BELLA Caledonia’s slogan – “It’s time to get above ourselves” – seems to have been rather misunderstood by the SNP in its pricing for this October’s party conference. In 2016, community groups like the #OurLand campaign were gobsmacked to discover that prices for a one-hour fringe meeting inside the Aberdeen conference complex (plus conference brochure listing) started at a whopping £990. Luckily we found a cracking city centre venue for a tiny fraction of the price – St Mark’s church near His Majesty’s Theatre – and around 300 delegates were attracted by no more than free social media to hear Andy Wightman, Robin McAlpine, the soon-to-be-evicted tenant farmer Andrew Stoddart and myself. Since our fringe meeting was held on the day SNP delegates referred back the leadership’s “radical” land reform package, it was a feisty and very relevant event, but it was almost ruled out by cost.

This year, it’s even worse. Prices for stalls seem to have trebled and even quadrupled, and I’d guess far more delegates will be traipsing beyond the conference venue to discuss important issues that don’t appear on the official SNP conference programme and meet activists who can’t afford an observer’s pass let alone an official stall.

The cheapest, single stall space for a charity this year costs £2,985. Opt for a stall twice that size and it costs a staggering £11,983. And that’s cheaper than the full commercial price of £19,896.

According to its director Robin McAlpine, Common Weal booked a double stall last year in Aberdeen for £1,600. This time, even after negotiating, they were quoted £4k plus VAT for a single stall. McAlpine said; “We kept explaining we are a non-profit-making group but they weren’t having a bit of it. They told us if we could get charitable status we’d get a few hundred quid off. There is no way we could justify nearly £5k for a stall slightly bigger than a king-sized bed without a programme advert or a fringe meeting. Neither can any other voluntary group.”

So characteristically, Common Weal started exploring alternatives and together with other non-profit groups have set up their own ”fringe” meeting space in the Glasgow Science Centre across the bridge from the SECC. The festival – whose working title is IdeaSpace – will run concurrently with the SNP conference from 13-15 October.

According to Liz Murray of the registered charity and campaigning group Global Justice Now; “The way the SNP conference is currently set up excludes many organisations in the voluntary sector who just can’t afford to pay the sky high fees to hold a fringe event. The shame is that SNP politicians and party members will miss out on the creative and innovative thinking and the grassroots experience smaller organisations bring.”

Deputy leadership contender and Inverclyde Council councillor Chris McEleny argues; “Something like the SECC is the only type of venue that can accommodate the size of our membership. It’s only £30 for each delegate, and that price is kept low by charging for fringe events. I hope corporate stalls help subsidise those costs [but] if charities are being priced out that’s not acceptable. If any charities are concerned they can contact me.”

That offer of help has come a bit too late. According to Robin McAlpine the number of not for profit groups wanting into the IdeaSpace is “growing by the hour” and includes the Electoral Reform Society, New Economics Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Upstart, SURF, Oxfam, Town Partnerships, SALT, WWF, Global Justice Now, Compass, CBIN (Citizen’s Income campaign), TIE, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Our Land, Christians for Independence, Bella Caledonia, Scottish Unemployed Workers’ Network. There may also be an “authors’ zone.” Our Land will be in there – and it’s a truly exciting prospect to be operating in a space moderated by like-minded activists, not party managers.

Robin McAlpine observes; “I’m a bit startled by this myself – I knew there would be a fair bit of interest but this has taken off way more than I expected.”

What official reaction has there been? Apparently SNP MSPs and MPs got an email telling them to ignore anything outside the official programme which might “undercut the exhibitors” who’d paid for access and thus drain money from party funds.

This is an extraordinary miscalculation for a once sure-footed party.

