Hometown schooling: the town based on Robert Owen’s co-op principles

He still hopes key aspects of the Owenstown vision can be re-created elsewhere and is actively involved in talks with the co-operative movement and other local authorities.

“We are hoping to take elements of what we wanted to achieve in Owenstown and build them elsewhere. We have spoken to people such as Cambridge Borough Council, Co-operatives and Mutuals Wales and government representatives in north and south Wales, as well as Social Enterprise Ireland. People are really enthusiastic about the concept so it is frustrating we cannot get planning consent on our own doorstep.”

For now the Hometown Foundation is focusing on its new plans to set up state-funded autonomous schools.

“Owenstown allowed us to look at what schools would look like in a co-operative situation and that is what got us thinking more about education,” Mr Nicol adds.

Its plans for a new educational model have been drafted in response to recent reports, which suggest Scotland is falling behind other countries, including England, in educational outcomes.

Unlike many of the free schools championed in England, the schools would be run on co-op principles.

“The idea is similar to free schools but is our own co-operative model. Currently money goes direct from government to local authorities and a lot of people are only engaged in education on second-hand basis,” says Mr Nicol.

“What we are promoting is state- funded autonomous schools and we are working with parent groups and various communities. What I have been doing is working with the Co-operative College so the schools would be similar to co-op schools in terms of structure.

“They would be managed by a board and parents would have a greater say. Educationalists would run it but there would be heavier involvement by parents and pupils working closer together.

“What we would be intending to do is take the better aspects of free schools and apply them to Scotland. The main thing for us is about ownership, getting parents and children more heavily involved. The co-operative arrangement is where it is different. Co-op schools have expanded big-style and this is not private sector. The schools would be wholly owned by parents and funded by the government.”

The Hometown Foundation is still looking at various projects around affordable housing, including homes for ex-Army veterans.

“The idea there is working with another group to build affordable housing and get them involved in construction of their own property. We are still looking at different models but there are a lot of Ministry of Defence properties which are surplus to requirements and we are trying to identify with government agencies to see if they could be released and owned and managed by residents in a co-operative way.

“We still view Owenstown as a valuable concept and, where possible, we would like to build those principles into other initiatives. It might not be as ambitious, but there are still aspects worth progressing.”

The Foundation is working with seven parent groups, which are faith and non faith-based, and have so far submitted three business plans to the Scottish government. The list includes a Catholic primary school in Milngavie and a Muslim school in Glasgow. Mr Nicol is hopeful of a decision in the near future.

“We are encouraged that the Scottish government has an open mind and has engaged in advanced discussions,” he says. “We are keen that as many parents and teachers as possible get in contact so that we can explain the full range of benefits that flow from our model, irrespective of locations religion or ethnicity.

The Foundation will assist any group which shares its core belief that every child deserves the best possible start in life.”

Though currently focusing on education, the Hometown Foundation hopes to extend its vision to other areas in the near future and build on the Owenstown concept by working with co-operative organisations and interested groups.

“We would like to get back to looking at sustainable communities. Our ambitions go beyond education but we need to push on with that just now,” says Mr Nicol.

“I am a great supporter of the co-operative ethos and it is all about ownership and putting it firmly in the hands of people. Parents like a childminding facility but if they were more engaged standards would start to look after themselves. If people take greater ownership of their children’s education, everything else falls into place.”