social value

Co-operatives

If you are working together to improve the neighbourhood, then you might want to think about forming a neighbourhood co-op…

If you are working together to improve the neighbourhood, then you might want to think about forming a neighbourhood co-op...

In more detail

Co-operatives are democratically controlled associations which belong to the people set them up and are based on self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. Their shared ethical values – derived from those of the 19^th century Rochdale Pioneers - are honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others. More than 17 million people in the UK are part of a co-operative and, in total, co-ops contribute more than £34bn to the economy every year. The video above from Co-ops UK explains what a co-operative is.

Abroad, in France, the top 3 cooperative banks have roughly the same level of revenue as HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays combined. The world’s largest industrial co-operative in Mondragon, in Spain, employs 75,000 workers – which is more than, for example, Google or Apple. Spanish football clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, are co-operatives.

In England, household names like the Co-op (of course), Nationwide Building Society and John Lewis are cooperatives. There are more than 200, mostly small-scale, housing cooperatives which provide affordable homes for their members. There are also food cooperatives, energy cooperatives, car-sharing clubs and social care cooperatives providing vital services on which their members depend. And an increasing number of neighbourhood timebanks and tool shares which work on cooperative principles.

Why Consider a Co-op?

A cooperative could be an appropriate form for an organisation which is set up to benefit and improve a neighbourhood because it:

is democratic and can only ever belong to its members
has open membership within its area - new members can join after it has been set up
can employ staff, undertake contracts and deliver services if necessary and/or can be used as a campaigning and educational body
works to benefit its members and the wider community as a whole
surpluses can only either be re-invested in the work of the co-op, or shared between its members
is built on the same values that underpin neighbourliness.

Becoming a co-operative, creates links to the wider co-operative movement, to potential collaboration and sources of support.

Membership is Ownership

In co-ops, membership is ownership. The one-member-one-vote rule applies in small organisations, social enterprises and community groups as well as in the big businesses like those above which work co-operatively.

What determines whether an organisation is a co-op are the values, principles and ways of working that it follows, rather than a given organisational structure. Co-ops can be constituted in a wide range of legal forms including as: Industrial and Provident Societies, non-profit companies and charitable incorporated organisations.

The video below is of Ed Mayo of Cooperatives UK talking about why he thinks the cooperative model is a better model for business:

Key Facts:

Co-ops are democratically owned and managed associations of people who share a common interest. They range from multi-million pound businesses to small, neighbourhood bodies. Regardless of their legal form, they share the principle of one member, one vote and a set of values and ways of working which distinguish co-ops from other businesses. For groups working together to improve the locality, it is worth thinking about setting up a neighbourhood co-op.

Page Links from here

Cooperatives UK is the networking body for co-ops which helps new and existing bodies working on cooperative lines. Examples of different sorts of neighbourhood group that are set up as cooperatives include:

London Community Neighbourhood Co-operative

Abram Ward Community Co-operative in Wigan

Headingley Development Trust in Leeds

Heart of Hasting Community Land Trust

Uplands Allotments Community Association in Birmingham

Preston Community Gateway

The Eldonians in Liverpool

On this website, see

Social Enterprise

Social Value

OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY PLANNING TOOLKIT DEFINITION SHEET This sheet may be reproduced in paper or electromic or any other form but please mention it was made by Chamberlain Forum Limited for Birmingham City Council supported by Department for Communities and Local Government.

created: 2016-07-15 14:23:01

by: admin

status: f published

Improving a neighbourhood isn’t just about increasing property value and ensuring jobs. Communities are often more concerned with the state of shared wealth and wellbeing in a place – its social value…

Improving a neighbourhood isn't just about increasing property value and ensuring jobs. Communities are often more concerned with the state of shared wealth and wellbeing in a place - its social value...

In more detail

Social value is value that is held socially (shared between people) rather than included in the accounts of individual householders and businesses. It includes, for example:

the value of shared spaces and fresh air - streetscapes; landscapes; parks and community gardens
the value of social capital - having links with other people and knowing how to get things done through the community
the value of some human capital - skills and know-how that it is hard to put an economic value on (like parenting skills, for example)
the value of unpaid labour - the time spent by carers and neighbours and doing jobs for people without payment.

