Blog | Localise west midlands

Leaving LWM!

Localisewm –

I’ve been in post as coordinator at Localise WM for sixteen years, and have decided the time has come to...

Cllr Laura Price says: “This is about real localism – us doing things for our community who would otherwise be abandoned.”

Localisewm –

A year ago the residents of Hawes were in the news after launching their own Little White Bus in 2011...

Chipping Norton, Cllr Laura Price, Community action, Hawes. Witney, Oxfordshire county council, subsidies, West Oxfordshire Community Transport

Relocalisation of food production and distribution: the ‘strategic alternative’

Localisewm –

In the Friend, 19th October 2018, Clíodhna Mulhern remembers living in a market town in Ireland in the 1950s: “We shopped...

damage to soil, Dr Howard Lee, food security, herbicides, industrial foods, intensive farming, Ireland, Russ Grayson, water sources

Economics of Happiness 2018

Localisewm –

I was fortunate enough to attend the Economics of Happiness conference 2018, in Bristol on the 19th and 20th of...

Local Industrial Strategy Consultation

Localisewm –

The West Midlands Combined Authority is currently consulting on the Local Industrial Strategy for the West Midlands. This is your...

Move beyond left/right, Brexit/Remain thinking, and build a movement for economic change

Localisewm –

In similar vein to a recent post on this site, Helena Norberg-Hodge writes: Ever since the Brexit referendum was first...

agriculture, business

Birmingham Council’s policy of ‘Local Wealth Building’ through new municipal services and local procurement

Localisewm –

. Introducing a fifteen-page paper ‘A REBIRTH OF MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM’ IN BIRMINGHAM? by RICHARD HATCHER Speaking to Labour Councillors in...

austerity, Community Wealth Building Unit, local government, Preston, private sector, services

A civil society strategy is announced

Localisewm –

An inquiry into civil society, chaired by Julia Unwin, former chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, found that many...

citizens jury, Civil Society Strategy, community centres, Department for Digital Culture Media & Sport, disadvantaged young people, disempowered, disenfranchised, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Julia Unwin, local charities, Local Government Association, swimming pools, the homeless

Los Angeles: a public bank with a mandate to serve the people?

Localisewm –

Voters in Los Angeles will be the first in the United States to choose whether to set up their city’s...

Clean energy, Commercial banks, Ellen Brown, Infrastructure, low-income housing, Public Banking Institute, publicly-owned financial institutions, tax base, Wall St

New impetus for community energy

Localisewm –

The Financial Times reports that the falling cost of renewables, advances in battery storage and the prospect of selling electricity...

Community Energy England, Lancashire County Council Pension Fund, solar energy, Westmill

WMCA’s new Inclusive Growth Unit

Localisewm –

We’re really pleased to be part of the WMCA’s new Inclusive Growth Unit https://www.wmca.org.uk/news/linking-cranes-with-communities-wmca-launches-inclusive-growth-unit/. It’s an opportunity to go beyond...

Whither West Midlands

Localisewm –

If the answer was Brexit, then surely, we were asking the wrong question. This isn’t a blog about Brexit: instead...

Join Local Futures at Earth, Culture, Economy

Localisewm –

25th-29th June | Schumacher College, Totnes, UK What would the world look like if humans lived harmoniously with nature...

big banks, big business, big government, Culture, Degrowth, Earth, economy, environmental mayhem, Helena Norberg-Hodge, localisation, Satish Kumar, Stephan Harding, Wellbeing

Irish groups seeking to build community resilience

Localisewm –

Feasta, which has sent news of a May event, was co-founded 20 years ago by radical economist Richard Douthwaite, known...

Ed Mayo, FEASTA, Richard Douthwaite

Localise – in New Zealand

Localisewm –

Localise is about sharing ideas, networking creative visionaries, resourcing, providing tools and bringing people together in a collaborative way for...

cheap imports, Community, Energy, Engineering, exploitative labour, Fabrics, Food, GDP growth, housing, Martin Luther King Jr, tourism

A fair and sustainable local way of feeding urban communities

Localisewm –

Julie Brown, director of Growing Communities’, a trading and wholesaling operation, says her mission is to feed urban communities locally...

agricultural work, Climate change, corporate dominance, living wages, local recruits, migrants, pay ratio, Supply chains

International Alliance for Localization: update

Localisewm –

In December 2015 this blog reported Local Futures’ 2014 launch of a cross-cultural, North-South network of thinkers, activists and NGOs...

Arthur Morgan, Christian Felber, Cuba, Frome, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Japan, Local Futures, Shaun Chamberlin, South Korea

Localising Prosperity – a short film

Localisewm –

We are delighted to launch our new Localising Prosperity video - a seven-minute film exploring better ways to do economics....

anchor institutions, decentralisation, Energy Capital, foundational economy, inclusion, Local multiplier, localisation, Localise West Midlands, Localising prosperity, New Economics, social care, social justice, sustainable development, sustainable economics

Community asset transfer: news of a Scottish bid and activity in Birmingham

Localisewm –

From short-term licences to long leases, local community and voluntary groups are seeking opportunities to take on the management or...

community buyout bid, Moseley Road Baths, North West Mull Community Woodland Company, Perry Common Community Hall, Ulva

The Centre for Retail Research – some common ground?

Localisewm –

The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has provided authoritative research and analysis of the retail and service sectors for twenty-one...

independent shops, Local multiplier, Localise West Midlands, localised supply chain, Replace imports, social capital