Good Local Economics

As the coalition government struggles to define localism and Big Society, is there a danger the merit of creating sustainable communities will be sidelined? Robert Rogerson argues there’s a need for a renewed vision

The vision of sustainable communities which has dominated has been generated largely through UK government policy. To date it has been constructed as a hybrid of sustainable development principles and pro-growth approaches to economic competitiveness. It has emerged and evolved through a series of specific policy initiatives relating to housing, economic and regional development. It has sought to connect planning reform and with skills policies and has been portrayed as part of the modernising agenda.

Buried deep in the recent storm of media coverage was a positive and uplifting story about a group of teenagers in Bradford who had given up part of their summer holidays to collect food for the homeless.