What can UK policy learn from the Scottish experience of community benefit funding?

In response to their recent working paper on mandating community benefits, over 45 organisations have signed an open letter to the UK government.

Foundation Scotland works alongside communities all over Scotland that are in receipt of community benefit funds associated with renewables. Did you know that of the nations to be included in proposed UK government legislation on community benefits from low carbon technologies, Scotland has the most experience in community benefits practice?

In response to the UK government’s recent working paper on mandating community benefits from low carbon tech, over 45 organisations drawn from across the community and renewables sectors in Scotland, including Foundation Scotland, have come together with a shared ambition of highlighting the learning and experience built here over two decades of hard-won learning by communities and renewables project developers.

Our shared aspiration is that any future UK government policy on community benefits should:

• build from the foundation of good practice already developed here in Scotland
• acknowledge there is a shared desire to go further and create greater impact; and
• enable and not constrain the continuing development of best practice.

You can read the full statement, which has been sent to both the UK and Scottish governments, here.

You can still sign up; if your organisation would like to become a signatory to this statement, please get in touch with our Policy and Practice Manager, Suzy Mercer: suzy@foundationscotland.org.uk

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