The role, organisation and contribution of community enterprise to urban regeneration policy in the UK

The potential of community entrepreneurship for neighbourhood revitalization in the United Kingdom and the United States

“…In the United Kingdom, as of 2012, local authorities had their budgets reduced by 4 billion pound, and Community-based organizations are being asked to fill in the gap (Bailey, 2012;Hastings et al, 2012). The government has introduced the 2011 Localism Act, which contains a wide array of measures to devolve powers to councils and neighbourhoods and give local communities greater control over local decisions like housing and planning (DCLG, 2011a).…”

“…Bacq and Janssen (2011) observe a transatlantic divide in the way social entrepreneurship is approached, due to different conceptions of capitalism, the government's role and in particular geographic and sociological criteria, such as the concept of 'community'. In a recent review, Nick Bailey (2012) asserts that British CEs need to learn from the successes of American CDCs since they are basically similar: "… whilst the UK political economy is moving towards less state intervention and more community self-help [as is also the case in the US], the community development corporations in the USA provide an indication of the future direction community enterprises might take in the UK as part of a broad trend towards civic capacity building" (Bailey, 2012, p. 1). We argue that also other European countries can learn from comparing US and UK experiences with community entrepreneurship.…”

Unravelling the nexus between entrepreneurship, neighbourhoods and communities – introduction

“…This volume will focus particularly on community enterprises; organisations which are set up and operated by local residents, aiming to invest in their neighbourhood and create benefits through entrepreneurial activities. Community enterprises are often supported by local governments and other institutions, partly because they seek to be inclusive and work for the common good (Peredo and Chrisman, 2006;Somerville and McElwee, 2011;Bailey, 2012). However, there is little empirical and policy-related understanding of community enterprises (Teasdale, 2010;Pierre et al, 2014).…”

“…Policymakers and researchers have not only been interested in individuals in deprived areas but also in how forms of community-based entrepreneurship may benefit people, places, and more generally, the 'common' good locally (Peredo and Chrisman, 2006;Somerville and McElwee, 2011). Community-based social enterprises may take over the management of formerly state-provided services or facilities (Bailey, 2012), combat poverty (Teasdale, 2010) and sponsor bottom-up regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods either working alongside, in opposition to, or in the absence of state-led regeneration programmes.…”

The contribution of community enterprise to British urban regeneration in a period of state retrenchment

“…They may also seek to acquire land or buildings in their defined area in order to provide facilities and services orientated towards meeting local needs which would not otherwise be met, as well as contributing to broader regeneration strategies. These organisations adopt a variety of legal and organisational models but usually select (or elect) their management board to be representative of the area they serve and operate different methods of remaining accountable to the wider membership (Bailey 2012).…”