Onshore renewable energy - refreshing the good practice principles for community benefits: working paper

Section 4 – Supporting Communities

Summary

• This section details measures to build the capacity and skills of communities to actively and successfully engage in, and benefit from, community benefits from onshore renewable and energy storage developments.
• Proposed measures include establishing a Community Benefit Peer Forum pilot, and the development of a new Toolkit for communities to use throughout the community benefits process.
• This reflects the priorities of communities (identities through the consultation) of:
  • Access to free, independent expert advice and support;
  • Training and upskilling; and
  • Peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange opportunities.

Purpose

We are determined to maximise the benefits that Scotland’s renewable energy strengths can bring to both communities and industry. As part of this, it is vital to ensure that communities can play a leading role in establishing and managing community benefit schemes that will meet their specific needs and aspirations.

A lack of capacity has been highlighted as one of the main obstacles to achieving this aim – with limited resources, skills, and experience often cited as major barriers. This risks leading to inequalities – such as smaller, rural communities and areas of deprivation, often with the least capacity, being more likely to be left behind. Addressing skills and capacity gaps is key to supporting fair and effective community benefits decision-making.

Overall, our aim is to enhance and strengthen the knowledge, skills, capacity, confidence and self-sustainability of communities across Scotland, so that they can effectively benefit from Scotland’s transition to net zero.

Background and Approach

We recognise that any policy interventions designed to help build the capacity of communities must be shaped by the voices of those facing these barriers. As such, we are grateful for the insightful feedback provided through the public consultation. This was supplemented by evidence gathered through Community Conversations, direct engagement with stakeholders, including other governments, and supported by valuable input by the Onshore Review Advisory Group – comprising of community groups, industry, development trusts and enterprise agencies.

From the evidence gathered, three priority themes emerged – to provide communities with:

• access to free, independent, expert advice and support;
• training and upskilling; and,
• peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange opportunities.

Access to free, independent, expert advice and support

It was widely agreed by respondents from both industry and communities that capacity-building is crucial, and a range of recommendations were offered. One of the most common issue raised was the importance of external support for communities seeking expert advice, either in the form of paid development officers or funding to support recruitment of their own experts. There were differing views on whether this should be funded by developers, government, or communities through early release of community benefit funds.

Training and upskilling

There was also a clear request for the development and use of a ‘one-stop shop’ comprising open-access training materials, guidance, training programmes, case studies, and other resources, to support people’s involvement in community benefits.

Peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange opportunities

There were frequent references in the consultation to establishing a peer-to-peer forum to enable community groups to build networks; enhance collaboration with each other; communicate; and share experiences, best practice and lessons learned.

Through our policy development, supported by extensive stakeholder feedback and detailed engagement with the Onshore Review Advisory Group, the following interventions have been identified to help address these priority areas:

• Community Benefit Peer Forum pilot;
• Toolkit; and,
• Further exploration of development support opportunities.

Policy proposals

This proposed suite of measures has been designed to:

• increase knowledge, confidence, and capacity within communities;
• enhance collaboration between communities, developers and the third sector;
• enable communities to undertake more equitable and strategic negotiations with developers; and,
• help communities to achieve locally aligned community benefit funds, with improved legacy planning and long-term sustainability.

Community Benefit Peer Forum pilot

To support communities to collaborate and share their experience and learning with each other, we are launching a Community Benefit Peer Forum pilot over 2026/27.

This will be delivered on behalf of the Scottish Government by Local Energy Scotland (LES). LES currently administers and manages the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) and has a wealth of experience and expertise supporting communities across Scotland participate in, and benefit from, the transition to net zero.

To ensure a diversity of voices are represented, LES intends to work with community benefit stakeholders in developing and designing this pilot.

It is critical that this forum is for communities, by communities, which is why they will play a leading role in agenda setting to ensure the forum meets their needs and expectations. We propose that the pilot will involve regular networking events that will be shaped by the participants, but could include thematic workshops, guest speakers, and case study sharing.

The aim of the forum is to support communities in establishing local networks where they can discuss community involvement in developer-led renewables projects. This would promote collaboration, knowledge exchange, and capacity-building among community groups with the aim of creating stronger community governance, better fund impact, and increased peer support.

If deemed successful, this model could be rolled out further with communities taking a leading role.

Toolkit

We noted from stakeholder feedback that whilst there are lots of resources available publicly, the landscape is disparate and often complicated, and it can be unclear where communities should look for the best source of support and guidance.

There were strong calls in the consultation for the development of a comprehensive, accessible, and practical Toolkit to upskill decision-makers within communities, build expertise, and promote long term sustainability. We propose to update the existing Community Benefits Toolkit, designed by LES and Foundation Scotland and hosted on the LES website.

Analysis of the existing toolkit will be conducted to establish which products work well and are well utilised, identify gaps within existing resources, and determine what is required to make it more user friendly.

The new toolkit would be developed over time in a phased way based on consultation feedback and wider stakeholder engagement, but could include open-access training materials, practical templates, case studies, strategic guidance, and signposting and support.

The aim is to provide an accessible platform that enhances communities’ knowledge, confidence and capacity to help with planning, negotiations, and delivery of sustainable community benefit schemes aligned to local needs.

Development Support

Stakeholder feedback made clear that communities require access to free or subsidised advice and support to empower them to navigate the community benefits landscape – including negotiating agreements with developers, establishing plans and strategies, and managing strategic use of funds.

Some called for the creation of paid development officer roles that communities could utilise to help progress their community benefits aspirations. There were also requests for industry or public sector funding that communities could bid into to source and recruit experts that meet their specific requirements. The Scottish Government is continuing to explore possibilities for supporting capacity building efforts for communities across Scotland.

There are already strong examples of industry supporting capacity-building efforts, including hosting capacity building events and funding development support for communities. This demonstrates the commitment of many developers to forming positive partnerships with host communities. We would encourage developers to consider working with communities to provide financial and practical support at an early stage to support capacity building efforts.

We’d like to know:

• Would the measures proposed in this section strengthen the resources and capacity of communities, and help enable them to secure and make the most of community benefit funds?