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SURF e-bulletin October 2022
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SURF's October e-bulletin: All the latest news

Hello <<First Name>>. Welcome to the October e-bulletin. We hope you will: apply or share SURF's vacancy in Peterhead; respond to the Tree planting and Forestry Consultation; highlight a service, support or fund in the SURF Cost of Living Bulletin series; sign up for SURF's 20 Min Neighbourhood Practice Network; consider joining SURF as a Member; be interested in the SURF Awards and Dinner; read the next two SURF Journal blogs; and keep up-to-date with the latest news & events in Scottish community regeneration.

SURF Vacancy

SURF is seeking a part-time Facilitator to support its new Alliance for Action programme site in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.

The successful applicant will be responsible for helping to build on local progress towards the regeneration of Peterhead town centre, supporting collaboration and project delivery in response to community demand.

Recent SURF consultation activity in Peterhead established broad consensus on the town’s main strengths. These include its rich heritage, active community, economic assets and strategic location. Our conversations and visits also highlighted significant social and economic challenges in the town centre, including vacant and derelict buildings, anti-social behaviour, and limited social and economic opportunities for young people. Find out more

Cost of Living Crisis

Over the last couple of months, SURF have been involved in a number of partner discussions and engaged with SURF members around the cost of living crisis

For the past few weeks SURF have put together a cost of living bulletin to highlight the work going on in communities throughout Scotland, and also funding available to help sustain these services. See copies HERE

Running a service or delivering funding get in touch - emma@surf.scot 

Join SURF

Are you a SURF Member?

Benefits of SURF membership include;

  • Reduced membership fee: SURF membership is only £50 (plus VAT) for organisations and only £20 (plus VAT) for community groups & individuals 
  • A free way to promote your organisation: through networking, advertising your events on our website and social media or raising opinions in discussion sessions 
  • Influence decision makers: get connected to an influential network of policymakers and practitioners and contribute to SURF network responses to policy consultations 
  • Be in the know: advance notice & invitations to SURF events, access to SURF journal & publications, discount on events

Further information on how to join: HERE

SURF Journal

Alistair Grimes contemplates the need for national and local government to create the space for CWB to take place, permitting communities and small enterprise to lead without overburdening them.

When we try and think about Community Wealth Building (CWB) we are often paralysed by two competing instincts. The first is to paint a broad ‘aspirational’ picture of what we want CWB to achieve and usually to focus on what government can do to support this. In part, this reflects the truth that although the problems community regeneration is trying to solve are often spatially concentrated, the solutions may not be (if unemployment is a problem in Saltcoats, the jobs to solve this may be in Glasgow). The second is to look at the very local level and to enumerate ‘case studies’ of successful CWB, and to focus on the local conditions which brought about success, which we hope can then be replicated or scaled up.