As well as these stores of social value, there is a whole area of it to do with how goods are made and services are delivered which is not reflected in their price. For example:

the use of local labour and materials - which can enhance the value of public services and construction works and reduce the amount of pollution involved
the way that the benefits of work are distributed between people - a part-time job for someone who is disabled or otherwise excluded from work is probably worth more than overtime to someone who already has a job
learning of new skills and ways of working- which may not be directly reflected in the quality of what is brought to market, but which enables us as a society to achieve more, and better, in future.

Social Value Act

The Public Services (Social Value) Act of 2012 came into force in 2013 and requires people who commission public services to think about how they can also secure wider social, economic and environmental benefits (ie social value). Before starting a procurement process, commissioners should think about whether the services they are going to buy, or the way they are going to buy them, could secure these benefits for their area or stakeholders. The video below shows Peter Holbrook of Social Enterprise UK explaining what the Social Value Act means:

Sustainable Communities Act

The Sustainable Communities Act 2007 enables councils - working in partnership with local communities - to make proposals as to how government can ‘assist councils in promoting the sustainability of local communities’. Itprovides an opportunity for local people, communities and councils to ask government to remove legislative or other barriers that prevent them from improving the economic, social and environmental well-being of their area (and thus add social value to it).

Power of General Competence

The Localism Act 2011 gives councils a 'power of general competence'. That is, councils are allowed to do anything that any other legal person (an individual or a business) can legally do so as to meet their aim which is to improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of their area. Councils can, for example, enter into partnerships to deliver new services or support initiatives which add to local well-being.

Key Facts:

Social value is shared wealth. It is why living in a neighbourhood with a good environment and a strong and inclusive community network is, for example, better than living in a badly-kept place where people don't talk to each other. Parliament requires public service providers to take social value into account when they commission services and enables councils to innovate and to ask government to change regulations which prevent communities from improving local social value.

Page Links from here

OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

created: 2016-07-05 10:52:05

by: admin

status: f published

Community Right to Bid (assets of community value)

Community ‘Right to Bid’ is one of the rights included in the Localism Act. It could play a key part in wider community planning of your neighbourhood…

Community 'Right to Bid' is one of the rights included in the Localism Act. It could play a key part in wider community planning of your neighbourhood...

In more detail

‘Community right to bid’ is one of the powers enabled by the Localism Act 2011. It enables bona fide community groups to apply to the council to have land and buildings in their area registered as assets of community value.

Register of Assets of Community Value

To add an asset on to the local register, you have to show that the land and buildings in question have been used in the past as an asset with social value and that they could feasibly be used again for community benefit (although not necessarily in the same way). For example, a residents’ association could apply to the local council to have local swimming baths registered as an asset of community value so long as it is feasible that the baths building could be used for community benefit in future (perhaps as a community venue or community workspace even if not as a swimming baths). Listed assets can be owned by anyone – including private individuals and businesses as well as community groups or public agencies: this is about the local pub or corner shop as much as it is about the library or community centre.

The advantage of listing land or buildings as an asset of community value is this: if a listed asset comes up for sale, then the owner must give six months for community groups to put together an offer to buy it before they can sell it on the open market. The community right to bid is a brake on selling off assets with community value, not a prohibition. Even so, listing land and buildings in your area that serve a vital community function is a practical straightforward step you can take to make it clear that the communities which share your neighbourhood want to preserve and improve local wellbeing and will not easily see it diminished.

The video below is a webinar on Community Right to Bid led by Anton Schultz of Locality

Your local council must keep a register of assets of community assets. They can, however, refuse your application. The landowner can appeal against their decision, in any case and can refuse any bid you might be able to put to them in the event of wanting to sell the asset. Even so, listing assets can be a powerful way of sending a message about the determination of your community to preserve and improve local social value and wellbeing.

Key Facts:

Community 'Right to Bid' enables community groups to have the council register land and buildings that have social value listed as such (regardless of who owns them). Being on the council's register means that, when these assets are sold, the community has six months to put together a bid to buy them before theycan be sold on the open market.

Page Links from here

The Step-by-Step Guide to Community Right to Bid from Locality

Guide to Community Right to Bid is available as a PDF

CAMRA's guide to 'Listing your Local'

In the toolkit:

Community Asset Transfer

Community Assets

Development Trusts

Neighbourhood Companies

OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

created: 2016-06-28 15:15:16

by: admin

status: f published

Commissioning

How local public services are delivered – and by whom – can make a big difference to neighbourhood quality of life. Increasingly, councils and other service providers are ‘commissioning’ services rather than providing them directly…

How local public services are delivered - and by whom - can make a big difference to neighbourhood quality of life. Increasingly, councils and other service providers are 'commissioning' services rather than providing them directly...

