A SINGLE NATIONAL SYMBOL TO MAKE COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP VISIBLE

From village halls and local shops to renewable energy projects, housing, woodlands, sports facilities and heritage sites, people in Scotland are stepping forward to protect and strengthen the places they care about most. Yet despite the scale of this achievement, much of it remains invisible to the wider public.

Just as people recognise an accommodation accreditation, a recycling symbol, a net zero symbol, living wage mark – symbols help us understand what something stands for at a glance.

Imagine a recognisable national symbol displayed on every community-owned asset across Scotland. A symbol that clearly says: "This place belongs to the community."

A symbol that becomes a public declaration that:

• Local people own this asset

• Wealth generated here stays locally

• Decisions are made locally

• The asset exists for community benefit, not private profit

 

Why Now?

Scotland is in an era in which communities are increasingly expected to own assets, deliver public services, generate energy, manage land, tackle climate change and build local wealth. We believe Scotland is leading from the front on this, but it isn't obvious.

If community ownership is becoming a permanent pillar of Scotland's economy and public life, it deserves a visible national identity. With the new community wealth building bill, it feels like now is the right time.

 

The Public Awareness Argument

Most people can identify:

• NHS facilities

• Council facilities

• National Trust properties  

 

But very few can identify community-owned assets and that creates practical problems:

• People don't realise what has been achieved

• They underestimate the scale of the movement

• They don't choose to support community-owned enterprises

• Policymakers don't see the collective impact

• Communities feel isolated rather than part of a national movement

A common symbol would turn hundreds of separate projects into one visible Scottish movement.

 

The Opportunity

Every community-owned asset represents local people choosing hope and opportunity over decline. It represents a community that refused to lose its shop, its hall, its pub, its woodland, its sports ground, its housing, its heritage or its future. Yet these stories of where communities have stepped forward and taken responsibility for their place remain largely hidden. A common symbol would tell a simple story.

 

More Than A Logo: A Movement

Scotland has succeeded in creating hundreds of community-owned assets. Our next challenge is creating public recognition of community ownership itself. A symbol would allow every local success to strengthen every other local success. Instead of: 840 separate assets, thousands of organisations, hundreds of communities, people would see - one national movement for community ownership.

Five, ten, fifty years from now, people should be able to travel anywhere in Scotland and recognise a simple symbol that says: "This place belongs to the community." Not the council. Not the government. Not a private company. The Community.

 

Scotland Has a Story Worth Telling

A shared symbol would make visible what Scotland has quietly achieved: one of the most remarkable community ownership movements in the world. The assets already exist. The movement already exists. What we need now is collaboration and a way for people to see it.

Personally, through my work with the Loch Ness Hub & Travel, we have received visits from Japan, Canada, Sweden, Malta, to name a few. They all aspire to do what we are all delivering in Scotland. Scotland should be shouting louder about communities and helping define exactly what community means.

Russell Fraser, Lochness Hub & Travel and SCOTO Director.