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Community Land Scotland

The countdown is on!

Days
Hours
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This year’s conference – Own Yersel Scotland: Reimagining the future – invites participants to imagine the future they want to see for community landownership and land reform in Scotland. Our members are world-leading, creative and hard-working, but the journey towards and beyond ownership can be full of unnecessary hurdles. In this historic year for community ownership, we want to hear your ideas about creating a legislative, funding and policy environment that genuinely enables and achieves change.

The conference is split into two distinct parts. The first day will have a traditional conference structure, with opportunities to learn from other community landowners.

On the second day, we’ll be looking how we can create that supportive environment. Attendees will be able to pick their own sessions and build on all the conversations that have developed on the first day – from ideas raised at the plenary sessions and workshops, to the impromptu conversations that have happened over coffee or in passing.

Following these break-out sessions, delegates will reconvene for a plenary session which will tie together discussions over the two days and share the ideas and actions that delegates have developed. At the end of the conference, we plan to publish a declaration, which Community Land Scotland will use to create change in the policy and support environment.

Join the conversation on 10 & 11 May at the Perth Theatre and help rewrite the future of community ownership and land reform in Scotland.

Online booking is no longer available for this event. If you would like to attend, please contact Meg to see if space is available.

Conference Programme:

12:50 – 14:00      Opening Plenary

Welcome from Chair

Mairi Gougeon MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Aff airs, Land Reform and Islands

Reflections on land reform and a vision for the future
Michael Russell, Chair of the Scottish Land Commission

Q&A session

Taking stock: What community landowners want and how to get there
Linsay Chalmers, Development Manager and Dr Josh Doble, Policy Manager for Community Land Scotland

14:15 – 15:00      Workshop session A

* Economic case for Community Ownership
* Safeguarding our story: Storytelling and living heritage as community assets

15:00 – 15:30      Tea/Coffee break

15:30 – 16:15      Workshop session B

* Update on the Land Reform Bill
* Keeping the heart in your community: Resisting gentrification
* Biodiversity on a small scale

16:30 – 17:30      Afternoon plenary

Learning and earning without leaving: opportunities in community trusts
Catherine Thomson, Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn

Communities and culture: Embracing our own heritage
David Francis, Director of the Traditional Music Forum at TRACS

Three Bold Ideas: What community empowerment really means: Three speakers will have five minutes each to pitch their radical idea of a bold change needed in Scotland’s land ownership. 
  * Craig Dalzell, Head of Policy and Research at Common Weal
  * Ewen McLachlan, Assynt Development Trust
  * Saskia O’Hara, Public Interest Law Centre

19:00     Conference dinner and musical performance
The Royal George Hotel

Following dinner at the Royal George, delegates will enjoy a musical performance from Gaelic singer and musician Claire Frances Macneil. In conversation with Agnes Rennie, Claire Frances, a Barra native, will perform songs connected to land, people and place.  

21:00     After hours gathering at Cullach Brewing
Cullach Brewing
50 Princes Street, Perth, PH2 8LJ

Today we shift our format, from a traditional conference set-up with presenters and audience, to a delegate-led series of discussions and break-out spaces.

9:30 – 10:00        Opening session: This session will set the agenda for the day. We’ll discuss how the break-out groups will work, and show how delegates can propose discussion sessions. Once we’ve developed our list of sessions, we will assign spaces and hosts for each discussion.

10:00 – 11:30      Scoping our ambitions: Delegate-led discussion sessions. The Community Land Scotland team will be on hand to capture notes from each session and help facilitate, but this session is about the conversations and discussions that you want to have.  

11:30 – 12:00     Tea/Coffee break

12:00 – 13:00      Prioritising our needs: This plenary session, facilitated by Linsay Chalmers, Development Manager, and Josh Doble, Policy Manager, will aim to synthesise the discussions from the morning session, prioritising and shaping ideas for a declaration which will be published following the conference.

13:00 – 14:00      Lunch

Workshop Session A (pick one):

Economic Case for Community Ownership

Community landownership is now an accepted part of the political discussion in Scotland, but often the case for community ownership is made as a moral or ethical one, not an economic one. In 2024/25 we want to build the economic case for community ownership, demonstrating what our sector contributes to local and national economies.

Safeguarding Our Story: Storytelling and living heritage as community assets

This workshop will explore Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), its growing recognition in the UK and its long and important use in Scotland. With the moves by the UK Government to ratify the UNESCO convention on safeguarding ICH, after many years of refusing to do so, we will explore the global context, the path that has led us here and the opportunities to be had by engaging with these assets as a community. Delegates in this workshop will discuss examples of how ICH is already being used by community landowners, identify best practice, and consider what is to be gained by safeguarding ICH effectively. As stewards of our local communities, we play a pivotal role in ensuring that the rich cultural traditions, stories and understanding continue to thrive for generations to come.

Workshop Session B (pick one):

Update on the Land Reform Bill

In this workshop we will provide an update on the Land Reform Bill which was introduced to Parliament in mid-March. We will discuss our initial thoughts on the Bill, the strengths, weaknesses and areas we hope to see some development and will be seeking amendments. We would appreciate attendees own thoughts on the opportunities and challenges the Bill presents.

