Good Local Economics
High hopes
As cuts start to bite and public services and regeneration funds are withdrawn, housing associations are picking up the extra demand. But can they, and should they, fill the gap in regeneration provision? Clare Goff and Austin Macauley investigate
When the Accord Group of housing associations wanted to ensure local supplies of the timber frames it uses to build new housing in Redditch, it decided to open its own factory. Based in Beechdale, the factory employs 30 staff and will supply timber frames for 250 homes in its first year of business.
The big sobriety
If we tap into the assets of communities we can make an impact in ways that regeneration schemes never could. But it requires investment, says Nick Massey
It was sad but probably inevitable that the People’s Supermarket in Camden ran into money troubles earlier this year. The shop was highlighted last year in a Channel 4 documentary as a perfect example of the Big Society, but ran into trouble recently when a bill for unpaid business rates popped through the letterbox.
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