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SURF e-bulletin February 2023
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SURF's February e-bulletin: All the latest news

Hello <<First Name>>. Welcome to the February e-bulletin. We hope you will: book onto the SURF Award Shared Learning Workshops; be interested in the Dunoon Alliance for Action funding update; highlight a service, support or fund in the SURF Cost of Living Bulletin series; join SURF's 20 Min Neighbourhood Practice Network; apply for or share SURF's Vacancy in Girvan; respond to the survey on the SURF E-bulletin; and keep up-to-date with the latest news & events in Scottish community regeneration.

Shared Learning

The SURF Award Shared Learning Workshops are now open for bookings.

These will be in-person events held throughout May in Glasgow City Centre, Linlithgow, Govan and Kinning Park.
There are 4 workshops covering the themes of 

The workshops will contain presentations from SURF Award Winners and Highly Commended projects, plus input from relevant SURF national partners. 
You can find out more, and book your free place, using the links above or visiting: https://www.surf.scot/category/events/

Find out more about the 2022 SURF Award Finalists in the Award Publication.

2023 marks the 25th Anniversary of the SURF Awards. The process will open for applications on Thursday 8th June. Please keep an eye out on the SURF website for further details. 

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 and resources available to help sustain these services. 

You can read previous copies HERE

If you are running a service, providing or highlighting resources or delivering funding please get in touch. 

Please email emma@surf.scot with any contributions or queries. 

SURF Vacancy

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

The successful applicant will be responsible for supporting regeneration collaborations and project delivery in response to a series of recent community consultations.

The Girvan Facilitator will provide all reasonable support to local stakeholders for project planning, resource and process development, implementation and evolution. Find out more. **Deadline Today**

  • Cost of living & the #RunningCostsCrisis (link);
  • Scotland’s Museums and Galleries Strategy (link);
  • Investing in Communities (link);
  • Approved NPF4 (link);
  • Creative Scotland responds to reinstatement of Scottish Government Budget 2023/24 (link);
  • Transforming vacant and derelict land (link);
  • Economic outlook for 2023 challenging despite positive growth at the end of 2022 (link);
  • National Planning Framework 4 - What is it and why is it going to be so important? (link);
  • Vacancy - Community Funds Adviser – 3 posts at Foundation Scotland (link);
  • Vacancy - The Stove Network are recruiting for new Board Members (link);
  • Planning for greener communities (link);
  • My Place Awards (link);
  • Why Scotland's heritage risks being just a thing of the past for Generation Z (link);
  • Event - Culture and the Cost of Living Crisis - CPG Culture and Communities (link);
  • Late Victorian industrial time capsule is C-listed (link);
  • Scottish Learning Disability Week 2023 (link);
  • Event - Living Streets Scotland Big Walking Seminar (link);
  • Delivering NPF4 Requires Collaboration and Land Reform (link);
  • The Fèis Phàislig Ceilidh Trail (link);
  • The Shared Ingredients for a Wellbeing Economy (link);
  • Reversing the brain-drain (link);
  • Mews infill to restore order to a forgotten Edinburgh lane (link);
  • ​Fair Funding for the Voluntary Sector (link);
  • Abandoned Edinburgh newsagents set to be turned into residential apartments (link);
  • Public body sparks discussion on Scotland’s changing landscape (link);
  • Place Forum: The power of place in child poverty and cost of living crisis (link);
  • Contentious Strathbungo flats recommended for approval (link);
  • Vacancy - Communications and Events Lead at Social Enterprise Scotland (link);
  • Event - Meet the Pioneers: Community ownership in villages (link);
  • Event - Warm Spaces: Responses to the cost of living crisis (link);
  • Challenging the cost of living crisis on Barra (link);
  • Edinburgh Project SEARCH (link);
  • Behind the figures: social sector still growing (link);
  • Why we need to prioritise wellbeing over growth (link);
  • Over 50 trees planted in Princes Street Gardens (link);
  • Funding - Community Ownership Fund Round 2: how to express your interest in applying (link);
  • Event - Impact Arts launch... The Boardwalk (link);
  • Event - Social Enterprise Scotland Event (link);
  • Event - 2023 Community Land Scotland Annual Conference (link);
  • Scale and Concentration of Land Ownership (link);
  • £5,000 towards book publication to celebrate Stornoway’s architectural heritage (link);
  • Vacancy - Fife Historic Buildings Trust – Finance & Administration Officer (link);
  • Event - Webinar series on community resilience (link);
  • Funder Myths and Realities (link);
  • Culture in Parliament - February 2023 (link);
  • Re-use hub ‘should be in business in 2025’ after £1.8m funds boost (link);
  • Event - Sustrans Scotland: Cost of Living, Community and Active Travel (link);
  • Scotland’s land information system: what is it and why it matters (link);
  • Informing and supporting action to improve health and tackle inequality (link);
  • NPF4 and the social housing sector (link);
  • Funding - River Avich Hydro Open Grants Fund (link);
  • West Craigs masterplan to take shape with the approval of 122 homes (link);
  • Housing sector comes together to publish briefing on damp and mould (link);
  • Helping families with their living costs (link);
  • Vacancy - Strengthening Communities Programme Development Officer at DTAS (link); 
  • Introducing EVOC's New Convenor (link);
  • Event - Falkirk Funders Fayre 2023 (link);
  • Event - Arts, Communities and Place (link);
  • Guarantee our Essentials: reforming Universal Credit to ensure we can all afford the essentials in hard times (link)
The SURF e-bulletin is not membership of SURF. Why not Join SURF

Dunoon Success

There were two major pieces of good news for SURF’s Alliance for Action site of Dunoon this month. 

Dunoon Community Development Trust was established by SURF’s Local Facilitator Ann Campbell in 2021, in response to strong local demand for a permanent community led delivery vehicle.  

The Development Trust successfully applied for a Scottish Government Investing in Communities Fund three year grant for a new ‘Connecting Dunoon to Improve Wellbeing’ initiative. The funding will enhance the Development Trust’s staff capacity and project delivery capability, and enable further progress of Alliance for Action aspirations over the longer term. 

The Development Trust will also receive an award from the National Lottery Community Fund’s Community Led Fund to support a part-time volunteer development position. Dunoon will continue to participate in the Alliance for Action programme in 2023/24. On 1 April 2023, the Development Trust will take over local project development responsibilities from SURF’s Local Facilitator. 

20Min Neighbourhood

SURF’s 20 Minute Neighbourhood Practice Network is next meeting on the 30th March with speakers from Stratherrrick and Foyers Community Trust and the Scottish Government.

While not exactly stumbling in to the 20 Minute Neighbourhood concept, their work predates the policy introduction and reveals some of the resource they have found necessary to pursue living well locally in a rural context.There are wider lessons to be learned

We will also be joined by colleagues from Scottish Government for an update on 20MN guidance.

If you are interested in joinging the online network please  email emma@surf.scot

Give Your Views

SURF are currently looking at the ways in which we communicate with our network.

In doing so we have pulled together a short survey to gauge your views on the SURF E-bulletin


We would appreciate if you could give your opinion on the 3 questions raised in the survey. It should only take around 2mins.This will help us to develop the e-bulletin going forward. 
Complete the survey HERE

  • Consultation - Community wealth building consultation (link);
  • An investment in Scotland’s neighbourhoods (link);
  • Heritage helps place-based progress (link);
  • Glasgow houses: Conversion of heritage buildings crucial (link);
  • Effectively retrofitting UK housing requires "compromise between performance and heritage" say architects (link);
  • Architecture & Design Scotland Annual Review (link);
  • Voluntary organisations must engage with "inevitable" reforms (link);
  • An introduction to SFHA’s Member Solutions Co-ordinator (link);
  • 13 churches to close across Inverness and Nairn in sweeping Church of Scotland reforms (link);
  • Consultation - Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan consultation (link);
  • ‘Rich list’ of top landowners should expose where public cash is going says ex-government minister (link);
  • High-rise demolition that turns Glasgow’s COP26 on its head (link);
  • Social Enterprise Scotland announces new chair (link);
  • Inverness department store conversion delivers 75 homes (link);
  • Holyrood event explains role of history and heritage (link);
  • British Business Bank chief executive Louis Taylor pledges £150m boost for Scottish SMEs (link);
  • New street layouts still unsafe, say blind people (link);
  • National Standards for Community Engagement: the 7 principles in graphics (link);
  • Granton Gasholder moves forward to next phase of development (link);
  • Why there are so many empty buildings in the UK — and how we should be using them (link);
  • ‘We need trees’: green vision struggles to take root in Europe’s cities (link);
  • Applicants wanted to live and work in the Isle of Colonsay! (link);
  • Report maps role and dynamics of cultural heritage stakeholders (link);
  • Become part of the PB Scotland Network (link);
  • Policy Choices for Glasgow Traditional Tenements Retrofitting for Sustainable and Affordable Carbon Reduction (link);
  • Dumfries and Galloway Flood Recovery Support (link);
  • Event - SFHA Events (link);
  • Milestone reached on flagship, net zero carbon housing development in Edinburgh (link);
  • Levelling Up: the view from Scotland (link);
  • The role of local government and its cross-sectoral partners in financing and delivering a net-zero Scotland (link);
  • Lomond Group Proposal to Boost Regeneration of Glenrothes (link);
  • Taighean a' Chaiseil, Staffin, Isle of Skye (link);
  • Vacancy - Creative Learning Manager at the Fruitmarket, Edinburgh (link);
  • Waterfronts are Great for Cities — When They’re Done Right (link);
  • Edinburgh housing developments: Student flats approved at site of the former Tynecastle High School (link);
  • UK Youth and Pears Foundation’s £5m fund to support youth organisations through the cost of living crisis (link);
  • Budget Bingo – common themes in Committees’ pre-budget scrutiny (link);
  • Don’t let the cold snap cost the earth (link);
  • Funding - The Smarter Choices, Smarter Places (SCSP) Open Fund (link);
  • Why generations of unborn Scots need to have a voice in today's politics (link);
  • “The greenest building is the one that already exists”: How traditional buildings are key to a circular society (link);
  • Connecting the dots: PB and community development (link);
  • Funding - Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund (link);
  • Event - Land @ Lunch - How can rural communities develop affordable housing and create sustainable places? (link);
  • Vacancy - Development Manager at the Traverse Theatre (link);
  • All grow at new southside community garden (link);
  • Apprenticeship resources (link);
  • Drive to expand reach of Scotland’s improvement districts (link);
  • Event - Historic Environment Grants Information Sessions (link);
  • Event - SCCAN Annual Gathering 'Re-imagining the future' - Edinburgh (link)
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