BEFS Bulletin – Conferences Consultations & Hustings

Call for evidence on City Region Deals (SP 04/04/17)
The Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Communities Committee has today, Tuesday 4 April, launched a call for written evidence on City Region Deals and local growth deals.
The closing date for receipt of submissions is Tuesday 2 May 2017. Guidance on Engaging Communities in Decisions Relating to Land (SG 24/03/17)
Under Part 4 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 (“the Act”), Scottish Ministers have a duty to issue “guidance about engaging communities in decisions relating to land which may affect communities” (“the Guidance”). The consultation seeks the views of key stakeholders on the draft Guidance.
Closes 16 Jun 2017.

Consultation outcome: Implementation of planning changes: technical consultation (DCLG 03/04/17)
Summary of responses and government response to the permission in principle and brownfield registers chapters of the technical consultation on planning changes

Planning decision times published (SG 04/04/17)
Latest quarterly statistics on planning applications decided in October to December 2016 show that the average decision time for local developments was three days slower than the previous quarter, but one day faster than the equivalent quarter in the previous year.A Civic Agenda for Edinburgh (Cockburn Association 03/04/17)
The Cockburn Association has published a Civic Agenda ahead of the local council elections next month. The agenda recognises that Edinburgh is growing and will continue to grow, but asserts that it is essential that growth is managed in ways that enhance the qualities of the city.

Scottish Social Housing Charter April 2017 (SG 28/03/17)
The first Charter came into effect on 1 April 2012 and was reviewed during 2016. This revised Charter was approved by Parliament and has effect from 1 April 2017.

6-Point Action Plan (SCT 24/03/17)
The Scottish Civic Trust has issued a six-point action plan for the new administrations of Scotland’s local authorities after the May elections.

Scotland and California tackling climate change (SG 03/04/17)
Scotland strengthens commitment in response to Paris Agreement. A joint agreement committing the Scottish Government and the Government of California to work together to tackle climate change has been signed today.£30 million announced to help makes homes warmer (SG 03/04/17)
Interest-free loans now available to help reduce fuel bills. The Scottish Government’s Home Energy Efficiency Programme Scotland (HEEPS) has announced £30 million of funding to help householders make their homes more energy efficient.

Crown Estate Scotland (SG 01/04/17)
Control of multi-million pound assets will benefit local communities. Powers over the revenue and management of Crown Estate resources in Scotland have been transferred to the Scottish Government, giving communities a stronger voice in how these assets are managed.

£16m for affordable housing (SG 30/03/17)
Investment in new homes to rent for Shetland, Borders and Fife. Affordable housing in Shetland, Borders and Fife has received a boost of £16 million this month thanks to Scottish Government investment in charitable bonds.

UK housing benefit changes ‘shameful’ (SG 26/03/17)
Support for young people at risk of being pushed into homelessness. More young people in Scotland will be at risk of homelessness due to UK Government changes to housing benefit, Social Security Secretary Angela Constance has said.

EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2017: 29 winners from 18 countries announced (EN 05/04/17)
The European Commission and Europa Nostra revealed today the winners of the 2017 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, Europe’s top honour in the heritage field.New-look Saltire Civil Engineering Awards launched (ICE 04/04/17)
All professions working in the built environment are invited to nominate projects or project phases located in Scotland and substantially completed in 2016/17. The Saltire Civil Engineering Awards celebrate outstanding civil engineering achievement, innovation and ingenuity in Scotland and have grown into the highest honour for engineering excellence in the built environment.The closing date for submissions will be 4pm on Friday 12 May, 2017.

Are City Region Deals worth the headlines, asks Committee (SP 04/04/17)
The Local Government and Communities Committee is looking for a variety of opinions from organisations and members of the public on the purpose of City and Region Deals, whether they are working for communities and how they are being run.

New measures to unlock brownfield land for thousands of homes (DCLG 03/04/17)
Councils will have new tools to speed up development of derelict and underused land for new homes, Housing and Planning Minister Gavin Barwell confirmed today (3 April 2017). Local authorities across the country will now have to produce and maintain up-to-date, publicly available registers of brownfield sites available for housing locally.

