Glossary

A lot of terms that are used in Community Planning and Place Making are similar and often used interchangeably - leading to great confusion as to what that all means for citizens looking to develop and attract funding to their communities.

Some of the big ones have been tackled below to give some clarity, and you will find further definitions in the alphabetised glossary.

All terms listed in bold can be found in the Glossary for further clarification and reading by navigating the A-Z.

• Consultation vs Co-production

This is to do with how communities are engaged in a conversation about their place. Consultations take place after a significant amount of work has been done, and are based on presenting a solution for comment, where as co-production is working with the community to build a brief and work directly with stakeholders to develop the solution.

Place Making is all about co-production between stakeholder, and statutory partners, such as local government and other agencies.

• Masterplan vs Local Place Plan

Masterplan is often used to describe a strategy that has been laid out for an area - and sometimes there is more than one! The term traditionally resides in architecture as a plan for the built environment and development of an area and the physical "place".

Local Place Plans set out the development and land use in a holistic context, looking not just at the built environment, but the health and wellbeing of citizens and how improvements to services, and social and economic considerations affect the experience and identity of communities.

• Locality vs Community

In the Scottish Borders there are 5 localities:

• Berwickshire
• Cheviot
• Eildon
• Teviot + Liddesdale
• Tweeddale

These are geographical areas bounded for administrative purposes and are used to ensure fair distribution of resources, such as funding.

Community is a much looser term, and is largely directed by the people within the community itself. For example, Hawick as a town is a community, but within that you would have the community of Burnfoot.

In Place Making, the community can determine the boundaries it wishes to work with to direct their plan, and can form clusters of villages and settlements to maximise the resources available to the wider community.

• Area Partnership vs Community Council

Each locality has an Area Partnership which meets quarterly to discuss issues, achievements and funding requests for that area. It has a transient membership of community groups formed to represent specific areas, and lead on the community engagement within that locality via their Elected Members and supported by Local Authority Officers.

Area Partnerships bring together organisations and interests over a wider area than community groups or electoral wards, giving them a louder voice for matters which affect the whole locality.

There are 69 Community Councils in the Scottish Borders which represent the community in their boundary to the Local Authority as the most localised tier of elected representation. They are voluntary organisations run by residents which advocate, petition and influence decisions and contribute to campaigns and events in their area.

Further details can be found  here. 

• Anchor organisations

Defined by Community Wealth Building principles, anchor organisations are tied to a community through their physical assets, history and work they carry out, or because they have a large presence within a community, such as a largescale employer.  Examples of anchor organisations are local authorities, NHS, Housing Associations and educational bodies, such as Universities and Colleges.

• A&DS – Architecture and Design Scotland

Architecture and Design Scotland is Scotland’s design agency for the built environment and place.  It brings together a broad range of experience from the creative industries to help to provide guidance, offer support and commission research.  As part of their remit, they are providing leadership on the Place Principle to help change how Scotland’s places are planned, designed, delivered and sustained.

A&DS champions partnership working, and a joined-up approach, offering their collective experience and professional skills to inspire and support all those involved in creating, adapting and sustaining Scotland’s places.  This includes free resources and advice to professionals, communities and individuals.

A&DS was set up in 2005 by the Scottish Government as an executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB)

Further details on A&DS work can be found on their  website. 

• Borders Community Action (Formerly Borders TSI)

The new name of the voluntary sector in Scottish Borders, they are the organisations which provide support and representation for voluntary work within communities, for organisations, community groups, social enterprises and individual volunteers. They facilitate support through dedicated officers, workshops and training initiatives and by making representation of community needs and aspirations to statutory services.

• Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal (BIGD)

The BIGD is a fund which has been allocated to stimulate growth within regions either side of the Scottish / English border.  It is an ambitious programme which seeks to create true collaboration between neighbouring Local Authorities to maximise the benefits of cross boundary working. 

Further details on the deal can be found here  Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal 

What the Borderlands programme is delivering in the Scottish Borders can be found here.

