Our starting point was to create an economic blueprint…
Setting out, we knew we needed to do two things.
First, we had to understand our local economy’s current conditions and identify opportunities for regeneration and investment, leading to the Local Economic Blueprint.
We developed this in partnership with community leaders, including town and district councils, South Devon College, KEVICC, Dartington Hall Trust, Totnes Chamber of Commerce, and Transition Town Totnes. The report was endorsed by our MP.
Through collaborative workshops, we developed a shared vision and processed our research.
Second, we needed to create conditions for new economic actors and relationships to emerge, leading to the Local Entrepreneur Forum and REconomy Centre.
We estimated the potential value of four key sectors of our localised economy, based on publicly available data.
We built a coalition of partners to turn these opportunities into reality.
Together we agreed a vision for what our local economy should be.
We identified some activities and projects that will take this work forward.
Below are a few key findings, highlighting the potential of the four key sectors we focussed on: food; retrofit; renewable energy; care and health.
Food & Drink
If we spent 10% more in local shops than in supermarkets than we do at the moment, we would add £2 million to the local economy.
Retrofit: Making our homes energy efficient
Retrofitting activity on our homes is worth £26-75 million.
This relates to 70-700 jobs across the supply chain.
Renewable Energy
Our local renewable energy assets could generate over £6million worth of energy each year for householders and community investors.
Care & Health
By 2031 we will have nearly twice as many people over the age of 85 compared to now.
Source: Devon County Council population projections, 2008.
We didn't have the same time or expertise to delve deeply into Care and Health but we saw it as critical to include as it is our main economic sector and arguably the one most immediately exposed to the austerity cuts coming in at the time. Plus our MP was Chair of the National Health Select Comittee at the time
And it led to the most actions going forward, including the formation of Caring Town Totnes.
"The Purpose of our local economy is to maximise the happiness and wellbeing of our entire community - to create an abundance of opportunity to satisfy our needs, and use and distribute resources fairly, in a way that respects natural limits."
developed in collaboration wth leaders from across our community, including all councils.
Detailed reports
If you are interested in the data sources we used and the assumptions we made, take a look at the detailed report for each sector. There is no detailed report for Care and Health due to resource constraints – see the summary report for the info on this sector.
This work was part of a national pilot run by the Transition Network’s REconomy Project
Totnes was one of three places exploring how best to do this kind of community economic development, based on this “local economic evaluation” process; the other places are the county of Herefordshire and Brixton, Lambeth.
Together these three pilots provided the widest possible learnings given they represent a market town, a rural county and an inner-city area.
Since then, a self-directed course and handbook have been developed supporting three more communities undertaking the process – Tavistock, Buxton, and Bridport.
Do your own LEB!
We also created a guide to help local groups facilitate the Local Economic Blueprint process in their own town, city or region. Available for download, from here (opens in a different website).
Find out more about the national Economic Evaluation work here, including outputs from other places and information to help you run a similar process in your own area.
