Championing the Local, part 2

Councils need to buy better

Monday, 14th September, 4-6pm
Online – free admission

Councils Need to Buy Better is the second in the CHAMPIONING THE LOCAL series of SEDA Land Conversations.

This Conversation will highlight the role that local authorities of the critical role they can play in enhancing local economies.

The Scottish Government is committed to integrating social value and wellbeing into public procurement through not only the Procurement Reform (Scotland) legislation, but also the Scottish National Performance Framework strategy.

In April 2023 the Scottish Government published the first Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland. Local authority procurement – on the long-term contractual basis – can give communities the much needed confidence to invest and kickstart new enterprises.

This could be particularly transformative for Scotland's rural and remote communities which often face unique challenges, including economic fragility, limited employment opportunities, and infrastructural deficits. Local procurement fosters local employment, enhancing skills, and improving local infrastructure. This event aims to ensure that councils, health boards and other public bodies are given the means to enact the bill.

This Conversation will include inspirational models, using these as a springboard for a broader discussion of the subject, addressing obstacles along the way and how to overcome them.

Championing the Local 

An online series of SEDA Land Conversations (free to attend)

Mon 7th, 14th & 21st of September 2026

There is an emerging consensus about what needs to be done to revive rural Scotland. This series of events will look at how this might be achieved in practice.

The theme will be the role local value chains can play and how these might be facilitated. A place-based model enables rural communities to reap more of the benefits from the land around them including health and wellbeing benefits as well as environmental ones from shorter supply chains.

The passing of the Community Wealth Building Act by the Scottish Government is likely to fuel the growth of local value chains. This world-first piece of legislation commits the Scottish Government to “enable more local communities and people to own, have a stake in, access and benefit from the wealth [Scotland’s] economy generates”, making it mandatory for public bodies to prioritise the reinvestment of locally-generated wealth back into local communities. This event aims to ensure that councils, health boards and other public bodies are given the means to enact the bill.

Artists Contributions

Jenny Sturgeon, composer, singer-songwriter, and sound artist
Jenny’s music combines field recordings with sonic and lyrical imagery bound together by threads of nature, folklore and the connection people have with the landscape. Jenny has released two acclaimed albums. 'The Living Mountain' won Best Acoustic at the 2020 Scottish Alternative Music Awards.  ​Jenny's most recent work paths.made.walking is a series of sound recordings which chart her journey walking the Scottish National Trail. Jenny’s music has been played widely on radio stations.

Chris Powici, poet, English and creative writing tutor

Chris’s poetry focuses on human and natural environments and how they overlap. He edited the literary magazine Northwords Now for seven years. He lives in Dunblane, and teaches at The Open University, the University of Stirling, and in the community. His collection, This Weight of Light, was published in 2015.

Adam Forrest

Co-op development manager at Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS)

Adam works at the interface of agriculture, sustainable food systems, and rural development. His background spans roles in farm enterprise management, organic sector development, co-operative governance, and commercial strategy in the food sector. He is particularly interested in building collaborative, farmer-led approaches to sustainable agriculture that combine food production, nature restoration and community benefit. In 2025 he joined SAOS as Co-op Development Manager, to support the growth and resilience of Scottish agricultural cooperatives.  Adam previously served as Scotland Manager for the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), where he led advocacy, farmer engagement, and policy-influence efforts working with producers, eNGO partners, and government to embed nature-friendly farming in national agricultural policy. Prior to NFFN at Scotland Food & Drink, Adam coordinated the development of Scotland’s National Organic Action Plan alongside sectoral stakeholders and prior to that he was the enterprise manager at Cyrenians Farm, a market garden and rural skills centre for young people from backgrounds of homelessness.

Sarah Gowanlock

Partnerships Manager, Soil Association Scotland

Sarah is an experienced project manager working in partnership with public sector, third sector, academic institutions and community organisations toward a sustainable future where we can all access good food. I build partnerships to develop and facilitate innovative projects to embed healthy and sustainable diets. Roll up the soil Association, Sarah is also partnerships and programsme manager for Food for Life Scotland.

Sue Guy

Co-founder, Reuse Scotland

Sue started out working with communities developing Local Plans and action for improving livelihoods and wellbeing and went on to co-found Reuse Scotland SCIO. Along the way, Sue advised governments, local authorities, schools, and third-sector organisations (nationally/ internationally) always with the same focus: enabling people to shape the solutions that matter to them.

Iain MacPherson

director, Reorient Places

Iain specialises in reshaping the narrative of places and spaces through innovative thinking. Supporting and co-designing with stakeholders, communities, local authorities, and organisations, he help navigate creatively towards achieving impactful and sustainable outcomes. Awards include: Your Kirky Town Centre Action Plan (2020), Warrington Central 6 Masterplan (2021) and most recently Fraserburgh Beach Masterplan won the RTPI Scotland Award in the Best Plan category (2024). Iain was also a finalist for the 2021 Young Planner of the Year award.

Neil McInroy

Global lead for Community Wealth Building, The Democracy Collaborative

At The Democracy Collaborative Neil advances systemic economic reform and inclusive ownership strategies across the United States and internationally. With over 30 years of experience in progressive economic and public policy, Neil is widely recognized as a leading international figure in democratic economic development. Neil has been instrumental in shaping Community Wealth Building as both a practical framework and a strategic theory of change. His work is grounded in key contextual ideas — such as addressing structural inequality, democratizing wealth, and embedding resilience into local economies. He has developed the CWB Guide and Training Program, which provides a structured pathway for action, framed by his original development of the Five Pillars of CWB. Until 2021, Neil served for 20 years as CEO of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), the U.K.’s national organization for progressive local economies. He was also a Community Wealth Building Adviser to the Scottish Government until 2023, where he embedded CWB principles into national economic policy and chaired strategic reviews on Inclusive and Democratic Business Models and the Shetland Islands Energy Transition Taskforce. He is currently the chair of the economic development association of Scotland (EDSA).

Louise Kirk, TBC

Head of Service (Economic Development Growth & Regeneration), Noth Ayrshire Council

To follow. 

TBC

TBC

To follow.