Roots to Resilience: Building on Success
Friday 30 May and Saturday 31 May 2025
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye
Community Land Scotland’s annual gathering is back—two days of ambitious conversations, big ideas, and practical solutions. As always, this is a space for community landowners and sector leaders to tackle challenges, celebrate successes, and push the movement forward. With thought-provoking discussions, hands-on workshops, and plenty of time to connect, Roots to Resilience is about turning ambition into action. See you at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.
PLEASE NOTE: due to capacity caps, there will be a limit of two delegates per organisation. If you would like to request additional delegate spaces, please contact Meg and you will be added to a wait list.
Accommodation options:
Accommodation on Skye in late May can be incredibly hard to find and very expensive. We have approximately 50 rooms available at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, and this year we have also booked space at the Broadford Hostel.
Once you have booked your conference registration, you will receive an email confirmation. In that email, there is a link to book accommodation.
The countdown is on!
The 2025 Annual Conference is sponsored by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Government and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Friday 30 May
13:00 – 14:00 Opening Plenary
Welcome
Community Landowner spotlight
Claiming Our Future: Refiring our ambitions
Scotland’s community ownership movement has come a long way. Our panel will reflect on the movement’s ambitious beginnings, share successes, and dig into the big questions for the future. With so much experience in the room, this will be a lively and honest discussion. Panellists will explore what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what we should be aiming for in the years ahead.
14:15 – 16:15 Workshop sessions
Navigating Complexity – Community Projects and Planning (SESSION A ONLY)
This session explores how communities work through complex projects. This workshop will feature short presentations from Arisaig Community Trust and the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust – two communities that have successfully navigated the planning system. They will talk about facing infrastructure challenges and working with councils and planners. In the second half of the workshop, delegates will then have a chance to share their own experiences and ask questions.
Strategic planning for community landowners (Session A only)
Community landowners must run profitable businesses and earn income in order to meet their aspirations and needs. A Strategic Plan can help communities explain what they want to achieve and how they will do it. In this workshop, delegates will explore long-term strategic planning from a community-led perspective. Led by James Hilder, a Director of the Sunart Community Company and former CEO of Mull and Iona Community Trust.
Campaigning for Good - Members only
Want to make sure Scotland’s land reform policies work for your community? This workshop will give you tools to advocate for the positive change, from Community Wealth Building to the Community Wealth Fund and beyond. Learn how to shape the conversation and engage with policy-makers. We want to make sure that new policies deliver real benefits for your community.
Roundtable workshop: Refiring our ambitions
Building on the Claiming Our Future panel discussion, this interactive session will spark fresh ideas and bold strategies for the future of community ownership. Through roundtable discussions, we’ll explore the actions, policies, and innovations needed to reclaim the ambition of the 1990s. Join us to reflect, challenge, and shape what comes next.
West Coast Community Energy Ltd: Collaborative Negotiation case study (Session B only)
Three community landowners have joined together to create West Coast Community Energy Ltd. This company will build a new community-owned wind farm on the Isle of Lewis. After the wind farm is finished, the money earned from the turbines will be shared among the three communities. This will help support social programs in those areas. In this workshop, delegates will hear from Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn (Galson Estate Trust), Urras Oighreachd Bharabhais (Barvas Estate Trust), and Urras Oighreachd Chàrlabhaigh (Carloway Estate Trust) about how they worked together to make this project happen.
Archiving as Activism (Session B only)
Archiving can serve as a form of resistance and resilience. It can help communities maintain control over their stories, heritage and connection to place. Using two examples from the Isle of Skye, we will explore how preserving cultural and historical records can empower communities. Catherine MacPhee from HighLife Highland’s Archive will discuss the importance of archiving local history in the context of Skye’s historical land activism. Musician Anne Martin will share how her music helps to preserve the north of Skye’s cultural heritage.
16:30 – 17:30 Afternoon plenary
Community Landowner spotlight
Rooted in Community: Innovations in Engagement
Community landowners need to connect with their communities to make progress, build credibility, and plan for the future. In this session, we will share examples of how to engage with your community. Delegates will hear from two communities about their experiences, strategies, and lessons learned. After the presentations, there will be time for discussion and questions.
