Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum

issue 30 : spring 2005 scotregensharing experience : shaping practice

In this issue: • Cultural Planning, Liz Gardner and Lia Ghilardi – pg 1 and 3 • Making Waves, Cllr. Charlie Gordon – pg 8 • Coastal towns report, Roland Hahn – pg 4 • Financial Inclusion conference report, Mike Chapman – pg 12 • Congestion Charges, Cllr Andrew Burns – pg 6 • The Northern Way, Vince Taylor – pg 13 • and much more... now read on...

Self Image- Artist Steven Healy's photo is part of the 'Mongrel' photography project commissioned Thinking by the Royston Road Association Culture CULTURAL PLANNING AND COMMUNITY PLANNING - a recipe for success?

Liz Gardiner of Fablevision and Cultural Planning Consultant Lia Ghilardi, from the National Cultural Planning Steering Group, make the case for culture as an essential element of successful regeneration strategies. What is a joined-up Cultural Planning approach? A Cultural Planning approach starts not from the identification of all In and elsewhere, at neighbourhood, city, regional and the problems in a community and addressing them one by one or national levels, there is a growing realisation that culture can deliver separately. Instead it takes a holistic approach and puts culture and on many aspects of community engagement, empowerment and people at the core. It addresses jobs, training for employment, the leadership. However, so far, the policy framework for implementing development of new small to medium sized enterprises, planning, integrated cultural planning projects and schemes is still relatively and regeneration, but never in isolation from each other. underdeveloped. Many local authorities and community regeneration bodies still see culture as an add-on to existing The Cultural Planning approach has emerged as a way of enabling programmes. policy-makers to think strategically about the application of the cultural resources of localities and the delivery of policies capable of Some months ago in this journal, Liz Gardiner wrote a short piece responding to local needs in a creative and flexible, bottom up way. posing a question: do integrated, joined-up approaches such as those implemented in the USA and Australia over the past twenty At the heart of Cultural Planning is the idea of a territory as a living years and defined as Cultural Planning, have something to offer the ecosystem, made up of diverse resources that need to be surveyed wider Community Planning process in Scotland? and acknowledged by the local community at large before policy can intervene. The question was timely given the impending policy changes affecting the Scottish cultural and community fields and it is The central characteristics of cultural planning, as described by Franco particularly relevant to urban regeneration policy. There is a Bianchini (1993) and Lia Ghilardi (2001) are a very broad, pressing need to develop joined-up thinking and action based on anthropological definition of ‘culture’ as ‘a way of life’, along with the local culture and the transforming effect it can have on both the integration of all aspects of local culture into the texture and routines image of places and on communities’ perceptions about identity and of daily life in the locality. belonging. The culture of a place is here defined in a pragmatic way to include not A Cultural Planning approach can be instrumental in mapping, only the arts and heritage of a place, but also local traditions, dialects, nurturing, engaging and developing the potential creativity and festivals and rituals; the diversity and quality of leisure; cultural, drinking, resources of communities. The coincidence of rising interest in eating and entertainment facilities; the cultures of youth, ethnic Cultural Planning and the requirements of Community Planning is a minorities and communities of interest; the repertoire of local products recipe for success in sustainable regeneration. and skills in the crafts, manufacturing and service sectors. A view from the chair

Biondi-Morra was one of over 400 social entrepreneurs at the second Skoll Forum on social entrepreneurship held last month in Oxford. What struck me over the two days of the conference was the fact that although a lot of the problems faced by social entrepreneurs and community activists in the countries Alistair Grimes represented, especially those in the southern hemisphere, were SURF Chairperson caused (or at least not helped) by governments, no-one was waiting around for those self same governments to ‘do something’. The real heroism of the activists and entrepreneurs was in their willingness to take on what seem like insurmountable problems and to deal with them in a way that matches pragmatism with principle in the hardest of circumstances. Do you spend $25,000 dollars clearing an acre of Pragmatism, principles and landmines. landmines to 99.9% or the same amount clearing 10 acres to 97% and live with the subsequent two or three deaths that you Brizio Biondi-Morra is the President of the Avina Foundation, which know will surely arise? works in Latin America. He has a doctorate from Harvard Business For me, the Oxford conference was a great reminder of what School and his career has taken in, amongst other things, being an people can do in the most daunting of circumstances and a investment banker, working with Mother Theresa and being a guard in a reminder that the problems of urban regeneration in Scotland maximum security jail. At the moment, one of the projects his can, and indeed should, be solved because they are small in foundation is involved in financing is concerned with children in Sao relation to the resources that we could throw at them. It also Paolo in Brazil. There are somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 reminded me that the biggest resource we have in Scotland is children who make a living (if that is the right word) by scavenging on the dedication and heroism of those working with communities the rubbish dumps outside the city and who sleep on the dumps so that and with groups that are excluded from the labour market. The they will be there to get the ‘pick’ of the fresh garbage each morning. point of SURF is to continue to support and connect those It’s a situation that is miles away from anything we face in Scotland. communities with each other and to connect them with the Our problems seem small and almost trivial in comparison. policy makers who can perhaps make their life easier but who Although there are still too many poor people in Scotland, Scotland cannot (and it is important to recognise this) actually solve any of is not a poor country. the problems themselves. Editorial • We highlight Cultural Planning as a potential answer to the challenge of putting the Community in Community Planning. SURF will be following this very interesting trail by organising a participative seminar on June 9th in co operation with the new National Cultural Planning Steering Group. Andy Milne • Our friends in the North point out the Northern Way of doing SURF Chief things and again SURF hopes to link up with them for a study visit Executive looking at the role of culture in city/region regeneration and inter city cooperation. • Talking of city regeneration, Cllr Charlie Gordon lays out how City Council are meeting the challenges of regenerating Scotland’s largest city in our Making Waves section and across the country Cllr Andrew Burns reviews the implications of the Edinburgh congestion charge referendum. Welcome to the 30th edition of Scotregen. • Mike Chapman reports on his recent Financial Inclusion The purpose of this quarterly journal is to use SURFs conference and what the Scottish Executive and Westminster are doing to make sure everyone has access to financial services. independent position to promote awareness and discussion on important developments in • Roland Hahn completes his set of 3 special reports on what he sees as Scotland’s forgotten challenge with one on coastal towns regeneration policy and practice. All this and details of SURFs future work, including an expansion Your responses to the articles we run (or other of our highly successful Open Forum series, and don’t miss Chik Collins on the “Language Games” we all play. topics) are vital in creating constructive debate. In the next issue we will be setting aside a page of Your feedback on any of the above, or anything else you think we should be looking at in future editions of Scotregen for readers letters, so please get them to Scotregen, is always welcome. Just e mail me at us by June 30th. Meanwhile, in this issue - [email protected]