Read More

  • Cost of living & the #RunningCostsCrisis (link);
  • Cost-of-living crisis: Why people in Scotland are worried by the concept of 'warm banks' or 'warm spaces' (link);
  • Cost of living crisis commitments from Scottish Funders (link);
  • Cost of Living Support (link);
  • The impact of the cost of living crisis on volunteering and volunteers (link);
  • Community Empowerment (link);
  • Event - National Emergency Food Summit (link);
  • RTPI announces second round of mentoring programme (link);
  • Are young planners talking to young people? (link);
  • RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence 2022 finalists announced (link);
  • Funding - Communities Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund (Argyll and Bute) (link);
  • Unlocking the value of data (link);
  • Funding - Creative funding for voluntary groups (link);
  • Community-led affordable homes given planning permission in Lochcarron (link);
  • £1million Fuel Support Project begins in Glasgow (link);
  • Landmark over 55's tower completes Crown Street masterplan (link);
  • Event - Community Land Scotland 2022 AGM & Keeping The Bounce in Your Buyout (link);
  • South Lanarkshire continues to deliver on pledge with 551 new homes (link);
  • Progress made on build of world’s deepest offshore wind farm in Scotland (link);
  • Consultation - Arts Resource Management Scotland Research Survey (link);
  • Economies for Healthier Lives project (link);
  • Event - Scottish Rural and Islands Housing Conference (link);
  • Consultation - Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture. Proposals for a new Agriculture Bill (link);
  • Nicola Sturgeon opens £10.2m social housing development in Govan (link);
  • Funding - Youth Link Scotland Funding Directory (link);
  • Funding - Carbon Innovation Fund launching 22 November (link);
  • Five takeaways from RTPI Scotland’s annual conference in Aberdeen (link);
  • Event - Carbon Literacy Action Day (link);
  • Vacancy - Member Solutions Co-ordinator at SFHA (link);
  • Community engagement surveys – Meaningful engagement starts with you (link);
  • Consultation - Corra’s 2022 Customer Experience Survey is now open! (link);
  • Consultation - Opportunity for feedback to help Scotland improve land reform journey (link);
  • Case study: Dunoon Burgh Hall (link);
  • Vacancy - Volunteers at The Larder (link);
  • Accolade for Kingdom HA development in Fife (link);
  • Funding - Cost of Living Grant launched by Asda Foundation (link);
  • Funding - Historic Environment Grants (link);
  • Vacancy - Board of Trustees elections 2022 at SCVO (link);
  • Funding - Strengthening Scotland’s Creative Industries (link);
  • Vacancy - Engage Scotland Coordinator (link);
  • Redundant Edinburgh office block to make way for homes (link);
  • Life-changing funding boost for groups empowering young Scots (link);
  • Conserving cultural heritage is vital for climate adaptation (link);
  • Funding - Community funding for mental health and wellbeing (link);
  • Funding - Create Community Wealth Micro-Grants Available (link);
  • Funding - National Drugs Mission Funds (link); 
  • Charity reserves can be a tool to guide future direction (link);
  • Need to build affordable homes could be relaxed in planning reforms (link);
  • Vacancy - Housing Advisors at Viewpoint HA (link);
  • Scottish Planner (link);
  • ‘Perfect storm’ warning for Scottish arts sector amid fears of ‘significant’ funding cuts (link);
  • Culture in parliament (link);
  • 'Good for Glasgow and good for Govan': Charity up for prestigious award (link);
  • Vacancy - Climate Emergency and Sustainability Lead at Creative Scotland (link);
  • New! - Place Standard with a Climate Lens (link)
The SURF e-bulletin is not membership of SURF. Why not Join SURF

Tree Planting & Forestry

The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) has launched an inquiry into the benefits of public support for tree planting and forestry through planting grants, tax allowances and carbon payments.

A substantive part of the inquiry is asking what would improve the community benefits of tree planting in rural and urban environments.

It also asks if communities are sufficiently involved in the development of tree planting schemes, for evidence of land use conflicts and whether there are sufficiently skilled people required to deliver benefits from tree planting.

The Inquiry is open until Monday 5th December.

Full details are on this link

20Min Neighbourhood

The next meeting of SURF’s 20MN Practice Network is on 15th December and it will feature a presentation on the ongoing project Perth People and Place.

As National Planning Framework 4 is due to be published in the autumn it may also be an opportunity to look at how the policy has developed from the draft version.

If you are not already a member of the network, and would like to attend the session, drop emma@surf.scot an email for details of how to join.

SURF Awards Dinner

The 2022 SURF Awards Presentation Dinner will be held in the Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow, Ballroom on the evening of Thursday 8th December 2022.

We are delighted to confirm Scottish Government Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, Tom Arthur MSP, will be in attendance to announce the winners on the night, and our After Dinner Speaker will be Storyteller, Facilitator and Writer Shona Cowie. 

Further details, and an event programme, can be downloaded from the SURF website: HERE 

And should you wish to attend a booking form can be downloaded also. This should be completed and returned via email to emma@surf.scot
View the Shortlist HERE

SURF Journal

Fiona Garven questions how we measure the success of CWB at scale, is uneasy at any expectation that communities can fix structural inequalities and concludes with 3 asks of SURF’s CWB Practice Network.

