Community Wealth Building strategy

Community Wealth Building is a way of focusing economic development of an area on local people. It redirects money and wealth into the local economy and back into the hands of its people and businesses.

We are proud to have taken inspiration from the groundbreaking work in places like Cleveland, Preston and Ayrshire and will make sure our plans fit the specific needs of inner London and Islington.

Why Islington needs a community wealth building strategy

Across London, Islington has the fourth highest level of income inequality. Wealthy families living in their own properties and low-income families in social housing live on the same street but experience separate lives as ‘distant neighbours.’ This gap has widened with the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

Though work can often be a way out of poverty and financial insecurity, an unstable labour market means some people are underemployed, underpaid or working multiple jobs just to get by.

It's reasonable to think economic troubles will continue and put even more pressure on households and local businesses. We are ready to respond, to build resilience in our local economy so that our communities can stand strong, while protecting our most vulnerable residents and small businesses. We can hold our own.

Why we are publishing this now

In 2020, we started to focus on tackling economic inequality, leading to a new Community Wealth Building directorate. We also developed our work with other like-minded, locally rooted organisations to establish Islington’s Anchor Institution Network.

In the last three years, we have built a strong and collaborative team to drive change. We've made real improvements for residents, businesses and communities, and have learned a lot about how best to continue with our core mission. Now we want to set out our approach, goals, and what differences Islington should see as we make the strategy reality.

Our plan for a fair local economy

We want a more equal Islington – a place where we ‘hold our own’ – in a new economy where:

• wealth is fairly shared
• residents and businesses have a genuine stake in their local community and are able to thrive
• it is sustainable, fair and locally-rooted
• assets and local spending power help create prosperity for all.

Ways to achieve a more equal Islington

Our six core objectives for community wealth building are:

• Economic wellbeing: Tackling systemic poverty and inequalities in the labour market, building skills and opportunity for a new economy. In other words:
  • working to reduce the number of families without enough money to run their household and participate in their community, and other related issues, because of how our economic system and society works (systemic poverty)
  • removing inequalities in the labour market that stop people from every background and culture from getting good, well-paid jobs and growing their careers
  • building skills and opportunities in our new economy.
• Inclusive economy: Making sure our local economy is sustainable, just, and enables thriving places, maximising opportunity for local residents and business. In other words, a local economy that:
  • continues to grow and stay strong
  • is fair for everyone
  • leads to thriving places making the most of opportunity for local residents and business.
• Progressive procurement: Boosting and keeping the creation of wealth by using local purchasing power in a way that benefits everyone.
• Social and economic infrastructure: Using the borough's assets to maximum advantage and developing them for the greater benefit of residents and local businesses.
• Challenging inequalities: Challenging and removing things that are in place because of our economic system ('systemic economic barriers') that prevent people of all backgrounds and cultures from being secure security and stability.
• Anchor Institutions: Collaborating with like-minded local organisations to make use of our employment, finances we have to buy goods and services, and assets we own and have access to for the benefit of residents and local businesses.

We will seek out new ideas and test new ways to break down barriers, create new opportunities, and empower our diverse communities.

Find out more about our goals, how we will achieve and measure them and what will have changed in Islington to show we've succeeded.

Read our objectives

How we will make this happen

Processes and relationships are often as important as the outcome. That's why partnership is at the heart of community wealth building.

After our long and widespread discussions with you through the Let’s Talk Islington project, we will continue to talk with you, take your feedback and ideas, and report back to keep the challenges you facebas our focus.

Let’s Talk’s Inequality Task Force found a significant number of residents disagreeing that Islington was a fair and equal place. All members of society should feel like they are part of, and getting direct benefits from, the economy.

Meaningful communication with our communities is essential, and we will create ways for everyone to take part in creating wealth. We'll make sure community voices are present and powerful in our inclusive economy.

We will work with our local Anchor Institutions who can also take advantage of their influence as employers, purchasers and asset owners. These organisations – large and small – stretch across many sectors and will help redirect money that is being spent and the wealth that exists back into the local economy and communities.

Our Community Wealth Building directorate brings together our services and skills to lead on making this plan reality. We will also work across all departments to make the most of our influence and effectiveness in pushing economic change. We'll also use the knowledge of our communities to co-produce and make it easier to use cooperative solutions to address the challenges we face.

What this will mean for Islington

If we succeed in delivering the Community Wealth Building strategy, by 2030: 

• more residents will be financially resilient and able to meet the cost of living  
• more residents, particularly those who face the most disadvantages, will be in good jobs that pay a decent wage and have prospects to improve their economic wellbeing
• Islington will have a thriving, diverse and inclusive local economy, where people from all backgrounds are able to succeed in business, and where we support businesses to grow sustainably and operate safely
• residents and local businesses will have experienced a just transition to the green economy  
• more spend will be through local businesses, locking wealth into our local economy and delivering benefits for residents and communities through social value commitments  
• our buildings, schools and community assets will be modern, sustainable, safe and inclusive  
• the Islington Local Plan will have delivered key benefits around affordable housing, affordable workspaces, promoting an inclusive economy, and supporting delivery of Net Zero Carbon.