Page 2 scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Thinking Culture The National Cultural continued Planning Steering Group- What and Why Thus, Cultural Planning is not the ‘planning of culture’, but a cultural approach to locality planning and policy (Bianchini, 1993 and While there is a growing awareness of the potential of Cultural Ghilardi, 2001). In particular, Cultural Planning adopts a territorial Planning as a focus for successful Community Planning in Scotland, remit and, crucially, it focuses on questions of what, for whom, and there is a need for guidance at neighbourhood, city, regional and why. In this way, national level in terms of the practical “how to” of implementing the Cultural Planning Inspiring - saved by local action - Royston Spire process. For this reason, Connector (www.connectorscotland.org) can help policy has been established by the Arts and Communities Association for makers to identify Scotland as a web based learning resource encouraging cross- the distinctive sectoral working practice and a National Cultural Planning cultural resources Steering Group has been established as an advisory mechanism of a city or acting as guide, mentor, monitor and standard setter for the locality and to implementation of joined-up pilot initiatives on the ground. apply them in a strategic way to achieve key The Group aims to: objectives in • Promote critical interrogation of existing evidence of areas such as cross- sectoral working practice; community development, • Develop a set of indicators as a tool to measure in place marketing the first instance the impact of existing work on the and economic development. ground against Cultural Planning (as in quality of life/community development) objectives; In other words, whilst emerging Community Planning Partnerships in Scotland are grappling with issues of “how to” engage • “Join up the dots” – at the moment there are meaningfully with local people and develop community leadership, excellent initiatives happening in different contexts Cultural Planning offers the potential of participatory opportunities which develop leadership and management skills for a variety of (from cultural strategies to community social and cultural constituencies. regeneration) but as yet they are not seen as being part of a bigger picture/all embracing A ‘culturally sensitive’ approach to local development such as this has at its core the potential of practically delivering on the philosophy/discernable methodology. social agenda and of bringing political (democratic) accountability Have a monitoring function: keeping the vision on and organisational accountability closer together. The Scottish • focus on citizens, the rails (there is a danger of losing sight of cultural outcomes and planning and developing models which aren’t entitlements is a cultural planning at all). progressive development, which • Work in partnership with Community Planning demands the Partnerships, Local Authorities, Communities implementation of Scotland, SURF, Education institutions and others to integrated policy Bolt FM, support (through best practice incentive) cross community solutions on the radio project ground. sector partnerships experimenting with the model. • Identify potential partners for the provision of cross sectoral training and learning in cultural planning Liz Gardiner is the convener of the National practice. Cultural Planning Group. The Group meets regularly in pursuit of these aims and will For further information contact Liz at welcome any individual either as a citizen, or located within the Fablevision on private, public or voluntary sector who is interested in helping to move this agenda forward. Tel: 0141 425 2020 Email: [email protected]

Liz Gardiner (Chief Executive, Fablevision) Interested? Find out more. Lia Ghilardi (Cultural Planner and Creative SURF is organising a special seminar on Cultural Planning and Consultant - National Cultural Planning co author - Community Planning on behalf of the National Cultural Group (NCPG) facilitator) Liz Gardiner Planning Steering Group. It will take place on Thursday the 9th of Fablevision of May in The Lighthouse in Glasgow. For details and bookings On behalf of the National Cultural Planning visit www.scotregen.co.uk or e mail Steering Group April 2005 [email protected]. or phone 0141 585 6948

scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Page 3 Scottish Towns The forgotten challenge In the last of their 3 special reports for Scotregen, independent consultants, Roland Hahn and Steven Boyne focus on Scotland’s Coastal Towns

Coastal settlements in Scotland have evolved to become important relatively low income levels. ports with activities including fishing, the oil industry, shipbuilding, • military activities and freight and passenger transport. • an overall decline in the number of registered unemployed people. However, relatively high levels of unemployment exist However, social, political, technical and environmental structural along the Clyde, the West Coast and the Western Isles. changes continue to provide fluctuating fortunes. • despite similarities with rural coastal areas, urban coastal areas tend to account for younger populations, have a significant Economic activities percentage of the population employed in professional activities but also have high levels of deprivation. • overall, a mixed professional profile, although areas such as Clyde, Solway, Orkney, Banff and the South East display a reliance upon crafts, trades and manual labour.

Source: SEERAD (2002: 2-3)

Regional issues Ports often fulfil the role of market towns and the nature of Today declining fish stocks, ongoing rationalisation and a lack of local and regional products will investment threaten the fishing industry. contribute to their character. Elsewhere, significant structural changes have effected many coastal Similarly, the fortunes of coastal communities: the remaining Clyde shipyards operate at a fraction of towns can vary with fluctuation their capacity; towns where tourism previously underpinned in the supply and demand of economic and social vitality, have gone into decline and more particular goods and services recently we have heard about job losses in the military sector which will influence the Morayshire communities.

For example leisure and tourism sectors Socio – economic characteristics of Scotland’s have been significant in the Scottish coastal communities coastal economy and society for almost The majority of Scotland’s coastal towns have rural hinterlands and 200 years but also gone into decline. they often had taken on the function of the market- and transport centres for their products. Consequently many coastal towns today face similar challenges to Image courtesy of The Herald & those of their hinterlands. Evening Times Picture Archive Other characteristics of Scotland’s coastal areas include: Local government and economic development policies In their heydays the Scottish burghs were flourishing independent communities. Today, local burghs are part of unitary local Source: www.burntisland.net, Published by the Burntisland Heritage Trust. authorities with Page 4 scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 limited ability to recognise local characteristics and the vitality of local communities. Summary and conclusions

A national policy preoccupation with “urban” (city) problems and a Scotland’s coastal areas focus of economic development policies on inward investment, and towns form an industrial and service industries did and does not benefit coastal important part of town communities who depend on their links to the sea and their Scotland’s cultural, hinterland. architectural and “urban” heritage. For the future of Leisure-related trends Scotland’s coastal towns In many areas, tourism and it is of importance that recreation opportunities are local policies strengthen currently espoused as the awareness, pride and major viable alternative to appreciation of this heritage and its qualities. It is this that the traditional industries. provides a building block for future development. However, here too we find The Scottish Coastal Socio-Economic Scoping Study (2002) has geographical differences. noted that coastal areas face a number of challenges including: The Clyde Coast ‘doon-the- Social disadvantage; water’ tourism industry has • Migration; and gone into severe decline as • Scottish holiday makers opt • Local economic development. for international package In response to the above the Scottish Coastal Socio-Economic holidays. Scoping Study identifies the following development priorities Elsewhere, on the east for Scotland’s coastal areas: coast for example, • ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone Management) strategies decreasing tourist numbers taking fuller account of socio-economic characteristics; have often not produced • ICZM strategies incorporating a framework for the such a drastic effect owing promotion of local economic development partnerships; to the more pluriactive research to explore the role of small towns; production structures • • research to explore the dynamic processes which operate in maintained in many of these coastal areas; coastal regions. This Image courtesy of The Herald & Evening Times Picture Archive example highlights the • research to explore the nature of coastal rural and urban interactions; dangers of over-dependence on any one industry sector. • an exploration of the changing nature of coastal communities; • an investigation of the dynamics and implications of the The way forward changing social and cultural make-up of coastal communities. Current thinking and practice in European and OECD regional Scotland’s coastal towns are varied and diverse, however, development is moving toward embracing a territorial (a real) rather there is an urgent requirement to address the challenges which than sectoral (industry-specific) approach. decades of restructuring have created. While the unitary Scottish local authorities have become an It now rests with public and private organisations, planners, established feature in local government, the Scottish Executive local authorities and so on to translate existing recognises that a refocus on local community issues is necessary to recommendations into practice…in an integrated, holistic and achieve sustained development and improvements. sustainable way. This refocusing on local issues and communities is however not replicated in the focus of economic development policies as currently References pursued by the Scottish Enterprise Network and herein lies a Scottish Executive Social Research (2002) Scottish Coastal Socio- significant weakness in the policy approach. Economic Scoping Study – Research Findings 24/2002, Scottish Executive, Edinburgh. Picture Sources: Roland Hahn, www.burntisland.net, Published by the Burntisland Heritage Trust, Courtesy of The Herald & Evening Times Picture Archive, Glasgow

Authors: Roland Hahn and Steven Boyne

The above article is a summary for Scotregen. A copy of Roland’s and One example of good practice of how a focus on local characteristics Steven’s full report is available in the SURF members library section of and qualities can work is the Isle of Arran Taste Trail which draws the SURF website at www.scotregen.co.uk upon Arran’s heritage of local food and aims to promote Arran as a niche tourism destination based on the quality of its local catering For more information on this and the other Forgotten Challenge reports, and produce. contact Roland Hahn at [email protected]

scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Page 5 Where now for Edinburgh’s Transport Strategy?