• Borderlands Place Programme

The Place Programme is one of the strands of development within the wider growth aspirations. It looks to use community led development as a mechanism to inform the investment into the area.

The fund applies to “Borderland towns” which have been identified by their respective Local Authorities through a scoring system based on deprivation and need and take in five council areas, including Dumfries and Galloway, Cumbria, Carlisle, Northumberland and Scottish Borders.

Within Scottish Borders the Borderland Towns eligible for the fund are

• Eyemouth
• Galashiels
• Hawick
• Jedburgh.

• Charrette Mainstreaming Programme

Scottish Government programme which saw 61 design workshops (charettes) delivered across Scotland as a means of capturing the aspirations of citizens for development in their communities.

This later evolved into the Making Places Initiatives and the evaluation of these programmes of work formed the basis for governmental support for Place Making in it's current form.

Further reading:  Community-led design initiatives: evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

• CLES

"The national organisation for local economies" CLES championed Community Wealth Building in Scotland, conducting research, producing publications and supporting community development on the ground.

Website:  CLES - The national organisation for local economies 

• Climate Change Route Map (CCRM)

This is a document setting out the climate change challenges facing our region and the pathway to meeting the Scottish Government’s targets of a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2045.  This requires a partnership approach involving Scottish Borders Council, national agencies, our communities, industry and businesses and residents.

Further reading:    Climate Change Route Map 

• Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009

The  Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009  was amended by the  Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019   increasing the ambition of Scotland’s emissions reduction targets to net zero by 2045 and revising interim targets to 75% emissions reduction by 2030 and 90% emissions reduction by 2040.

• Community Action Plans

Similar objectives to Local Place Plans.

A means to express vision, aspirations and actions for the community – including, but not limited to, spatial planning.

• Community Asset Transfer

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 introduced a right for community organisations to request lease, management or even ownership of publicly owned buildings or land. 

Requests are assessed under strict criteria in an open and transparent format where requests are agreed unless there is a reasonable grounds for refusal.

• Community Benefits

Community Benefits are clauses within public sector contracts which require contractors and suppliers to provide a range of benefits in addition to the principal purpose of the contract. 

These can include commitments to training apprentices, local buying, supporting educational opportunities, using supported businesses within their supply chain, creating employment opportunities, providing services to the community.

The idea is to implement social inclusion and economic factors within the public purchasing agenda.

This has been part of procurement policy and practice in Scotland since 2008

• Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015

This Act focuses on promoting positive engagement and participation between public bodies and communities, to help residents to have input into decisions that affect their neighbourhoods and their lives.

The National Standards for Community Engagement are one of the tools that are in place to help to action the principles of the Act.

Further reading:  Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act: summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot 

• Community Ownership Support Services (COSS)

The Community Ownership Support Service is a Scottish Government funded programme, set up to help community groups in Scotland take on assets for their community, giving them greater control of land and buildings, and helping to ensure local service delivery in the future. 

It also supports local authorities, other public bodies and members of the Community Planning Partnership to transfer a building or land asset, recognising the benefits of partnership working with the community to meet future goals. 

• Community Planning Partnership (CPP)

The Community Planning Partnership includes statutory and non-statutory participants who are stakeholders in the place in which they operate, and provide services.  They are influential, and responsible for working with and supporting communities.

In Scottish Borders the statutory partners are:

• Scottish Borders Council
• NHS Borders
• Police Scotland
• Scottish Fire and Rescue

Full details of the structure can be found  online 

All of these services are required to work with the community under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to deliver improvements to services.

• Community Wealth Building (CWB)

A people centred approach to local economic development which redirects wealth back in to the local economy.  This encourages wealth to be held locally, and recirculated through communities.

Fundamental to the approach are “anchor institutions” which are commercial, public or third sector organisations which have a significant stake in the place, and can exert influence on adopting CWB strategies.  This method is intended to improve economic, social and environmental priorities for collective Social Value and creating a Wellbeing Economy.

