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Wednesday 29 th 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. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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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 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’
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. [email protected]. www.cles.org.uk TWITTER. @neilmcinroyPHONE. (0044) 161 236 7036