Community Wealth Building

 MOVES TOWARDS transforming the way major organisations use their influence as buyers of goods and services, employers, land and asset owners and funders for the benefit of the communities they serve have got underway at a conference in Dundee.

Dundee City Council and partners including NHS Tayside, the city’s universities, colleges, Social Security Scotland and housing associations gathered at the Steeple Church to find out more about Community Wealth Building.

John Alexander, leader of Dundee City Council who chaired the event said: “It has become clear that traditional models of wealth creation haven’t worked and the gap between the haves and have nots in our society is just getting bigger.

“Community Wealth Building focusses on local people and supporting local business to compete for work, to drive wealth back into the community, and puts control and all of the advantages firmly into the hands of local people.”

Attendees at the conference also heard from Neil McInroy Senior Fellow for Global Advancement of Community Wealth Building at the Democracy Collaborative and Community Wealth Building Adviser at the Scottish Government; Tom Arthur MSP, Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance and Russell McCutcheon, Executive Director (Place), North Ayrshire Council.

Community Wealth Minister Tom Arthur said: “It is an important time for community wealth building in Scotland and it is encouraging to see so many local authorities, including Dundee City Council and their partners, driving it forward.

“Rewiring our economic system from the ground up will be a huge challenge but must be accelerated for the wellbeing of our people and planet.

“The Scottish Government’s plans to introduce legislation to boost the transformational potential of community wealth building will accelerate the excellent work already taking place across Scotland.”

Among topics discussed were the five pillars of Community Wealth Building:

•             Spending (including procurement);

•             Workforce (including fair employment and just labour markets);

•             Inclusive Ownership;

•             Property; and

•             Finance (making financial power work for local places).

The conference was told that in order to successfully create a better way of delivering economic development Anchor Partner Organisations, who are large employers with an

important stake in Dundee, need to be identified and encouraged to take part.

Cllr Alexander added: “Community Wealth Building provides a framework to support local economic development and improve people’s lives.

“Since 2011, when it was introduced in Preston in Lancashire the Community Wealth Building model has resulted in a significant increase in money being spent locally by private and public bodies, but also had additional advantages including increased payment of the Living Wage and a reduction in unemployment, all of which has helped lift the city out of the 20% most deprived areas in the UK.”

Delegates supported the creation of a draft Dundee Community Wealth Building Charter to help develop the model in the city.

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