As part of it’s programme for Government 2021/22, the Scottish Government has pledged to take forward a Community Wealth Building Bill in this Parliament, helping create and protect jobs and enable greater community and third sector ownership.

The five core principles of CWB are:

• progressive procurement – developing local supply chains of businesses likely to support local employment and keep wealth within communities
• fair employment and just labour markets – Using anchor institutions to improve prospects of local people
• shared ownership of the local economy – supporting and growing business models that are more financially generative for the local economy
• socially just use of land and property – developing the function and ownership of local assets held by anchor organisations, so local communities benefit from financial and social gain
• making financial power work for local places – increase flows of investment within local economies by harnessing and recirculating the wealth that exists

• Convention of South of Scotland (COSS)

In the 2019 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government announced the establishment of the Convention of the South of Scotland (COSS) in order to 'bring together public bodies with responsibility for growth and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on priorities and how to tackle key regional issues'.

The remit of the Convention of the South of Scotland is to: 

• strengthen alignment between the Scottish Government, Dumfries and Galloway Council, the Scottish Borders Council and public agencies delivering in the South of Scotland to drive inclusive growth and to agree action to address the priorities of the area
• ensure effective partnership working and delivery across the public sector
• consider current and future challenges impacting on inclusive and sustainable economic growth; and agree actions to deliver that growth
• address any blockages and oversee progress

Further reading: https://www.gov.scot/groups/convention-of-the-south-of-scotland/

• COSLA

COSLA stands for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, is a councillor-led, cross party organisation and who champions the work of councils and helps to secure the resources and power that they need.  They work with Scottish Government on behalf of councils and engage on policy, funding and legislation to improve local services. 

• Council Plan

Scottish Borders Council has a Council Plan which lays out the local authority's approach for the financial year ahead, and the ambitions for how services will be developed and improved.

It focuses on six themes:

• Clean, green future
• Fulfilling our potential
• Strong inclusive economy, transport and infrastructure
• Empowered, vibrant communities
• Good health and wellbeing
• Working together improving lives

Further reading:  Scottish Borders Council Plan 

• Data Based Decision Making

Sometimes called Data Driven Decision Making, this is when decisions and strategies are based on statistical and other factual information to come to conclusions.

This is useful in Place Making because it allows for analysis of data around perceived issues to reinforce the case for change, provide evidence to support a solution or allow a deeper understanding of the problem and influence the direction of a proposal.

Large amounts of data already exist about Scottish Borders communities and this can be used to identify gaps in knowledge and empower communities to make informed decisions.

• Development Trust

A development trust is a type of partnership organisation that is formed to benefit the community by responding to local need.

Their remit can be varied depending on the individual trusts aspirations but often they look at regeneration and develop property or land to generate income, but their remit can extend to a wide range of activities designed to:

• promote and support economic activity and encourage inward investment
• improve the environment through restoration and education
• improve local services by running and managing facilities
• support community development

• Development Trusts Association Scotland (DTAS)

Development Trusts Association Scotland (DTAS) is a Scottish Government body which offers a Community Ownership Support Services (COSS) to help community based groups to take on land or building assets, and supports Local Authorities wishing to transfer property through Community Asset Transfer.

They offer membership to community led trusts and facilitate shared learning and promote best practice.

Website:  Development Trusts Association Scotland | (dtascot.org.uk) 

• Economic Development

Economic Development in the community deals with the social, environmental and investment potential of an area and looks at ways to attract inward investment, and help the area to grow and prosper. The approach is shaped by those who live, work and operate businesses within the community who all have an interest in making the local economy function better. This can include things like:

• encouraging local spend
• tackling unemployment
• attracting businesses
• lobbying for investment in the area
• inclusive growth
• community wealth building

Economic development supports communities to recognises the links between the local, regional and national policy and funding to maximise economic opportunities strategically and practically.

• Economic Development Association Scotland (EDAS)

EDAS is led by a board of senior economic development leaders from across the public and private sector in Scotland, including the three Scottish enterprise agenices (SoSE in the South of Scotland).

