch of Doors Open place in the Baths over the past one hundred years. Days in 2019. © Donald MacLeod / Scottish Civic Trust

23 Our aspiration is to get In November 2018, the building was closed to make way for major refurbishment. The multi-million pound work, proposed in three phases, will bring the Ladies’ this building back into “ pool, Learners’ pool, Turkish Suite and Sauna into service as well as providing a operation and to serve gym, community kitchen/cafe and multi-purpose community spaces. The project the community with a was funded via a wide range of organisations, including the largest grant to date wellbeing centre that from the Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF). will bring a wide range Additional funding of over £280,000 has also been secured by issuing community of benefits – all run by shares, with many share-holders people in the local community interested in the community for the Govanhill Baths’ progress and keen to support the work.

community. Throughout the refurbishment, Govanhill Baths maintains a diverse programme of arts and wellbeing activities in the community, developing an outreach FATIMA UYGUN, programme to keep people informed about the redevelopment and putting Manager, systems in place for when the building reopens. During this period, activities that Govanhill Baths previously took place at the Baths have relocated to various venues across the Community Trust area. It is hoped the building can reopen in spring 2022 – the 21st anniversary of the protest.

The Trust recognises that reopening Govanhill Baths will be a vital step in regenerating Govanhill. Having engaged and consulted with thousands of people in the local community, the Trust are keen to fulfil the community’s wishes: to feel connected to a shared local heritage and sense of belonging, to access wellbeing, exercise and community activities, to learn new skills, and to care for the environment.

24 A bit to the north-west of Govanhill lies the Kinning Park Complex, a multi- use community space that has been the base for local volunteers fighting the pandemic. They know all about fighting a cause.

The complex is housed in an old red sandstone building, built around 1910 as the science block of Street Secondary School. When it closed as a school, it became a council-run community centre between 1979 and 1996. However, it fell into disrepair and the local authority, which had been suffering expenditure cuts, decided to close it.

Local residents who used the centre occupied the building for 55 days and nights and pressed their case for the centre to be kept open. Meetings were held, petitions signed, banners were painted, and a march organised to the City Chambers.

After a lengthy standoff, a peppercorn rent was agreed, and a local community group took over the running of the building, renting out space to other users. In 2019 Kinning Park Complex (KPC) took over the running of the building, renting out space to other users. In 2019 the community bought the building and the adjacent nursery building from an arm’s length external organisation to the city council, using money from the Scottish Land Fund and enabled by the 2015 Community Empowerment Act. Kinning Park residents organised a sit-in and marched to the City Chambers. © Helen Kyle

25 CASE STUDY: KINNING PARK COMPLEX, GLASGOW

Current plans are to renovate the main building, with wider aspirations for a multi- site capital works programme. A grant of £1 million from the National Lottery Community Fund, £1.2 million from the Scottish Government, and additional support from a number of funders allowed Kinning Park Complext (KPC) to get started on the work in August 2020. The plan is to reopen “a warmer, brighter, bigger and more accessible space” in summer 2021.

In response to the Covid pandemic, KPC looked for ways to support the community, setting up the KPC ‘A-OK’ (Acts of Organised Kindness) project in April 2020.

Martin Avila, Kinning Park Complex’s Director, explains: “During March it became clear that the Covid-19 pandemic was going to fundamentally affect the way that we lived our lives. Kinning Park Complex was no different, and as a result we quickly pivoted our services to mean that the wellbeing and social inclusion support that we usually provided through our café would need to be provided from a distance.”

The vision for Kinning Park Complex has been and, with the new developments, will continue to be, “a welcoming space that is a platform for all kinds of great activity, a place that brings people together, encourages the development of new ideas and projects, provides for the most vulnerable and supports those who want to make our neighbourhood and our world a better place to be.”

A development illustration of the With its core values of participation, partnership, solidarity, responsibility, Kinning Park Complex. understanding and inclusivity, and a focus on wellbeing, creativity, sustainability, © New Practice and citizenship, KPC’s mission is to provide a range of well-run assets, services, and activities are community-owned and led.

26 These case studies show that community bodies in urban Scotland have been keen to use the toolbox created by the Scottish Government’s Community Empowerment Act to improve local life in their area. They know what their local areas need because they see it every day. They know which assets could be put to better use for residents, whether it be an old church or school, woodland or an area of land which would otherwise be lost to development. The community right to buy, financial support from the Scottish Land Fund and the Community Asset Transfer provisions have all helped them build for the future.

John Watt, Chair of the Scottish Land Fund, says: “Community ownership empowers communities. It allows them to build on their strengths as they think about their future. Over the last five years across Scotland’s towns and cities, the Scottish Land Fund has supported flourishing groups to fulfil their potential as by owning land, property and other assets they have been able to generate income, create jobs, provide vital services, enhance local amenities and undertake projects that retain and attract new people to their communities.

