Community Wealth Building at The City of Edinburgh Council

We asked for your feedback on how the Council should adopt a Community Wealth Building approach and how we can collaborate with others on this work. We also asked for suggestions of what actions we should prioritise in relation to the five pillars of Community Wealth Building:

1. spending
2. employment
3. land and property
4. inclusive ownership
5. finance.

We collected feedback through a variety of different methods including an online survey, in-person and online workshops, one to one conversations and a drop-in session.

We received 20 responses from the Consultation Hub and engaged with over 55 individuals and organisations through other engagement methods.

The main themes from this engagement were:

1. Community Wealth Building

• The approach has the potential to deliver widespread benefits to Edinburgh and its residents.
• To achieve these, it must be implemented at scale and in partnership with all sectors and communities themselves.
• The Council needs to:
  • build awareness about Community Wealth Building and recognise existing good practice across Edinburgh.
  • be ambitious in its actions, set clear goals and show local leadership.
  • measure and evidence the impact of Community Wealth Building.
  • work in partnership and actively enable other stakeholders to implement Community Wealth Building.

2. Spending

To maximise the local impact of the Council’s spending power, the Council should prioritise:

• removing any barriers within the procurement process for small and local organisations and consortiums.
• providing clear communication in accessible language about future procurement opportunities and the procurement process.
• increasing spend with supported businesses (who promote the social and professional integration of disabled or disadvantaged persons and employ at least 30% of its workers from these groups).
• collecting and publishing more data on procurement such as the proportion of spend with third sector organisations, and the Fair Work practices of suppliers.
• look at learning from best practice in other areas and trialling different approaches to embedding Community Wealth Building principles into procurement.

3. Employment

To make sure that everyone can access, and progress within, fairly paid and secure employment, the Council should prioritise:

• showing local leadership and setting an example through our own employment practices.  
• building awareness among employers and residents of what Fair Work means.
• exploring how to support residents to overcome barriers to finding and staying in work, particularly financial barriers such as childcare.
• making sure that the way that we design, contract and fund employability services enables partner organisations to support residents facing the most complex barriers.

4. Land and Property

To make sure that land and property meet community needs, and support community management and ownership of local assets, the Council should prioritise:

• making sure that repairs and maintenance work to Council properties are completed as quickly as possible. 
• increasing the availability of affordable spaces for community and third sector organisations and local businesses through the planning system and our own estate.
• exploring opportunities to use community-owned spaces to run Council services.

5. Inclusive Ownership

To make sure that local businesses, enterprises and third sector organisations can thrive in the local economy, the Council should prioritise:

• growing awareness and understanding of different types of business models such as co-operatives and social enterprises.
• building trusting and respectful partnerships with third sector organisations and make sure that this sits at the heart of the Council’s culture.
• making sure that the third sector is adequately resourced and support capacity building.
• making sure that Council policies and processes do not have negative unintended consequences for local businesses and third sector organisations.

6. Finance

To support financial inclusion, strengthen community involvement in financial decision-making and ensure that wealth in the city is invested in local priorities, the Council should prioritise:

• supporting access to affordable credit and banking services.
• increasing access to financial support and education.
• adopting a more joined-up, long-term approach to grant funding.
• increasing community involvement in the Council’s financial decision-making.
• convening conversations with the financial sector in the city including pension funds, credit unions, high street banks and philanthropic organisations.

We are currently updating The City of Edinburgh Council’s Community Wealth Building Plan in response to your feedback. The final draft of the plan will be taken to Policy and Sustainability Committee for approval.