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Good Practice in Rural Development
No.8
Innovative Methods of Service Delivery in Rural Scotland:A Good Practice Guide

6. Community-run Services

Developing community-run services means that local people are involved in the delivery of services tailored to their own needs and wants. This is often established when the private or public sectors perceive the provision of a service to be uneconomical. Community-run services often work where the public and private sector do not because the community opts to become involved because they recognise that an issue must be addressed - not because they expect to be paid.

Thus, people share their time, skills, experience, knowledge and, quite often, their money to make a service viable. Also, as the community shares ownership of the service, liability for the service can also be spread across the community. There are various methods of setting up a community-run service such as forming a company limited by guarantee, a co-operative or a charitable trust, for example.

There are many examples of community-run projects throughout rural Scotland - such as transport projects and village shops - in these instances there is support available from the Rural Community Transport Initiative and Rate Relief for rural small businesses, respectively. Start up advice on community-run projects is available from various sources such as LECs, local authorities, higher education institutions and non-governmental organisations such as CADISPA ⁶.

6.1 Gartmore Village Shop and Post Office

Method of delivery: community-run services.
Source of funding: Stirling Council; European Regional Development Fund; the Co-operative Wholesale Society (loan); the community.
Contact:david@teed.co.uk

The Gartmore Village Shop is a convenience store that sells groceries, home-baking, off-licence beverages, organic produce, newspapers and pharmaceutical products, as well as providing a video rental service and post-office facilities.

The community has run the shop since January 1998. The previous owners wanted to sell the property with the possibility of a residential development. However, the local people were concerned about the possible loss of the village shop and set up a committee to explore their options. A feasibility study was carried out by 8 people from the sub-committee to canvas local opinion on the community-purchase of the shop. Of the 250 adult villagers, 130 subsequently bought shares in a community co-operative.

Gartmore Village Shop has a full-time manager, six part-time staff, four paperboys and a volunteer who works one day a week.

CWS (Co-operative Wholesale Society) provided a loan enabling the purchase of stock whilst the Post Office provided advice. The community set up a Private Company Limited by guarantee, with a 10% cap on dividends if the shop showed an annual profit.

Initially there were minor problems running the shop as the community learnt on their feet. For example, there was a trade-off between opening times and cost effectiveness, what to stock in the shop versus wastage levels.

The area has a relatively broad demographic makeup and the shop is especially important for elderly and single parents within the community who may have restricted opportunity to access the nearest alternative shops. The Post Office is also essential for those receiving income support, benefits or pensions. Moreover, it serves as a pick-up point for doctor's prescriptions. The shop notice boards also serve as a valuable local information resource.

The shop has had made a small profit during each of the last 3 years and this year, for the first time, paid a dividend to shareholders for the first time. 5% of each member's shareholding is paid by means of a shop voucher - 130 villagers currently own a total of 31,000 worth of shares - between 25 & 2,000 each, that is, whatever each person could afford at the start.

The last loan was paid off this year and the shop and Post Office have expanded the available services every year, for example, this year opening hours were increased, a switch facility was installed and a community PC providing villagers with internet access. Moreover, the Post Office will soon be investing in a partial building refurbishment to improve the layout and structure of the shop and post services available.

6.2 The Grassic Gibbon Centre

Method of delivery: community-run services, shared premises and use of new technology.
Source of project funding: The National Lottery Heritage Fund; Small Business Enterprise Scheme; Rural Challenge Funding; the Friends of the Grassic Gibbon Centre; Scottish Enterprise Grampian; Kincardine & Deeside Arts Forum; SCVO's Direct Grants.
Contact:lgginfo@grassicgibbon.com

The Grassic Gibbon Centre is located in the village of Arbuthnott in Kincardineshire, over 25 miles from Aberdeen. The Centre offers an exhibition on the life and works of the writer, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, and a coffee area. The idea for the Centre was conceived in 1988 when the village was faced with the closure of the local Post Office and the need to upgrade the existing hall. At the same time, the local council were planning to buy Grassic Gibbons' home with plans to run an exhibition about the author in another village nearby. This galvanised the community into developing the existing Parish hall plans into the Grassic Gibbon Centre.

The Grassic Gibbon Centre opened in 1992 as a visitor and information centre that also offered additional services such as ICT training; Post Office facilities; and a shop selling local produce and crafts.

The Grassic Gibbon Centre has a permanent manager, a clerical assistant and eight seasonal staff. The facilities are closed to visitors from November to February. Numerous groups make use of the hall including music workshops and a Reminiscence Group for elderly people. Ceildhs and local concerts are also regularly held at the hall, providing an additional source of income.