Romans, Picts, Steampunks and Guerrilla Knitters to Celebrate Scotland’s Six Iconic Sites (SoAoS 30/03/17)
Scotland’s six World Heritage Sites will be celebrated with six coordinated events for the first time on World Heritage Day.

Great Place Scheme Scotland (HLF Scotland 29/03/17)
“The Great Place scheme is a challenge to local leaders to work together to put culture right at the centre of their local plans.” – HLF Chief Executive, Ros Kerslake.
Recently launched in Scotland, the Great Place Scheme has been designed by HLF and partners to ensure intelligent investment in place-based regeneration. It offers funding for greater collaboration between cultural, community and civic organisations in tackling issues such as poverty and inequality, employment, education and health. With grants of £100,000 to £1m to support applicants in piloting new, more effective ways of working together, the Great Place Scheme includes everything from city-wide initiatives to smaller, rural schemes.

Royal High School Statement March 2017 (HES 28/03/17)
A statement of our position on the former Royal High School in Edinburgh.

Celebrate YHHA with MyParkScotland (greenspace Scotland 28/03/17)
MyParkScotland is Scotland’s only greenspace crowdfunding platform and on 26 April we’ll launch a History, Heritage and Archaeology project campaign theme to support groups looking for funding. If your organisation is looking for funding for a history or heritage project in your local park or greenspace then this campaign is for you. Being part of the theme will raise profile and increase coverage and donations to your project. Creating a “buzz” around the theme #myparkheritage will allow for better promotion, social media and press both locally and nationally. We are organising a training session for projects taking part on 19th April in Glasgow. To find out more contact Ian Goodman on 01786 849 757 or ian.goodman@mypark.scot.

Edinburgh Castle named 16th most visited UK attraction (HES 27/03/17)
Scotland’s top paid for visitor attraction, Edinburgh Castle, has jumped up two places in the rankings to be named as the 16th most visited attraction in the UK in 2016. Footfall at the historic site exceeded 1.7 million visitors, a 13% increase on 2015.

Climate Change Hat Trick for HES (HES 24/03/17)
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has been awarded the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Scotland Public Body Champion Award for the third year in a row in recognition of its work to tackle climate change, it was announced today (Friday 24 March).

Planning Places Survey (Young Scott xx/03/17)
As part of the Scottish Government’s consultation on Places, People and Planning they have asked Young Scot to run a survey aimed at seeking views on how the places where children and young people live, work or go to school should change in the future.

IHBC Guidance Note ‘Community Infrastructure Levy and Historic Buildings’ online (IHBC 22/03/17)
IHBC’s Guidance Note (GN), ‘Community Infrastructure Levy and Historic Buildings’ has been published on the IHBC’s Toolbox. Bob Kindred, IHBC Research co-ordinator and author of this Guidance Note, said: ‘This Guidance Note looks at some examples of current practice regarding the use of (or exemption from) the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) with regard to heritage assets.

STBF Featured in Scottish Parliament Answer (STBF 21/03/17)
There are real concerns about the lack of skills tradespeople in the traditional building sector and the Scottish Traditional Building Forum has been extremely active in educational engagement with schools and pupils to raise the profile of the careers available.

STBF Featured in Focus Magazine 2017 (STBF 21/03/17)
The activities of the Scottish Traditional Building Forum across Scotland were featured in this year’s Historic Environment Scotland Focus Magazine (page 54, we are not quite hold the front page yet).

SAH Announces Public Programming at Glasgow Conference (SAH 17/03/17)
The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) will present a Mackintosh Symposium, public architecture tours and a seminar on heritage and sustainability as part of its 70th Annual International Conference to be held in Glasgow, June 7–11. These public programmes are designed to provide a platform for conference delegates from around the world to celebrate and study the conference’s host city and engage with the local community.

