Neil McInroy on ‘community wealth building’

Concentration of the retail and consumer services sectors in the hands of a limited number of multinational corporations sucks wealth out of local communities and into the hands of shareholders based elsewhere. So should the response be to build the local economy by supporting independent businesses based in those localities, while maximising the spend of public institutions in their local communities?

That is the approach adopted through 'community wealth building', often termed 'the Preston model'. Preston is a council in Lancashire, England, which is a member of the co-operative network of councils. It has become an exemplar for a localised approach to economic development, building on previous attempts to retain spending in local communities, such as the Local Exchange Trading System.

In the latest Holywell Trust Forward Together podcast interview, Neil McInroy of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) discusses the experience of Preston and other towns that have adopted community wealth building practices. He talks about whether that experience can be replicated in Northern Ireland and his work here in developing strategies to support local economic development. He is strongly committed to bottom up, rather than top down, approaches - building local skills and initiatives, rather than relying on inward investment.