An ICT training project received support from Grampian Enterprise to run over three years and delivered by volunteers. The community is also looking to expand from seasonal opening to all-year-round.

6.3 Lochwinnoch Sustainable Community Project

Method of delivery: community run, mobile staff.
Source of funding: Sustainable Action Fund; Landfill Tax Credit Scheme.
Contact:eliznick@yahoo.com

The Lochwinnoch Sustainable Community Project was set up in March 2002. It is a company limited by guarantee, has charitable status and is governed by five board members. The project was established as there was a recognised need to address transport issues that were highlighted during the Millennium Event Group's consultations with the community for the Millennium Eve celebrations.

The project has one full-time Sustainable Communities Development Officer whose remit is to devise and implement a plan on recycling, education, tourism, transport and the social problems associated with rural isolation. In practice, this has meant building the capacity of local people in order to address local economic, environmental and social problems over the next three years. The Development Officer adopts an enabling capacity rather than a providing role, working with local people to address local issues. The Development Officer works on the ground level at various projects throughout the village, rather than being based in a fixed location.

One such example is the Sustainable Lifestyles Garden. Local people carried out door-to-door research and consultation on the design of the garden and how local people wanted to become involved. A house-composting scheme was also implemented with 300 bins given out to villagers.

An advice service has been set up to tackle local economic problems, aimed at supporting unemployed young people aged between sixteen and twenty-three years old. The service is in its infancy but has, thus far, helped 5 people enter employment and 4 people go into further education.

The Development Officer has increased the village residents' capacity in a short space of time. However, local transport remains the major ongoing issue. Lochwinnoch train station is located a mile away from the village and there is no available disabled access. A feasibility study has been carried out on the costs of improving the road between the station and the village. The road is in poor condition and is particularly dangerous for pedestrians to walk along in winter or at night. It is hoped that improving the station road will encourage more people to commute and, moreover, a car-share scheme has been set up to further reduce traffic on the road, with a local directory listing the people involved.

6.4 Portree Nursery

Method of delivery: community-run services.
Source of funding: Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise; the Highland Regional Council Development Department; ERDF; the National Lottery Charities Board.
Contact:http://www.earlyyearsonline.co.uk/home.asp

The Portree Nursery provides day care for children between the ages of 6 months and 8 years and currently cares for around 40 children.

Having been commissioned by Highland Council to provide a pre-school class, Portree Nursery has a playroom that is used during school term time for children in their pre-school year. Currently, around 21 children are using this service. There is also a second playroom housing a fully-equipped special needs area with a teaching room, soft play area and relaxation room. This room is mainly used after school and sometimes at weekends, though currently there is only one child using the facility, despite the fact that the nearest alternative special needs facility is located as far away as Inverness.

Parents of children using the different facilities are represented on the voluntary board and the management of the building is shared amongst the different projects. Each of the different facilities play a part in making decisions about changes to the services offered and also to the premises itself.

The Nursery currently employs 12 staff, having started out with only 3 employees, and the occasional New Deal volunteer. Young people from the local school and people from the Resource Centre at Highland Council go to Portree Nursery for work experience.

The Nursery, especially the pre-school service, has strong links with the primary school. Teachers from the school visit the Nursery and, in return, pre-school children go to the school for visits. Following the visit, a report is written on each child. A local doctor, dentist, speech therapist and a health visitor also regularly visit the Nursery.

Portree is Skye's main centre in terms of employment, shopping and other activities. Consequently, the Nursery can be both reached and used by the maximum number of people.

6.5 Uig Community Development Association

Method of delivery: community-run services.
Source of funding: the community; Community Land Unit; Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise; Rural Petrol Stations Scheme; Highland Council.
Contact:andy_a_2000@yahoo.co.uk
http://uigdevelopment.community.sitekit.net/welcome.asp

The Uig community first joined together in 1998 in response to the news that CalMac were considering relocating their ferry service to Dunvegan as they argued that Uig Pier was no longer adequate. It was agreed that this would have had a massive effect on the community as their local economy was heavily reliant on the through trade of people travelling on the ferry. Uig Pier Development Ltd was subsequently formed to give the community a voice. The local pressure helped persuade CalMac to extend the ferry contract to Uig Pier by another 10 years.

The Uig Community Development Association was established in Feb 1999 when the community opted to buy the pier filling station, shop and café. The previous owner had gone bankrupt and the community was left with a dearth of services, the nearest alternative petrol station was 26 miles away in Portree.

Anyone who lives, works, or does business in the Uig Community Council Area is entitled to join the Association with a fee of 1 for life membership. The Association currently has 126 members, over a third of the total population of 340 of the village. The Association has four officers serving as directors of the company, elected every year, with a 14-strong management committee. The community raised 30,000 towards the costs of purchasing the petrol station, shop and adjacent café.