Yet, the ‘base strategy’ remains very significant – over £1 billion of transport investment will be delivered and this represents the biggest boost to infrastructure investment since Victorian times. Councillor This money has been forthcoming as a direct result of the overall Andrew Burns transport strategy that the Council has pursued in the last 4-years Executive Member – it is sheer fantasy politics to believe this funding would have for Transport & come to Edinburgh regardless: it would not. One only needs to Public Realm contrast the current transport infrastructure profile of Aberdeen, Dundee or Glasgow to realise the truth behind this point. The City of Edinburgh Council We thus continue to have a very ambitious programme of improvements underway, which will benefit everyone. These include two tram lines; new Park and Ride facilities at Ingliston, Hermiston and Todhills; more Real Time Information on the cities major bus corridors; a huge programme of road improvements Cllr Burns, the driving force behind Edinburgh City for 2005-06; the Central Edinburgh Traffic Management scheme Councils recently rejected congestion charging proposals, and the improvement of pedestrian facilities on Castle Street. Edinburgh will also benefit from the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link. reflects on the result and looks for a way forward. And significant achievements have already been secured – highest Edinburgh voters clearly rejected our proposals for a congestion bus patronage in the UK outside of London, 3 brand new rail charging scheme and I, as a democrat, accept that decision stations delivered as part of the Crossrail project; two tram bills without hesitation. The outcome of the recent referendum means approved in principle by the ; a new 21st that Edinburgh residents have voted in favour of the ‘base century bus station delivered; 20% of residents walking to work; strategy’, as set out in the Council’s Local Transport Strategy. In moving towards 5% of residents cycling to work; and 20mph essence this means that congestion charging, as part of zones being rolled-out across the city, playing their part in 2004 Edinburgh’s transport plans, has been rejected and will not now being the second year in succession that Edinburgh and the be taken forward. Lothians have seen not one single road-related child fatality. Without a shadow of doubt, congestion charging as an issue has But, the problems associated with growing congestion will not go generated considerable debate and discussion – as a matter of away. And with congestion charging no longer on the political fact, well over a decade of debate - throughout Edinburgh. I have agenda in Edinburgh, the city must face up to the very real taken the clear and consistent view that it was my responsibility prospect of failing to reach congestion-reduction targets, as set to bring this debate and discussion to a conclusion; not to by the Scottish Executive. Indeed, none of Scotland’s cities will pretend that congestion didn’t exist; not to walk away from an now stabilise traffic volumes in 2021 at 2001 levels. idea because it was controversial. Far too many politicians, Edinburgh though must, and will, continue to develop its elected to supposedly lead, then fail to do so. I hope that even transport infrastructure so that the congestion we currently those who voted no can accept that I advocated the congestion experience does not escalate so badly that it damages our charging scheme because I genuinely believed that it was in the economy. Congestion charging could have given us a ‘leading best long-term interests of the city. edge’ in actually reducing the congestion that faces all cities And the principal reason we decided to go to an actual across Britain – but now Edinburgh’s congestion problems are set referendum on our proposals is that we were required by the to become more like the ‘British norm’. Scottish Executive to demonstrate ‘clear public support’ before seeking final approval for any implementation of a charging scheme. The most obvious way of demonstrating public support was to hold a public ballot. Some may argue that this was a high-risk strategy but it was the only way that we could proceed with our charging proposals for Edinburgh. In many ways, this did lead the Council into a classic catch-22 situation. Now, without congestion charging, not only will it be difficult to reduce congestion; it will also be very difficult to realise the scale of public transport improvements that are needed to give a genuine choice for people in and around the city. Congestion charging would have generated an additional £760M that could have legally only been spent on transport investment. This “additional” funding is no longer available to the Council.

Page 6 scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Scotregen asked Napier University's Architecture and Design Scotland Professor Ron McQuaid, an expert in transport issues and a member of SURFs What we’re for Academic Panel,for his thoughts on the Malcolm Fraser, one of Scotland’s leading architects, and one of wider implications of the rejection of the the 3 members of the new national body Architecture and Design Scotland, tells Scotrgen how he sees the task A&DS is City of Edinburghs proposals. taking on. ‘Architecture and Design Scotland’ would like to think about the way we make buildings and places, and the processes we use and the way we approach the task. It is strange Despite the ‘No Vote’ in Edinburgh, congesting the way we, today, make our built environment : we think we can achieve quality by an pricing in the UK is not dead - as with the Monty accumulation of demand and regulation, and when they don’t seem to work very well we simply add a new set of requirements with boxes to tick, until we find ourselves Python parrot, it is ‘just resting’. A broad spectrum swamped by regulatory paperwork – all well intentioned but all of it, when you look of political and ideological views support closely, with only a peculiar and oblique relationship to actually making the building, and the place, well. congestion pricing. The Edinburgh vote will cause That “making a building well” – forming places well, is the core of good architecture some rethinking about the tactics of introducing and design. We think that A+DS is being asked to concentrate on this core. We can’t road pricing, but probably not about the basic demand it – we’re not another regulator, can’t be some additional quality police – but we are being asked to uncover it, encourage it, celebrate it. direction of local and national policies. This is an interesting moment to be talking about core value in building: Firstly, we’ve gone through cathartic times in the 20th Century. The pendulum swung One issue that the Edinburgh situation highlights is the role of from an almost institutionalised contempt for the built works of the past and the tight national versus local approaches. First, a national approach built environments in which they were displayed, through to a position where we were often makes more sense - much of Edinburgh’s worse gripped by fear of doing more damage and suffered a desperate loss of confidence. congestion is actually on the trunk roads leading to and from Timidity followed and we talked, and talk, of “in keeping”, and built and build the city, and the same is the case around many other cities eviscerated, craft-free versions of the past, ignoring the freedoms that we should such as Glasgow. Second, politically it may be easier for road concentrate on today. pricing in a local area to be introduced by national bodies, where the danger of a voter backlash may have relatively less But when we talk of “in keeping” I look at the architectures of the past, behind me, and importance. wonder “in keeping with what?”. If you walk down the High Street of a good Scottish town you see successions of architectures all of which were modern and confident and Even though the voters convincingly rejected the scheme on Scottish in their succeeding times – some radically-different from their predecessors. offer, the City of Edinburgh Council are to be congratulated on There’s layers upon layers, and what I know is that the thing we need to be “in keeping” having had the courage to try to introduce road user charging with is the vigour and confidence that produced these wonderful built environments. in order to help combat the problems of increasing congestion. But these buildings and places also learned from their contexts, respected and reused the We need to unpack why the voters said ‘no’. How much of patterns of building evolved by those that came before them – even the radical New their antagonism was due to the characteristics of the scheme Town of Edinburgh stole from its mediaeval predecessor patterns of social-layering, and itself? Was it the consultation process, with equity issues in the exploitation of slope for economic gain and architectural drama. their various guises; or the belief that the actual future public transport improvements would be delivered? Was there a The irony is that when we try to make buildings that look like those from the past we partial breakdown in trust with accounts of ‘traffic lights being usually miss such historic dynamism – as we do, equally, when we reject the narrow set to reduce traffic speed’ or ‘extra’ road works being done in view of “in keeping” and demand that Sensation – wow-factor stand-alone the run in to the referendum (all anecdotal, but evidence aggrandisement – comes first. suggests these may have increased peoples’ suspicions, no Once again we’re not doing that core, simple thing well, not building good places, not matter how unwarranted). Or was it people fear of their local stopping the pendulum from swinging wildly. streets becoming ‘rat runs’ etc.? Whether or not each of these complaints had real foundation, if they were perceived to be The second interesting thing, now, in talking about core values, is that we are doing it issues then they must be dealt with fully and openly. with a new National Parliament, a Revived Nation.… and to be able to do this sort of thing is exactly what having a Parliament is about. The context is there : Jack What are the lessons for elsewhere? Asking people to vote for McConnell, the First Minister, in his St Andrew’s Day speech, talked about having an extra ‘tax’ (for that is how it was often perceived) is always confidence in our culture; and the Policy for Architecture in Scotland is our guide. It is going to be hard. Being totally honest and open with all the key that we have a Policy (and unusually – the rest of Britain does not). My view is that evidence (for and against) and convincing people that, on the Policy makes clear the importance of building: sets out that it is about making the balance, this is the best solution is essential. Getting the media spaces, the places, where we are more or less happy; more or less economically-effective; ‘onside’, or at least not being antagonistic, is crucial. more or less creative. The Policy does this without prescription, leaves definition and The debate on road user charging has a long way to go and, implementation to successor bodies, its apparent “fluffiness” a perfect start. And we while being first to hold a referendum has had its drawbacks, have partners, the Architectural Policy Unit within the Executive and the Lighthouse, Edinburgh provides useful and positive lessons into how we with its education and dissemination role. can better approach it elsewhere. We need to learn these So, after years of grumping and gurning in the margins we have Government, close at lessons now. hand, who can see the importance of good building and want to know how we can all, together, improve the quality of Scotland for all its people. It’s very nice, and quite Ron McQuaid terrifying. Employment Research Institute and Transport Research Institute This is a summary of a fuller article by Malcolm Fraser Napier University, Edinburgh which is available on the SURF web site at [email protected] www.scotregen.co.uk

scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Page 7 Making Waves

Cllr Charlie Gordon

Leader of

SURF provides a space for independent thought and debate in regeneration in Scotland. Sometimes that means making waves, not just for the sake of it but because constructive discourse is the basis of progress.

In the second of our special Making Waves articles we GDP, 40% of Scotland’s jobs, 44% of Scotland’s exports and 35% are delighted that Cllr Charlie Gordon, the outgoing of Scotland’s population. A recently published study commissioned by the Scottish Executive from the European leader of Glasgow City Council, has taken time to set Institute of Affairs, at Liverpool's John Moore's University, out his thoughts on the progress and challenges in entiltled "Competitive Scottish Cities? Placing Scotland's Cities in regenerating Scotland’s largest city. the British and European context*", acknowledged that Glasgow is out-performing big English cities and improving its competitiveness in Europe. The report also acknowledges an important factor, namely, that "Cities are once again high on the RE-BUILDING A CITY UK government’s policy agenda. In common with many European governments, the government no longer sees cities as problems THE REGENERATION OF or as a drain upon the nation’s economy – but as current or potential drivers of improved regional and national economic GLASGOW performance.” I am pleased to be asked to write for Surf about a city very close to my heart – Glasgow. The City as a driver of national economies As Leader of Glasgow City Council, I am very fortunate to be at Over the last decade there has been a growing recognition within the heart of a major regeneration process, so evident when I European urban policy that cities are once again forming the core count the cranes on the Glasgow skyline. areas for economic development. They are places where international business is concentrated, where business and 3 years ago, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation personal services are exchanged and where innovation takes Development (OECD) held a seminar in Glasgow to highlight the place. results of a comparative study of a number of international cities including Glasgow. Cities driving the Scottish economy The OECD predicted that, just as in the last decade of the 20th In Scotland, its four main cities, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh Century Berlin had been Europe’s largest building site, so in the and Glasgow contribute 28 % of the Scottish population, 50 % of first decade of the 21st Century that titled would belong to Scottish employment and 70 % of Scottish tourism income, but Glasgow. have 32 % of unemployment and 52 % of the most deprived areas. These figures represent big opportunities but also, big The OECD got it right. challenges. Property investment in Glasgow is running at around £21/2 billion The Glasgow metropolitan region accounts for 45% of Scotland’s (*see Edward Harkin’s review on page 16)

Page 8 scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 annually. The city’s secondary schools have all been completely This new partnership, called the Clyde Valley Community re-built and a start has been made on new primary schools. Planning Partnership has the aim “…… to enable the city region to become one of the most economically competitive and socially The city’s housing debt has been written off and billions of cohesive city regions within Europe”. pounds are available for new social housing in the city over the next 30 years. Major budgets are available to re-build the city’s At the city-wide level, the Glasgow Community Planning hospitals, further education colleges and some of its University Partnership focuses on social exclusion and has an annual budget buildings. In effect, Glasgow is being re-built. of over £40 million, comprising the former Social Inclusion Partnership Funds and the former Better Neighbourhood Services Fund. The Policy Context Day to day economic development is driven by key partners such Regeneration of this magnitude can only be achieved by through as the City Council, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and the hard work, partnership, and a coherent strategy, the success of Chamber of Commerce based on a joint economic strategy which which can be measured by the levels of activity in our city’s is reviewed annually. economy and its built environment. I often meet potential private investors in Glasgow. I point to our In short, its about people and place. strategies, our partnerships, our infrastructure and our skills base. I also point to our user friendliness, such as our Council’s Glasgow’s core strategy has been in place since 1983. Its key Development & Regeneration Services Department combining components are to develop our City Centre as a prime retail and economic development, town planning, property and community leisure destination; to use an events programme as a means of safety in a “one stop shop”. developing business tourism and city break tourism; and to grow and diversify our “post industrial” city economy with an emphasis on tradable services and new manufacturing opportunities. Challenges Research shows that the bulk of jobs growth in Glasgow has been The main challenges facing Glasgow include:- in the city centre with 50% of jobs in the city overall based there, which is 10% of Scotland’s jobs figure. • The need to continue to promote the restructuring of the economy away from low value added ‘commodity’ Growth has been concentrated in the financial and business manufacturing to high value added, high skilled ‘advanced services, which constitute the largest single employment sector in manufacturing or tradable services. Allied to this is the move the city. There are around 30,000 in direct financial services and towards the creation of a dynamic small business base with nearly as many again in other business services, such as design. ‘clustering round key ‘city’ sectors Glasgow maintains its position as the UK’s number 3 tourist • The need to develop ‘new industries – ranging from tourism destination and the UK’s number 2 retail centre. through to software, biotechnology, telecom based “Glasgow – Scotland with Style” is the city’s new brand businesses etc. and the campaign around the new brand has already generated nearly 200,000 extra visitors in the last year mainly drawn from the target market of London and the south-east of the UK. Glasgow is a sophisticated cosmopolitan city and tourists who come to Glasgow often return. The friendliness of Glaswegians themselves scores highest among the factors which make visitors come back. But Glasgow has a legacy of poverty in certain neighbourhoods due to the decline of its industrial manufacturing base. The best way to eliminate poverty is to give people jobs. Glasgow needs more jobs. It also needs more people. That is why Glasgow is building more homes and welcoming more refugees. The city needs more wealth; a larger cake, but one distributed more equitably. • The need to promote ‘internationalisation’ across all sectors of Glasgow’s public sector concentrates on a “can do” regulatory the economy – with a ‘think global act global’ attitude within culture and on “supply side” investment in infrastructure and business skills. Together these measures help create a climate for major new private investment. • The need to make investments in the type of infrastructure which international business now takes for granted – for Glasgow’s public sector has worked in partnership very example broadband infrastructure, international air services effectively for over 20 years. Its latest incarnation is at the Clyde etc. Valley level (covering the city region’s structure plan area) and • The need to return derelict and contaminated land to includes 8 local councils and all key public and private sector productive use bodies. Its vision and strategy is called “Metropolitan Glasgow” and was kick started 2 years ago with £40 million (subsequently • The imperative of maximising participation in the labour market levered up to £76 million) from the Scottish Executive’s Cities particularly amongst those who have been excluded by past Growth Fund. labour market policy.

scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Page 9 Making Waves continued. Whilst Glasgow has outperformed the Scottish economy, the population decline. Secondly, to ensure that the city’s capacity business base is still insufficiently diverse and lacks both scale and for economic growth is actually realized and that that economic competitiveness compared to wider EU benchmarks. In common growth provides the means to address inequality and social with some other UK cities, we have significant numbers of the exclusion. We must find ways of achieving this that recognise population who are not economically active and there is a real increasing global competition not only from within the new challenge in equipping these people for work in the economy of members states of the European Union, but from further afield, the 21st century and finding appropriate mechanisms to enable particularly Asia and the Far East. It is therefore imperative that them to engage actively in the economy. Environmentally, the our cities become sources of growth and innovation, rather than city still has a very significant proportion of Scotland’s derelict seeking to compete on price, where other labour markets have a land within its boundaries – although this is reducing rapidly due clear advantage. to the success of our efforts to promote development on brownfield land. Changes The Public Sector managers of all cities have faced increasing financial constraints that have placed a premium on ‘smart Glasgow has changed in the last 20 years; mostly for the better. government’. Initiatives such as Best Value and Efficient 20 years ago, we didn’t imagine hosting the Garden Festival, the Government have been instrumental in releasing funds for front European Year of Culture, the World Rotary Conference, or the line service development – as has the release of funds from the UEFA Champion’s League, let alone pitch, as we are now, to host disposal of surplus land/property assets. the Commonwealth Games. 20 years ago we didn’t have the Burrell Gallery, the Royal Metropolitan Funding Concert Hall, the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, or the Gallery of Modern Art. Now we will soon add to them with One of the major issues is that the city boundaries in no way a National Indoor Sports Arena, a refurbished Kelvingrove Art reflect the economic boundaries of the city region. This means Gallery and Museum and a new Riverside Transport Museum. that the city is providing the range of metropolitan services and utilities expected of that wider metropolitan population but has 20 years ago, the Merchant City and the Clyde Waterfront to do so from a fiscal base of a much smaller population. For Regeneration were not even concepts. Now 64,000 new jobs instance, in Glasgow’s case, the city raises revenues from national have been added to Glasgow’s economy in the last 5 years alone. government and from local taxes on a population of 600,000 while providing municipal facilities to a population of almost 2m. As Others See Us. Whilst the Cities Growth Fund helps to address this issue, we also seek the further incentive to grow our city’s economy by Rankings retaining more of the non-domestic rates (NDR) generated. 3rd best location in Europe (Fortune) Currently Glasgow subsidising the Scottish NDR “pool” to the Leading investment centre in UK (DTZ) extent of some £60 million per year. 2nd best UK working city (Healey Baker) 2nd city for corporate investment (WH mercer) Governance Comments In respect of political and legal powers in the Scottish context “UK’s Coolest City” (Nat Geographic, USA) under a devolved national government there are three levels of political powers with “the New Berlin” (OECD) “Brimming with style and culture” (Time Magazine) • some issues remaining reserved at the UK level (such as fiscal policy) "Glasgow ist in … Glasgow ist trendy” (MD Magazine, Germany) “Citta Scozzese piu glamour del momento” (Lo Donna, Italy) • another series of powers (such as enterprise, education, and health) devolved to the Scottish administration, and “Manhattan with a Scottish Accent” (In Style, USA) • Local Authorities charged with the delivery of a number of “Europe’s music capital” (Time Magazine) statutory services and with some discretionary powers.

The integration of these three levels of government clearly Conclusion presents challenges and arguably places city level administrations in this situation at a disadvantage compared to those who have a So from my perspective, Glasgow’s regeneration is a case of “so wider range of powers at their disposal. A further problem for far so good”. city regions is that both economic potential and economic But we cannot rest until every Glaswegian is sharing in our city’s difficulties tend to be concentrated in the metropolitan area and new success. in the cities themselves. As a consequence many national policies which are designed to address much larger and much more Cllr. Charlie Gordon diverse geographical areas are resultantly a poor fit with some of the issues the cities are seeking to address. SURF is grateful to Cllr Gordon for providing his assessment of Glasgow's progress and challenges at this point of change. If you have thoughts or ideas you want to share on this article or the Competition future of regeneration in Glasgow please send them to Scotregen For cities in the UK, the challenges must be firstly to address via [email protected]

Page 10 scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 SURFs ACADEMIC PANEL A 'SECTOR CONNECTOR' LINKING ACADEMIC The intention is to support the practice based information RESEARCH WITH POLICY AND PRACTICE. and views, that SURF's networking brings forward, with academic evidence. In this way SURF hopes to add weight SURF's Academic Panel links the research resources of to proposals for more effective regeneration policy universities in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow with development. SURFs own extensive network of practitioners and Here is a list of some of the relevant research and reports policy makers. that the panel members are involved in producing.

