Scotland

Can Community Wealth Building change the conversation?

This article orignally appeared on the Reform Scotland blog.

There has been some excitement in the Scottish policy landscape over the last few weeks with the introduction of (a long awaited) Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill. While it may not sound that exciting, as the first legislation of its kind in the world, this is actually a big deal.

But what is Community Wealth Building, and why does it matter? I am going to use this article to set out the nuts and bolts, explore the implications of this new legislation and look to the future. First, though, I’ll explain who the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) are. CLES are the national organisation for local economies. We have been working for nearly 40 years supporting places to understand how they can make their local economies more resilient. We pioneered the development of Community Wealth Building in the UK, following on from work in the US and, nowadays, we work across the UK and Europe to support places to take a Community Wealth Building lens to their local economies. We work with places to instigate and enable change and are proactive in supporting them to develop economic strategies and activities which suit their challenges and opportunities and which deliver for their people. Here in Scotland we have been active for many years as Community Wealth Building has become more established, first in our places and now in government legislation.
“economic growth alone cannot be relied on”
Before I get into Community Wealth Building, I’ll set the scene for why we need to take a new approach. We have an economy which currently prioritises economic growth, delivered via external private capital. We are told that more growth will reduce inequality and pay for public services. Yet, despite our relentless pursuit of growth, in recent decades the UK has seen dramatic rises in poverty levels, business uncertainty and an escalating climate crisis. It is clear, then, that economic growth alone cannot be relied on to tackle these issues.

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Scottish policy and practice update: Mar 25

This update is part of a regular series of rundowns of policy developments and reports on our work in Scotland, by CLES Senior Researcher and Scotland lead, Naomi Mason.

Building on the Bill

It isn’t often that economic development is exciting – or at least that’s what my friends tell me when I talk about my job. But, for those in the community wealth building space, the long awaited Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill has been hotly anticipated. So, when it was released last week, it felt like a pivotal moment. Whatever else may be said, this legislation remains the first of its kind in the world – certainly something to be celebrated.

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Scottish policy and practice update: Dec 24

This update is part of a regular series of rundowns of policy developments and reports on our work in Scotland, by CLES Senior Researcher and Scotland lead, Naomi Mason.

Looking back, looking forwards and taking stock

As I near my one-year anniversary of joining CLES as our lead for Scotland, I’ve been looking back at what has happened over the last 12 months. It has been quite a year, with political turbulence in Holyrood, Westminster and across the world, not to mention the continued global instability in our climate and economies. So – as the Scottish Budget was announced last week – I couldn’t help but reflect on both how interlinked we all are and how our local economies are profoundly impacted by global change.
“power and politics are fundamental to change”
I’m reminded that, by building flexibility, community wealth building makes our places stronger and more resilient to the fluctuations of wider economic systems. But this takes time, effort and persistence. It also takes political will and power. I’ve previously written about the opportunity that the forthcoming community wealth building legislation could bring to Scotland, and the many forms of power which our rural communities can tap into, or struggle against, so I won’t labour the points here. Suffice to say, power and politics are fundamental to change.
“bringing power from Holyrood down to our local places”
What we don’t talk about often enough, however, is the relinquishing of power. When we talk about devolution, transferring power away from Westminster to the nations or regions of the UK, we often focus on that first step away from the centre. What we talk less about is the stages beyond. Often, bringing power from Holyrood down to our local places seems to be a step too far here in Scotland. There were high hopes for this to happen over the last 25 years of the Scottish parliament, but how well it has truly benefited Scotland’s local democracy is not clear, a point which was beautifully articulated by Bill Howat in an article published last week. And there is a further question: even if power had reached our councils to a greater degree…what then? Are they even the best mechanism for delivering local democracy and decision making? Opinions differ. According to the results of a Democracy Matters consultation earlier this year, the answer is no: there is an appetite for more community-led decision making and power.

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Much to learn from Celtic wealth building

This article originally appeared in the MJ.

CLES’s most recent community wealth building conversation event, chaired by Huw Thomas, Director of Finance at Hywel Dda University, introduced the idea of “small country governments” and the pragmatic role that our Celtic governments are playing in tackling key challenges using community wealth building approaches. They are well placed to do this, the discussion concluded, because they are embedded in their places. But achieving public sector reform must go hand in hand with investing in the development of thriving local communities.

The discussion brought together expertise from across the Celtic nations, including Miriam Brett, Co-Director of Future Economy Scotland, Rhiannon Hardiman, the Policy Lead for Climate, Nature, Economy & Food Future at the Generations Commissioner for Wales, Mary McManus, Regional Manager for Living Wage Northern Ireland and Liam Quinn, Chief Executive of the Waterford Area Partnership.

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  • RESEARCH

    Securing public value from natural resources

    7th November 2024
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    • Scottish policy and practice update: Sept 24

    This update is part of a regular series of rundowns of policy developments and reports on our work in Scotland, by CLES Senior Researcher and Scotland lead, Naomi Mason.

