Co-operative Capital
"The Big Look Back - The Big
Look Forward"
Thanks very much for that introduction Nick
...
... it’s really great to see so many people
here this morning; at this “Big Look Back – Big Look Forward’ event, which is
bringing together individuals and organisations from all over the Capital (and
beyond) to mark the achievements – and challenges – of the last 5-years of the
Cooperative Capital Project.
HUGE thanks to all of you for coming along
today to participate ...
... some of you will know that we’ve
organised an Annual Event – similar to this – every year since the 2012 Local
Government elections.
At the first big ‘cooperative capital’ event
in the summer of 2012 there were 70% public sector officers + 30% community sector
participants in attendance
At this event today we have 30% public sector
officers and 70% community sector participants - with many community council,
tenants and residents groups, cooperatives and social enterprises in the room
I think that’s one great indicator of the
positive change over the last 5-years.
And Nick – can I quickly say thanks to all those
who have helped organise today’s event, specifically Graeme McKechnie who is
recovering well, at home, from a recent operation – I know that Graeme sends
his best regards to all attendees today.
AND - Before I come to Cooperation – I do
feel I can’t help but reference very recent political events both here in the
UK, and much more recently, in the United States ...
... there’s just no doubt that the vote for
BREXIT, here in the UK back in June – and to some similar extent – the vote for
President-elect Trump earlier this week – have been the result of the
alienation that many people do feel about mainstream politics.
Personally, I think it would be a foolish
‘mainstream politician’ who denied there was such a link – particularly when
you consider that the political-stakes may be about to become even higher as we
approach both the French Presidential Election, and German Federal Election, next
year.
For me – and here’s the link to Cooperation!
– many of you will have heard me before try to simply respond to the question:
well what is a Cooperative Council, what is Cooperation ...
... and I still feel the simplest, most
direct answer is:
- it’s an attempt to move away from doing things to people, and to move towards doing things with people
And I do believe that there is an element of
people being completely fed up of things being done ‘to them’ in both recent
referendum/election results in both the UK and the USA ... and it could
continue in France and Germany next year.
And it was very clear to me - when we formed our local
Labour/SNP coalition administration in Edinburgh, following the May 2012
Scottish Council Elections, that business as usual wasn’t an option; we had to
change the way we did things.
As an incoming Council Leader, I knew there was no time
to waste in ensuring that we had a clear, unambiguous programme for governance
… and thus the best chance of keeping our local arrangements fresh, and lively,
for the whole of the forthcoming electoral term.
And as a Council Leader, a ward councillor, and a
member of my local community, I do understand the scale of the challenges that
we are all facing locally. Many communities are disengaged from local
democracy; councils can seem like distant bureaucracies; and, as organisations,
we struggle to manage significant funding reductions just as local people are
putting more and more demand on local services.
If councils are going to survive in this context,
and if communities are going to thrive, then we all need to start doing things
differently. We need to work together, in genuine and equal partnership with
local people, to make the most of the strengths that lie in our communities.
Most importantly, we must drive real innovation, with local people at its core,
if we are to face the challenges ahead of us.
Thus - following the elections in 2012, the Council’s
Capital Coalition set out a clear vision to become a Cooperative Capital, where
public services work better together, and where communities have more influence
over the services they use. We did pledge to be a Council that does things
‘with people’ rather than ‘to people’.
And today – looking back over the last
5-years, and forward to the next ... I’m not for one second going to claim that
EVRYTHING has gone perfectly smoothly ... of course it hasn’t: mistakes have
undoubtedly been made, and things have undoubtedly gone wrong.
BUT – overall – I genuinely believe there is
a VERY POSITIVE story to tell about the Cooperative Journey that Edinburgh
Council and our partners have gone through in the last few years.
WHERE DID
THIS ALL COME FROM ... Steve Reed (Lambeth) / Jim McMahon
(Oldham) --- both now MPs and in the Shadow Cabinet; which does give me serious
hope for the ongoing promotion of Cooperative Working ...
In the time available there’s no way I can
cover everything that’s happened – so I really would encourage everyone to have
a look at last December’s Cooperative Annual Report, which went to Full Counciland is available online ...
... and there will be a final Annual Report – of
this Council Term – that will likewise go to Full Council early in the New
Year.
WHAT HAVE WE
ACTUALLY DONE ...
Very briefly - we have been working in a wide range of
ways, such as encouraging specific initiatives in:
·
Energy
- SOLAR
coop (£1.4M)
- Harlaw Hydro
- ESCo (energy services company – Board)
·
Housing
- huge growth in affordable house building
- big increases in tenant participation – Tenant Participation Strategy
- with several housing coops and social enterprises being set up over the last
five years
- a concrete example of this can be seen in talks between
the Council, Castle Rock Edinvar and students from the University of Edinburgh,
which led to the Capital’s first student housing co-operative, which offers
quality and affordable accommodation. The students initially approached the
Council to talk about their ideas as they knew that we were keen to support
this type of structure.
·
Childcare
- After School Club
Co-operative Charter
- Cooperative
schools clusters +
Cooperative Educational Trust
·
and Adult Social Care
- harder to deliver upon --- some element of the Coproduction of social
care grants and contracts ... but still a lot of work to be done in this area.
MORE GENERALLY
· - Edinburgh Partnership + locality working
· - Neighbourhood Partnership sub groups and
local community plans
· - Place making standard
· - emerging work on corporate social
responsibility
· - Community councils
· - Asset transfer examples – Bridgend Farm to
mention but one example
All of these are fantastic examples of real
progress and all things which were just not here 5 years ago ...
And overall, since May 2012, communities have helped to
set up nearly 20 co-ops, some of which have asked for and received Council
backing. This is great news for local communities because it shows
that people are feeling empowered and want to have a stronger say in the
services they access.
GOVERNANCE
And within the Council,
transparency of decision-making has also improved with the introduction of
· - web-casting
· - a petitions committee
· - revised scrutiny – with new governance, risk
and best value oversight
- The Council’s current budget process has also benefitted,
with proposals only finalised once three months of public engagement and
consultation are carried out.
The cumulative impact of all these
considered-changes has been fairly significant … and, I would argue, we have re-gained
some degree of trust and a renewed sense of engagement with residents.
There is a new political narrative within the City Chambers here in
Edinburgh; the political culture has most definitely changed …
… but, there is undoubtedly a long, long way to go – and continuing
to deliver on both the Co-operative Content and on ‘doing politics differently’ are crucial
not just for this year, but for every r year … and I know that keeping up this
level of commitment will be challenging for both Elected Members and Officers.
But I do firmly believe
that the co-operative principles of empowerment, equal partnership, and
collective action offer a positive route not simply to survive through tough
times, but to enable local communities to thrive, supported by relevant and
meaningful local public services.
Indeed, I would be so bold as to say that Edinburgh is
now seen as a leading centre for cooperative working ...
... and we currently Chair the Cooperative Council Innovation
Network (CCIN) – a collaboration
between local authorities across the UK who are committed to finding better
ways of working for, and with, local people for the benefit of their local
community.
Edinburgh’s role in
recruiting more Scottish Councils
My role as Chair coming
to an end this month ...
... next year – not
standing again ....
Nick - now more than
ever ...
I still firmly see
Cooperative Councils being at the forefront of innovative partnership working -
- and being very capable
of tackling the serious challenges that lie ahead for all of us
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY working with local communities and partners – and not doing things to them.
Many thanks for listening
– and I’ll hand you back to Nick, who is going to introduce our next speaker Ed
Mayo ...
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