In more detail

Commissioning means giving someone the job of doing something. In public services (the council, police and the NHS etc), it means working out the specification for a service collaboratively and then paying someone to deliver it who isn’t directly employed by you. It is not the same as purchasing because it involves working with potential suppliers to see what is possible. It is not the same as direct delivery because the people who do the work are employed by a different organisation.

Public Service Commissioners

Commissioners are people who work for public services to do commissioning. Their job involves translating executive decisions and priorities into practical and achievable work; setting standards ; negotiating with, and supporting partners, to deliver work; tendering contracts; monitoring and evaluating (which means measuring and learning from ) work; and ensuring good social value and value for money in how money is spent.

Social Value and Local Services

Public sector organisations can commission businesses, civil society groups or other public sector bodies to deliver work. Increasingly, when they do, they are being reminded and required to take into account ‘social value’ – the wider benefits to society in the long term of having work delivered in one way as opposed to another. Social value can be added, for example: by using local labour and locally based businesses; or by commissioning local organisations that re-invest any surplus they make back into the local area and for community benefit.

There is support for the delivery of local public services by community-based organisations: for example, through the 'right to challenge' how local services are delivered by councils (which was introduced by the Localism Act); and through programmes like Our Place with is run by Locality on behalf of the government.

The presentation below is by the New Economics Foundation - it sets out their approach to commissioning for coproduction:

Key Facts:

Commissioning means working with alternative providers of public services to see whether they could be done more cheaply and provide more social value. Community groups have the right to challenge the way councils provide local services and there is some support for communities who are interested in running services directly in their own neighbourhood.

Page Links from here

Our Place aims to involve communities in making decisions about commissioning public services

Involving Users in Commissioning Local Services is a research report by Silvia Schehrer and Stephanie Sexton
published by Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2010 - available for download as a PDF using the link

New Economics Foundation is a London-based thinktank which highlights innnovative economic thinking

In the toolkit, see:

Social Value

Public Services

Health Service Planning

Social Capital

OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

created: 2016-06-17 12:45:07

by: admin

status: f published

Community Asset Transfer

What if under-used land and buildings which belong to public bodies could be taken over by passionate community groups and development trusts and used to provide services to the community…

What if under-used land and buildings which belong to public bodies could be taken over by passionate community groups and development trusts and used to provide services to the community...

In more detail

Community Asset Transfer (CAT) is the process by which publicly owned land and buildings can be sold either freehold or leasehold to non-profit bodies at less than market value. CAT can lead to the rejuvenation of neglected public assets - run-down buildings and unloved patches of land.

The video above which suggests how community asset transfer can build community and improve neighbourhoods is also featured in this presentation on CAT made by Hannah Senior in 2013:

The enthusiasm of volunteers and residents to improve these assets when they are transferred to community owenrship has been matched in some cases by the ability of the new owners to attract capital investment from charitable sources including the National Lottery. The real ongoing benefit, however, is the value of the services which community groups are able to provide using previously tired assets.

Linda Hines of Witton Lodge Community Association interviewed on site, by Nick Booth of podnosh, at Perry Common Community Hall which was transferred through CAT to community ownership and has been transformed as a result.

Economic Justification

CAT is justified economically by comparing the additional economic value which the public body would get from the sale of the asset on the open market with the social value which the public body is able to enable by transferring it through CAT.

For example, a patch of disused health service land could be sold on the open market for £5000 to provide two car parking spaces. Alternatively, it could be transferred through CAT to a community group that would pay £500 for it. The group would turn it into a community garden which would produce benefits for local people and a local mental health project and might lead to greater neighbourliness, improved community safety and better recovery from mental ill-health. If the health service trust and its police and council partners value these benefits as being worth more than £4500, then they should choose use CAT to sell it to the community group.

The video below is about CAT in Penny Lane, Liverpool. It was produced by the Asset Transfer Unit (which was set up the Development Trusts Association, which was one of the bodies that came together to form Locality):

Transparency, Fairness and Social Valuation

CAT is potentially open to abuse where it involves transferring public assets to private (albeit non-profit and local) organisations without having a robust means for valuing social worth in place; without sufficient transparency; and without advertising opportunities to a wide range of potential bidders.

