Linsay Chalmers, Development Manager
As Development Manager, Linsay’s role is to promote and encourage the take up of community land ownership across Scotland and support peer-to-peer learning and networking among community landowners. Linsay previously worked for Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network where she developed the Buy the Good Stuff social enterprise brand and ran Scotland’s first social enterprise festival. Prior to that, Linsay spent nine years working for the Community Resources Network Scotland supporting community reuse organisations across Scotland.
Linsay supports community groups in:
- including islands
- The Isle of Arran
- Islands only
- Orkney
- Shetland Islands
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Scottish Borders
Dr. Josh Doble, Policy Manager
Josh’s role is to lead on policy advocacy and development to ensure that the benefits of community ownership and further land reform are understood at a national and regional level. Part of this role is to promote the connections between land reform and various key national policies, such as the Just Transition to Net Zero, the response to the climate crisis, Community Wealth Building, Human Rights and the Wellbeing Economy. Josh has experience in research and policy within government and academia. His research background as a historian of decolonisation, with an interest in the politics of land and race in postcolonial societies, means he is particularly interested in the opportunities for progressive land reform within Scotland.
Meg Taintor, Assistant Development Manager
Meg’s role for Community Land Scotland is to provide support for community groups across Scotland who either own or aspire to own land or assets. Meg also oversees Community Land Scotland’s training series for community owners, and organises and promotes an exciting programme of events all over Scotland.
Meg supports community groups in:
- East Ayrshire
- North Ayrshire
- West Ayrshire
- Clackmannanshire
- Falkirk
- Fife
- Stirling
- Mainland only
- Aberdeen
- Aberdeenshire
- Angus
- Dundee
- Moray
- Perth and Kinross
Heather Yearwood, Development Officer
Heather’s role is to support communities aspiring to buy land and assets. Coming from a background of health and wellbeing, and social development, she is interested in building strong and resilient communities in Scotland. She has worked supporting the promotion and implementation of community gardening and community entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Heather supports community groups in:
- Glasgow
- Inverclyde
- North Lanarkshire
- South Lanarkshire
- Renfrewshire
- East Renfrewshire
- East Dunbartonshire
- West Dunbartonshire
- Edinburgh
- East Lothian
- Midlothian
- West Lothian
Norrie Maclennan, PR and Communications Coordinator
Norrie’s role is to help lead and develop Public Relation and Media Communications.
Norrie previously worked as Senior News Editor for Gaelic News at BBC Scotland. This included responsibility for international current affairs documentary, Eorpa. Prior to joining the BBC Norrie worked as a freelance for multiple Press outlets.
Brought up on a busy Skye croft, Norrie has a lifelong interest in Land Management issues.
Iain Craig, 100 Years of Community Ownership Curator
Iain’s role is the curation of the 100 years of Community Ownership project. Iain formerly worked as a Gaelic Outreach officer at Historic Environment Scotland before joining us in December 2023.
Working with communities to explore their own stories, document and share their knowledge, insight and expertise through creative projects.
Prior to this, Iain worked as a freelance artist and designer for over a decade. Working across a range of creative and community projects, often focussed on Gaelic and Scots language and culture.
From working with school children to create an immersive piece of Gaelic theatre, to documenting the stories of community members in Gigha, to designing an exhibition celebrating the work of the third sector in international development.
Ryan Dziadowiec, Archive Assistant
Ryan’s role is assisting with the creation of a community archive as part of the 100 Years of Community Ownership project.
Ryan has spent the last four years researching the Gaelic concept dùthchas and its connection to community landownership in Scotland. He has also facilitated training sessions highlighting the relevance of the Gaelic language to people working within the environmental sector, as well as working as an outdoor educator teaching children and young people a variety of heritage skills.
Gavin Cowan, Events Coordinator
Gavin Cowan joined us as a Policy Intern in March 2023 and transitioned to the role of Events Coordinator in October. He is responsible for supporting the creation of a range of events across Scotland as part of the 100 years of community ownership project.
Alongside this role, Gavin is pursuing his master’s in public policy at the University of Strathclyde.
Flora Brown, Campaign Coordinator
Flora joined us in January 2024 working on our public-awareness raising campaign ‘Scotland’s for Sale! But who’s buying?’. She has a degree in Sustainable Development and became engaged with the possibilities of community ownership through her undergraduate dissertation.
As well as being involved in community ownership projects in her local area, Flora is excited by communication and political education and hopes to contribute to making land a political issue in the public eye, relating it to issues such as housing, climate change, food security and social justice.
Jackie Lauder, Finance & Administration Officer
Jackie’s role is to support the staff, Board and Members with any of their admin needs, to ensure financial records are kept which are accurate and up to date, and that bills are paid on time, thus allowing cashflow to be monitored and budgets to be set.
She has a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting, and with many years’ experience in bookkeeping, events management and administration, Jackie combines strong organisational expertise with a passion for contributing to meaningful causes.