Torry Peoples Assembly has met twice. The report from the first Assembly is HERE. You can read the Declaration of torry from the second by clicking on the image below.

We hope to continue the work begun through the assembly by fundraising for a resource worker who can support the community to respond to unwelcome developments, and build local capacity, for example through exploring the possibility of a Community-led retrofit project, supporting a follow-up assembly and link with other community-led assemblies to reclaim democracy..

Torry's second peoples’ assembly was held on the 27th and 28th of May in a marquee in the beautiful greenspace, historically known as the Vale of Cheerfulness, a part of St Fittick's Park. Attended by around 150 people over the weekend, we discussed the challenges Torry has faced and started thinking through some of the ways that local people can claim the power to make change in their community and beyond. 

The assembly's main focus was on St Fittick's park, because we had just received the long awaited pronouncement from the Scottish Government which upheld Aberdeen City Council's proposed rezoning of the park as an 'opportunity zone', opening the door for a new industrial development to be sited where there is now wetland, park space and trees.

Emotions run high around this issue and, although we planned for a broader focus, this was clearly the one that assembly members wanted to work on. We discussed questions like: ‘What problems does Torry face?’ and ‘Why do they happen?’ We also considered: ‘How shall we move towards making Torry happy and healthy?’ From this process came a Declaration, which highlights many of the deliberations, discussions and comments people made in the process of the two days, and outlines the actions people committed to taking as a result.