PAS responds to Planning Consultation (PAS 05/04/17)
PAS submitted a response to the consultation, informed by input from our policy group, public workshops and our volunteer network. The following is a quick overview of some of the key points made in our response.RTPI Scotland: Scotland needs a clearer national development roadmap (RTPI 04/04/17)
Planners have called on the Scottish Government to establish national development priorities across Scotland and map them out clearly in a new National Development Plan (NDP).

Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning 2017 (PAS 31/03/17)
PAS is pleased to be supporting the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning #SAQP2017, assisting again in assessing the community engagement aspect of the submitted entries. The awards celebrate achievements in planning, from the detail of processing to the bigger picture. Applications are open until 19 May.

RIAS/ RIBA Awards Scotland – 2017 Shortlist Announced (RIAS 29/03/17)
The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) are pleased to announce a 27 strong shortlist for the 2017 awards.

My Place Award Winners 2017 (SCT 23/03/17)
The winning and commended projects in the Scottish Civic Trust My Place Awards 2017 were announced today, 23 March, by Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government and Housing and Colin McLean, SCT Chairman, in The Lighthouse, Glasgow.

RTPI Awards for Research Excellence 2017 (RTPI xx/03/17)
The RTPI Awards for Research Excellence recognise and promote high quality, impactful spatial planning research from RTPI accredited planning schools, and planning consultancies, in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and internationally. The Awards are now open for entries. Entries must be sent electronically to research@rtpi.org.uk by Friday 19th May 2017.

Questions marked with a triangle (?) are initiated by the Scottish Government in order to facilitate the provision of information to the Parliament.Questions in which a member has indicated a declarable interest are marked with an “R”.

S5W-08476 Christine Grahame: To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to permit the compulsory purchase of vacant commercial premises in town centres for the purpose of redeveloping them for social housing. (SP 30/03/17)

S5W-08477 Christine Grahame: To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to require an assessment of services, such as schools, public transport and medical facilities, to take place as a condition of planning consents for housing developments. (SP 30/03/17)

Questions marked with a triangle (?) are initiated by the Government in order to facilitate the provision of information to the Parliament.

Question S5W-08101: Neil Findlay, Lothian, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 14/03/2017.
To ask the Scottish Government when it will next review what is included in home reports.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (22/03/2017)

Question S5W-07841: Jackson Carlaw, Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 07/03/2017.
To ask the Scottish Government when it will respond to the recommendations in the five-year review of the Home Report.
Answered by Kevin Stewart (16/03/2017)

The Parliament has agreed the following upcoming parliamentary recess dates in 2017:
•    1 to 16 April 2017 (inclusive)
•    1 July to 3 September 2017 (inclusive)

For the latest information about BEFS Members’ events see our events calendar.

European Heritage & Cultural Identity
When: Thursday, 13 April 2017 from 17:30 – 20:30.
Where: Edinburgh College of Art, Main Lecture Theatre, 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF.
An open seminar on our shared European tangible and intangible heritage featuring: John Lowrey, University of Edinburgh, Robert Belot, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UTBM, Roel During, Alterra/Wageningen University, Radu Albu Comanescu, Universitatea ‘Babes-Bolyai’ Cluj-Napoca Klausenburg, and Laurier Turgeon, Laboratoire d’enquête ethnologique et multimedia. Entry: £5 towards costs; free to Edinburgh World Heritage members.

2017 Heritage Hustings
When: 18 April 2017 from 6pm-8pm
Where: Saint Stephen’s Stockbridge, Saint Stephen Street, Edinburgh EH3 5AB.
For World Heritage Day 2017, Edinburgh World Heritage will be hosting the city’s first ever ‘Heritage Hustings’ against the backdrop of Playfair’s majestic St. Stephen’s Church. This is your chance to question the candidates on the heritage issues you feel strongly about such as the contribution of new development to the city, the care and maintenance of historic buildings, issues of planning control, and the balance between the needs of visitors and residents.
Supported by Built Environment Forum Scotland

AHSS Strathclyde Group AGM
When: 22 April 10:30 – 13:00.
Where: St Columbkille’s Church, 2 Kirkwood St, Rutherglen, Glasgow G73 2SL.
Cost: £10 (attendance at the AGM is free and the costs relate to donations, lunches and gratuities)
The meeting will take place in the church hall and will be followed by a guided tour. St Columbkille’s is a category A listed church designed by Jack Coia of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia and was completed in 1940. The church has recently undergone an extensive two phased conservation and repair project to both the exterior and the interior led by Mr Brian A. Park of Page/Park Architects. The tour will be conducted by Hamish Macbeth who was also involved with the project.