The price-hike may have occurred because last year’s spring conference lost money. It might have had something to do with the SNP’s fondness for staging events and private soirees in prestigious Edinburgh hotels – who knows. But a lot of folk – many of them independence activists – will conclude that the SNP conference has become a slick, argument-avoiding, money-making machine. I’m sure party loyalists will argue the SNP needs money and without the union movement or big business officially behind them, it must raise cash where it can. There’s also the argument that a private conference has no obligation towards non-members. But remember the SNP has styled itself as “Scotland’s Party” and Britain’s largest mass movement. That kinda means non-members expect a bit more from the SNP than the exclusive brick wall built up around other governing parties in the UK. Especially since many party members are also members of the effectively excluded voluntary groups set up during the indyref. Indeed, the Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) held a conference with 3000 folk in the very same venue in 2014 with no charge for exhibitors and a £10 contribution from those delegates who could afford it.

But the shocking cost of interacting with the SNP is a smaller issue than the way it distances grassroots issues and activists from an increasingly centralised Scottish Government. All politicians talk the talk about community empowerment these days of course but few really believe enough talent, energy and commitment exists amongst Scottish citizens to justify the radical decentralisation of power Scotland so desperately needs.

Seeing is believing – the last three #OurLand events have showcased an incredible range of campaigns tackling local problems with land access, cost and availability.

At the Dunfermline event, for example, local divers described their plans to transform a derelict, disused and dangerous stone quarry near Inverkeithing into a fully fledged diving centre with safe managed access. At present – as in so many cases – the land is in receivership. Will it simply go to the highest bidder before a business plan can be drawn up? Who knows.

The Kinghorn Ecology Centre’s been devising projects to connect local youngsters with the natural environment around them since 1998, improving biodiversity and developing gardening know-how and tool-repair skills so discarded kit and machinery can be shipped to Africa.

When its 15-year lease ran out, Fife Council gave the landowner planning permission to build houses on the site instead and the Centre faced eviction.

Mercifully though, the company went into receivership and local support has resulted in a community buyout of the land.

Further west there are truly ambitious plans for a community buyout of the redundant Longannet coal-fired Power Station. Its owner, Scottish Power, also closed and decommissioned the nearby Kincardine Power Station 15 years ago and the site has been derelict ever since.

Local community activists want to create a community-owned renewable energy innovation park using geothermal energy from the hot water in the former coal mine to heat green houses for horticulture beside a huge array of solar panels. The millions generated would provide a wide range of benefits for the local community.

Will Scottish Power countenance this ambitious joint project – will the Scottish Government back it?

The Haddington #OurLand meeting heard from a young mum who’s given up all hope of getting onto the housing ladder and has set up tinyhomes.com hoping her dinky, studio-sized house designs will get planning permission and find some affordable land – a slender hope in East Lothian, where the presence of large sporting estates means land is scarce and prices sky-high for the few homes and plots that come on the market. Local man Andrew Stoddart – evicted earlier this year after 22 years as a tenant farmer – has been able to keep his three daughters at the same school by renting a local farmhouse but without access to farmland. After winning some compensation for improvements from the Coulston Estate, Andrew doubts he will ever farm in Scotland again. He and eight other tenant farmers facing eviction are set to sue the Scottish Government for badly drafted legislation in 2003 which allowed these evictions to take place. Remarkably and shamefully, it seems the Scottish Government has no intention of settling lest that encourages future victims of badly drafted laws. Wow.

A group of Aberdeenshire fishermen have spent thousands of pounds battling eviction notices from a landowner who’s blocked their traditional access to Cove harbour with massive four tonne blocks. Will the new Land Reform Act come to the rescue in time? They don’t know.

A group of Kirriemuir mums took over the running of J.M Barrie’s Camera Obscura in the town after the National Trust gave up running it. Now they’ve welcomed thousands of visitors, opened a café run as a social enterprise and have plans to buy out the Obscura land as well as a local woodland.

Believe me, I could go on. So much local energy with so little attention from central government. Surely the SNP needs more connection with these grassroots game-changers – not less?

It’s too late to stop the marvellous experiment of the IdeaSpace. I just hope SNP bosses will welcome the thousand flowers blossoming on their doorstep and encourage delegates to come o’er the Clyde for a taste of something truly different this October.