Perth Declaration: Moving Ahead
An update from the team at Community Land Scotland about our work, what we’ve learned from Members and how that is shaping our future. Linsay will provide a look at how the organisation itself is changing, and Josh will provide an update on how we are responding to the Perth Declaration, and where we are headed next. Short Q&A to follow.
17:30 – 18:00 Meeting of the Membership
Saturday 31 May
9:30 – 10:30 Opening Plenary
Welcome
Making it Pay: Channelling new income streams
Community landowners support their communities in many ways, but to do that, they need a steady income. In this session, three groups will share how they set up businesses to fund their work. They will discuss their experiences, challenges, and key lessons. There will also be time for questions and discussion on ways to achieve financial sustainability.
Making the Most of Natural Capital: an introduction our new project
This session will introduce the Natural Capital Partnerships Project, which aims to support fair and inclusive partnerships between communities, landowners, and nature finance developers. Following a short presentation, there will be time for Q&A.
10:45 – 11:45 Financial Sustainability breakouts
Explore practical strategies to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of your community ownership project. These sessions will include workshops and discussions on diverse funding pathways, covering topics such as accessing carbon credits, writing successful grant applications, developing entrepreneurial skills, and maximizing community benefits
12:15 – 13:00 Closing Session
Community Landowner spotlight
Panel discussion: Looking Back, Moving Forward
As the conference comes to a close, this panel will look at the journey of community ownership in Scotland—where it started, what’s been achieved, and what comes next. The speakers will reflect on ideas raised in the past two days, drawing on discussions from talks, workshops, and community stories. Together, they’ll explore the big questions for the future and what we should be aiming for in the years ahead.
Community Landownership Academic Network (CLAN)
The Community Landownership Academic Network (CLAN) aims to expand and communicate our knowledge of community landownership through encouraging and coordinating ethical, collaborative and mutually-beneficial research. It facilitates partnerships between researchers and community organisations and encourages an approach which places community benefit at its centre through the design, conduct and communication of research. CLAN’s new website (www.clan.scot) houses a library of all publications, a record of all live research projects and a directory of all researchers working in this area, freely accessible for public access. The network seeks feedback from landowning community organisations as to how it can best encourage and facilitate useful research in the future.
Grassroots to Global
Grassroots to Global aim to help enable real systemic change, starting by creating democratic spaces for all kinds of people to learn, listen, use their imaginations, connect experiences and issues, and rebuild trust in ourselves and each other.
Following collaborations on Summer Gatherings: Deep Listening’, and A Land Moot in 2024, Grassroots to Global are supporting ‘Just Walk’ for land justice in Scotland; which will come from Skye to Glasgow in Autumn 2025.
NatureScot Peatland ACTION
Peatland ACTION is a national programme to restore peatlands across Scotland for the many benefits to both people and nature. Peatland ACTION funding comes through the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan for net zero, with a commitment to invest £250million to support the restoration of 250,000 hectares of peatlands by 2030.
Peatland ACTION provides funding, support and advice to deliver on-the-ground peatland restoration delivered through a network of partner organisations led by NatureScot.
Peatland restoration is a key component in the suite of nature-based solutions to the twin crises of climate change and nature loss and a rapidly expanding area of work across Scotland. Over 51,000 hectares of previously damaged peatland have benefited directly from restoration activities by Peatland ACTION.
SCOTO CIC - the Scottish Community Tourism Network
SCOTO was established in 2022 and brings together communities across Scotland who deliver visitor facing services and experiences or are seeking to better develop, manage and promote tourism in their community. SCOTO provides regular themed events, webinars and an annual gathering and online resources and signposting on www.scoto.co.uk and for visitors www.belocal.scot.
SCOTO has developed a Press Pause initiative for communities across Scotland – a facilitated workshop that explores what is and isn’t working and what could be done better or differently with tourism to help make the community a better place to live work and visit. Key is having business and community interests at the same table.
Meet Carron at our stand.
South of Scotland Community Housing
SOSCH provides long-term support to community organisations relative to the planning and delivery of community-led housing. We get involved with a community at the very start of a housing conversation, providing support all the way through to delivery and beyond. This work is inclusive of Housing Needs and Demand Assessment, project development (including business planning and funding packages), delivery and housing management. We understand the unique and specific needs of individual communities and the important role housing plays in helping to sustain resilient places, providing opportunities for people to live and work and support community-led regeneration and, where appropriate, repopulation.