Co-op News October 2019: Sustainable Development

DELIVERING
DEVELOPMENT
What has the Preston model achieved so far?
WRITTEN BY:
Miles Hadfield
The Preston model of community wealth building
has prompted widespread interest in and outside
the co-op movement, with its use of local spending
and people-led employment models to lift the
local economy.
The model was developed by Preston City Council
and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies
(CLES), working with local anchor institutions to
play a collective role in delivering better outcomes
for workers and service users. The model drew
inspiration from the work of the US Democracy
Collaborative in Cleveland, Ohio.
But, six years on from the start of the project,
what results has the Preston model had?
An analysis of anchor institution spend – from
organisations such as the University of Central
Lancashire (UCLan), and the city’s police force and
hospitals – found the procurement spend retained
within Preston was £112.3m, a rise of £74m from
2012/3. Taking in the wider Lancashire economy,
the retained spend is £448.7m, up £200m.
After researching local businesses, the council
found there was a lack of local suppliers to provide
certain services, and worked with UCLan to
encourage worker-led businesses to fill the gap.
Between them, they set up the Guild Co-operative
Network and Preston Co-operative Development
Network, which helped to develop worker co-ops in
the catering, tech and digital sectors.
Individual anchor institutions have taken their
own steps to drive inclusive development. The city
“ To support people
locally, we have got
to change the current
economic model – and
to do that we have to
establish alternatives
and make them
popular with the
people who live here”
council pays all staff at or above the Living Wage,
and is pushing for all employers in the city to do
the same. And it helped develop CLEVR Money,
a credit union operating in Preston, Blackpool
and Fylde, with which council workers can make
payroll savings.
Lancashire Constabulary has also become an
accredited Living Wage employer and is using its
procurement process to drive social value. It has
put social value requirements into its tender and
contract process, is developing mechanisms to
monitor the application of social value, and hosts
‘meet the buyer’ events for local suppliers.
30 | OCTOBER 2019