HERIOT WATT, NAPIER UNIVERSITY, CRSIS, Centre for Research into Socially Employment Research Institute inclusive Services Employment in Rural Areas: Demographic and Employment CRSIS has won two new ESRC Collaborative (CASE) Studentship Trends and Typologies of Rural Areas Awards in the recent national competition. The first of these http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/ involves working with Fife Council and its Community Planning employmenttrendsruralareas.htm Partnership on ‘The Development and Impact of a Local Social Justice Analysis System’. For further Study for the European Commission on Employment in Rural Areas (demographic and employment details contact Professor Glen Bramley Tel: 0131 451 4605 Email: [email protected] trends - in particular for young people and women - and typologies of rural areas). The second award involves working with the Scottish Executive (Social Inclusion Division) on ‘Closing the Working together for employment and inclusion in Edinburgh - a baseline study Opportunity Gap: Exploring the impacts of improved financial inclusion on disadvantaged households’. http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/ccp.htm For further details contact Professor Moira Munro Tel: 0131 451 4612 Email: [email protected] To review the labour market and policy context for the Capital City Partnership's 'Joined Up For Jobs' (JU4J) strategy (Edinburgh's employability agreement). Effects of Homeownership on Educational Attainment of Children in Deprived Neighbourhoods. This is a project commissioned under the Scottish Executive Education Department’s sponsored research Social Networks of Older Workers programme, to determine the extent to which homeownership affects children’s educational achievement http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/equal.htm in selected areas in Scotland. A final report on the study has now been submitted to the Scottish To examine the social networks of different groups of older workers and how these networks affect their Executive Education Department. For further information contact Dr Noah Kofi Karley Tel: 0131 451 8182 participation in the labour market. Email: [email protected] (this will be shortly available from the Scottish Executive website at Re-employment Projects for Unemployed Women in Shanghai www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/14478/22009) http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/China.htm CRSIS Publications to carry out research and developing short courses that increases successful self-employment women, especially those aged above 40 living in urban Shanghai. The ‘Mainstream Public Services and their Impact on Neighbourhood Deprivation’ research report has recently been published by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. A One Workplace - Mapping Approaches to Equal Opportunities in Scottish Trade Unions report on this research, previously highlighted at the CRSIS/Policy Network Joint Seminar in June 2004, http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/oneworkplace.htm can be downloaded from the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit website Mapping research, identifying gaps in Trade Unions' current approaches to promoting equal (www.neighbourhood.gov.uk/publications.asp?did=1044). opportunities best practice, and establishing the key challenges faced by Trade Union representatives and officials in promoting equality in the workplace. Community Budgeting Pilot: Spend on Children and Young People in Tanshall, Glenrothes. A summary of findings for this study, undertaken by CRSIS in 2004 for Fife Council as part of its Community Budgeting Work-life Balance and Careers in NHS Nursing and Midwifery Project, is now available to download from Fife Direct website (www.fifedirect.org.uk). http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/research/esf.htm To identify how the NHS can improve recruitment and retention through the development of work-life CRSIS Briefing Paper No 6 (2005) ‘Outside the Mainstream School: Young people’s perspectives on balance practices and achieve equality of access to career progression for the staff who make use of disaffection, exclusion, support and change’, by Dr Zoe Hilton, is now available to download from the those policies. CRSIS website (www.crsis.hw.ac.uk). Contact: Professor Ronald W. McQuaid, Employment Research Institute, Napier University, Craiglockhart Campus, Edinburgh EH14 1DJ [email protected] http://www.napier.ac.uk/depts/eri/home.htm

DUNDEE UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, The Geddes Institute Department of Urban Studies

• Monitoring and evaluation of the area based Social Inclusion Population Turnover and Area Deprivation. Funded by the Joseph Partnerships in Dundee * Rowntree Foundation; completion, late summer 2005. Contact (Dundee Partnership) - The Geddes Institute [email protected] • Cultural Quarters for Urban Regeneration: a comparison of Lessons for Community Planning from thematic SIPs: a practice in the UK (Carnegie Trust) - John McCarthy comparative review of evaluation reports. Funded by Communities Scotland; completion Spring 2005. • Urban Universities and Real Estate Development (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy) * Contact [email protected] Deborah Peel Where there's Muck there's no Brass. An analysis of environmental services in deprived neighbourhoods. • An Evaluation of the Abbeytext Project. (Scottish Association for Mental Health) Deborah Funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; completion, late summer 2005. Contact Peel, Greg Lloyd and Bill Lynch [email protected] • 'Fiscal Incentives for Urban Regeneration' (ESRC) * Greg Lloyd and John McCarthy 2002, State of the Cities Report 2005. An analysis of economic, social and environmental trends and policies in English cities. Funded by ODPM. Completion Summer 2005. Contact [email protected] • New Industrial and Commercial Facilities in National Park Areas: Size, Location and Design Considerations (Scottish Executive) -Greg Lloyd, Barbara Illsley and J McCarthy, 2001 An analysis of Scottish Homes stock transfer. Funded by Communities Scotland. Contact [email protected] 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 Review of the Evidence on Mixed Communities. Carried out by the ESRC Centre for Neighbourhood Research. Funded by ODPM to support its postgraduate research programme on Sustainable Communities. Contact: [email protected]

scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Page 11 INCLUDING EVERYONE: NEW THINKING ON PROMOTING FINANCIAL INCLUSION

presentations on a Young Persons Money Advice Texting Service (the Advice Shop Edinburgh); Promoting Financial Inclusion – a Mike Chapman role for Credit Unions (Capital Credit Union); Integrated Financial Education (Dumfries and Galloway Citizens Advice Financial Inclusion Service) and Advice Work in Health Settings (NHS Lothian and Officer at the Edinburgh Central CAB). Such projects provided valuable Capital City lessons on how financial inclusion strategies can be developed in Partnership the future. The central message arising from the conference was that to effectively tackle debt and financial exclusion requires co- ordinated action at all levels and partnerships with Government, industry, the regulator, the voluntary and community sectors to deliver change on the ground. Experience has shown that provision of advice or education alone Mike Chapman, Financial Inclusion Officer at the Capital is now not enough; what is needed is new thinking on how to City Partnership reports on his recent successful financial engage ‘hard to reach groups’ and to help disadvantaged inclusion conference and its context; communities become part of the solution not the problem. The problem of debt, as it affects all sectors of society, is now Mike Chapman emerging as the issue of greatest worry to most Scots. Recent figures revealed by Datamonitor show the average UK adult’s Capital City Partnership, Financial Inclusion Officer. personal debt standing at £4,004, up 10% from 2003 but it has Contact Mike by e mailing him at soared by 45% since 2000. [email protected] Figures from Citizens Advice Scotland show that Scottish CAB clients owe an average of £13,380, a 64% increase in the average level of client debt in Scotland since 2001. Over one in five clients A copy of Stephen Timm’s speech is available from the Treasury have debts of more than £20,000. The ability to deal with website at: expenses and avoiding debt depends partly on the ability to build http://www.hm- up savings – a financial safety net, but for many this is removed by treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/speeches/finsecspeeche a lack of access to bank accounts and affordable credit. s/speech_fst_010305.cfm This was the context for a conference titled ‘Including Everyone: new thinking on promoting financial inclusion’. It was organised by Capital City Partnership in association with Citizens Advice Scotland and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Executive Action on tackling Personal Finance, and was held at the Easter Road Stadium, March 1st 2005. Financial Exclusion The conference provided an in-depth and thought-provoking discussion on ‘pathways’ to financial inclusion. Government A one-day national conference to explore key thinking, agendas, both at Westminster and here in Scotland, have adopt new strategies and share views identified the problems associated with financial exclusion and Monday 6 June 2005, Hilton Hotel, Glasgow multiple-debt. This was the important theme explored in the SURF Seminar ‘Banking on Regeneration’ and the one which has Delegates will have the opportunity to hear the views of been given even more prominence with the publication of the key speakers, to debate, to question, discuss key themes Scottish Executive’s Financial Inclusion Action Plan. and take part in break out sessions. The keynote speaker, Stephen Timms MP, Financial Secretary to , Deputy Minister for Communities will the Treasury , outlined the UK Government’s approach and launch the new Financial Inclusion Forum commented that: The Forum aims to bring together people who are involved “There is a great deal still to be done to improve financial in delivering financial inclusion in Scotland. In future, it capability. To assist people who lack confidence in dealing with will encourage sharing of information and good practice in financial matters. To include more people and households in our a range of ways, and foster 2-way communication in the financial system, and to reduce dramatically exclusion and Executive poverty.” Other contributions came from Mark Lazarowicz MP, Chair of the To receive further information and request a registration All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Personal Finance, form for your free place at this key event please make Jackie Baillie, MSP, Chair of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party contact as below: Group on Tackling Debt, Kaliani Lyle, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Scotland and Mike Chapman, Financial Inclusion Officer at Capital City Partnership. * Email: [email protected] Examples of best practice were highlighted, including

Page 12 scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Moving Forward: The Northern Way

