Community Wealth Building

Community Wealth Building

Community Wealth Building (CWB) is a key policy approach of the Scottish Government and has been adopted across many local authorities. CWB takes a people-centred and place-based approach to improving the well-being of communities, placing control back into the hands of local people and redirecting wealth locally.

The role of anchor institutions is critical in CWB, and they can demonstrate key CWB principles such as fair working conditions for their staff, engaging with their local communities, and following local procurement practices.

As budgets have tightened and the public sector has withdrawn from many communities, the role of providing essential services has increasingly been undertaken by community, voluntary and third sector organisations. At the same time, communities are being empowered to initiate asset transfers for buildings or land that they feel they can manage better than the public sector, including disused or under-utilised buildings. We will be producing reports about the appropriateness of CWB to rural areas, and evaluating some initiatives that are using this approach.