Council plans to drive wealth back into Swindon community

Swindon Borough Council is aiming to adopt a Community Wealth Building approach in an effort to tackle worsening issues of inequality, social mobility, and deprivation across the Borough.

Council Leader, Councillor Jim Robbins, will outline to members of the Council’s Build a Better Swindon Policy and Performance Committee how the local authority could follow councils such as Preston and Islington in building a resilient, inclusive, and fair local economy by maximising the social value of local assets, employment, procurement, and finance so Swindon’s wealth is retained and reinvested in local communities.

The Committee will hear how Swindon possesses a breadth of anchor institutions and major employers, which is unmatched by many places. The proportion of businesses with more than 250 staff is double the England average, providing an excellent foundation for developing a localised Community Wealth Building approach.

Councillors will be asked for their views on basing Swindon’s Community Wealth Building model on five pillars. These include:

• Progressive procurement – with the aim of directing the spend of public and anchor employers into local, ethical and inclusive supply chains, where there is mutual benefit
• Fair employment and just labour markets – by promoting decent work, fair pay, inclusive recruitment and career progression
• Socially productive use of land and property – by using underused public and private assets, where appropriate, for community and economic development
• Widening ownership of Swindon’s economy – by increasing the number of successful cooperatives, mutual and community businesses, where there is opportunity to do so
• Putting Swindon’s financial power to work for Swindon – by encouraging local reinvestment of wealth through ethical and community finance

Following input from councillors tomorrow, the Community Wealth Building Strategy will be drafted as part of the wider Swindon Economic Growth Plan. Discussions on the plan with take place with Swindon’s businesses and other partners in January before a finalised plan is presented to the Council’s Cabinet in February.

Councillor Jim Robbins, Leader of Swindon Borough Council, said: “I’m really excited to present our draft Community Wealth Building Plan to councillors as it is an important priority in our Swindon Plan and places like Preston have shown it can make a positive difference to local communities.

“We have some exciting proposals to deliver on our five Community Wealth Building priorities such as encouraging our major employers to apply social value weighting as part of their purchasing policies, which is something we have already started with our own council contracts.

“We also have ambitions to become a Living Wage Place and to develop an Inclusive Employment Charter, while we also want to prioritise community use of surplus land and buildings.

“There are also policies to partner with Co-operatives UK to offer advice, grants, and training, to support the creation of community-owned food, energy, or care enterprises that meet real local needs and to establish an annual meet the buyer event so key employers can meet local suppliers.

“And that is even before we get to developing a civic crowdfunding platform for community projects, micro-ventures and neighbourhood renewal. I look forward to listening to the committee members and taking on board their views so we can put our Community Wealth Building plan into action.”