The Co-operative Councils Innovation Network meets in Rochdale on 2 October to share its stories of people-led local policy making.
This year’s event takes the theme ‘building co-operative places”, which will be discussed in the afternoon plenary. Cllr Sharon Taylor, chair of the network and leader of Stevenage Council, says this means “people in a local area having more involvement in the decision-making about spacial planning in their area and the services that are delivered”.
This covers a huge variety of areas, she says, such as neighbourhood planning and housing management, as well as the area’s economy, following the example of Preston and its efforts to introduce targeted local spending.
The conference will also feature feedback from the network’s policy labs, which it has been funding for the last two years.
“With funding tight, it’s very hard for councils to find the money to research a policy idea to see if it works,” says Cllr Taylor. “But we are an innovation network so this is part of our job – so we are offering member councils funding of up to £10,000 to research ideas.”
When money is granted to a council, it must commit to reporting on the work to other members of the network; a policy lab on housing, conducted by Croydon Council, also saw presentations to Parliament, while a study by Newcastle Council on community asset transfers will be launched at the CCIN conference.
Six more policy labs are under way.
“They are member-led, working with other members to find co-operative policy solutions to the challenges we face in local government,” says Cllr Taylor. “We’re open to all ideas, the more innovative the better.
“We’ve asked this year for councils not to conduct the labs as a one-council project, but to work with other councils, and other co-op organisations.”
Other projects include one to assess how social outcomes can be understood and measured. CCIN now wants applications on health and social care, with Cllr Taylor pointing to “brilliant examples” of co-op initiatives in the UK and Europe. This will be the focus of the 2020 policy labs, which will be held at the conference.
There will also be feedback from policy labs on sustainable food, led by Oldham Council; Co-operatives Unleashed – as seen from the grassroots; and cities of service, both led by Plymouth City Council.
Other sessions include a morning plenary on developing co-op councils; the network’s AGM and a networking lunch.
Keynote speeches come from Steve Reed MP, honorary president of CCIN and shadow minister for digital, culture, media and sport, and for children and families; Andrew Gwynne MP, shadow secretary of state for communities and local government; and Lord Kennedy, shadow spokesperson for communities, local government and housing.
Delegates will have a choice of four workshops: Helen Chicot from Rochdale Council will look at the use of citizens’ panels to shape local planning; Cllr Tom Hayes from Oxford City Council will look at co-op responses to the climate emergency; Neil McInroy from the Centre for Local Economic Studies will look at the role of co-ops in community wealth building; and Mark Simmonds, from Co-operatives UK and the Co-operative Development Forum, will look at how co-op development bodies can help councils double the size of the co-operative economy.
Interview, Cllr Sharon Taylor, chair of the CCIN
How do councils in the network go about selling the ideas of the CCIN to their public?
It’s different in different places. In Preston, the key driver behind the co-op council was unemployment – so they speak to people about how it delivers jobs and supports local businesses. In my own local authority, Stevenage, unemployment is lower, so our driver is to make sure that we design skills programmes to ensure the people who live here get the qualifications they need to work in local businesses.
But we also want to use our local government spend to support local businesses, keeping that money in the local economy. We spend around 15% in the Stevenage area, which goes up to 30% if you include the wider area, but that could be more. We could create a virtuous circle of co-operative economies; I want to see if these ideas work as well in an area like Hertfordshire as it does in the north west where the driving factor is different.
How can organisations like co-operative councils sell the idea of co-operation itself?
The problem with the word co-op is that it’s a word in common general use, but this is a mission we’ve got to keep working on. Our Values & Principles board makes sure we are in line with values of the movement.
As people get more wary and sceptical of mainline politics, they do understand that if you work together you get better outcomes; the essence of co-operation is people working together for common benefit. If a council works to incorporate people into its policy making, you get better value for money – because they tell you what they actually need, it’s not just some decision makers in a room. And getting people to contribute to decision making goes right back to origins of the co-op movement, by involving them in the decisions that shape their lives.
What should delegates look out for at the conference?
There are some great sessions on community wealth building. And some of our newer members will be coming up – for instance, Tameside Council, which has done work on social care. They’d had a difficult regulator’s report, and in response developed some much more people-based services.
How is the co-op council movement progressing?
Our great strength is the variety of things going in network – there aren’t any of the challenges we’re facing that don’t have a co-operative solution. For instance, we’re taking on climate change, with councils like Oxford developing real co-operative approaches; and also the economy, with Plymouth committed to doubling the size of its co-op economy.
Our other strength is that we don’t set a formulaic approach – we want to see our councils innovate in real time for their own population, and to share with the rest of use what they find out as they do it. The conference is a great chance to find out what everyone is doing, on issues like housing, domestic abuse and food.
We’ve been very pleased with the development of the network – it’s grown hugely; we now have 28 full council members and a huge range of affiliate members. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority is an affiliate member, and Andy Burnham was our first metro mayor to become a member; we now also have Marvin Rees from Bristol.