It is a membership body for those delivering Economic Development across Scotland and champions best pracitse in areas such as Community Wealth Building.

Website:  Community Wealth Building Scotland | EDAS 

• Fair work

Fair Work is a principle of community wealth building, and is supported by the Scottish Government’s Fair Work Framework which sets out what this means for Scottish residents:

• effective voice – having a say at work and being listened to can improve the experience of work as well as improve organisational performance
• security – security of employment, work and income are important foundations of a successful life for all
• opportunity – Fair opportunity is more than the chance to access work. It includes having the right attitudes, behaviours, policies and procedures within organisations. The outcomes these produce reflect the value placed on fair opportunity
• respect – Fair work is work in which people are respected and treated respectfully, whatever their role and status. Respect at work is a two-way process between employers and workers
• fulfilment – Workers who are fulfilled in their jobs are more likely to be engaged, committed and healthy.

The principle is held to drive success, improve wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society, and will contribute to a strong Scottish economy and foster inclusive growth.

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

GIS is a mapping software which allows data to be stored, analysed and filtered using geographical information.  It can pull from databases and allows for accurate recording of information against markers, such as post codes, integrating location data (where things are) with descriptive information about the locations.  This allows for analysis of relationships and patterns in a geographic context, so decisions can be more informed and allow Data Based Decision Making.

GIS mapping is what is used for the interactive maps on these pages.

• Hub and Spoke Model

This is a term often associated with 20 minute neighbourhoods, and revolves around the idea of having primary centralised "hub" with local centres as "spokes" within communities to deliver services within communities.

• Inclusive growth

The term given to economic growth which ensures opportunities are distributed fairly across society and creates opportunities for all. 

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

KPIs are a tool used in project management to measure the success of a process or project. They do this by identifying the critical deliverables for the end result, and gauge how well this was achieved. Using KPIs, or a more informal version of the principle, is helpful in place making to allow for evaluation and analysis for data based decision making at the most strategic level, and for understanding lessons learned to inform a communities next endeavour, or to be shared with others embarking on the process.

• Local Development Plan

Distinct from Local Place Plans, which are community led documents, Local Development Plans (LDPs) are produced by the Local Authority and form part of the statutory ‘development plan’. Alongside the National Planning Framework 4, LDP’s will be the main basis for all decisions on planning applications. LDPs set out land use proposals and planning policies which guide development, setting out how our local places will change in the future.

With the introduction of new legislation in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 and the subsequent National Planning Framework 4 registered Local Place Plans will be taken into account when producing the next LDP. This enables communities to have an active voice in the strategic direction of development in their area.

• Local Place Plans (LPP’s)

Community led plans for providing proposals for the development and use of land.

Part of the tools outlined in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 to improve public engagement and empower communities in the reform of public services.

They can help to align community and spatial planning, ensuring decisions that are made on behalf of communities accurately reflect the issues, interests and aspirations, and that resources are targeted effectively.

The principles are similar to Community Action Plans.

LPP’s also support implementation of the Scottish Government’s Place Principle.

Further reading about Local Place Plans is available on the Scottish Government website     Our  Place.

Further information on the approach to  Local Place Plans  in the Scottish Borders.

• Local Planning Authorities

This is the Planning Department within a local authority, ie the Council. 

This department are responsible for the planning concerns within their locality, which includes planning applications and consultations for individual residents right through to the development on Local Development Plans (sometimes referred to as simply Local Plans) which concerns the strategy for the development of communities and infrastructure.

• Making Places Initiative

A Scottish Government programme which was a precursor to support for Place Making in its current form and took place during 2017-2018 and sought to promote community led action as an evolution from the Charrette Mainstreaming Programme.

Further reading:  Making Places Prospectus (www.gov.scot) 

• National Place Standard

A tool to provide a simple framework to structure conversations about place. 

It considers the physical assets, such as buildings, space and infrastructure as well as the social factors, such as how involved people feel about the place they live.