Keeping the heart in your community: Resisting gentrification

What happens when your area changes due to forces beyond your control? How do you ensure that long-term residents and community organisations aren’t squeezed out? In this workshop, delegates will explore the challenges that can arise from gentrification.  When your organisation is leading on regeneration, how do you increase quality of life for the existing community without falling into the gentrification trap?

Biodiversity on a small scale

Communities often identify ‘left-over’ or neglected bits of land, where they see the potential to form community gardens or somewhere to host a bee-hive. These small-scale projects can dramatically increase the biodiversity of an area and improve our quality of life in return. In this workshop, delegates will hear from communities who have created small-scale biodiversity projects. There will be space to share learning from your own similar projects, and to discuss funding opportunities, value, and connectivity.

Conference Exhibitors:

We are a firm of Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors with Principal Faye MacLeod heading up our Community/Charity sector team. Since 2006 we have been involved extensively with community land ownership. Our experience of assisting community companies from the initial steering group stage through assessing the feasibility of a community buy-out and preparing the business plan and financial projections, and then in some cases supporting the organisation as it grows and develops with ongoing accounting services and financial management support has given us a unique insight into the community land ownership sector. Each community requires a service tailored to their particular needs and we are ideally placed to deliver that service on a timely basis.

Harper Macleod LLP are a full service law firm, with offices throughout Scotland. We are market leaders for providing advice on community purchases and community buyouts, as well as advising on all other aspects of community ownership and community development. As a team we quite simply understand the community ownership sector. For more details contact Calum Macleod.

Scottish Communities Finance Ltd and Community Shares Scotland are working in partnership to develop and deliver the Democratic Finance Programme for all communities across Scotland. The programme aims to support communities to be ‘Agents of Change’ in driving local economic, social and environmental transformation. We work directly with community and social enterprises to increase knowledge, confidence and use of democratic financial investment models, as well as unlocking other sources of wealth that exist within communities to ensuring neighbourhood economies work better for everyone. These financial models are particularly pertinent as organisations attempt to move away from grant dependency, embrace Community Wealth Building and seek new ways of raising investment for emerging opportunities and challenges.

Come and talk to us if you wish to know more.

South of Scotland Community Housing (SOSCH) is a community-led housing enabler that provides long-term support to planning and delivery of community-led housing projects across Southern Scotland. We work with community organisations and other partners to understand local housing needs and identify solutions that are embedded in community asset ownership and empowerment. We promote a holistic view of community-led regeneration, sustainability and resilience, as well as the wider benefits of locally affordable homes – addressing fuel poverty and net-zero, employment and training opportunities, economic development, retention of younger people and ageing population and vacant/derelict land and buildings. We work to increase availability of suitable housing options and increase supply of safe, warm, secure, energy-efficient homes in rural Southern Scotland.

The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) offers taught courses in community development and the use, management and reform of land at vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Teaching materials are informed by live research conducted by prominent researchers across the partnership. The Community Landownership Academic Network (CLAN) brings together researchers, stakeholders and community groups to design and undertake a sustainable and strategic approach to conducting and communicating research in this area. The Land & Communities Knowledge Exchange Sector Group seeks to ensure that the expertise held within the university can benefit communities and businesses in our region.

UHI welcomes feedback as to how it can serve to further benefit communities across the Highlands and Islands, Moray and Perthshire.

Woodland Savers enables any community to buy and manage land for nature recovery. The company was founded in 2022, and funded by the Forestry Commission and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. We have supported two community woodland acquisitions so far, and have now launched nationally and are looking for more community land projects to partner with. We have created a match fund which doubles local crowdfunding, and have a range of capital partners to call on, and ecology partners to help create woodland management plans. We have a creative spirit, and entrepreneurial drive, a ground-up perspective and a long-term vision to empower communities to reverse nature decline. We’re here to help people to help nature.

Livestream Schedule:

We are only streaming sessions on Friday 10 May. You can expand the sections below for more information on each of the sessions. 

Welcome from Chair

Reflections on land reform and a vision for the future
Michael Russell, Chair of the Scottish Land Commission

Q&A session

Taking stock: What community landowners want and how to get there
Linsay Chalmers, Development Manager and Dr Josh Doble, Policy Manager for Community Land Scotland

Community landownership is now an accepted part of the political discussion in Scotland, but often the case for community ownership is made as a moral or ethical one, not an economic one. In 2024/25 we want to build the economic case for community ownership, demonstrating what our sector contributes to local and national economies.

What happens when your area changes due to forces beyond your control? How do you ensure that long-term residents and community organisations aren’t squeezed out? In this workshop, delegates will explore the challenges that can arise from gentrification.  When your organisation is leading on regeneration, how do you increase quality of life for the existing community without falling into the gentrification trap?

Learning and earning without leaving: opportunities in community trusts
Catherine Thomson, Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn

Communities and culture: Embracing our own heritage
David Francis, Director of the Traditional Music Forum at TRACS

Three Bold Ideas: What community empowerment really means: Three speakers will have five minutes each to pitch their radical idea of a bold change needed in Scotland’s land ownership. Following the pitches, delegates will have the opportunity to discuss and debate the proposals.

Watch Conference Livestream: