SURF Regeneration Bulletin for SFHA members: Quarter 1 2022

Introduction

Each quarter, SURF – Scotland’s Regeneration Forum highlights the latest developments on policy and practice in place-based regeneration in Scotland for the interest of SFHA Members. We hope SFHA members find the updates useful.

SURF is a charity and membership body that brings together more than 300 cross-sector organisations that are concerned about the regeneration of Scotland’s poorer places. All SFHA Members receive free SURF membership from our partnership agreement; if your organisation is not yet taking full advantage, you can find out how to do so at the end of the bulletin.

You can read the briefing in full below or by clicking on the download to the right of the article. ?

Place-Based Investments

2022 is set to be a busy year for place-based regeneration activity on the back of recent project-based funding awards and 2022 commitments from the Scottish and UK Governments.

The Scottish Government’s Place Based Investment Programme, which has an initial commitment of £325m in capital investment over the next five years, is in the process of being rolled out. The programme is designed to take a more coherent approach to place-based regeneration, to operationalise the Place Principle, and to create more liveable ‘20 minute’ neighbourhoods.

The Scottish Government programme features continuation of the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, a new £50m Vacant & Derelict Land Investment Programme, annual allocations to local government, and further support for Clyde Gateway. A new Place Based Framework will inform the investments and support improved regeneration collaboration between national, regional and local levels.

Meanwhile, the Cities and Local Growth Unit in the UK Government has established a Scotland Team with Lauren Bruce, former Policy Manager in CoSLA, as its Deputy Director. At a January SURF event, Lauren provided an overview of the Scotland Team’s role and responsibilities, highlighting recent recruitment of area-based leads that cover similar geographies to Scotland’s City Region and Regional Growth Deal areas.

Lauren clarified that local leads are liaising with senior Council officers on the distribution of regeneration grant awards on several funding programmes, including the UK Community Renewal Fund, the Levelling Up Fund, and the forthcoming UK Shared Prosperity Fund. In December, details of more than 50 Scottish Community Renewal Fund awards were revealed, as were five awards for the UK Community Ownership Fund, which is managed separately by the UK Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4)

A draft publication of NPF4, the Scottish Government’s long-term plan for national planning priorities that sets out strategic objectives, regional goals, and major projects, was published in November. SURF has been engaging with the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, which is scrutinising the NPF4 content. An open Scottish Government consultation is running in parallel.

SURF submitted a response to the Parliamentary Committee in early January, based on initial discussions on the draft NPF4 with selected SURF members, and earlier SURF network deliberations on the planning system more generally. In our response, SURF highlighted a general agreement with the aims and principles of NPF4, which sets out plans to progress aspirations across a range of themes including climate change, community empowerment, 20 minute neighbourhoods, infrastructure investment, and sustainable economic development.

SURF consultees drew attention, however, to a number of challenges, the most fundamental being a lack of resources for implementation at community, regional and national level. SURF also highlighted: a limited focus on poverty and heritage; the risk of NPF4 in its current form adding further complexity to an already busy regeneration policy landscape; and a lack of clarity on how NPF4 will practically help with plans to operationalise the Place Principle and create more 20 Minute Neighbourhoods.

Our response is available on the SURF website. Further SURF NPF4 consultation activity is planned for February and March. The Scottish Government consultation will close on 31 March.

Best Practice in Housing and Regeneration

The SFHA is a keen supporter of the SURF Awards for Best Practice in Community Regeneration. The independently judged SURF Awards are delivered in partnership with the Scottish Government, with the objective of recognising achievement in place-based regeneration.

The 2021 SURF Awards process concluded last month with a presentation event in Glasgow, and the winner of the Housing and Regeneration category was the ‘Step Up - Step Down’ development at the Telford Centre, Fort Augustus. This innovative project constructed six adaptable self-contained bungalows within the grounds of a care home, providing easy access for visiting carers, and enabling residents to seek support whilst maintaining independence in their own home.

The SURF Awards judging panel were impressed at the well-rounded, community-driven and partnership-oriented nature of the Highland Council led development. The panel felt it presented a valuable model that can be replicated across other parts of rural Scotland. The category runners up were impressive housing conversions of two former civic buildings: a school in Ballater (Grampian Housing Association), and a police station in Langholm (Eskdale Foundation).

In other categories, Fraserburgh was named Scotland’s Most Improved Place, Greenock-based RIG Arts won in Creative Regeneration, the Move On Employability Fund received the Supporting Youth Employability award, and the Community Led Regeneration prize went to the Furniture Project in Stranraer. Full profiles of all 15 shortlisted initiatives and additional 2021 SURF Awards information are available in a dedicated publication.

SURF will be organising a free Housing and Regeneration category workshop event in May 2022, featuring colleagues from the SFHA and project managers from the three shortlisted initiatives. The focus will be on drawing out and sharing transferable learning outcomes that can inform future housing developments.

Climate Action & Wellbeing Towns

Architecture and Design Scotland have revealed the places participating in their new network of Climate Action Towns. The Scottish Government agency will work with a set of seven towns to provide practical support for collective action that addresses the impacts of climate change through mitigation, adaptation and behaviour change.

The towns are: Alness, Annan, Blackburn, Campbeltown, Holytown, Invergordon and Stevenston. The project is designed to help answer the question: ‘what does a climate-ready town in Scotland look like?’, and to inform wider application across the country in future.

Meanwhile, another new place-based initiative managed by Public Health Scotland in partnership with the Improvement Service, will progress local recruitment and delivery plans this year in Alloa, Ayr, Clydebank and Dunoon. The Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme has a focus on improving health and wellbeing, and reducing local inequalities.

It is hoped both initiatives will offer practical learning on efforts to implement the Place Principle and 20 Minute Neighbourhoods. SURF is also planning to expand its own place-based programme, the Alliance for Action, which currently operates in Dunoon, Govan and Langholm.

‘Our Place’ to Launch

The Scottish Government and partners are set to launch a new ‘Our Place’ website in beta form. The website, which SURF contributed to, is designed to bring together news, events, case studies, tools and resource signposting with the objective of helping to practically support all sectors engaging in place-based regeneration.

Architecture and Design Scotland, Public Health Scotland and the Improvement Service are among the Scottish Government’s ‘Our Place’ partners, all of whom are keen to see the Place Principle make a greater impact in Scottish communities. The Place Principle, which calls for a more collaborative, long-term and vision-based approach to place-based regeneration, is seen by some in the SURF network as having stalled in its journey from policy into practice.

The website will provide access to multiple toolkits, a range of case studies under the four themes of cities, towns, rural and islands, and information on resources, split into thematic areas including place-based investment, climate, and health and wellbeing. SURF understands a beta launch of the website is expected in early 2022, with further development planned later in the year.

Get Involved

SFHA Members that would like to learn more about the benefits of their free organisational SURF membership – and receive information on our outputs and invitations to our 2022 events – are warmly encouraged to contact SURF Events, Information and Communications Manager Emma Scott – emma@surf.scot.

Any SFHA Members with queries or comments on the content of this briefing are welcome to contact SURF’s Policy Manager, Derek Rankine – derek@surf.scot.  

SURF website: www.surf.scot