Social enterprise zones should be introduced to rejuvenate deprived areas of Britain, and a community bank should be formed to support social enterprises operating in the zones, according to the Conservatives’ Social Enterprise Zones Task Force.

The task force said in its report to the shadow cabinet Social Enterprise Zones: Tackling Neighbourhood Breakdown that the zones would be nominated by local authorities, and include reduced planning constraints for social enterprises working in them and new tax reliefs for private investment in social enterprise projects within the zones. The task force compared the zones to those set up in the 1980s which turned the fortunes of London’s Dockland’s.

The task force’s joint chair Rodney Lord said it was also proposing a community bank to provide incentives for people who invest in social enterprises. The bank would be responsible for approving the zones, administering tax reliefs and helping social enterprises set up in the zones. “Social enterprises have local knowledge, motivation , flexibility and imagination, and we need to tear down the barriers that a centralist government has put in their way,” Lord said.

Responding to the report, Acevo’s head of policy, Seb Elsworth, said it was a useful account of the barriers which are faced by social enterprises, and he welcomed the emphasis on the third sector’s ability to transform communities.

However, he said the report was deficient in some areas. “The plan for social enterprise zones is rather lacking in detail, and fails to adequately tackle the issue of poor commissioning, the number one concern of Acevo members,” he said. “Although in most cases a local approach is best, the party should consider whether all the solutions to neighbourhood breakdown are found at the local level. Better coordination between local, regional and central administrations is also critical.”

The full report can be downloaded at:
www.conservatives.com/pdf/socialenterprise.pdf