Good Local Economics

Ideas for Change: A Local Endowment Fund

Highland cows in Graves Park in Sheffield. Photo: Vanessa Chettleburgh/Flikr

The philanthropists of the past invested in the shared assets and common wealth of a city. A Local Endowment Fund for people-centred approaches to regeneration could do the same in the 21st century, says Julian Dobson.

It’s hard to spend any time in Sheffield without running into the legacy of Alderman John George Graves. At the central library there’s the Graves Art Gallery. Ecclesall Woods, the ancient woodland on the west side of town, was donated to the city by Alderman Graves. Even Sheffield University’s student union owes its existence to a Graves donation.

Economic Development Good Local Economics Local Government

Philanthropy goes local

Communities Finance Good Local Economics

Lessons from Holland: Helping citizens with debt management pays off

Communities Finance Good Local Economics Housing Local Government

Roads or housing? Which is your priority?

Economic Development Good Local Economics Local Government

Economics and governance for city bounce

Communities Finance Good Local Economics Regeneration

Making community economic development mainstream

Economic Development Good Local Economics Local Government

Are we letting a good crisis go to waste?

Economic Development Good Local Economics Local Government Regeneration

Regional growth fund jobs: Strangled by red tape?

Built Environment Good Local Economics

Wadebridge: Re-building its local economy through energy

Wadebridge, a small town in Cornwall, is going ‘back to the future’, localising its energy supply and, in doing so, re-building its local economy

Stand in Coronation Park, high above the north Cornish town of Wadebridge, and you can look down on the future of localised energy supply. Solar panels glint from the roofs of homes and schools, wind turbines whirr and solar farms are just visible in the distance. The town now gets 3% of its energy supply from renewables, and plans to have reached 100% by 2020.