News & Views

Scotland’s new Community Wealth Building Bill holds the power to reimagine enterprise, innovation and investment as part of a fairer new economic era, a global expert believes.

Neil McInroy says a whole-of-government commitment to community-rooted wealth creation will steer economic change which will deliver greater success for people and places.

The Oban-based chair of the Economic Development Association Scotland (EDAS) spoke ahead of MSPs taking part in a key debate on Thursday, 19 November.

The Stage One Debate on the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill will be the first time that the proposals have been discussed in the chamber at Holyrood.

If passed, the Bill would require local authorities to work with other public bodies and other key organisations in their area to publish – and implement – a Community Wealth Building action plan.

These would include setting out how to buy more goods and services from local companies, supporting fair work, promoting employee-owned businesses, cooperatives and social enterprises as well as helping community groups to acquire and regenerate derelict sites.

Mr McInroy, who is also global lead for Community Wealth Building (CWB) at United States-based think-tank and research centre The Democracy Collaborative, said: “Our current economic model isn’t working. It’s failing too many people and places.

“The cost of living crisis seems to have no end. Child poverty remains unacceptably high – and we face a growing climate catastrophe.

“These aren’t isolated issues. They are symptoms of an economy that extracts more than it shares – and pollutes more than it protects.

“That’s why we need Community Wealth Building. With this new legislation, we have a real chance to start a new economic journey.”

Giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Economy and Fair Work Committee earlier this year, Mr McInroy described the duties that the legislation would place on local authorities and other key agencies as a potential “game changer”.

He highlighted the foundations of early success in Scotland’s CWB movement, including trailblazing work in North Ayrshire, followed by projects in Clackmannanshire, Fife, Glasgow, the South of Scotland and Western Isles. Other councils are also developing action plans.

Mr McInroy explains that CWB ensures that wealth “circulates more effectively within our communities, places and nation”.

Urging MSPs to support the Bill during Thursday’s debate, Mr McInroy said: “There are already things happening across the five pillars of Community Wealth Building.

“But here’s the difference: CWB is an amplifying platform. It creates an enabling framework for them to go faster and stronger. It moves them from the margins of the economy to the mainstream – making them more of a key feature of economic activity. This Bill does that.

“Public bodies would be required to support delivery, and the Scottish Government would need to publish a report showing how CWB fits with national strategy – signalling a whole-of-government commitment to community-rooted wealth creation.

“Community Wealth Building must not become another well-meaning concept that fails to deliver. It must be more than a slogan. It must be a system.

“These new place-based plans would not be  just policy. They would be strategy in action.”

CWB is a model built in five pillars.

• Inclusive ownership: Developing more local and social enterprises which generate community wealth, including social enterprises, employee-owned firms and cooperatives.
• Workforce: Increasing fair work and developing local labour markets which support the wellbeing of communities.
• Finance: Ensuring that flows of investment and financial institutions work for local people, communities and businesses.
• Land and property: Growing the social, ecological, financial and economic value that local communities gain from land and property assets.
• Spending: Maximising community benefits through procurement and commissioning, developing good enterprise, fair work and shorter supply chains.

First Minister John Swinney made a commitment to the Community Wealth Building Bill in the Scottish Government’s last Programme for Government.

The Scottish Government says that to support thriving communities, it wants to ensure that more money spent in Scotland stays in Scotland – with the new legislation helping to increase investment in local economies so that they become fairer, greener and more prosperous.