For example, a patch of land worth £5000 is sold to a community trust which is in fact a non-profit company owned by members of a local family for £500 on the basis that they will use it for 'community benefit'. What they actually do with it is to create car parking spaces for visitors to their office base from which they provide mental health services on contract with an NHS trust. The person who made the decision to sell them the land at 10% of the full market value is a friend of the family.

Support

The video below presents help and support available for CAT from My Community:

Key Facts:

Community Asset Transfer (CAT) is the process by which underused publicly owned land and buildings may be sold to non-profit organisations at less than market value in return for providing increased social value in the form of services to the local community. CAT has successfully turned ailing assets around, but there is potential for abuse. A robust approach to calculating social value, transparency and advertising opportunities to acquire assets widely all help to prevent abuse.

Page Links from here

Birmingham City Council's Community Asset Transfer website describes one council's approach to CAT

The My Community Rights site section on Community Asset Transfer presents an overview and a link to the toolkit on CAT

More videos about CAT are available on the Asset Transfer Unit YouTube channel

Housing Association Charitable Trust has produced a toolkit for housing providers on Asset Transfer

Have a look at Coin Street Community Builders on the South Bank in London which was one of the groups that helped to pioneer development trusts and CAT

In this toolkit see:

Social Value

Community Assets

Development Trusts

Neighbourhood Companies

OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

created: 2016-06-16 11:18:43

by: admin

status: f published

Sustainable Development

Meeting our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs – it is the balancing act that the planning system attempts to fulfill…

Meeting our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs - it is the balancing act that the planning system attempts to fulfill...

In more detail

Sustainable development is at the heart of both planning policy and the role of local councils in England.

The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that there should be a presumption in favour of it running through local plans (including neighbourhood plans) and the decisions made by councils based on them (through local planning enforcement).

Sustainable development is also what the law says councils have a duty to bring about in the places they serve, through improving economic, social and environmental well-being. But what does 'sustainable development' really mean in practice in planning?

If you look it up on the internet, you will find a range of answers so wide that in practice, sustainable development could be taken to mean anything. From no development at all (given that all development necessarily implies some energy and natural resources are used up), to any and all development - so long as we believe that won't stop even more economic exploitation of natural resources in future.

National Planning Policy

Here is what the government's planning guidance says the presumption in favour of sustainable development means in practice:

local planning authorities should 'positively seek opportunities to meet the development needs of their area'
local Plans should 'meet objectively assessed needs, with sufficient flexibility to adapt to rapid change' unless the adverse impacts of doing so would 'significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits', when assessed against planning policy as a whole or any of those policies says that such development should be restricted.

And that councils should:

'approve development proposals that accord with the development plan without delay'
in the absence of a local development plan or where it is out-of-date, councils should grant planning permission unless the adverse impacts of doing so would 'significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits', when assessed against planning policies as a whole or specific policies say that such development should be restricted.

So, the presumption in favour of sustainable development in the spatial planning system means: presuming in favour of development; rejecting development only when there is evidence it will conflict with existing policy; not delaying decisions unnecessarily; and following both national and local policy.

Key Facts:

Sustainable development means meeting current needs without compromising the ability of future generation's to meet theirs. It is the purpose set out in law of local councils - who have responsibility for the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the places they serve. The presumption in favour of sustainable development in the planning system, however, means more specifically that councils should: presume in favour of development; reject development only when there is evidence it will conflict with existing policy; not delay decisions unnecessarily; and make sure that new policy (including neighbourhood plans) follows both national and local policy.

Page Links from here

Planning Guidance from the Dept of Communities and Local Government on Achieving Sustainable Development

Local Planning System

Your Local Council

Social Value

OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

created: 2016-06-04 13:27:10

by: admin

status: f published

Social Enterprise

Neighbourhood improvement can make commercial sense as well as generate social value – social enterprises aim to achieve both…

Neighbourhood improvement can make commercial sense as well as generate social value - social enterprises aim to achieve both...

In more detail

A social enterprise is a business organisation which aims to add social value rather than make a private profit. Social value is shared wealth: social enterprises exist to provide things like: community meeting places, training and support for community groups; social care; environmental improvements; youth services; health services; services to job-seekers; and community transport.

