Powering up our rural communities
This article originally appeared in The Municipal Journal.
Imagine living in a place which owned its own wind turbine. Where the village shop was owned and run by local people. Where a network of local social enterprises collaborated to bid for contracts from the public sector. Where all residents felt empowered to participate in developing an action plan for their community. Where the community owned the land their houses were built on, made sure new homes were affordable and were not sold as second homes. Is this a fantasy village? Possibly. But the fact is that rural places across the UK are already delivering all of these constituent parts. The next – and crucial – step is bringing them together.
The second of CLES’s Community Wealth Building Conversations, last week, focused on how the approach works in a rural context. One of the challenges frequently levelled at the community wealth building movement is that it is an urban-centric and -focused method of economic development. When the vast majority of the UK is rural, ensuring that community wealth building can be delivered across all our regions is important. We know that many of the more visible challenges facing urban communities – like poverty – can be masked in rural places. Not only this, but often the lack of rural infrastructure can compound poverty and exacerbate the challenges facing people in their places.
“opportunities […] can be present as well ”
Our panellists at the event – Neil McInroy, Global Lead for Community Wealth Building for The Democracy Collaborative, and Cllr Lisa Brown, Deputy Leader for Cumberland Council – opened the proceedings with provocations highlighting some of the challenges our rural places face. Transport, housing and service delivery all got a mention, but they also noted the opportunities that can be present as well – in energy, food and tackling issues like climate change. Ownership of land was also noted as a key theme as the inequality of who does and who doesn’t own the ground we stand on clearly demonstrates the extraction of wealth from our places.