It is a privilege to work with communities and enable them to take control of their futures and become stronger. The success of groups like the Pyramid at in Glasgow, Action Porty in Edinburgh, and Midsteeple Quarter in Dumfries, represent the difference the Scottish Land Fund is making in communities of all sizes. Their example has been the catalyst for other similar city groups who can now see that this is a path Members of the Midsteeple Quarter they too can follow.” board on Dumfries High Street. © Becky Duncan / Open Aye

27 COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP HUB: GLASGOW AND CLYDE VALLEY

The Hub will provide In the work of Community Land Scotland supporting urban groups and promoting community ownership in urban areas, it has become clear that staff support and early- “ more intensive support is needed for some communities to ensure they can stage project funding reach their potential. to local communities to help them move forward Carey Doyle, Glasgow and Clyde Valley Community Ownership Hub’s Manager, said, “We are proud to be shortly launching a Community Ownership Hub, with their ownership targeted at Glasgow and the Clyde Valley. The Hub will provide staff support and and development ideas. early-stage project funding to local communities to help them move forward with their ownership and development ideas. CAREY DOYLE, The Hub aims to create a step-change in community ownership in Glasgow and Manager, the Clyde Valley. We want community ownership in urban areas to be as normal Glasgow & Clyde Valley an option throughout Scotland as it is on Eigg, or Harris, or Knoydart. The Hub Community Ownership Hub will be trialling ways to break through the challenges of urban ownership that we know exist and then sharing this learning with agencies, funders, policymakers and other urban communities across Scotland.”

28 NEXT STEPS

This report’s case Ailsa Raeburn, Chair of Community Land Scotland, considers the progress made in such a relatively short period of time since the Community Empowerment Act came studies show the vision “ into force and the Land Fund was extended to urban areas five years ago. and tenacity of urban community owners. “There are so many successes from the first five years of urban land reform in Scotland. This report’s case studies show the vision and tenacity of urban community owners and establishes the transformational impact of community ownership and community-led AILSA RAEBURN, development in urban areas. From the ‘Organised Acts of Kindness’ at Kinning Park Chair, during the Covid crisis to the major redevelopment plans in Dumfries, communities are Community Land Scotland demonstrating the depth and breadth of their vision and capacity for delivering change.

Community owners and Community Land Scotland know, however, that there are specific challenges faced by community owners in some towns and cities. High land values in some urban areas mean that it becomes more difficult for communities to compete in a fast-moving marketplace. Dense and sometimes transient urban populations can be difficult to canvas and ballot as required by the Community Right to Buy legislation. The capacity of community groups to engage in the often bureaucratic processes of ownership is uneven in urban areas. It can be particularly difficult for those where the demands of day to day life in a challenged area may overpower a desire to work on the long term investment that community ownership represents.

This is borne out by the small number of brand new groups coming forward to the Scottish Land Fund for support. Most acquisitions tend to be by well-established groups that already have staff. Local institutions sometimes doubt community groups’ ability as owners or are not aware of community ownership's wide-ranging benefits. These issues, and others, mean additional efforts are needed in urban areas to reap the transformative benefits of community ownership.”

29 In their recent manifesto, ‘Land for the Common Good’, Community Land Scotland specifically call for several policy and legislative changes to address urban challenges.

These include:

 A review of the Community Rights to Buy and Asset Transfer processes to ensure they are fit for purpose, especially for urban communities.  Retention of the Scottish Land Fund for the duration of the next parliament with an increased annual budget of £20 million.  A pre-purchase public interest test on significant land purchases in terms of scale and concentration, which would help address urban challenges of absentee landowners and vacant and derelict land.  Introduction of Compulsory Sale Orders to enable public authorities to bring derelict or unused sites or buildings into productive use.  An urgent review into how land is valued in Scotland to ensure a functioning land market in which communities and individuals of ordinary means can realistically compete and which values land for its use to further the common good.

Finally, the challenges of climate change do not respect our arbitrary boundaries Govanhill Baths occupation in 2001. of city and countryside. Indeed, the scale of these challenges shows us clearly © Govanhill Baths Community Trust how much we all need to work together. Community-led action to mitigate against climate change, whether in urban communities such as Bridgend Farmhouse, or rural communities like Gigha, demonstrates communities’ reach and capacity to create real and lasting change within their local area.

30 CASE STUDY: MIDSTEEPLE QUARTER, DUMFRIES

Midsteeple Quarter is a Community Benefit Society (established 2017) set up and run by the people of Dumfries. The aim is to help shape a new future for the town centre; one that responds to the needs of the community and is run for their benefit.

Over the last 10-20 years, first out-of-town retail, and then online shopping started taking people away from the High Street whilst building owners maintained the rents at too high a level to allow local enterprises a chance to get started. The High Street was no longer the attractive, bustling place it once was – it was clear that something needed to change.