Legal structure

There is no set legal structure for a social enterprise: they can be set up as companies limited by guarantee (non-profit companies) or community interest companies (which can be non-profit or profit-making but which exist primarily to serve community needs). Some social enterprises may be registered charities or operate as charitable incorporated organisations (which have charity status but also have limited liability). Social enterprises can also be 'community benefit societies' which use a democratic structure like a cooperative. Sometimes, community groups or even bits of the council can act like social enterprises. And private profit making businesses may forego a profit in order to provide some useful social benefit instead.

Earnt income

Unlike public agencies and a lot of community and voluntary groups, social enterprises earn most of their oncome by contracting to provide useful services. These may be services related to those they exist to provide (like health services for example), or a social enterprise may make money trading as a company (doing grounds maintenance work and landscape gardening, for example) and use the profits to fund work of social benefit (eg training and employing disabled people).
The video below was produced by Social Enterprise UK and was made by Claire Pinegar for a presentation in Parliament in 2015:

Why does Social Enterprise Matter?

You may decide that social enterprise should play a part in your plans and projects for neighbourhood improvement. Earning income, rather than relying on grants, may make your work more sustainable. You may be able to run a business using partly volunteer labour that is able to provide services which the private sector and public agencies cannot. A social enterprise which is used as a vehicle for neighbourhood improvement and also specialises in delivering services in and around the neighbourhood is, in effect, a 'neighbourhood company'.

A neighbourhood company could be as important in improving the area as a parish council or a neighbourhood forum.

Key Facts:

Social entreprises aim to make a social (shared) profit, rather than a money profit that is paid to shareholders. Neighbourhood improvement aims to increase shared wellbeing. Social enterprise could be another vehicle for improving your neighbourhood.

Page Links from here

See Social Enterprise UK for information about, and advice for, social enterprises.

In the toolkit, see:

Cooperatives

Neighbourhood Companies

Local Business

OR you can use the navigation menu above right to look at other parts of the toolkit.

created: 2016-05-25 13:59:17

by: admin

status: f published

Local Public Services

How reliably the bins are emptied; the maintenance of local roads; how older people are cared for; and whether there is a place at a good school for your children – the way local services work can be major factor in making better places to live. By working with public service providers, communities can improve the way they work locally…

How reliably the bins are emptied; the maintenance of local roads; how older people are cared for; and whether there is a place at a good school for your children - the way local services work can be major factor in making better places to live. By working with public service providers, communities can improve the way they work locally...

In more detail

Your local council provides a wide range of services which can include, for example:

children's social services
public and environmental health
waste collection and management including recycling
highways repairs
social care for older people
planning and economic development
planning and licensing
community centres, park and leisure facilities
libraries and adult education classes
museums and art galleries
democratic services - making sure you get a vote at elections.

As the local education authority,the council still has responsibility for community schools (but not for private schools, academies or 'free schools'). Some other local services, in some places, are delivered by independent trusts etc.

Some local authorities have retained council housing. Others have been through LSVT (Large Scale Voluntary Transfer) of housing stock which is now managed by housing associations. Housing associations are independent non-profit social landlords who now provide housing in many city neighbourhoods.

Other significant public service providers in your neighbourhood are: the police; bodies that are part of the National Health Service and local health centres and GP practices; the fire and rescue service; and schools and further education colleges.

The video below is of Mark Rogers, the Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council being interviewed by Nick Booth talking about The 21st Century Public Servant and the way public service is changing:

Improving Services

All of these service providers have ways of engaging with the communities they serve. This is because they want to provide services that meet the varying needs of different communities and neighbourhoods. By engaging with public services individually and collectively (because the way they work together - or fail to work together- can also be a big issue), your neighbourhood community can improve services and neighbourhood wellbeing.

Running Services

In some places, communities have become involved in the delivery of public services paid for by the council. The Localism Act gives community groups a right to challenge the council if you believe you could run services in your area better yourself.

Key Facts:

Local councils, the police, health service, social landlords, schools and other public service providers play an important role in determining community wellbeing. Engaging with service providers to improve individual services and how well they join up in the streets and households of your neighbourhood, can be a practical way of improving the area.

Page Links from here

The 21st Century Public Servant is a report by Catherine Needham and Catherine Mangan at Birmingham University which looks at how public service and what it means to provide public services is changing. There is a website about the project.

In this toolkit, see:

Local Council Services

Commissioning Public Services

Neighbourhood Management

Neighbourhood Policing

Social Housing

Influencing Health Services

Involving Schools

Local Transport Planning

Planning Authorities

Councillors

Social Value