Chapter 4
The Preston Model: From Theory to Transformation
Preston's journey began with crisis. After forty years of deindustrialization and severe council funding cuts, the city faced a bleak future. The 2008 financial crisis generated widespread powerlessness, and previous regeneration attempts had failed spectacularly. The Tithebarn project-a planned 700 million shopping center that collapsed in 2011-exemplified these problems, forcing Preston's newly elected Labour council to seek alternative approaches focused on local resources.
Matthew Brown, then Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Inclusion, developed an alternative growth model with colleagues including Martyn Rawlinson. They recognized they faced systemic economic problems requiring solutions independent from inward investment. Their approach drew from community wealth-building concepts that emerged in communities facing similar crises in the United States.
Rather than directly transplanting US or European models, Preston adapted these strategies to its unique circumstances. While Cleveland focused on specific disadvantaged neighborhoods, Preston mobilized resources through existing municipal networks and structures. The Preston Model expanded beyond procurement to include community banking, local pension fund investment, and worker-owned cooperatives, creating a whole-systems approach to building an economic alternative.
Beginning in 2013, CLES and Preston City Council persuaded six anchor institutions-large public employers like colleges, hospitals, and universities-to redirect procurement budgets toward Preston-based businesses. As local companies grew, they strengthened their supply chains, creating stability and confidence. Conlon Construction doubled its turnover over ten years while supporting growth in supply chain partners. Where other councils privatized services, Preston nourished local businesses by overhauling procurement procedures to make opportunities accessible to socially responsible suppliers.
Community Gateway Association, Preston's largest social housing provider, brought repair and maintenance services in-house, ensuring local employment and procurement. The University of Central Lancashire transformed its approach from overseas expansion to local investment, increasing Preston procurement from 8% to 21% (63 million in 2016-17) and introducing sustainability impact assessments for large contracts. The university's business hub, Propeller, provides space and support for worker cooperatives, with UCLan conducting research into cooperative development-creating a collaborative partnership that distinguishes the Preston Model from other initiatives.
Chapter 5
Building Economic Democracy Through Cooperative Ownership
Preston City Council recognized that gaps in the local supplier market created opportunities to develop democratic business ownership through cooperatives. Working with UCLan academics, they established the Preston Cooperative Development Network to provide training, legal advice, and networking for cooperative members. This initiative has created several new cooperatives, including Link (educational psychologists), The Larder (healthy food services), Preston Digital Foundation (media), and North West Black Cabs.
Mark Porter's digital cooperative emerged from conversations with London-based Outlandish and his experience teaching non-hierarchical enterprise methods. Motivated by Digital Lancashire's mission to retain local talent, Porter formed the cooperative with ex-students and postgraduates seeking part-time work. After basic training from Co-operatives UK, they connected with Preston Cooperative Development Network for local support in developing their worker-owned model.
Though harder to establish than a conventional company, they persevered to create appropriate governance and test their model through seed projects. Working with Preston City Council, they aim to follow Mondragon's model of councils sharing property to support cooperative development. The cooperative pledges 10% of turnover to socially responsible projects, including supporting other Preston cooperatives, noting that cooperatives proved more resilient during both the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic.
Preston City Council has become a leader in financial inclusion initiatives, backing CLEVR Money credit union (now with 850+ members), funding voluntary sector work (120,000 annually) to combat financial exclusion, and providing free home insulation to reduce energy bills. Their ambitious future plans include establishing North West Mutual, a regional community bank structured as a customer-owned cooperative to channel investment to local communities while delivering returns for investors.
In just five years, Preston City Council and partners have nearly tripled local spending from 38 million to 111 million. This procurement shift has created better-paying jobs, reduced precarious employment, and decreased in-work poverty. Tangible results include local firms rebuilding Preston's Covered Market, creating apprenticeships, and Lancashire County Council's school meals contracts being broken into smaller tenders won by local suppliers using Lancashire farmers-generating a 1.6 million boost to the county.
Chapter 6
Expanding the Model: From Cities to Regions
Community wealth-building has spread beyond Preston to regions across the UK, demonstrating the model's adaptability to different contexts and scales. In North Ayrshire, Scotland, Council Leader Joe Cullinane describes discovering the Preston Model as a "lightbulb moment" that illuminated possibilities for his community. North Ayrshire's innovative "Anchor Charter" builds on CLES's five pillars while adding a sixth focused on tackling climate change, recognizing the urgent need to integrate environmental sustainability into economic development strategies.
