This report is the result of a collaborative effort between Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) and the local community enterprise sector. By bringing together insights from local experts, grassroots organisations, and policy leaders, we are shaping a roadmap to build a more sustainable and resilient economy for Oxfordshire. At the heart of this initiative is the principle of community wealth building, which prioritises people and communities in the decision-making process for economic development and tackles systemic inequalities and environmental challenges through enterprise.
This project represents just one part of the County Council’s broader ambition for sustainable economic growth while addressing key social and environmental challenges. It takes us a further step along the road of developing progressive solutions to the report from The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) commissioned last year. Other important elements of our roadmap include concurrent efforts to become a Marmot Place and the development of a new economic strategy that fully considers social and environmental boundaries.
The project has benefited from a collaborative, bottom-up approach that engages local experts and communities, allowing them to lead and shape proposals for non-extractive project designs. The facilitated "big conversations" between local authority officers and community wealth builders on the ground were well attended and positively received. The written-up and illustrated case studies now serve as a valuable resource for the organisations involved and for others to learn from.
Looking ahead, we need to engage across departments, with the broader local government community and other anchor institutions in refining and implementing the recommendations in the Calls to Action section. These calls are not just for the County Council to respond to, but for the wider system itself to organise around. Our commitment is to continue this collaborative approach, creating conditions for stability and growth in community enterprise, ensuring benefits and agency are brought to communities across Oxfordshire.
Big conversations
You can find case studies of incredible people driving community wealth building across Oxfordshire, which formed the basis of this report, here.
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