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Natasha Sabin from Tirebuck Recruitment, based in Solihull, talks about the benefits working locally can have on the individual. West Midlanders are commuting more since the recession hit. In November 2012 the Trades Union Congress reported that the average West Midlands employee spends 48.8 minutes per day commuting to and from work. This . . . → Read More: Work Locally to Save Money and Your Community I was at the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership consultation event on their spatial framework this morning. A few thoughts: - During discussion on our table, someone pointed at me and said “and then your community economic development stuff fits into this little box here”. It dawned on me then that the . . . → Read More: GBS LEP’s spatial framework: democracy, nongrowth sectors and getting localisation out of its little box A new community-owned bakery in Dunbar, East Lothian, has been hailed as a prototype for other towns looking to revive their high streets. Well over 300 village shops and pubs have now been reopened or saved from closure and owned by members of the local community – as ‘one-off’ ventures – sometimes with help . . . → Read More: Will this town centre community-owned shop regenerate the High Street? . Anna Watson’s Localise West Midlands blog about The Green Economy and Local Job Creation, reported that – as the oil supply peaks – the innovation, manufacture, marketing and repairing of products will become more economic at a local level. Small scale, sustainable employment opportunities will be created, encouraging local resourcefulness and a thriving local . . . → Read More: Enterprise in Balsall Heath: creating opportunities at local level In a newsletter this week (not yet available on his website) Local Euro MP Phil Bennion expresses the hope that the government’s ‘Green Deal’ will be more widely extended to help people in rented social housing: “Millions of homes in the UK do not have full double-glazing. More than half do not have enough . . . → Read More: West Midlands MEP advocates the ‘Green Deal’ for social housing  Leave a comment  City council, Economy, Employment, Energy, Environment, EU, Finance, Green New Deal, Housing, Local economies, Local government, Low carbon, Planning, Politics  Birmingham Energy Savers, Encraft, European Parliament's Employment committee, fuel poverty, green deal, Localise West Midlands, MEP Phillip Bennion . Compass, an ideas and action based pressure group, is discussing alternatives to the Government’s economic ‘Plan A’, which isn’t working, with over 50,000 members and supporters around the country. Its original Plan B, one page summary here, includes elements advocated in the last post by LWM’s co-founder Colin Hines: “infrastructure programmes, such . . . → Read More: Compass calls for a National Plan: “The moment demands nothing less”. A Guardian article by LWM’s co-founder and convenor of the Green New Deal Group, Colin Hines, is summarised here. The neoliberal export-led growth model, the increasingly discredited single currency and the utterly unchallenged single market are wrecking Europe which is facing a real nightmare: a shrinking full-time job market and hence lack of demand . . . → Read More: Face-to-face caring and infrastructural renewal will provide the backbone for a labour-intensive future Leave a comment Books and articles, Economics, Economy, Employment, EU, Export-led growth, Finance, Green New Deal, Housing, Import substitution, Local economies, Trade, Transition, Transport Colin Hines, Domestic economies, European crisis, Infrastructure programmes, Neoliberal export-led growth model, Single market Summarising Cllr. John Clancy’s message: West Midlands small and medium sized businesses believe they could provide services better than companies like Capita, Serco, Amey and G4, but are effectively locked out of negotiations for contracts which could engender vitality and activity in local economies. These large companies are often the only ones that can . . . → Read More: Are corporate ‘Big Fish’ swallowing opportunities for the city’s SMEs? Singapore-based Chandran Nair, think-tank founder, businessman, environmental consultant and poet, continues – in the Financial Times – to urge policy makers in Asia to turn away from the dominant Western ideology, “that got the world into its current predicament”. He eloquently expresses his belief that if Asian economies develop on the same ‘resource-guzzling terms’ . . . → Read More: Chandran Nair’s message for Asian economies – and ours? In June last year Localise West Midlands’ board member Phil Beardmore, an environmental consultant, circulated news of the launch of the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, which is forming a partnership with Co-op Energy. LWM was set up in 2002 by a group of individuals who ‘recognise the need to propose positive models for . . . → Read More: Update: Co-operative Energy, founded by Midcounties Co-operative Leave a comment Co-operatives, Economy, Employee ownership, Employment, Energy, Environment, Low carbon, Renewable energy, Social Enterprise, Transition, Transport, Water Co-operative Energy, Confederation of Co-operative Housing, Glas Cymru, Paul Gosling, Phil Beardmore, Rail Cymru, Richard Lloyd WHICH? |
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