The Uig Community Development Association contacted CADISPA who helped the Association apply for funding, offered advice, provided contacts and built their confidence, whilst leaving it to the community to drive the project.

Once the renovations were complete, the committee had six applications from the private sector to lease the petrol station and shop. However, the strict criteria meant that only two applicants got through to the final stages before one withdrew. The committee made decisions regarding the application process and granted the 4 year lease with 6-month option either way. The shop has exceeded initial expectations, due to the level of support from within the community.

The shop sells a range of groceries, papers, and there also a café attached next door for people waiting for the ferry.

The Uig Community Development Association plans to open a new office with the aim of working with the local tourist board to provide tourist information from the premises.

6.6 Lessons Learnt in Practice

There is a growing recognition that effective community involvement is a significant factor in the successful provision of services. Local people are aware of local issues and the popularity of 'bottom-up' approach is widespread. Local people are involved in identifying their own needs and determining how best to address them, this creates a sense of 'local ownership' or 'community spirit'.

Community-run services, as noted earlier in this report, work where public and private sector services do not as there are little, if any, staff costs and so the unit cost of provision is significantly lower. Additionally, communities can tap into a diverse base of skills from within the community.

Local people who have invested their own time and effort into developing a service are likely to expend even more energy into maintaining the operation of the service. Thus, community-run services are often seen as inherently sustainable.

The flip-side of this, however, is that quite often community-run services can be unsustainable and, in practice, the 'bottom-up' approach is often required to be reinforced by more traditional, top-down support from funding bodies. Conducting a community appraisal before developing a service would indicate community views, and in some instances illustrate good practice.

Sometimes, community-run services are only as good as the facilitator thus the role of the community development agent is a paramount one.

The main strength of Lochwinnoch Sustainable Communities Project was the way in which the Development Officer interfaced with local people within the village who were involved in the project. There are instances where local people are given a token role in the development of a project, this can adversely affect the sense of local ownership necessary for making community-run services work.

The Lochwinnoch Sustainability Community Project has secured three years funding, however it was questioned whether this was a feasible amount of time in which to build the capacity of the community and achieve tangible outcomes. It is important to achieve a balance between sustainability and sufficient support. The Board was surprised at how much had been achieved after the first year of the project. The project's success thus far has partly been due to forward planning. Additionally, as there had been no community development worker in the village before the project, it is possible to suggest that with more time, further sustainable outcomes could be generated. The Development Officer noted that one of the benefits of working at a grassroots level is that it afforded people the opportunity to partake in informal consultation, and allowing people with less confidence to have a voice outwith public meetings.

A key lesson, one expounded by many of the other case studies, is the need to stay optimistic even when things are progressing slowly.

The Uig Community Development Association gained confidence as they negotiated obstacles in their path. However, it did take some time and a lot of patience to overcome the problems they encountered. The group acknowledged that CADISPA had provided significant help regarding funding and they also acted as a sounding post for ideas, whilst continuing to let the community drive the project forward.

The Uig Community Development Association emphasised that community ownership was very important. They retained a degree of control over the petrol station, shop and café as they leased out the premises. Moreover, the liquid paraffin gas could have been installed for free by CalorGas but the Association opted to enter a contract agreement with BP who, despite requiring payment for installation, had stipulated fewer conditions in supplying the LPG. It is therefore also important to evaluate all the available options before acting.

The Gartmore Village Shop and Post Office had limited time in which the community had to act as the previous owners had given them only 2 months to raise the funds to purchase the business.

The grant administrators were found to be approachable and supportive, allowing the local people flexibility to develop their ideas.

The written Constitution of the shop means that the community cannot apply for National Lottery funding as dividends can be earned, making the shop a profit-making enterprise.

The major factor for the success thus far of the shop and post office has been attributed to local interest in the project and the sense of ownership.

Staff at the Grassic Gibbon Centre agreed that involving local people creates a sense of local ownership. In fact, the steering group stated that they would far rather rely on local people, Grassic Gibbon enthusiasts and 'friends of the centre', than on professionals to develop the centre.

One particularly bad experience was recalled, when the group received money from the Regional Council to pay for a professional to design the layout of the main, ongoing exhibition. The community was not happy with the end result and so the group had to redo the work themselves. The lesson they learnt was to have confidence in their own capabilities and, where work is contracted out, ensure that each party understands fully the aims of the project.

The Grassic Gibbon Centre is continually monitored by customer questionnaires and the centre carried out a Social Audit with Rural Challenge Funding. The IT training provided at the Grassic Gibbon Centre encourages social interaction highlighting again that ICT need not be an end in itself but a means of promoting social inclusion.

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