The vision for Midsteeple Quarter is set out in their ‘Blueprint’ document, which gives an explanation of the vision and why what they are doing is so important to the future of the High Street. In 2018, they were granted ownership of 135–139 High Street (The Oven) by Community Asset Transfer.

Midsteeple Quarter successfully purchased 113-115 and 117-119 High Street in September 2020 after securing public funding. They are now in the process of purchasing 111 and 121 High Street with support from the Scottish Land Fund and exploring the acquisition of more buildings on the High street after running another successful crowdfunder in February 2021.

Midsteeple Quarter. In total the project will create over 60 new homes and 50 new commercial spaces © Becky Duncan / Open Aye in a new neighbourhood, sheltered within a town block, which will become home to around 200 people. In total, full delivery of the project may take up to 15 years to achieve.

31 CASE STUDY: BONNYMUIR GREEN, ABERDEEN

Bonnymuir Green is a walled community garden, recreational space and weekend café, owned, developed, sustained and loved by the community. Originally within the walled garden of one of the oldest houses in Midstocket, the Green was given to the community in 1924 for a nominal cost to start a bowling club.

In 2015 the club closed, and the Green was left derelict.

The Green’s journey continued when a group of locals came together to look at developing it within the spirit of the original gift of land for community use. The objective was to retain this historical green space as a community resource and prevent it from being exploited for commercial gain. Following an intense public campaign, and a successful community right to buy and Scottish Land Fund award, the community bought the Green in 2018.

Bonnymuir Green. © Bonnymuir Green Community Trust

32 CASE STUDY: BRIDGEND FARMHOUSE, EDINBURGH

The story of Bridgend Farmhouse is inspirational and a wonderful example of a community’s tenacity and vision to deliver great change for their local area. It has taken ten years of hard work, and many knock-backs but today the Farmhouse is a diverse community-led organisation with over 400 shared owners and a thriving community hub.

Will Golding, Bridgend Farmhouse Trustee, said: “The journey to community land ownership, and stewardship, at Bridgend Farmhouse has been an incredibly powerful one. From a small group of passionate volunteers in 2010, with no experience or knowledge of this type of thing, to a diverse community-led organisation with over 400 shared owners and a thriving community hub today, we have had to overcome many hurdles with adversity, commitment and constant learning and development. We are excited and honoured to be one part of this growing movement across Scotland of community landowners and development trusts who are ‘thinking globally, acting locally’, to create flourishing, sustainable, low carbon based projects and hubs based on collective control and nurturing local connections.”

John Knox, Bridgend Farmhouse Trustee, said: “Two things have surprised me about this project. One is how it has taken on a life of its own. Problems come and go, people and their ideas come and go, you never know where the road will lead you. The other thing is how it has given me a deeper feeling of ownership, so I don’t just own my own flat and garden, but Bridgend Farmhouse along the road, and the city I live in, and the Bridgend Farmhouse. country, and the planet. And that encourages me to look after them all better.” © Becky Duncan, Open Aye

33 CASE STUDY: COMMUNITY CARROT, DUNBAR

The Community or ‘Crunchy’ Carrot has always been “A whole lot more than a fruit and veg store”. It offers a range of services – a community hub, a beacon of sustainability, a ticket and events office, a ‘refillery’, a local employer, a supplier to cafés, nurseries, schools and restaurants, a green campaigner, a local produce purchase and a cooking tips and recipe exchange. When the owners decided to sell in 2019, the community was faced with losing it from the High Street forever. It was seen as vital that this important community resource continued with the same socially conscious ethos.

Raising funds from a successful community shares campaign and a Scottish Land Fund grant, the community bought the shop in 2019. They have over 500 shareholders all of whom signed up to the shop’s ethos. The Carrot continues to expand opportunities to buy hyper-local produce, supporting micro-businesses and local community gardens in the process. The Carrot supplies local restaurant and cafés with local produce, and in time, are aiming to supply produce to local schools again.

Helen Muir, Community Carrot Manager, explains: “We receive fresh produce grown on our local farms and community gardens as well as vegetables and fruit. There are eggs, oils, chocolate, honey, dairy products, local bakeries, cheese suppliers and soap makers to name a few. Our community has supported us in so many ways, whether it’s standing in the rain waiting to be served from the door, The Community Carrot is “more bringing us hot soup or cake on the very long days, volunteering, ordering, showing than a fruit and veg store”. patience and helping us keep everyone safe. We miss the faces and the ‘Crunchy © Community Carrot banter’ but knowing everyone is behind us has really kept us going.”

34 [email protected] www.communitylandscotland.org.uk 07884 314297 @CommunityLandScotland @CommunityLandSc

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