CCIN conference firms up co-op agenda in face of local government cash crisis

• 27th Nov 2023
• Community Wealth Building, Cooperative Placemaking, Education & Training, Finance, Governance, Health & Social Care, Housing, Jobs, Poverty, Social Outcomes, Strategy, Young People

Discussion included public service mutuals, community banks and ideas for the organisation's election manifesto

This year’s conference of the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network was held in Sunderland, with Storm Arwen offering a suitably troubled backdrop to a national picture of a cost of living crisis, local authorities teetering on the edge of financial collapse and political turmoil in Westminster.

And so the old adage – that the co-op model is a response to crisis – hung heavy over an event that worked hard to join the dots between the different ideas of the co-op council movement.

This included updates on co-op development in Sunderland and a discussion on what the CCIN’s manifesto should call for, with a general election due some time in the next 12 months. And there were presentations on two policy labs – one led by Kirklees Council and co-funded by Power to Change, which is developing a framework for the co-op council model, and another from Oldham which is developing a toolkit for co-op councils.

Coop News

Miles Hadfield

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