The tool outlines talking points as prompts to develop conversations and utilises 14 headings designed to methodically consider all the elements of a place.

This is used to outline improvements that can be made, whilst determining the assets of any given space.  This can be used as a foundation to develop Local Place Plans.

• National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4)

The National Planning Framework 4 is the national spatial strategy for Scotland, adopted by Scottish Ministers on 13th February 2023. NPF4 is a long term plan for Scotland, looking forwards to 2045m that sets out where development and infrastructure needs to be. It does this by setting out national planning policies, designating national developments and highlighting regional spatial priorities.

NPF4 will highlight regional spatial priorities, designate national developments and set out national planning policies, which will all influence planning decisions across Scotland.

Further reading:  National Planning Framework 4 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

• National Standards for Community Engagement

These standards are designed to help organisations to implement the requirements of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, and can be used to help shape the engagement process of public bodies, and inform how they interact with residents to capture and understand community concerns and interests.

The guidance focuses on seven titled standards to outline the best practice for community engagement;

• Impact
• Communication
• Methods
• Working Together
• Planning, Support
• Inclusion

Further reading:  The National Standards — VOiCE (voicescotland.org.uk) 

• Net Zero

The term used when global greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are in balance with emission reductions, resulting in zero increase in net emissions.

The Scottish Government has pledged to reduce emissions by 75% by 2030, with the Climate Change Pathway created following Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 - with net zero targets handed down to local authorities for realisation through initiatives such as 20 Minute Neighbourhoods and Place Making agendas  

Our Place

Scottish Governments information and resource hub for everything to do with Place Making.

Website:  Our Place | Our Place 

• Participatory Budgeting (Community Choices)

A means for citizens to identify, discuss and prioritise public spending projects and input in to the decisions around how money is spent in their community.

It is a democratic process which originated in Brazil as an anti-poverty measure, and is now used internationally as a means to empower neighbourhoods to create a fairer distribution of public resources.

Participatory Budgeting is also known as Community Choices.

Further reading:  What is participatory budgeting? — PB Scotland 

• Place Principle

The principle connects public, private and third sector organisations with local residents to develop a clear vision for their place.

Initiated by the Scottish Government, it encourages and enables local flexibility to respond to issues and circumstances in different places – essentially linking those responsible for delivering services and maintaining assets with their users, to improve lives and support inclusive and sustainable economic growth for better places.

• Place Making

Place making is a process designed to collectively inspire communities to rethink and reinvent public spaces to enhance the public realm in their area. 

This can be buildings or open space and infrastructure, but the main goal is to improve the connections between people and the places they share. 

Place making facilitates urban design, but also contributes to capturing the social and cultural identities of community – informing creative thinking about the changing needs for all stakeholders.

• Planning (Scotland) Act 2019

Passed by the Scottish Government in June 2019, the Act is the foundations of planning transformation currently underway with the development of the National Planning Framework 4.

It has been designed to restructure and modernise the planning system, addressing the national spatial and thematic planning policies in one place.

The Act is underpinned by a digital transformation strategy, which is being implemented on a 5 year programme; Transforming Places Together: A Digital Strategy for Planning

Further reading:  Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 (legislation.gov.uk) 

• Planning for Real (PFR)

The term comes from a company of the same name, and is recognised as a community planning process based on a 3D model. 

This process allows residents to register their views, work together to identify priorities and to partner with local agencies to develop an action plan for change.

PFR is usually commissioned by communities, local authorities or housing providers to design community engagement as a facilitated approach to Place Making.

• Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014

The act seeks to outline duties within public sector procurement that legislate for:

• procurement strategies and reporting
• sustainable procurement duty
• community benefit requirements
• process for selection of tenderers and award of contracts
• requirements for procurement for health and social services

Further reading:  Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014: statutory guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

• Public Services (Social Values) Act 2012

A UK wide act which requires anyone who commissions public services to think about how they can also secure wider social, economic and environmental benefits.

This required structuring the procurement process to maximise community benefits and to consider community wealth building principles.

