Wednesday 29th of September 2010

Neil McInroy, Chief Executive, Centre for Local Economic Strategies

Listening, Valuing and Investing in the big sector:

What is CLES?

Independent charity. No commercial sponsor or government grants

Economic development but with social fairness and within limits of environment

UK, but also work in Europe and beyond!

Established 198620 staff: planners, geographers, local government, environmental scientists, economists

Hybrid; research, consultancy, members

Growing-but will stay small

Challenging times!

Climate change, peak oil, peak water, peak soil, energy insecurity

Economic recession

Unemployment,

lack of capital for investment, lack of economic diversity

Regeneration incomplete – Even the boom times were not that good! Still work to do….

Cuts – ‘the sector's share of the cake will grow, even if the cake shrinks’ Nick Hurd

Inequality (socially and spatially)..and getting worse?

“Grossly unequal societies do not solve their problems they chase them around the policy map” (Robson and Turok, 2007)

Ageing and migration

What does CLES think?

Frustrated and often angry:

Dreamy Local economic futures detached from what the people needed

Too many clunky and generic mantras and silver bullets as regard the ‘knowledge economy’ or ‘low carbon’, ‘inward investment’

Failure to think ahead as regards the environment and changing demography

Existing economic development models..failed to factor in aspects such social capital, volunteering etc

Economic development has failed to factor in environmental change

Places seemed to go through bouts of boom and decline

Big society. BUT we have a sector anyway?

Public sector ‘crowds’ out the Private sector. BUT what about public sector spend which nurtures and supports private sector capacity and social sector.

Local economies Its all about GROWTH. BUT...some places have NONE..and that has been the case for decades before the recession

Localism and Local Enterprise Partnerships. BUT.. lets not get too excited they will need power and resources

What about equity, fairness?

Can you do cuts and reshape society at the same time?

Present policy and crude assumptions

Need to think of place, economy, society as one

Successful places are networks

Network of social, public and commercial activity

Our places are dependent upon complex connections

Vulnerable to small disturbances

Resilience allows us to think about connections and ways in which we can strengthen these links

Local Economies as a Network of activity

What is Resilience?

Resilience is an emergent property of a system – it’s not a result of any one of the system’s parts but of the synergy between all its parts. Thomas Homer-Dixon, The Upside of Down, 2006.

‘the capacity of a place to be ready to deal with change and opportunity. This will require an adaptability so a place can respond, take advantage and learn, so that the place and its citizens are better equipped to deal with opportunities and negative change in the future.’ CLES

Resilience V Sustainability

V

resilience is not about the passive maintenance of a situation

Its more active, its about:

being ready to take on opportunities.

responding to shocks

dealing with change

being adaptable

taking a punch and bouncing back

Ensuring our local economies do not to go ‘belly up’

making our places to go...............

Key Principles around ‘resilience’

Creation of place resilience

Framework for measuring resilience

The place resilience model

Public economyPublic expenditure on goods and servicesMake up of public sector activityPublic employment

The place resilience model

Public economyPublic expenditure on goods and servicesMake up of sectorPublic employment

Social economyContribution of community activities and networks to the local economy including ‘core’ economy

Direct economic activity such as social enterprises, Core economic activity –social capital (e.g voluntary organisations, community groups, neighbourliness, social consciousness)

Core economy

Invisible economy that we take part in every dayThe economy of the home, family, neighbourhood and communityIt is an economic system as it involves the goods and services produced, exchanged and distributed Like a computer

Operating system: The core economy Specialised programs: Hospitals, schools, civil society

The programs may be ok, but the operating system is struggling!

Core economy

An emphasis on the core economyUK 40% of all economic activity takes place in the core economy - not currently reflected in GDP £87bn of unpaid care could be allocated to the core economyIf the core economy fails, burden on public and private sector grows

The place resilience model

Public economyPublic expenditure on goods and servicesMake up of sectorPublic employment

Social economyContribution of community activities and networks to the local economy including ‘core’ economy

Commercial economy Commercial turnover in localityMake up of sectorProvides the bulk of employment

RELATIONSHIP AND THE SPACES BETWEEN THESE AREAS IN A LOCAL

PLACE ARE KEY

Grants are important and key to social economic success

Will the cuts agenda result in the commercial outsourcing agenda ‘squeeze’ out’ the sector ?

‘Big Society’ is not just about VCS or public its also about the commercial sector

The role of VCS is not just to deliver on the governments agenda.

The VCS needs to retain an oppositional/activist role if required

You are the Big Sector. Intrinsic to place success

So the social economy is the Big sector!

Centre for Local Economic Strategies

EMAIL. neilmcinroy@cles.org.ukWEB. www.cles.org.uk TWITTER. @neilmcinroyPHONE. (0044) 161 236 7036