“If you are sitting in this room thinking you’ve seen it all before then you are probably in the wrong job”. Blimey, called out and it’s not even coffee time. Just as well I’m retiring (ish).

C’mon though, throw us a bone. It’s hard not to feel a sense of frustration when you’ve been round the block a few times and seen several centrally led projects, programmes, initiatives, strategies, whatever you want to call them, come and go over the last few decades. One thing is notable, they arrive in a flourish but, not unlike old rock stars, it’s fair to say that most of them just fade away.

We’ve had social strategies, the community programme, the urban programme, wider role, better neighbourhoods, total place and town centre regeneration. Read More

  • Did you hear the one about the 20 minute neighbourhood...? (link);
  • New figures tell a clear story about child poverty in Scotland (link);
  • Consultation - Review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (link);
  • Opportunity to upskill and reskill using OU courses (link);
  • Event - Various Arts & Business Scotland Events in November (link);
  • Water Row Masterplan (link);
  • Active Travel and Public Realm Improvements Delivered in North Glasgow (link);
  • The Climate Heritage Network 2022-24 Action Plan (link);
  • A learning report from a project between Foundation Scotland and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) Scotland (link);
  • Proposed rent controls threaten delivery of social housing, Scottish Parliament committee is told (link);
  • Community Ownership in Scotland 2021 (link);
  • Short-Term Lets Licencing Scheme Consultation Findings Report (link);
  • Appointment Of Bridie Ashrowan And Kate Wimpress To The Board Of Community Land Scotland (link);
  • Business support services in Scotland (link);
  • The textile creatives turning trash into treasure (link);
  • Climate Resource Recommendations from the MGS team (link);
  • Event - RIAS Conservation CPD (link);
  • A fond farewell to Civic Trust Director (link);
  • Funding - Community Led funding opportunity from National Lottery (link);
  • Dignity - a film for #ChallengePoverty Week 2022 (link);
  • Opportunities for Land Reform – Making your voice heard (link);
  • Survey of Scotland’s local civic and heritage groups (link);
  • Funding secured to help save Glasgow’s at-risk Egyptian Halls (link);
  • Are you looking to comment on a planning or Listed Building Consent application? (link);
  • Event - One Life, Two Cultures (link);
  • Argyll and Bute Cost of Living Information Page (link);
  • Transitions in loneliness in later life: the role of social comparisons and coping strategies (link);
  • Former Craigholme campus to be converted back into homes (link);
  • Community urged to help homelessness closer to home this World Homeless Day (link);
  • Event - Scotland’s Towns Conference 2022 (link);
  • Funding - Climate Challenge (link);
  • Consultation - Understanding Scottish Places Survey (link);
  • Event - Land Commission launches new programme of free webinars (link);
  • Sir Patrick Geddes Lecture 2022 (link);
  • Climate Beacons evaluation report launched (link);
  • Event - Land @ Lunch: How do you find out about the ownership and use of land? (link);
  • Vacancy - 3 vacancies at Linthouse HA (link);
  • DCMS will prioritise economic growth (link);
  • Scoping culture and heritage capital report (link); 
  • Regional Screen Scotland appoints new Chief Executive (link);
  • Spirits bring new life to Polphail ghost village (link);
  • Consultation - 2022 Community Engagement Survey - Communities/Community Organisations (link);
  • Leading housing organisations demand action from Swinney in budget (link);
  • Climate change - loss and damage: First Minister's speech (link);
  • Funding - Collaborate fund is now open to the cultural sector (link);
  • Pulse report: ArtsPay 2022 (link);
  • Draft National Strategy for Scotland's Museums and Galleries 2023-2030 (link);
  • Consultation - National Strategy for Scotland’s Museums and Galleries 2023-30 (link);
  • Consultation - HES Responsible Tourism Framework (link);
  • Event - The Point by Dandara Site Visit (link);
  • Funding - Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance (link);
  • Community action on show in Wester Hailes as residents come together to clean up neighbourhood (link);
  • Event - 20 Minute Neighbourhoods (link);
  • Invitation to Tender - Youth-Led Funding Programme (link)
Follow SURF on Twitter: @SURFscot
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