While large cities can rely on substantial public institutions like universities as anchor institutions, smaller towns and rural areas must identify alternative community assets to serve this function. This adaptation has led to creative solutions and partnerships. North Ayrshire's community wealth-building commission includes traditional anchors like NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Ayrshire College, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue, and Scottish Enterprise. Innovatively, they've looked beyond the public sector to local Kilmarnock FC and its supporters' trust, demonstrating how sports clubs and community organizations can serve as powerful anchor institutions. Other regions have similarly identified unique local assets, from heritage sites to community centers, expanding the traditional anchor institution concept.
North Ayrshire Council demonstrates genuine community engagement through multiple innovative initiatives. Following the Grenfell tragedy, they conducted comprehensive surveys of tower block tenants, incorporating residents' safety concerns into housing policy. They've embraced digital democracy by livestreaming council meetings and hosting virtual town halls, making governance more accessible and transparent. Their online launch of community wealth-building attracted 11,000 views compared to the 100 expected at a traditional event, highlighting the potential of digital engagement. Cullinane aims to create a Cabinet post for Participatory Democracy, recognizing that digital platforms are crucial for expanding democratic participation. However, digital exclusion remains a significant challenge, with over a quarter of low-income families lacking broadband access, necessitating hybrid approaches to engagement.
Participatory budgeting has emerged as a powerful tool for democratic engagement, giving communities direct control over fund allocation rather than top-down dispensation. The approach originated in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989, where it directed 21% of the city budget ($64 million) to community-identified priorities, demonstrating that residents best understand local needs. This model has inspired various UK implementations: North Ayrshire has experimented with participatory budgeting for grounds maintenance and community projects, while Glasgow's Govanhill Community Action group allocated 200,000 to addiction support and community justice projects. Tower Hamlets' "You Decide!" initiative took an innovative approach by giving residents control of 5 million through engaging formats that resembled game shows rather than bureaucratic processes, achieving higher participation rates and more diverse community involvement.
The expansion to regional implementation has revealed both challenges and opportunities. Regions must balance local autonomy with coordinated action, adapt strategies to different demographic and geographic contexts, and ensure equitable participation across diverse communities. Success stories from various regions demonstrate that the community wealth-building model can be effectively scaled and customized to serve different population sizes and economic contexts while maintaining its core principles of democratic control and local economic development.
Chapter 7
Reclaiming Land and Assets for Community Benefit
Land use, ownership and access fundamentally shapes power in the UK, with enormous wealth tied up in buildings and land. The COVID-19 pandemic has starkly highlighted inequalities between households with gardens or park access and those confined to overcrowded accommodations. Britain's historical "enclosure" movement privatized common land that ordinary people had traditionally used for gathering resources or establishing living spaces, sparking generations of resistance. Recent activism focuses on opposing privatization, fighting evictions, and developing local stewardship projects to bring land under community control.
Newham, London's most diverse borough with over 100 languages spoken, demonstrates how council actions can address housing issues through community wealth-building. Despite facing 50% funding cuts since 2010, Newham has prioritized social justice over gentrification. The borough enforces tenant protection laws vigorously, responsible for 57% of all London landlord prosecutions. Newham received 107 million from the GLA to build affordable housing, including 1,000 new council houses by 2022. Their strategy includes buying back former social housing and purchasing empty properties, recognizing that lower rents give residents more disposable income for the local economy while reducing financial stress.
Community land trusts (CLTs) give communities control over decisions about what, where and for whom land is used. The community takes formal ownership and management roles, with benefits legally protected in perpetuity. CLTs can address local housing needs but also support various community projects from pubs to bakeries, energy generation and farming. Liverpool's Granby CLT in Toxteth exemplifies this approach, purchasing eleven derelict properties from the city council for affordable rent and sale while establishing a community market and winter garden.
High streets in post-industrial areas face dilapidation, abandoned by larger businesses and neglected by local authorities. Researchers from the Foundational Economy note that residents view high streets as "social infrastructure"-places to meet and interact-not just economic zones. COVID lockdowns exacerbated existing problems, accelerating the transfer of capital from local businesses to massive online corporations like Amazon that don't recirculate wealth locally. The solution may be reimagining high streets toward socializing and organizing rather than just commerce. Community asset transfers, public ownership of commercial properties, and regulation of rents for local enterprises could revitalize local economies.
