The new Delivering Better Places Guide includes eight placemaking case studies
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Irvine Bay Regeneration Company
This study visit looked at the work of the Irvine Bay Regeneration Company in town centre regeneration. The visit focused on the regeneration of Ardrossan, Irvine and Kilwinning.
Routes Out Of Prison
Routes out of Prison is a partnership approach to working with prisoners before they are released from prison, and for a number of weeks after.
Cranhill Community Project
Cranhill Community Project is a holistic centre of excellence based in Cranhill Parish Church. The project tackles poverty and social exclusion.
Fife Gingerbread
Fife Gingerbread provides accessible, approachable and non-judgmental support, advice and information to lone parents with children of all ages, from all backgrounds and walks of life.
Eday Partnership
Eday is an island in Orkney recognised for its social and economic fragility. The Partnership delivers community development projects to address the degeneration and make the island an attractive place to live in and visit.
Rag Tag 'N' Textile
Rag Tag 'N' Textile provides an environment that supports the personal growth and development of vulnerable adults. Based in Skye and Wester Ross, participants are trained to make hand-crafted items from recycled textiles.
Uig Community Shop
Uig Community Shop was established in response to a rural community having its only shop closed down. Local residents of Uig, a remote settlement the Isle of Lewis, formed a trust to take over and expand this shop.
Health and Employability Partnership
This project supports the target group of Stirling Council's Employability Service and people living in the city's regeneration areas. It provides clients with specialist health input linked to their employability needs.
Renfrewshire Schools Dragon's Den
The programme is designed to link financial education with social enterprise, in a venture which will encourage school pupils to create a business idea, develop a business plan, apply for funding and then run the business.
Financial Inclusion in Housing Argyll
The Financial Inclusion in Housing Argyll partnership has been delivering financial inclusion projects in Argyll and Bute since 2007.
South-West Edinburgh Rent Arrears Early Intervention
The South-West Edinburgh Rent Arrears Early Intervention (SWERAEI) project is a pilot partnership that was formed in 2009.
Scottish Urban Regeneration Companies
The Scottish Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs) have set successful placemaking at the heart of their plans. These case studies illustrate how they have delivered the Scottish Government's Designing Places policy. The examples were selected to illustrate different scales of place and different points in the placemaking process.
Scotcash
Scotcash is a Community Development Financial Institution in Glasgow offering affordable loans and support to people who face barriers to accessing credit elsewhere. They offer an alternative to high cost doorstep lending whilst at the same time looking to increase the financial capability of those furthest away from mainstream financial services.
Cash in Your Pocket Partnership
Cash in Your Pocket Partnership promotes and co-ordinates financial inclusion in Aberdeen City, expanding into Aberdeenshire. Targeting regeneration areas, they work in partnership with government departments, the local authority and the voluntary sector to ensure that local communities are aware of and have access to suitable financial services as well increasing individual and family financial capability.
Huntly
This case study is based on a visit to Huntly, Aberdeenshire, by the Town Centres and Local High Streets learning network in September 2010. The visit looked at the work that has been going on in Huntly over the last five years to make the town a better place to live, work and visit. It focussed on the whole town approach to regeneration taken by Huntly Development Trust.
Clydesdale Housing Association
Clydesdale Housing Association became a Registered Social Landlord in 1987, being formed from a voluntary committee of local people. They were concerned about the poor condition of houses in some of the more remote villages of Clydesdale and the lack of housing for rent in the area. They also had a wider ambition to halt the economic decline in the remoter parts of the district and to help make them viable communities again.
Belfast
This case study is based on a visit to Belfast by the Town Centres and Local High Streets learning network in March 2010. It was organised by the Scottish Centre for Regeneration and the Association of Town Centre Management as part of the Performance Management in Town Centres learning programme.
Letfirst
LetFirst supports people who would normally have difficulty accessing the private rented sector by helping them find a private landlord by guaranteeing rent to the landlord thereby enabling the tenant to move into the property without the traditional need for a deposit.
The Scottish Community Action Research Fund
The Scottish Community Action Research Fund (SCARF) ran from 2002-2009 and provided support to community groups to carry out research in their community into issues of concern to them. Providing communities with the support they needed to evidence the need for change.
Living from Day to Day
ENABLE Scotland's vision is to achieve a society where children, young people and adults with learning disabilities are full members of the community. This SCR case study highlights a successful piece of research carried out on the challenges facing older family carers.
Aurora House
The Aurora House is a collaborative project between South Lanarkshire College, Dawn Construction and over 50 private sector partners. It shows how a new build house can be developed that is low carbon and energy efficient.
Tenant Welcome Project
Tenant Welcome aims to help people to sustain their tenancies and improve their life chances. It is a project that involves vulnerable tenants in home and garden improvement work in order to help them to live independently and start them on a path to education, employment or training.
Making Money Work
Making Money Work is an advice project for people who are unemployed and living on low incomes or at risk of finding themselves in that position. It aims to remove financial barriers that people may face in trying to return to work.