The Summit brought together the key people involved in delivering the ODPM’s Sustainable Communities Plan to discuss achievements to date and what now needs to happen. It provided an excellent launch platform for the Northern Way’s Action Plan – Progress Vince Taylor Report, as well as a venue to network and share ideas and experiences with a broad range of development organisations and Director of professionals. The Northern Way was praised in both the Deputy Implementation Prime Minister’s and the Chancellor’s key note speeches at the Northern Way event. There were several presentation and debating sessions, including a session on ‘Cities and Regions for Growth’ opened by Lord Rooker, Minister of State for Regeneration and Regional Development, aimed at exploring how to make a step change in the economic growth in low performing areas of the UK. Amongst the speakers at the session was Sir Ian Wrigglesworth, Chairman of UK Land Estates and Vince Taylor is the Director of Implementation for the Deputy Chair of the Northern Way’s Steering Group. Northern Way – the economic growth strategy that Sir Ian talked about the Action Plan - Progress Report, particularly spans across the whole of the North of England, emphasising the importance of partnership working within both the public and the private sectors. Indeed, without input from the including Yorkshire and Humber, the North West and private sector, a step change in economic growth will not be the North East. possible. Sir Ian also talked about the importance of gathering the evidence base required Here he reports on promoting the Northern Way at the to inform Government recent ODPM Sustainable Communities Summit and thinking and lead to the development of policies sees the potential for valuable networking with Scottish and interventions regeneration partners. tailored to the needs of the North of England. There is no doubt that the Northern Way benefited from the Summit, both in terms of promoting its reputation by sharing its achievements so far and its plans for the future, and by listening to the The Northern Way is an example of partnership working on a scale thoughts and never attempted before. By harnessing the critical strengths and experiences of other Networking at the Northern Way exhibition assets of the North of England we will create a step change in organisations and stand at the ODPM’s Sustainable Communities Summit economic growth. Sharing experiences with others is a vital professionals involved in component of the Northern Way’s approach. The ODPM’s regeneration leading to Photo: Sharron Ashurst, Gardiner-Richardson Sustainable Communities Summit in Manchester earlier this year economic growth. provided an excellent opportunity to network and share experiences. * http://www.thenorthernway.co.uk In February 2004, the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott invited the three North of England regional development agencies to show **http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_communities/documents/ divisionhomepage/029192.hcsp how the North could unlock the potential for faster economic growth and bridge the £29 billion output gap between the North of England and the average for the rest of the UK. Sadly the presence of Scottish organisations at the In response to this challenge a Steering Group was established, Summit was limited, but SURF is keen to make more of chaired by Sir Graham Hall, to create a pan-regional growth strategy, the opportunities to share and learn from the building on the strengths and opportunities that exist across the similarities and differences in the Scottish and UK North of England. The Northern Way Steering Group have set an ambitious vision – ‘Together we will establish the North of England regeneration fields. To that end SURF is linking up with as an area of exceptional opportunity combining a world-class colleagues in One North East to organise a study visit economy with a superb quality of life’. with a focus on city region development. Further details In September last year the Steering Group published the Northern will be made available soon. Way’s Growth Strategy*. In February we launched our Action Plan – Progress Report at the ODPM’s Sustainable Communities Summit**. Andy Milne scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Page 13 SURF Open Forum Networking Programme Update

SURF Open Forum events around Scotland are March Open Forum in Stirling: ‘Sustainable Communities and Regeneration in a Community Planning Context’ funded by Communities Scotland and provide This was another well attended Forum with over 60 participants. regeneration practitioners with opportunities for The first plenary speaker was Raymond Young, Chair of practice-based exchange and learning. Architecture and Design Scotland. He asked ‘Can Regeneration The current programme continues within a make communities sustainable?’. Raymond detailed the definitional problems around Sustainable Communities. He then context of Community Planning. examined the need to attend to the core essentials of complexity, time and communities themselves.

January Open Forum in Edinburgh: ‘Engaging with Susan Dean of Thirdwave (Scotland) Ltd spoke of the experience Communities for Regeneration & Community Planning’ in England around Community Planning and Sustainability. The core lesson offered by Susan was the model of a circular and Demand for places at this Forum was exceptional and 80 holistic process that included a flow from the ‘Policy Context’ to delegates participated. ‘Raising Awareness’ to ‘Tools for Implementation’ to ‘Building Confidence’ and back to ‘Policy Context’. At the heart of this Plenary speakers were Alasdair McKinley, Communities Scotland process, must be ‘Improving local quality of life’. on ‘Standards for Engagement with Communities’, Linda MacDonald, Glasgow’s Hidden Garden on ‘Engaging with a Multi Deryck Irving of Greenspace Scotland began by asserting the Cultural Community in Regeneration’ and Kay McIntosh, importance of greenspaces for their impact on the quality of life, Development Officer and Morag Pinnion, Project Manager local economies and behaviour as well as defining areas. He Community Links ( Blantyre & North Hamilton SIP area) on ‘A suggested greenspaces as the most obvious areas of common Community Engagement Intermediary’. Issues and topics raised ground between Community Planning Partners. Dundee by delegates included, the need for; Partnership for the Environment was cited as an example of how this common ground can be a basis for action and for the • the community to be at the core and heart of planning public formation of a Local Greenspace Partnership. services and regeneration programmes, • extended timescales to engender effective community Future Open Forum Dates: engagement, 01.07.2005 (Edinburgh) 29.09.2005 (Venue TBC) • promoting to CPPs the strategic and tactical value of regeneration activities, 24.11.2005 (Venue TBC) • organisations such as SURF in assisting and supporting elected SURF welcomes any suggestions of topics or case studies. councillors where they are developing their understanding and Contact Edward Harkins, Networking Initiatives, SURF, role on Community Planning. [email protected] tel: 0141-585 6850 (Wed to Fridays).

Thumbs up for Open Forums For the last 3 years Communities Scotland has provided the • Linking the learning opportunities that the Open Forum series funding to enable SURF to run its Open Forum Networking provides with the SCR’s role in promoting skills development in Programme. Towards the end of the 2002-2005 grant-funding regeneration. period, the SCR commissioned Docherty Consulting to carry out • Enhancing the Outcomes Papers for improved analysis and an evaluation. presentation of the issues arising from each Forum The outcome of the process was a very positive report which • Introducing a more formal process for SURF to report on a made some recommendations to build on, and add value to, a regular basis to the Scottish Executive and Communities continuing Open Forum programme. Scotland on outputs from the Open Forum series to more It recognised some of SURF’s strengths as: effectively influence the policy development process for regeneration. • the perceived independence of SURF from other main players; • Enhancing the regular feedback to practitioners on policy • its emerging network of community planning practitioners; discussions with Communities Scotland and Scottish Executive • its experience in running events and producing information; and Departments. • its ability to maintain a focus on and promote developments in SURF and the SCR have welcomed and accepted the report and regeneration policy and practice within the new community are now working on making sure the future Open Forums are planning policy context. even more relevant and effective in supporting practitioners and informing regeneration policy. The reports main recommendations included; • Enhancing the level of grant support for a further three-years of Thanks to all those who contributed to the very positive annual Open Forum programme evaluation. Andy Milne – SURF Chief Executive

