1. Wednesday 29 th 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 Economic development but with social fairness and within limits of environment UK, but also work in Europe and beyond! Established 1986 20 staff: planners, geographers, local government, environmental scientists, economists Hybrid; research, consultancy, members Growing-but will stay small

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. 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

6. 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

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. 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’

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. 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!

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