Bo'ness
The £175 million Bo'ness Foreshore Regeneration Project has the potential to transform both the perception and the prospects of Bo'ness and its surrounding areas.
Fairfield Housing Cooperative Toolkit Project
Looks at the Toolkit Project in Perth that was set up by Working Rite; an Edinburgh based social enterprise supporting disaffected young people into employment. The Toolkit Project aims to support 20 young people each year.
Elderpark Housing Association Youthpoint
The project's aim is to divert young people away from involvement in youth crime and anti-social behaviour and to help them improve their employment prospects.
Linkwide Green Action Volunteers
Linkwide Green Action is a work experience and employability project based on volunteer placements for young people aged 16-24.
East Lothian tenant participation strategy
East Lothian Council's Tenant Participation Strategy was developed in partnership with East Lothian Tenants and Residents Panel. It sets out principles for tenant participation in East Lothian and aims to improve council services by fully involving tenants in developing these services.
Older People's Advice Project
An income maximisation and holistic advice service for older tenant households (age 60+). Operates amongst a partnership of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) including Abronhill Housing Association, Almond Housing Association, Link Housing Association, Paragon Housing Association, Weslo Housing Management and Wishaw and District Housing Association.
Orkney Housing Association Ltd: Renewables, fuel poverty and sustainability
Orkney Housing Association Ltd (OHAL) has to deal with a particular climate, high fuel costs and low incomes that have led to high levels of households in fuel poverty. It has taken a three pronged approach - improving the energy performance of its housing stock, ensuring its residents maximise their income and take full advantage of all benefit entitlements and providing information and advice on domestic energy.
Edinburgh Council's homelessness strategy
Has involved commissioning a range of services, resulting in a major reduction in homelessness presentations despite a rise in advice cases and despite the economic situation; a reduction in rough sleeping; effective support to help households prevent homelessness; increased support in starting out in new accommodation; and increased visiting support.
Stenhousemuir
The regeneration plans for Stenhousemuir town centre have a major role to play in the success of the My Futures in Falkirk initiative which aims to transform the Falkirk areas economy into a thriving, diverse, modern economy that attracts businesses and visitors into the area and provides jobs for local people.
Lochgelly Regeneration
This project has seen a successful community-lead approach to regeneration that has ensured Lochgelly is seen as a place to live, work and visit. It has boosted the local economy by providing new opportunities for retail, business and training.
Playbusters Ltd
A SURF Awards 2010 winner. Playbusters is a grassroots voluntary organisation which provides a wide range of educational projects for children, families and the wider community within the East End of Glasgow.
TACT Health Park
A SURF Awards 2010 winner. The healthy park initiative arose from the committee's desire to engage the local community with activities within the TACT hall and also to use an adjacent open space.
Childminding Development Programme
A SURF Awards 2010 winner. The project has successfully created new childminding businesses in areas of high deprivation, easing the overwhelming demand for quality childcare.
Benchmarking your towns against others: DC and the office market
The Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID) was created to reverse the fortunes of the Downtown area of Washington DC. Today, it's thriving, with property holders agreeing to a mandatory supplementary property tax of $8 million in 2010. Providing data about the city centre has allowed the BID to lower the risk for potential investors, and local government to devise informed policy and benchmark against competitors.
Performance management in towns: Downtown Yonge
The Downtown Yonge Business Improvement District (BID) was formed in 2001 to revitalise Toronto City Centre. Today, members include 2,000 local businesses and property owners. Funding originates from a supplementary tax levied on commercial buildings within its boundaries which the City of Toronto collects and returns to the community to fund local services and improvements.
Performance management in towns: Fife
Fife Council recognises that the quality of decisions on retail development can be vastly improved with a comprehensive evidence base. The Council has merged Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from a number of sources to develop a short, medium and long term strategy for its retail environment. The data is shared amongst relevant parties to ensure effective partnership working.
Fairer Scotland Fund
These case studies are taken from research conducted by ODS Consulting into lessons learned from the Fairer Scotland Fund (FSF). In each of the case study areas a range of those involved in the FSF were interviewed, reflecting the local arrangements and priorities for the FSF. Respondents identified the issues that were important in their area. In some cases, this reflected the history of tackling concentrated disadvantage and the local circumstances. However, there were some common themes across all areas.
Better Barrhead
Barrhead is a traditional industrial town on the south western edge of the greater Glasgow conurbation that is facing decades of industrial decline. 'Better Barrhead' is a 10 year, £100m regeneration plan to create a place that meets the needs of its residents and businesses, and also of potential investors. The overall aim is to ensure a prosperous future by creating new jobs, building new facilities and creating new public places.
Neilston
Neilston is a small town on the western edge of Barrhead, with a population of around 5,000 people. There had been a long-held desire amongst community activists to improve the town and after many years of campaigning Neilston Development Trust was formed to take forward a 'Renaissance Town' vision for Neilston.