Wednesday 29 th of September 2010

1. Wednesday 29th of September 2010 Neil McInroy, Chief Executive, Centre for Local Economic Strategies Listening, Valuing and Investing in the big sector:

2. What is CLES? Independent charity. No commercial sponsor or government grants 20 staff: planners, geographers, local government, environmental scientists, economists Established 1986 Growing-but will stay small Economic development but with social fairness and within limits of environment Hybrid; research, consultancy, members UK, but also work in Europe and beyond!

3. 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

4. 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

5. Present policy and crude assumptions • 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?

6. Local Economies as a Network of activity • 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

7. 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

8. Resilience V Sustainability V

9. Key Principles around ‘resilience’ • 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...............

10. Creation of place resilience

11. Framework for measuring resilience

12. The place resilience model Public economy • Public expenditure on goods and services • Make up of public sector activity • Public employment

13. The place resilience model Public economy • Public expenditure on goods and services • Make up of sector • Public employment Social economy • Contribution 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)

14. Core economy • Invisible economy that we take part in every day • The economy of the home, family, neighbourhood and community • It 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!

15. Core economy • An emphasis on the core economy • UK 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 economy • If the core economy fails, burden on public and private sector grows

16. The place resilience model Public economy • Public expenditure on goods and services • Make up of sector • Public employment Social economy • Contribution of community activities and networks to the local economy including ‘core’ economy Commercial economy • Commercial turnover in locality • Make up of sector • Provides the bulk of employment RELATIONSHIP AND THE SPACES BETWEEN THESE AREAS IN A LOCAL PLACE ARE KEY

17. So the social economy is the Big sector! • 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

18. Centre for Local Economic Strategies • EMAIL. neilmcinroy@cles.org.uk • WEB. www.cles.org.uk • TWITTER. @neilmcinroy • PHONE. (0044) 161 236 7036