- Area:
- Scotland
- Programme:
- Growing Community
- Release date:
- 2 8 2012
Community ownership boosts social lives of Scotland’s elderly, increases community ambition, and creates jobs
94% of Scots questioned as part of new Lottery funded research published today (1 AUGUST) believe that community ownership is a ‘good thing’. Elderly people in particular are finding a new lease of life thanks to an increased number of community owned facilities in their area while more people are securing employment thanks to an increase in jobs and training opportunities.
The research is part of the five year evaluation of the Big Lottery Fund’s Growing Community Assets (GCA) fund which supports rural and urban communities across Scotland to own and develop their local assets. The key findings reveal that:
- 32,000 Scots are using GCA funded services and facilities in their own communities
- 65% of users of GCA community owned services or facilities, particularly isolated older people, have made new friends or social contacts through using these assets
- 85% of users have found GCA-funded facilities ‘much better’ than the alternative community hubs available in their local area.
- GCA projects have created or safeguarded 269 full-time, plus a further 206 part time jobs.
- 93 businesses have been accommodated in GCA-funded premises, and 17 new businesses have started as a result of, or as part of, GCA projects.
- 66% of people could previously not have accessed other similar services in their area
Jackie Killeen, the Scotland Director of the Big Lottery Fund welcomed the publication of the research, saying: “This evaluation is adding to our understanding of what can be achieved when a group of people in a local area take control of and develop their own local assets. Sometimes they are stepping in to plug the gap when a local service faces closure, or stepping up when an opportunity to acquire an asset arises, and we can now see the quality of what they can do in and for their communities.
“Through this research we know that 32,000 people across Scotland are now regularly using services within GCA funded projects and that 65% of users surveyed, in particularly elderly people, have made new friends or social contacts through these community owned assets. We also know that 85% of those surveyed consider services developed and delivered from community owned assets to be ‘much better’ than alternative services or projects available in their area.
“On top of this, communities have used Lottery funding to create new jobs and locally based businesses while many more are beginning to generate income which will benefit the whole community in the long term.” For more from Jackie you can read her blog piece on this research available at www.bigblogscotland.com
In addition the report outlines the key benefits and challenges of community ownership with those surveyed saying that the benefits are:
- giving communities more credibility many of whom felt they were taken more seriously by others because they owned an asset
- allowing communities to react more quickly to local needs and demands and giving them greater choice on how they move forward
- removing any vulnerability through having a greater sense of sustainability for the future
- increasing community involvement compared to those projects run by the public sector.
The challenges of community ownership include:
- Encouraging people not just to use GCA funded facilities but also to take an active role in running a community owned asset. Only 12% of people surveyed wanted to run and make decisions about it.
- Succession planning including finding ‘new blood’ to keep project boards supplied with new members.
- Recognising that community asset ownership requires long-term commitment that can be hard to sustain.
In 2008 BIG commissioned SQW Consulting to carry out a five year evaluation of the Growing Community Assets programme. These are the findings from the year four report of the evaluation carried out between 2011 and 2012.
Key Findings:
The research commissioned by BIG and produced by independent researchers SQW states:
- Community ownership through GCA projects has given local communities the means to help themselves, allowed them to react more quickly to community needs and demands and given them greater choice on how they move forward.
- Community ownership of an asset has increased the credibility of community groups many of whom felt they were taken more seriously by others because they owned an asset and increased community involvement compared to those projects run by the public sector
- GCA is increasing the ambition and confidence of some communities to take on other activities.
- GCA projects are particularly effective in supporting local people to make new social contacts in particular, helping elderly people to get out of their homes and interacting with their community.
- While some GCA projects generate income to become financially self-sustaining (e.g. ‘community facility’- type projects), others aim to do this on a sufficiently large scale to help the community as a whole achieve the same goal.
From 58 projects completed to date:
- 32,000 people across Scotland are using the services and facilities in their communities on a regular basis.
- 559 people are involved in project management of these completed GCA services and facilities
- 1,264 people are regular volunteers across these completed GCA projects
- 21 of these completed projects have directly provided 890 community members with a wide variety of training.
- GCA projects have created or safeguarded 269 full-time, plus a further 206 part time jobs.
- In total 93 businesses have been accommodated in GCA-funded premises, and 17 new businesses have started as a result of, or as part of, GCA projects.
- One third of the 18 renewable energy projects funded under GCA have started to produce electricity which can be sold to generate income for re-investment in other community projects.
A full copy of the of the evaluation can be found at www.bigblogscotland.com or http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/er_gca4.pdf
Further Information
07786 157 837 or 0141 242 1458
Public Enquiries Line: 0870 240 2391
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Notes to Editors
- BIG’s Growing Community Assets programme enables communities throughout Scotland to have more control and influence over their future through owning and developing local assets.
- The evaluation takes place over 5 years with a final report due to be published in 2013. The evaluation is being conducted in three phases over a five year period, from 2008 to 2013.
- The top line figure of 94% comes from a sample of 5 GCA funded projects with 137 individuals questioned.
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £25 billion over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
- The Scotland Committee, has been making Big Lottery Fund decisions on Scottish projects since March 2007. As well as taking devolved decisions on Lottery spending, the Committee, led by Chair, Maureen McGinn, has and will continue to play a strategic role in the future direction of BIG in Scotland.
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