Local Economic Solutions for Sustainability

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Localise West Midlands
The Warehouse
54-57 Allison Street
Digbeth
Birmingham
B5 5TH
Tel: 0121 685 1155
Fax: 0121 643 3122
Email: info@localisewestmidlands.org.uk

Registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee (not for profit) no: 6239211

Localise West Midlands is now registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee (not for profit). LWM's Board is as follows:

Hannah Worth (Chair)
Hannah previously volunteered for Localise West Midlands for a few months after completing a Masters in Global Ethics. She now manages Birmingham Community Empowerment Network, facilitating community networks that aim to involve people more effectively in local decision making.

George Morran (Vice Chair)
Currently Director of the West Midlands Convention, immediate past Chair and currently Secretary of the Campaign for the English Regions, Research Associate Aston Business School and freelance Regional Governance Consultant. Previously, Director of the West Midlands Regional Forum of Local Authorities, Regional Economic Consortium and Assistant Chief Executive of Dudley MBC.

Chris Crean (Secretary)
Friends of the Earth's Regional Campaigns Coordinator for the West Midlands. Chris has been involved with Friends of the Earth (FOE) for over ten years, initially as a campaigner on air pollution and transport in Birmingham and the West Midlands. He also worked for an environmental consultancy on contaminated land and industrial water issues. Chris's responsibilities include developing regional policy, a major strand of which is to develop a solutions approach - one strand of which will be a localisation of the regional economy.

Michael Whithouse (Treasurer)
Michael is a chartered accountant with a degree in rural land management, based in Shropshire. He is actively involved in various organisations including the Fordhall Community Land Initiative, the Wasteless Society, the Institute of Organic Training and Advice, and the Shropshire Hills AONB advisory board.

Pat Conaty
Pat Conaty is a Research Associate of the New Economics Foundation. He has produced a number of recent policy reports on local community banking, rural regeneration and community land trusts, micro-credit for small business, and affordable housing finance for low income homeowners with disrepair problems. He was formerly the Development Director of Birmingham Settlement, an inner city voluntary organisation.

Colin Hines
Author of 'Localization- A Global Manifesto' (Earthscan) and an Associate of the International Forum on Globalisation, a San Francisco based alliance of activists, academics and economists developing alternatives to globalisation and free trade. Before that he was the Co-ordinator of Greenpeace International's Economics Unit having worked for the organisation for 10 years.

Karen Leach
Karen was previously Campaigns and Project Worker, and Local Food and Trade campaigner, for Birmingham Friends of the Earth. In that capacity she was involved in setting up LWM, and was employed in October 2002 as LWM Coordinator.

Amy Longrigg
Amy Longrigg is a Development Worker for Woodgate Valley Urban Farm. Before moving to Birmingham last February Amy worked for the New Economics Foundation (nef), in their local economies team for two years. Key projects of the team were Plugging the Leaks and Local Alchemy which focused on developing tools for people to use to understand their local economy and get involved in decision-making

Andrew Lydon
Andrew Lydon was initially involved in the Labour Party, where he developed his interest in decentralisation and economic development in drafting parts of their Birmingham Council manifesto. Since 1992, when he left Labour, he has been involved in the politics of the regions as a spokesman for the West Midlands New Economics Group and even latterly for Birmingham NHS Concern.

Jon Morris
Currently housing, planning and regeneration consultant. Former Director of Coventry New Deal for Communities, Chair of Royal Town Planning Institute Housing Panel, Extensive experience in the fields of housing, planning and regeneration, as a practitioner, researcher and lecturer. Jon has also been a member of a number of ministerial advisory groups and an expert witness to the House of Commons Environment Select Committee.

The following are active members of a wider steering group:

Malcolm Currie
Trained as a systematic geographer (Bristol), Malcolm was a full time teacher in Liverpool; and has also been involved in youth work, community development, and adult education in Birmingham. He has launched various community newspapers and festivals; edits the LETS newsletter; and is presently developing 'bottom-up' projects in community cohesion, such as the application of digital technology; 'local foods: global recipes'; and integration via performing arts and music.

Stuart Masters
Stuart is an active member of Birmingham Green Party and has worked in the social housing sector for nearly 20 years. Currently he is the Chief Executive of WATMOS Community Homes, a tenant-controlled housing association in Walsall. He is committed to supporting the local control and management of housing and regeneration in the West Midlands. He acts as secretary and co-ordinator of the housing network group Stand Up for Community Controlled Housing (SUCH) and sits on the Board of Druids Heath Tenant Management Co-operative.

Audrey Miller
Audrey has been involved in educational work across the region. Now retired, she is an active campaigner on environmental development and asylum/refugee issues. She has served as a trustee of national and local charities, is currently Co-Chair of Jubilee Debt Campaign and sees localisation as an important global concept.

Barbara Panvel
Barbara has brought together different people, organisations and ideas on localisation during her work in both Mumbai and Birmingham, and has been involved in LWM since our earliest discussions.


If you are interested in getting involved in our Board or steering group, please contact Karen Leach to discuss this further.