COMMON GOOD

Common Good assets are often of significant local importance and heritage, and valued by residents – buildings like town halls, tolbooths, and former burgh chambers, as well as parks, gardens, links, and woodland – and the annual income generated by these funds is often distributed to local causes.

But for many people there are questions about how the Common Good is managed, whether it could be put to better use, and what its purpose is in the 21st century. 

Modernising Common Good assets could be a game changer for urban land reform and community ownership in Scotland’s towns and cities. We are looking at the purpose of the Common Good in the 21st century, how greater benefit could be delivered for communities through the Common Good, and how these assets should be recorded and managed.

Case Studies

Issues with Inalienability: Portobello High School

The City of Edinburgh Council proposed to use Portobello Park as the site for the new Portobello High School. However the land was not designated as a possible site for a new school.

link to Issues with Inalienability: Portobello High School case study