Page 14 scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 regeneration lexicon. What might its use betoken? Well, poke it a little and it quickly admits to being a euphemism. LANGUAGE The American anthropologist James C. Scott describes euphemism as “a nearly infallible sign that one has stumbled on a delicate subject. It is used to obscure meaning that is negatively GAMES valued, or would prove to be an embarrassment if declared more forthrightly”. In such situations “ordinary language descriptions In the second edition of his new regular column Dr Chik are frowned upon, and driven from the realm of public Collins of Paisley University continues his look at the role discourse.” So we have entered dangerous territory – proceed language plays in relation to social change with caution! What this particular euphemism seems to betoken is that past regeneration outcomes are a ‘touchy subject’ – that the past failures (in an “ordinary language description”) of regeneration policy cannot be ignored, but nor can they be openly acknowledged. Why not? Curious. But, of late, this terminology has entered academic discourse. Words as More curious. Academic discourse is surely about objectivity, conceptual clarity, and precision in measurement. If policy is to Windows be evidence-based, surely the evidence has to be clearly described? ‘Patchy’ doesn’t fit the bill. What is it, then, about the There’s no shortage of interface between policy-making and implementation on the one nominations for the linguistic hand, and on the other the academic and related forms of dissecting table following the ‘independent’ research (which produce what is to count as call in the last Scotregen – ‘partnership’, ‘community’, ‘knowledge’ in our lives and work) that generates such linguistic ‘engagement’ ‘joined up working’ to name a few. But let’s begin curiosities? by seeing how in ‘poking’ even a little, unfamiliar word, we can open a ‘window’ onto something that is going on behind. Little words then, when treated as ‘windows’, can not only point to bigger ‘problems’, but also raise much bigger questions. Such a word is ‘patchy’ – used recently to encapsulate the ‘achievements’ of ‘neighbourhood regeneration’ initiatives over Further nominations for the ‘language games’ dissecting table to: three decades. It’s not a familiar component in the [email protected]

SURF stuff Dates for your dairy- SURF is continuing to build its regeneration policy influencing activities in co- Join SURF operation with our members and the key regeneration policy bodies in Scotland. SURF’s membership is the backbone of its work. Our main route for doing this is through a series of public and targeted events to gather the views and experience of regeneration practitioners, representatives and Become a SURF member and get: planners from all sectors across Scotland. Our success depends on your participation. Here is a summary of just some of the • A guaranteed 33% discount on SURF seminars conferences, upcoming SURF activities and dates for your diary. and study visits. April 18th - start of 3 month Forward Thinking Programme research study and • Advance notice of all of our events. policy recommendations report for SCR on ‘How can we make Community Leadership more effective’ • A complimentary invitation to SURFs’ annual lecture and a May 26th – SURF Network Open Forum – Health and Community Planning. free copy of the speech. Edinburgh. • Priority access to our programme of Open Forums June 9th - Seminar - Cultural Planning & Community Planning, in co-operation with the National Cultural Planning Steering Group – Venue- the Lighthouse • Information on SURFs annual Regeneration Awards for best Glasgow practice and reduced rates for the Awards presentation July 1st – SURF Network Open Forum – Leadership in the Community. Venue – dinner. the COSLA conference Centre, Edinburgh • Copies of our quarterly Scotregen journal sent directly to August – Scotregen Journal distribution of Summer edition, no 31 you and your key colleagues. August 3rd - distribution of 2005 Regeneration Awards information and nomination forms. • Access to our members’ library of SURF publications and September 15th – SURF Lecture by Richard Best , Chief Executive of the reports on our Website. Joseph Rowntree Foundation – Edinburgh Venue TBC. Get connected to a truly independent and informed network September 29th – Open Forum – Venue and topic TBC of regeneration organisations and individuals. Your support will September 30th – Close of SURF Regeneration Awards 2005 nominations. help SURF be an effective catalyst for improving all our efforts October – Scotregen Journal distribution of Autumn edition, no 32 to create successful and sustainable communities across Scotland. November 3rd – SURF Annual Conference Venue - West Park Centre Dundee. November 24th – Open Forum – Venue and topic TBC To find out more and for a form to join SURF visit our web site at www.scotregen.co.uk December 1st - SURF Regeneration Awards Dinner – the Radisson Hotel, Glasgow Or contact Andy Milne directly by calling 0141 585 6848 or For more information on these events and other SURF activities, contact e mailing him at [email protected] [email protected] or visit our web site at www.scotregen.co.uk

scotregen : issue 30 : spring 2005 Page 15 degree-level qualified workers in the Scottish cities than any of the English cities except Bristol. Some of the good news is especially heartening; Glasgow is in the top choice 30 European Review city locations for business decision-makers. However, the positives are often countered by a negative. Glasgow may be in the top 30 cities, but it has slipped steadily from10th in 1990 to What are Scottish 24th in 2004. Moreover, none of the other Scottish cities, including Edinburgh, gets a mention. In school education, whilst the Scottish cities perform better than the English cities, the Cities Competing at? school ‘staying on’ rates in Scottish cities are lower than the Scottish overall average. In terms of quality of life, not one A review by Edward Harkins SURF Networking Officer Scottish city appears in a top ranking of European cities covering 2001 to 2004. Competitive Scottish cities? Placing Scotland’s cities in the UK and European context. Report from the Scottish Executive, March 2005. The Scottish Executive commissioned the European Institute of Urban Affairs to extend its analytic work on European and English cities to leading Scottish cities. This consequent report on the performance of six Scottish Cities has generated varied responses: “Employment Growth in Edinburgh and Glasgow has outpaced every English core city save Manchester and Newcastle… only Glasgow and Edinburgh are comparable in size with core cities On innovation, West Lothian and Edinburgh together account for south of the border” (1) half of Scottish investment in R & D. Glasgow only contributes “Scottish cities are being outperformed by continental cities 3% to R & D spending. However, total expenditure on R & D because they are too small to catch the eye of investors and increased more rapidly in Scotland than the rest of the UK, and is aren’t seen as attractive places to live.” (2) now in line with its population. There is much more in what is a thought provoking and These two sample quotes raise the question - what is City innovatory study. It is essential reading for players in Scottish Competitiveness all about; employment growth, city-size, regeneration. However, it would be unwise to draw too heavily attractiveness? It’s therefore useful that the study starts with the on it as a stand-alone source for definitive evidence. The authors issue of ‘Urban Competitiveness – what really matters? The are to be commended for their objectivity and honesty in answer is given as six characteristics: concluding: • economic diversity “This report made use of readily available quantitative data and it • skilled workforce is just a starting point. Whilst we have made best use of the best available material, important gaps remain. Many of the factors • connectivity central to urban competitiveness, including innovation, strategic • strategic capacity to implement long-term development capacity and quality of life remain little qualified. And these are strategies areas that need to be explored further if we are to truly • innovations in firms and organisations understand the relative performance of Scotland’s cities.” • quality of life The full report can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/europe/csc-00.asp There is much inspirational material in the report for Scottish References readers. For example, young people in Scotland do better at (1) Regeneration &Renewal magazine 11th March 2005 school than their English counterparts, and there are more (2) News Start magazine 11th March 2005

SURF, Fairfield House, Ibrox Business Park, Scotregen Govan, Glasgow G51 2JR. Scotregen is the journal of the Scottish Urban Regeneration Tel 0141 585 6848 Fax 0141 445 2024 Forum and is distributed free to its members throughout E. mail [email protected] Scotland. The views expressed in Scotregen are not necessarily shared by Editor: Andy Milne the Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum, and therefore SURF is not responsible for the statements made or views expressed. Typesetting and production: Blueprint Productions (Glasgow) Ltd Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum. An independent company Relevant articles are welcome but may be subject to editing. Limited by guarantee. Registered in Scotland No. SC154 598. Any contributions should be sent to Andy Milne, VAT Reg. No. 735 2880 21

SURF is grateful for the support of its key sponsors who are;

A special welcome to our new sponsor Glasgow Housing Association

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