“On 13th June Weyforward sent a detailed and fully costed business plan to
every member of this committee. Some of you have responded, some of you
haven’t. No one has asked anything remotely resembling a specific question.
I’m sure you have read the report on today’s agenda that caused the Echo
front page last Thursday about the appalling levels of deprivation in the
borough?
Did you know there was a similar report and Echo article in 2001!
The harsh reality is that Weymouth & Portland has failed a generation of
people.
Who has failed? Central govt, local govt?
Both.
The system has failed.
Where are the new ideas?
Where is the desire to try new things?
Where is the desire to learn and organise more efficiently using 21st
century tools?
What does “social development” actually mean to our councillors?
Money must be invested in people.
People must to be educated, guided and financially enabled to learn how to
transform their own lives.
No one can do it for them but we can do our best to create an environment
that will give them a very good chance of success.
There will be lots of failures. We planned the failures into our plan.
But they won’t be big career or life damaging failures. They will happen
when things are small and there will be people there to get then going and
to help build resilience.
Despite all of the failures there will be some successes. And we only need
a few successes that find a global market to enable Weymouth & Portland to
continue to self-regenerate. This is because half the surpluses will be
reinvested in the development of yet more ideas that will benefit the
borough and the residents of the borough.
Our plan is the only one we know of with a basic income model that is
financially self-sustaining.
The council has a budget called “social development” (N.B. I got the name
slightly wrong it is ‘Borough Development Reserve’ fund, but that what is
the Borough other than the people who live here. Buildings and things would
be irrelevant without human life?!)
It contains £1.2m.
We could use it, or a large chunk of it. We could even pay interest on the
loan of it. In other words the council could invest in local people, the
people it is here to support, and then get its money back as a result of
their successes.
Everything that numerous incarnations of this council have done to try and
regenerate the borough over the last 16 or more years…HAVE NOT
WORKED…and things are getting worse!
Isn’t it time the council, you, gave people like us, the so called Good
Citizens who make things happen, the opportunity to try and turn things
around using our ideas, methods and energy?
The time has come to properly listen to, discuss with, collaborate with and
actively support the people you represent, the 9,500 local people who have
viewed our plan launch video on Facebook..and to do it in a new and
exciting way. A way that will encourage other towns and boroughs to follow
Weymouth & Portland in moving towards a sustainable, fulfilling and
globally connected local work/life environment that is good for everyone.”
