Community Wealth Building

Community Wealth Building

Community Wealth Building is a key economic policy for the Scottish Government.   We are researching the development and implementation of this policy, and particularly what lessons are emerging from rural and island Scotland.

Since a commitment in the 2020 Programme for Government, Community Wealth Building policy has been implemented in a number of ways in Scotland.  This includes through the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, in the National Planning Framework 4, and in local authority and regional pilots. In February 2026, the Government passed a Community Wealth Building Bill.  Community Wealth Building policy has been taken up by public, private, and community organisations, with practice ranging from public body uptake to community-led collaborations. 

Community Wealth Building is a practical means to economic development;  you can find a more detailed explanation here.  Community-led local development in Scotland's rural and island communities is longstanding,  with community-led anchor organisations like social enterprise  building community wealth for decades.  It's been argued that current community wealth building practice builds on older inclusive development strategies,  like micro enterprises, volunteering, community landownership and crofting.

We are investigating Community Wealth Building as part of our research on economic development for the Strategic Research programme. In our research we are asking questions like:  What learning is there from the pilot projects and national policy?  How does  community-led work interact with the policy approaches being implemented by local, regional and national authorities?  Is a unique development model emerging from rural and island Scotland?  Our work so far has included a review of rural and island community wealth building, international perspectives, the Scottish Government pilots, and emerging good practice. In 2026 we will consider monitoring and evaluation.