Community Wealth Building is a progressive Place-Based approach to Economic Development.
It is an approach which creates and retains more wealth in local economies to reduce inequalities and build wealth and prosperity for all.
It is a fundamental driver of a wellbeing economy, reorganising the local economy so that wealth is not extracted but remains in local communities. This means income and wealth is recirculated, communities are put first, and people are provided with opportunity, dignity and well-being to deliver social, economic and environmental benefits.
Midlothian Council’s Strategy for Inclusive Economic Growth 2025 - 2030 adopts the Community Wealth Building Approach to embed the core principles of Community Wealth Building across all activities.
This will be further supported across Midlothian through the Community Planning Partnership’s Wellbeing Economy theme in the Single Midlothian Plan, aligning to Scotland's National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) vision of:
“A wellbeing economy – thriving across economic, social and environmental dimensions with the ambition being Fairer, Wealthier, Greener”
Community Wealth Building is based on 5 key pillars:
- Plural ownership of the economy
- Making financial power work for local places
- Fair Employment and just labour markets
- Progressive procurement of goods and services
- Socially productive use of land and property
