The Scottish Government is developing proposals for legislation on community empowerment and renewal which in some ways mirror the land reform legislation which gave more power to rural communities:

“The proposed Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill will support communities to achieve their own goals and aspirations through taking independent action and by having their voices heard in the decisions that affect their area.”

The initial consultation on the proposed Bill took place between June and September but was given relatively little publicity. The Strathbungo Society only considered it at a late stage but thought it was important and submitted a response based on experiences of people living here.    Community Engagement and Empowerment Bill Final Response

Our response was one of over 400 responses which were due to be analysed in November but have not yet been published.   The website for this is at:   http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/engage/cer

There will be further chances to comment on any draft legislation as it goes forward and the Strathbungo Society is keen to comment further on the process and get views of people living in the area.   We would welcome comments on the blog or you can send to nickkempe@tinyworld.co.uk – Nick has offered to co-ordinate comments and our contribution to this and to provide further updates on the blog.

While the Bill is potentially a radical measure which could help empower people, there are huge issues – not least of which is what is a community? – and it also appears to be in conflict with certain other national legislative trends (eg the constant pressure to speed up planning processes which has arguably given communities less power than ever and the increasing centralisation of budgets, with community councils left with no financial resources and therefore power).  We have tried to raise as many of these issues we could think of that might apply to Strathbungo in our response.  We have also tried to raise some questions of whether the Bill will help us address certain longstanding local issues, not least of which is whether the Bill  would give communities like ours more influence over how Network Rail maintains the railway.  If you have ideas about local issues which you think are best addressed at community level please let us know.