This Leicestershire town used to do exactly what it said ‘on the tin’. (What do you mean, I can’t use a pun from a 90s ad campaign?) Then the Tories happened, and the last four mines were shuttered in the mid 80s with no plans to retrain mine workers and no thought of how this would screw the local economy and community. 

The local authorities and a bunch of consultants swung into action, telling residents that their home was broken and only their experts could fix it. They came to the community with a map of deficits and problems. Residents were told that ‘there is no community in Coalville’ and ‘there are no creative people in Coalville’. These comments went down exactly how you’d expect. 

No one listened to the ideas local people came up with, despite them having so much local knowledge. If you start from a ‘what’s shit’ perspective, no sustainable, positive change will ever be achieved. The constant short term funding bids made without locals signing off on plans did not change a thing except to put more than a few quid in the pockets of consultants. 

Instead, the residents rejected the map of their town’s deficits and came up with their own plan based on Asset-based Community Development. They called it Coalville C.A.N (Capacity Assets Networks) which started from the premise that they loved their town and their neighbours had the skills and strength to make life better. They made a graphic street map with all of their skills from story telling to setting up a cooperative. 

They flipped the script and it worked. Coalville C.A.N is still thriving and has an HQ with too many activities to name. You can check them all out here www.coalvillecan.coop

Their community is thriving with no external meddling by people who don’t understand that when you do your food shop before checking the cupboards, you end up with a load of stuff you don’t need. Scraps is built on the same model and believes communities are packed with people with many, many skills we can share and sometimes teach. When we help people map their communities we start with the question ‘what’s brilliant?’