The West Lothian Approach

 

West Lothian Council started to look at Community Wealth Building in the summer of 2021 with initial recruitment of Community Wealth Building Officer through the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Region Deal and opening applications for the Scottish Government’s Place Based Investment Capital Grants 2021/22 for projects with the goal of building Community Wealth.

Through the programme 5 projects were selected that reflected the set criteria of the 5 pillars.

The successful applicants were:

  • Craigsfarm Community Development Project awarded £129,602 to enhance existing facilities.

  • West Calder HUB awarded £140,265 to be utilised for the enhancement of existing indoor and outdoor facilities potential creation of jobs for local people.

  • West Lothian College, were awarded £493,436 to construct an Eco-House education and training centre.

  • West Lothian Foodbank awarded £188,697 for a Market Garden project which will benefit the foodbank network across West Lothian, enabling the employment of a local young person and provide work placements for college students.

  • Crofthead Community Education Association awarded £350,000 for the creation of new community facilities and improving and growing existing property and services, as well as enhancing its cycle track facility.

In late 2021 the Council commenced work with CLES to consult on and develop an Action Plan for implementing Community Wealth Building in West Lothian.

In April 2022 a further round of Place Based Investment funding was allocated for 2022/23 for projects with the goal of building community wealth around the 5 pillars.

The successful applicants were:

  • Almond Valley Heritage Trust were awarded £153,000 to upgrade their carpark to enable access to green space and provide a new entrance way to the facility in order to enable free access via future developments

  • Craigsfarm Community Development Project were awarded £146,494 to carry out internal upgrades of the café area, flooring and doors and to undertake a feasibility study of a nearby sports pavilion with a view to looking at community ownership

  • The Larder were awarded £182, 879 to develop and upgrade their bakery including the development of a shop front, upgrade training facilities to make them accessible to clients with additional support needs and will create a community support hub, including a community café

  • The Bridge Community Project were awarded £83,627 to install renewable energy into their wellbeing hub base owned by the organisation

    • In July 2022, following desktop research plus engagement with key services, stakeholders and Elected Members, CLES finalised their report ‘Advancing Community Wealth Building in West Lothian. The report highlights a number of key existing positive actions which have been taken in West Lothian already to support Community Wealth Building. It also set out a number of recommendations on actions that could be implemented to take forward an approach to Community Wealth Building. More information is available here:

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