Your South of Scotland engagement tour summary
As part of our ‘Your South of Scotland’ Engagement Tour, we visited 24 different locations across the South of Scotland in two phases between November 2021 and March 2022. We also held two online virtual events and three business breakfast events.
Our events, which were open to all, provided an opportunity for you to meet our Chair and Chief Executive, face-to-face. We were eager to share with you what we are here to do, how we can help your business or community, and what we have been working on in your area.
Engagement tour presentation
The presentation used throughout the tour is available.
We now want to use what we hear to help shape our future priorities and importantly our first Action Plan, which will set out our priorities up until 2025.
This summary shares what we have heard so far, across the first phase of our tour.
Who we heard from
- 214 people attended the 12 sessions during first phase
- 38 per cent from businesses
- 17 per cent community groups
- 10 per cent social enterprises
- 8 per cent was general public
- 7 per cent public sector
- 7 per cent charity
What we heard - key issues discussed
- SOSE needs to provide bold and strategic leadership against a backdrop of unprecedented change facing the South of Scotland, on several fronts including:
- Just Transition to Net Zero
- New approaches to land use
- Responding to the biodiversity crisis
- Embracing Fair Work
- Community empowerment
- SOSE needs to be a catalyst for raising ambition across the region and providing inspiration
- SOSE must lead by example in procuring as far as possible from within the region, helping to grow local supply chains and retain wealth locally
- SOSE needs to be a strong voice for the South – we can and must shout louder still
- There is an ongoing job to champion rural interests and to ensure Scottish Government and others understand that rural is different
- SOSE must advocate and influence national policies and approaches to ensure they reflect the needs of the South
- SOSE must explore how it can:
- Act to bring people and partners across the region together on the things that matter most - joining up, enhancing and enabling more effective and meaningful collaboration
- Facilitate some of the big debates needed to bring together different views on key changes and challenges facing the region such as land use
- SOSE should draw on and collaborate with local suppliers to boost its capacity to achieve its aims, such as around coaching and mentoring networks
- SOSE should be at the forefront of acting to realise the big economic opportunities facing the South – including Natural Capital, energy, culture and tourism
- SOSE should support the delivery of existing Borderlands priorities and projects
- There is a role for SOSE in helping wealth to be retained locally, ensuring value is added to products produced in the region and strengthening the local supply chain
- SOSE should take forward work to develop an effective strategy and a sustained effort to increase inward investment to the region
- SOSE needs to help ensure that the replacement for European Union funds meets the needs of the region and can be effectively used
- The National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) provides an opportunity to support a transition to a more proactive, responsive and collaborative development planning regime which enables creative solutions to planning constraints facing many of our communities
- SOSE should contribute to creating thriving town centres across the region and help capitalise on opportunities for towns, post COVID-19
- Housing is becoming critical if we are to address our demographic and labour supply issues – more homes of all kinds are needed. There is a need to support attracting more developers to the region
- Transport remains a key challenge, particularly for young people accessing education and jobs, with little progress having been made
- Electricity infrastructure is a key constraint across the region, frustrating growth and ambitions
- More needs to be done to address serious skills shortages and to encourage greater apprenticeships and career pathways within the region
- We need to ensure there are more opportunities for young people in the region, and they are supported in building capacity and ambition. SOSE can add value here
- Mobile and broadband speeds and reliability are still a constraint for some of the regions communities and are hampering growth
- Need to build our understanding of the South to support informed decision making – there are key gaps in data availability which SOSE could be well placed to address
- There is a lack of suitable, available and affordable industrial units across many of our towns and villages
- Routes to funding and support can be confusing – SOSE needs to help simplify and more effectively signpost where appropriate
- Need to support and not lose sight of the needs of traditional sectors within the region
- Non-financial support including capacity building can be as important as funding
- Support needs to be easy to access and relevant to needs
- SOSE needs to support community building capability and capacity, supporting local leadership and helping to bring community groups and businesses together to speak more strongly as a collective
- SOSE can help encourage and unleash community spirit
- Communities are ambitious and SOSE can help community groups come together for the benefit of their places
- SOSE should raise its profile and convince people and demonstrate it is a different enterprise agency
- Lots of plans out there and good things happening, but some confusion over who is doing what – SOSE must make clear where they fit in and add value
- SOSE needs a presence across the region’s towns, villages and communities – it needs to be recognised and approachable as an enabler, connector and trouble shooter
- SOSE needs to be accessible at all levels – strategic, local and that ‘bit in the middle’ too
- SOSE should use is procurement activity to support South of Scotland businesses
- SOSE needs to communicate what a place-based approach means in practice so others can engage
- SOSE’s plans need to ensure more than ever that flexibility is built in
- As SOSE engages on its plans it needs to reach out beyond the usual suspects and draw more new and harder to reach voices in
- SOSE should effectively measure and report on its progress and successes
What next?
We will publish another summary of the entire tour and additional engagement, which will be published in summer 2022.
Where can I find out more?
- Phone - 01387 454032
- Email - strategy at sose.scot