Community Wealth Building approach can boost renewables contribution to South of Scotland
We have partnered with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) to draft a new Community Wealth Building Framework which examines how to increase local economic benefits from renewable energy.
With generation from all types of renewables likely to grow significantly over the next decade, we have considered with CLES how future renewable energy projects in the region could contribute more.
The result is a draft framework which uses the five pillars of Community Wealth Building to create a series of asks and recommendations.
The framework can be read here.
What is Community Wealth Building?
Community Wealth Building is an approach which aims to ensure local organisations work together to tackle long-standing economic challenges and inequalities, so communities can access and benefit from the wealth our economy generates.
The Framework’s recommendations
- Supporting community energy initiatives
- Offering local training and apprenticeships through each renewable energy development
- Securing commitment to supporting local, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and social economy enterprises through procurement practices
- Supporting local infrastructure needs
- Enabling community capacity building
CLES conducted a series of focus groups with community groups, community support organisations, developers and public sector bodies.
The product of those sessions is the draft Community Wealth Building Framework and recommendations which we now plans to take to wider consultation across the South of Scotland later this year.
Russel Griggs OBE, Chair of SOSE said:
“We know that renewable energy is vital to tackling climate change and creating energy security, but we want renewables to make a big contribution to the economic development of the South of Scotland too.
“So we decided to apply the principles of Community Wealth Building to the opportunities presented by renewable energy to create a framework for future development, which aims to maximise local economic benefit.
“The work CLES has carried out builds on and goes beyond previous studies on community benefit.”
Rob Davidson, SOSE’s Community Wealth Building Manager, said:
“This draft Framework is about the whole of the economic opportunity - from procurement, employment and training to land access rights and community-owned energy projects.
“This is a pivotal moment for the renewables industry and for Community Wealth Building too, with Scotland set to become the first country in the world to legislate in favour of CWB as an approach to economic development.
“We welcome the work CLES has carried out and look forward to engaging with communities and developers across the South of Scotland this autumn as part of our consultation.”
Naomi Mason, Head of Scotland for CLES added:
“We welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with SOSE on this research and fully support them in their ambition to secure wider benefits for communities from the significant renewable energy developments across the South of Scotland.
“This is an area of particular interest for CLES, where ensuring greater stakes in local economies for local people and enterprises sits at the heart of our Community Wealth Building work.
“Our research with SOSE has enabled a frank conversation about these developments and the wealth which can be delivered for our local communities from them.
“The research has pointed to the appetite for collaboration and the recognition that there are opportunities to deliver more for our places and communities.
“We need to move beyond the restrictive narrative of community benefits and instead have a better understanding of how our people and places can benefit from these developments.
“Taking a Community Wealth Building approach enables that conversation.
"We look forward to seeing how the Framework evolves through the wider consultations SOSE plans to hold."