    The good, the bad and the opportunities

    Last week was a busy one for policy and fiscal announcements in Scotland. Tuesday morning started positive, with the launch of Developing Scotland’s Economy: Increasing the role of inclusive and democratic business models, a report committed to in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation. But later that day the fiscal pre-budget announced budget cuts and difficult economic decisions around public spend, while Wednesday saw the launch of the 2024-25 Programme for Government (PfG). As the title of this blog indicates, the three announcements produced quite a mixed bag of policy and legislation and there was a lot for those of us concerned with the future economy of Scotland to digest over the weekend.
    “Scotland could soon claim a world first”
    Starting with the positive, we at CLES are delighted to see community wealth building legislation coming forward in the PfG. Scotland could soon claim a world first by delivering this ground-breaking legislation which supports a framework for economic development practices which challenges economic extraction and supports local economies to flourish. If this legislation can unlock opportunities for Scotland’s SMEs to bid for public sector contracts, as well as making it easier for those in the third sector to undertake them too, then the economic opportunity to encourage wealth to flow to our local places will become far easier.

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    Putting the community in community wealth building 

    Last week I had the honour of delivering the opening keynote presentation at the Third Sector Interface Scotland (TSI) Network conference. This was their first in person conference since before the onset of Covid-19, and the magnitude of the many challenges the third sector in Scotland has faced in recent years was never far from my mind throughout the day.  

    The legacy of harsh austerity policies, a global pandemic and continued economic uncertainty (globally and closer to home as we have seen with the recent Scottish political upheaval) have all tested our communities’ resilience in ways we’ve never known before. But what was heartening to hear from delegates at the conference was how the third sector has continually risen to these various challenges. 
    “a large and significant economic force”
    At the height of the pandemic, the TSI Network was able to support the third sector as it responded, at pace, to the difficult conditions which were faced in our places. This raised the profile of the sector, with local groups, with their unique insights into local conditions, on hand to mobilise and deliver services where the public sector struggled to reach. Beyond the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic, recent research has shown the significant impact the third sector has on the Scottish economy overall, in terms of employment, volunteering and economic spend. With income generated totalling over £8.5bn per annum, the sector is a large and significant economic force in the Scottish economy.  

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    Building Community Wealth in Scotland

    Our response to the Scottish Government’s consultation

    As Sarah Longlands shared at the end of March, we have been delighted to be able to work with partners and friends across Scotland over the last few months to understand their views on the Government’s proposals for a Community Wealth Building Bill.

    This legislations would be a powerful step forward in enabling the democratisation of our economy and would be progressive global first – that it could happen so close to home is immensely exciting. The government’s consultation closed on Tuesday this week and below we share our responses to the questions posed. We would be delighted to hear your thoughts too – please do get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspects of our response, the items under consultation or the development of community wealth building in Scotland or anywhere else.

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    The brave

    Four lessons from Scotland in delivering community wealth

    At the close of the 2021 Community Wealth Building Summit, we reflect on remarks by our opening keynote speaker Tom Arthur MSP and the work that CLES has undertaken with the Scottish government over the last 12 months. The lessons learned should resonate with governments of all scales in Scotland and the wider community wealth building movement.

    In his opening remarks to this week’s Community Wealth Building Summit, Tom Arthur MSP argued that community wealth building provided an “opportunity to approach economic development in a new way” in order to help create “common prosperity”. As the Scottish Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, Mr Arthur has put community wealth building at the forefront of his agenda arguing that it needs to sit across government, providing a “whole system approach” to an inclusive economy. He also confirmed the Scottish government’s intention to introduce a Community Wealth Building Bill during this parliament, to consolidate changes in practice and enable local anchor organisations to use their economic leverage to deliver more for local people and communities.

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  • GUIDE

    Implementing Community Wealth Building

    1st March 2021
    414.8kB     .pdf
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  • Press release: Community wealth building in Clackmannanshire

    10 Dec. 2020

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    03 Jul. 2020

    • Community wealth building in Scotland

    This post originally appeared on the website of Scotland’s Centre for Regional Inclusive Growth.

    Inclusive economic growth is a key aspiration for Scotland, as set out in the country’s Economic Strategy. Scotland aims to grow a sustainable and successful economy whilst tackling inequalities. To realise these aspirations, the fast-moving community wealth building movement offers a practical, common sense local place approach.

    The community wealth building approach starts with a strong focus on wealth. We know that Scotland is a relatively wealthy country, however wealth here has grown much faster than income. This disparity has disproportionately benefitted older people. Those born in the second half of the 1970s have a third less wealth than those born in the first five years. Furthermore, wealth distribution is geographically and socially uneven, with the top 10% owning a staggering 200 times more wealth than the bottom 10% (a median wealth of £1.3m compared to £6,000). Indeed, the wealthiest 10% own 43% of all wealth in Scotland, with the least wealthy 40% only owning 5%[i].

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