• Regional Economic Partnership

Made up of representatives from a cross sector range of organisations. Including:

• Elected Members from Dumfries & Galloway Council
• Elected Members from Scottish Borders Council
• Board Members from the South of Scotland Enterprise
• Representation from Skills Development Scotland
• Representation from VisitScotland
• Representation from South of Scotland Destination Alliance
• Representation from Historic Environment Scotland
• Representation from Scottish Funding Council
• Representation from Borders College
• Representation from Dumfries & Galloway College
• Representation from SRUC
• Representation from Higher Education
• Representatives from the NHS
• Representatives of the Private Sector within the region
• Representatives of Social Enterprises within the region
• Representatives of the Third Sector within the region
• Representatives from Registered Social Landlords
• Community and Young Person's representatives from within the region

It is a forum that brings together a wide range of expertise to determine the direction of the regional economy in the South of Scotland and links into the the Convention of South of Scotland.

The REP is responsible for authoring the Regional Economic Strategy and this is the basis for delivering the ambitions for economic prosperity.

• Regional Economic Strategy (RES)

The strategy outlines the themes and outcomes identified as the optimum path for economic development in the region. It has been designed by the cross sectional membership of the Regional Economic Partnership with buy in from the respective agencies represented with a strong evidence base from community engagement and analytical processes with data based decision making. It provides tangible actions for projects to be developed and measured against.

Place making falls under theme 6 of the RES.

Further reading:  South-of-Scotland-Regional-Economic-Strategy.pdf (dumgal.gov.uk) 

• Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS)

Developed by the REP this is a long term strategy which specify the area they relate to, and identify the priorities for delivery of strategic development, including the need for and the outcomes required in that given area.  They will include diagrams / maps to supplement written proposals for locations.

RSS became a requirement for Local Planning Authorities to prepare under the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019, as a new means of strategic planning which recognised the diverse nature of Scotland’s landscape, and allowed for tailoring policy to localised and regional needs and circumstance.

The future of RSS is intended to evolve following the revision of the National Planning Framework 4, and will be more inclusive of Community Engagement and Place Making.

• SCOTO

SCOTO was established by the Scottish Government to support community tourism across the country with a view to promoting and supporting community led projects which attract visitors and offer opportunities to residents.

Website:  SCOTO | A conscious choice 

• Scottish Futures Trust (SFT)

Scotland's infrastructure centre of expertise, SFT was established by the Scottish Government in 2008 to help to drive innovation across businesses in private and public sector and encourage sustainable investment for a prosperous future.

Website:  Home - Scottish Futures Trust 

• Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)

An information source with statistics on relative measures of deprivation across 6,976 small areas across seven domains: income, employment, education, health, access to services, crime and housing.

The index can be used to help understand the challenges in Scotland's most deprived areas.

Access Statistics:  SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) 

• Social Value

A vital component in advancing equality, social value is a means of assigning value based on factors other than financial metrics.

Social Value is part of the public procurement landscape across the UK, with the UK Government introducing the Public Services (Social Values) Act 2012 as a means to ensure public spending was based on more than just financial best value.

In Scotland, the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 has similar allowances and is intended as a part of a larger reformation of social responsibility – requiring commissioners to consider stakeholders at the outset of spending process and includes provision of Community Benefits as part of a contract award.

• South of Scotland Community Housing (SOSCH)

Charity organisation which supports communities with expert advice and guidance on the development of community led housing projects.

Website:  SOSCH 

• South of Scotland Destination Alliance (SSDA)

SSDA is the tourism support organisation within the South of Scotland taking on the delegated responsibilities of Visit Scotland for the area. They have a membership of tourism businesses and an invested interest in the development of Scottish Borders as a destination.

Website:  Home - South of Scotland Destination Alliance (ssdalliance.com) 

• South of Scotland Enterprise (SoSE)

SoSE is the economic agency for the South of Scotland, inclusive of Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.  They were established by Scottish Government in 2020 to recognise the unique challenges and opportunities for economic growth in the region.  They are tasked with driving inclusive growth, increasing competitiveness, attracting business, and tackling inequality in the region's communities, and work with statutory partners, third sector and directly with communities to support the development of the area.

