How can we support thriving local economies? - live chat

Catch-up on what happened during our live discussion on local economies - including whether you can support your local economy if you still shop at Tesco.

1.51pm GMT

Cole emails to tell us:

"I've just returned from the USA, where contrary to popular belief, small independent stores really thrive. Walk down any busy street in America and you will see only a small fraction of chain shops and cafes compared to your typical UK street. The wealth and diversity of smaller shops/cafes/bars/restaurants is really quite remarkable and improves not only quality of life for consumers, but also of local workers."

One of our team is in the US visiting independant Co-ops at the moment - her reports are hughly inspiring. There are shopping malls run by co-ops and full of independent retailers. We can learn a lot from the US Co-op movement. Her reports can be found at: http://kindling.org.uk/blog

Excellent reminder that these issues are not only of "economic" in nature and susceptible to discourse, agenda setting and of course the way we measure success. What image would we have of the US and the UK and our localities if we knew how to measure what matters? Yesterdays news, but never redundant to look indicators of what a healthy economy (local or national) would actually look like: http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/forget-gdp-how-is-our-economy-really-performing

Some great, inspiring examples being put forward showing just a taste of the innovation going on around this all over the country, sadly going pretty much unreported. I was however very inspired recently to read the story of Crickhowell and their idea of mimicking the tax havens and loopholes used by larger businesses. It's a great challenge to the current model, and one that could be done in other places too. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crickhowell-welsh-town-moves-offshore-to-avoid-tax-on-local-business-a6728971.html

The issue of parking's come up, and there's no doubt that it skews consumers towards the retail parks and big chains - those who have cars, anyway. One thing that a few places are doing is to get bus routes working harder for their local economy. Greater Manchester is probably the best example of the city getting bus companies to link outlying areas to the town centre, extending routes and running times so that people can go where the jobs are - and potentially also where the shops and other opportunities are.

We're definitely yet to realise the potential of open data to support the growth of thriving local economies. One example of this, trying to keep it broader than shops, is in York, where they've opened up their data on childcare places. People have found smart ways to make this data useful for parents, and as a result there's now more uptake of childcare across the city - so definitely fewer vacancies and increased, more predictable income for local childminders and nurseries, and possibly also more mothers able to work the hours they want. There are a million other opportunities like that out there to help local economies work better.

The next big idea emerging around local economies, is happening behind the shop front: with suppliers, logistics and trading relationships. 'Supply chain co-operation', when parties in a supply chain work together. It is the only way we can create a fair system for both the producer and the consumer. Creating new clever ways to be the middleman just won't wash anymore!

There are also great examples of how new technology is being used to strengthen local economies. for example Change X (http://www.changex.org/) supports people to use tested and proven models of strengtening local economies . And new apps like Olio (http://www.olioex.com/) are helping people to tackl the massive issue of food waste (a... of all food is wasted in the UK) at a local level. At The Food Assembly, we are working with local communities and farmers across the UK to use new technology to trade directly with each other, to support the growing demand for local food (over 70% of UK want to buy local food)

Community shares are a really innovative idea for local economies to thrive. Raising investment through community shares is a great way to secure the right type of finance for your community venture. It might be for a local shop, pub, or football club. It might be to run a building for community use, or a sports ground or community energy scheme. Or it could be a local food grower, a children's nursery, or a neighbourhood housing scheme.

Whatever the enterprise, the key element is that they are run by and for the community, and serve a wide range of social aims.

1.43pm GMT

Many people can support their local community by using their buying power. There are many examples of co-operatives and community-owned businesses who have social objectives and by supporting these businesses you can support your own communities.

A good example is Benenden's Community Shop (http://benendens.co.uk), which was financed by community shares. You can find loads of other community shops near you on our Community Shares Directory (http://communityshares.org.uk/directory).

If you are interested in finding out more about community shares, watch this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLouSzq5F_PSjZHhGMUd_xKJv5DXeajGy9&v=q6w-311GBIM).

Back to food, it's about more than just buying. At Nesta, we've worked with quite a few different shared consumption models - from a community growing and food box scheme in Plymouth, to Casserole Club, which allows people to share a spare portion of their meal with a neighbour, or the Real Junk Food project which takes food that would go to waste from supermarkets for its social cafe.

There is a lot that the government could do to make it easier for local farmers and growers - for example:

Planning policy: they could protect and prioritise land for food production (rather than developers), and make it easier for farmers (planning permission for a home on the land or poly-tunnels etc.).

In terms of Tom's question about what's out there that can help, I think there are some useful tools out there that perhaps at the moment we don't recognise as such. I am part of a community project here in Totnes called Atmos Totnes (www.atmostotnes.org) which is using a Community Right to Build Order process on an 8 acre former milk factory, but by designing a development on the actual needs this community has, and on a deep consultation, we are seeing the development as a huge opportunity to restimulate our local economy: through the construction process, through its being held in a Community Land Trust, starting and owning assets and businesses that can generate revenue for community development. I am a firm believer that communities owning assets is key to our ability to develop more resilient local economies. There is a lot of potential of Neighbourhood Planning too, if those creating them can be sufficiently bold, ambitious, and if they place local economies at the heart of them.

We hope that the government will continue to provide appropriate support for community shares and community ownership. We also hope the Government may consider how to encourage the further development of the community shares market by supporting potential investors through tax reliefs such as EIS, SEIS and SITR.

It would be great to see local businesses working with their communities and involving them as decision makers and stakeholders rather than purely as consumers.