Chapter 8
Creating Sustainable Futures Through Local Control
Historical utopian visions often focused on returning to the land, but today's local initiatives are attempting to address both unemployment and climate crisis through community renewables and land stewardship. These efforts combine proto-socialist visions with environmental sustainability, potentially resolving the historical conflict between jobs and environment while bridging the cultural divide between countryside and city. Modern approaches recognize that sustainable development must balance economic viability with ecological preservation, creating models that can be replicated across diverse communities.
In Wales, where natural resources have historically been exploited then neglected, The Green Valleys CIC received 95,000 to explore large-scale community transfer of land in the Welsh Valleys for forestry and food production. Wales currently generates 18% of electricity from renewable sources, with hydropower representing 4% through over 300 local projects. These initiatives range from small-scale micro-hydro schemes powering individual communities to larger collaborative projects serving multiple villages. The success of these projects has inspired similar initiatives across rural Wales, demonstrating how local control can revitalize previously declining areas.
The Isle of Eigg offers an inspiring example-after purchasing their island in 1997, residents established Eigg Electric, achieving 95% renewable power through community-owned solar panels, hydro-electric generators and wind turbines. This transformation wasn't just about energy independence; it sparked broader community development, including new businesses, improved housing, and increased tourism. The island's population has grown by 60% since the buyout, proving that local control can reverse rural decline.
The Skyline project by Green Valleys aims to "repatriate" state-owned assets to communities through sustainable stewardship including hydropower, crop-growing, timber-processing and tourism. Their approach emphasizes long-term sustainability over quick profits, incorporating traditional land management practices with modern renewable technologies. For the Skyline communities, visiting established Scottish projects like Knoydart and Kilfinan proved transformative, turning "an abstract idea into something real." These site visits allowed community members to see successful models in action and adapt them to their local context.
Unlike previous failed regeneration models with endless consultation but no action, Green Valleys worked with existing community groups to develop practical proposals ranging from commercial forestry and hydro-electric schemes to leisure areas including nature reserves and play spaces. They emphasized practical implementation over theoretical planning, ensuring that projects delivered tangible benefits to local communities. This approach has resulted in several successful initiatives, including community-owned woodlands that provide both employment and recreational spaces.
Barriers to community management of local assets include risk aversion in public bodies, narrow focus on financial measures, and limited community access to technical skills. These challenges are compounded by bureaucratic inertia and outdated regulatory frameworks that favor centralized control. While policies may encourage "foundational economy" projects, operational-level officials often resist ceding control. Skyline addresses this through broad community engagement that builds trust by connecting experts with ordinary people. Their success demonstrates that technical expertise must serve, not lead, community visions, creating a new model for sustainable local development that balances environmental, social, and economic needs.
Chapter 9
Painting Your Own Town Red: A Blueprint for Change
The Preston Model's success stems from collaborative effort between organizations and individuals working to create an economy benefiting the majority. While direct transplantation to other communities may not work, the model offers adaptable principles. First, identify anchor institutions with stable local presence and significant procurement spending, then encourage them to redirect contracts to local suppliers. Second, implement progressive procurement by helping anchors identify where they can buy locally. Third, fill supply chain gaps by supporting worker-owned cooperatives through regional investment banks or grants. Finally, ensure benefits reach the whole community by strengthening employment practices targeting disadvantaged areas.
Increasing awareness and involvement in local government can lead to positive changes that better represent communities. Despite central government cutting local authority funding and powers since 2010, councils remain vital for addressing community needs from housing problems to youth centers and basic services.
Procurement-the council's spending on goods and services contracts-offers a powerful opportunity to build local wealth. Councils purchase everything from construction and IT services to catering, financial services, and environmental management. Progressive procurement redirects this existing spending toward local and worker-owned businesses rather than requiring additional funds.
To navigate council decision-making, familiarize yourself with key documents: the council constitution, meeting agendas and minutes, and the forward plan of upcoming decisions. With limited funds, councillors must prioritize local needs when setting budgets. Building broad community support strengthens your position-as demonstrated when Preston invited Ted Howard to present Cleveland's successful model to community leaders. Gather allies by engaging with trade unions, fellow councillors across party lines, cooperative organizations, financial officers, pension fund committees, and local MPs who can provide high-profile backing.
Community wealth-building enables local solutions to common problems like wealth extraction and the climate crisis. While national governments struggle with coordinated climate action, over 2,500 cities have created greenhouse gas reduction plans exceeding their governments' proposals. Local initiatives like community-controlled renewable energy and land stewardship allow citizens to directly participate in necessary changes rather than passively observing government efforts. This approach isn't merely tinkering with existing systems but forms part of a comprehensive strategy addressing urgent social, political, and economic challenges.
