Hope Street: Can Do in Neath Port Talbot (Pt. 1)

Season’s Greetings by Banksy: FruitMonkey, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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In the first of two blogs, Jonathan Morris and Rob Rowlands explain why a Can Do Approach has to be the way forward for the people and communities of Neath Port Talbot

“To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing”

— Raymond Williams

Port Talbot has recently seen a renaissance of street art. Spurred by the appearance of Banksy’s ‘Seasons Greetings’, here and there various pieces popped up.   In the depths and despair of lockdown, one word began to appear across multiple locations in the town  - Hope.

Wales has seen more than its fair share of economic challenges and as we respond to the last two years it’s true that we are still recovering from the effects of the 1980s.   It’s clear our responses need to have an equally long term impact.

Co-production

The Welsh Government’s economic plan seeks to address not simply the natural shocks of the recent past but to rebuild the economy in a way that is closer to the citizen.  Rather than passive economic policy it aims to harness and adapt creative solutions where change is coproduced with the community rather than done to it.

A key element of this is the foundational or everyday economy.   As Professor Kevin Morgan has said, the foundational economy comprises of ‘the basic requirements of civilised life for all citizens irrespective of their income or location’.  In reality this means the parts of the economy made up of food, roof and family, close to the citizen and close to home.

As ambitious as the Welsh Government’s vision is, it cannot be achieved by policy alone.  It requires the engagement of anchor institutions such as Local Authorities, hospitals and housing associations to ensure success.   They in turn, must ensure that their policy and practice is aligned to ensure that local foundational economy benefits first and foremost.

A home for change

It is increasingly the case that Housing is the go-to, can do sector for Wales. 

The Welsh Government’s i2i project and later the deployment of the Can Do Toolkits provide evidence for this. Even before talk of foundational economics and anchor institutions this resource ensured that as much of the investment as possible created by the £5billion Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) programme remained within the local community.

In Neath Port Talbot, for every pound of the £250 million spent, a further £1.99 was created locally by the Tai Tarian. Investment was used to create a local supply chain, local jobs, apprenticeships and training opportunities. After 10 years the association can say with pride that it delivered one of its key promises to residents -  creating local jobs for local people.

Tai Tarian’s Copper Foundation built upon this by targeting access level job creation within Neath Port Talbot. The key aim was to ensure that individuals had the opportunity to progress into sustainable employment. The association ring-fenced a proportion of its external boundary work and utilised targeted recruitment and training to directly employ local teams of residents furthest away from the employment market for a period of one year. Employees  were then supported to move on to sustainable employment by triggering community benefit clauses with contractors.

The focus has always been on local jobs, mitigating the transport difficulties experienced by those trying to access the employment market. It starts with recognising that many people face seemingly insurmountable challenges in getting back into the workplace. The fundamental aspect is that it is a people centred approach with a real job (rather than a training scheme) with a caring and socially aware employer who will actively support the individual at the move on stage.

The Foundation has helped create solidarity between people and organisations, shared values and a collective drive to improve life chances and equality.  It also taps into Tai Tarian’s mutualism in action to create an inclusive economy.  

As importantly, it challenges the assumptions that are so often placed upon less well off communities.  It puts the person at the centre and aims to create a social economy which is at the service of the community showing compassion and empathy in the face of challenges rather than viewing communities as problems to be solved.   It seeks to achieve a balance of social innovation and doing social good whilst still being committed to maintaining Tai Tarian as a successful, sustainable local business. 

The aspiration to maximise social, economic and environmental benefits through investment is driving a new spirit of partnership across the borough, led by the council with other partners such as Tai Tarian, NPTC Group of Colleges and the third sector stepping up to the challenge. This is a genuine partnership based on an equal sharing of problems and solutions.