Enterprising Communities: Wealth beyond Welfare - 1.4 Public policy

CHAPTER 1 - THE CHALLENGE OF THE UK'S UNDER-INVESTED COMMUNITIES
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1.4 The public policy context

The Task Force is aware of other Government initiatives, not least the forthcoming Urban and Rural White Papers, the National Strategy for Neighborhood Renewal and the New Deal for Communities. It seems likely that the emphasis in important aspects of policy will shift from the national to the regional level in England, as it has already shifted to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Task Force is hopeful that its recommendations will represent a good fit with Government policies for the regions, enterprise and regeneration. The Task Force's recommendation of a champion for community development finance (see Chapter 3) is particularly aimed at achieving coherence. The Task Force also hopes that the report of the Co-operative Commission, which is investigating the future of co-operative enterprise, will dovetail with our recommendations. Co-operatives have an important part to play in the ecology of social and community enterprise and could be a significant source of investment in CDFIs.

It is not for the Task Force to make detailed comments on policy shift to the regional level, but it is important to make the following points:

The Task Force's analysis of the shortfall in community development finance requires enabling actions by Government at all levels. If, for example, local Government pursues community development strategies that ignore the role of the private sector or the importance of wealth creation, they will undermine the effectiveness of what is proposed here.
From the EU to the local level, the Task Force would hope that community regeneration strategies would recognise the importance of the finance mechanisms outlined in this report. American experience demonstrates that a devolved political structure sits comfortably with the initiatives proposed by the Task Force. The devolved administrations, the Regional Development Agencies and Local Strategic Partnerships responsible for economic development and regeneration at regional and local level will be especially important in implementing the Task Force's recommendations.
The enabling framework described in this report requires attention to points of detail - for example local authority rules about the use of council property for business start-ups - as well as the deployment of new funding streams for community development.


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