Website:  South of Scotland Enterprise 

• Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.

Further reading:  https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ 

• Town Centre Asset Audit

A Town Centre Asset Audit is a Scottish Goverment funded project that supports communities to take ownership of land and / or buildings. Support is available from DTAS (Development Trusts Association Scotland) Community Ownership Support Service (COSS).

• Third Sector Interface (TSI)

The Third Sector Interface in Scottish Borders (also referred to as Borders TSI) were represented by The Bridge, Berwickshire Association for Voluntary Service (BAVS) and Borders Volunteer Centre.  As of April 2023 they have reconstituted as Borders Community Action.

• Transforming Places Together: A Digital Strategy for Planning

The title of a Scottish Government 5 year reformation programme to determine the strategic direction of Scotland’s planning system, and the opportunities for improvement through new technologies.

The project is based on digital transformation, and sets out the benefits and objectives for the programme.

Further reading:  Transforming Places Together: digital strategy for planning - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

• Treasury Green Book

The Green Book is guidance issued by HM Treasury on how to appraise policies, programmes and projects. It also provides guidance on the design and use of monitoring and evaluation before, during and after implementation.

 The Green Book is not a mechanical or deterministic decision-making device. It provides approved thinking models and methods to support the provision of advice to clarify the social – or public – welfare costs, benefits, and trade-offs of alternative implementation options for the delivery of policy objectives.

• Treasury Green Book five case model

The Five Case Model guidance provides an approach to preparing business cases for infrastructure projects. All major projects must design rationales for undertaking a project through dimensions defined in the Five Case Business Model strategic, economic, commercial, financial and management. The business case, along with the impact assessment reports, are required to be put through a long-list option analysis for delivery, followed by a short-list appraisal on the principles of cost-benefit analysis.

• Twenty [20] Minute Neighbourhoods

Based on the principal that citizens should be able to access daily and essential services within 20 minutes of their home using active travel (walking or cycling) of public transport, and thus reducing reliance on cars.

The model is well established globally; also known as 15 Minute City in cities like Paris, and is based on two pillars – one being the creation of resilient, people-centred places, and the other is as a pathway towards Net Zero.

Whilst the time principle presents challenges in rural communities, the idea is relatively straight forward; communities should be designed in a way which reduces a reliance on cars and enables healthy, safe and sustainable communities.

• Understanding Scotland’s Places (USP)

USP is a platform commissioned by Scottish Government to help provide universal data for all places with a population of over 1000 across the country. The data is used to categorise places into a typology to help inform comparisons of different geographies and share knowledge of what works and doesn't work in typologically similar areas.

The data can also be used to understand how places inter-relate and inform data based decision making.

USP also offers an auditing service, Your Town Audit.

Website:  Understanding Scottish Places (usp.scot) 

• VOiCE

A community engagement tool developed by Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) to help community facilitators to have meaningful conversation.

Based on the principle of three sections - Plan, Do, Review - it guides users through logical steps to improve the quality of engagement sessions.

VOiCE accounts are available free of charge to Scottish community groups (and for a small charge for others).

Website:  Voice — VOiCE (voicescotland.org.uk) 

• Wellbeing Economy

Wellbeing economy is the term given to the recognition that money is not the defining measure of an economy.  It represents this shift in thinking, and looks at quality of life and collective wellbeing as measure of success.

The movement goes beyond redistributing value, and looks to active participation of communities to create places which ensure dignity and fairness to all of its residents.

• Your Town Audit

Understanding Scotland’s Places (USP) Your Town Audit tool is based on a series of guides that can be used as a benchmark for measuring and comparing the health and vibrancy of towns.

The Audit enables a collaborative approach to gathering information and citizen led formation of a Community Action Plan.

Further reading and resources:  USP Your Town Audit 

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