AHSS Dumfries and Galloway Group event 
When: 29 April 14:15 – 16:15.
Where: Gordon Memorial Hall, St. Ninian’s Episcopal Church, Whitepark Road, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, DG7 1EX.
Cost: Free
‘Forgotten Railways of Dumfries and Galloway’ by Angus Rex of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS).

Scottish Civic Trust Annual Lecture 2017
When: Tue 25 April 2017 from 17:30 – 19:30.
Where: Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SR.
Merchant City, one of Glasgow’s most historic areas has experienced many changes in its time, so much so that on more than one occasion it almost disappeared from the face of the earth. Its renaissance in more recent years has become part of the city’s folklore – but the story is not over yet! We will explore how we arrived at the present, and look at some of the issues for the future.
This lecture by architect and historian David Martin is part of a series of events which celebrate, in 2017, the 50th anniversary of both the inaugural meeting of the Scottish Civic Trust and the passing of the Civic Amenities Act 1967 which introduced the concept of conservation areas.

Scottish Civic Trust is celebrating its 50th anniversary
Since 1967 the Trust has been at the forefront of celebrating and protecting Scotland’s historic environment, promoting good modern architecture, and engaging with local communities and the general public through a wide range of activities. The Scottish Civic Trust will be partnering with Glasgow City Heritage Trust to deliver a short series of events with a focus on Glasgow’s heritage, built, cultural and intangible. All events start at 7pm and are held at GCHT Offices at 54 Bell Street:

East Lothian Property Repair & Maintenance Event
When: Tuesday 9th May 5.30-7pm.
Where: Tranent Town Hall, Church Street, Tranent.
Vital information will be provided to help you:
•    Find out the condition of your property
•    Find out the process required to repair and maintain your property
•    Learn what funding options are available to you
•    Talks from professionals who can start you on the right track
•    Q&A opportunity at help desks
Why not come along to this free event. If you would like to attend please BOOK YOUR PLACE rsvp to: conservation@hypostyle.co.ukMore Conservation Challenges – RIAS Spring Seminar 
When: 31 May 2017; 13.00 to 17.00.
Where: The Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh
Cost: RIAS accredited members and members of Practice Services: £22 inc. VAT. RIAS member: £28 inc. VAT. Non-members: £40 inc. VAT
The RIAS conservation spring seminar is now open for bookings. Topics will include conservation work at the Capitol, Washington DC, and the Scottish architectural legacy in India. The technical components will include climate change adaptation for traditional buildings, interpreting thermal imaging and advice on working with lime for pointing and harling, including specification advice and guidance on the causes of failure, 3D laser scanning technique as used in the restoration of Glasgow School of Art. For programme and booking form click here. If you wish to book a place, please complete a booking form and email to Hayley.Kyle@rias.org.uk

Canal Cultural Heritage Officer
Scottish Waterways Trust are looking for someone who can develop and deliver innovative programmes of education, engagement and practical heritage conservation tasks across Scotland’s canal network. Working with children, young people, volunteers and the general public we need someone who can enthuse and motivate people and connect them with the heritage of our canals.
You’ll be able to plan, co-ordinate, deliver and evaluate a range of public events, volunteering days, schools activities, walks, talks and more which help people to learn about, and care for, Scotland’s unique canal heritage. You’ll have experience in delivering programmes to our target groups, be able to build strong relationships with a wide range of key stakeholders and will have a good knowledge of cultural heritage and be skilled in conservation tasks. Travel is an essential part of this role and the post-holder is required to deliver activities in the Highlands and Lowlands, with an office base in Falkirk.
Closing date: Midday on Thursday 13th April.