Co-op News (August 2019)
What is co-operative culture - and why does it matter? This issue looks at how co-op values intersect with the values in organisations, across movements and between countries. Plus 100 years of the Channel Islands Co-operative – and how the new Coop Exchange app is tackling the capital conundrum.
What is co-operative culture - and why does it matter? This issue looks at how co-op values intersect with the values in organisations, across movements and between countries. Plus 100 years of the Channel Islands Co-operative – and how the new Coop Exchange app is tackling the capital conundrum.
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Andy Burnham:<br />
‘It’s time for co-<strong>op</strong>s to get ready – because the carbon transition and devolution<br />
will bring <strong>op</strong>portunities’<br />
After his keynote speech to <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>Co</strong>ngress in June,<br />
<strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong> <strong>News</strong> caught up with Greater Manchester<br />
mayor Andy Burnham to discuss the role of co-<strong>op</strong>s<br />
in his plans for the devolved region, and the work of<br />
the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>mmission he has set up. With a<br />
new industrial strategy and an ambition to make<br />
the city region carbon-neutral by 2038, Mr Burnham<br />
wants co-<strong>op</strong>s to help drive the economic transition…<br />
Interview by<br />
Anca Voinea<br />
& Miles Hadfield<br />
There have been issues of UK local<br />
authorities selling off valued public land<br />
and assets. Will the <strong>Co</strong>-<strong>op</strong>erative <strong>Co</strong>mmission<br />
consider common ownership of such assets<br />
to protect them and use them in a way<br />
that adds social value?<br />
Certainly. That’s a logical thing to do rather than<br />
having a public body sell straight to the private<br />
sector. To protect the future use of the land you might<br />
consider a community co-<strong>op</strong>. That would be an idea<br />
I would be keen to hear from the <strong>Co</strong>mmission on,<br />
because there is work on the way to identify land<br />
across Greater Manchester that is publicly owned that<br />
might be released for housing devel<strong>op</strong>ment.<br />
But I think it’s important not to make the mistakes<br />
of the past, like with the right to buy – when you<br />
are trying to have a big effort to build, to have new<br />
policies, but then you find you are having the same<br />
problem 10 years down the line where you’ve not got<br />
the control over the new pr<strong>op</strong>erties that you build.<br />
And you’ve not got that social ethos. So certainly,<br />
that’s an idea we can look at.<br />
We’re also exploring <strong>op</strong>tions for town centre<br />
regeneration, particularly through the Town Centre<br />
Challenge, where we are working with our 10 councils<br />
to identify towns where we can come in and h<strong>op</strong>efully<br />
stimulate a different town centre economy – perhaps<br />
more residential with more cafés, bars or restaurants.<br />
As part of that, we could create co-<strong>op</strong> and community<br />
spaces. Prestwich has a co-<strong>op</strong> there [Village Greens<br />
<strong>Co</strong>mmunity sh<strong>op</strong>]. You see this more and more –<br />
co-<strong>op</strong>s using redundant retail space – but it’s whether<br />
or not we can factor that into some of our thinking<br />
around our Town Centre Challenge. We launched<br />
the first Mayoral Devel<strong>op</strong>ment <strong>Co</strong>rporation (MDC)<br />
in Stockport to lead the regeneration of the Town<br />
Centre West. It will be interesting to see how we<br />
might ensure that the co-<strong>op</strong> sector is represented in<br />
terms of the decision making and the thinking about<br />
the regeneration of the town centre, because it’s<br />
important in terms of building in that sustainability<br />
and that sense of new community – which might not<br />
be there if you simply leave it to the private sector.<br />
Lewisham and Bromley councils supported<br />
Lewisham Credit Union with grants to give<br />
interest-free loans to pe<strong>op</strong>le facing eviction.<br />
Would you consider a similar homelessness<br />
prevention scheme?<br />
We’ve looked at that with regards to universal credit,<br />
recognising there is this gap of four to six weeks before<br />
pe<strong>op</strong>le receive their money. We haven’t yet come up<br />
with any viable pr<strong>op</strong>osal but I’m still interested to<br />
see whether we could have a small-scale scheme of<br />
that kind. Of course, the Homelessness Reduction<br />
Act is now a law and it requires public bodies to take<br />
actions to mitigate risks of homelessness, and I think<br />
st<strong>op</strong>-gap funding, to help pe<strong>op</strong>le between the point<br />
where they are eligible for universal credit and the<br />
moment when they get the money, is something we<br />
need to continue to look at. It could prevent the spiral<br />
into debt that can happen if pe<strong>op</strong>le are left waiting<br />
three or four weeks for their money.<br />
26 | AUGUST <strong>2019</strong>