Both neighbourhoods might have the same amount of money coming in, but one is an economic desert and the other is thriving, sustainable and 'real'. Where a 'supermarket' community is thriving it is only because it has sucked the life out of surrounding communities - whose shops have died.
A study by the New Economics Foundation in Cornwall found that a pound spent on the local vegetable box scheme multiplied in the local economy nearly twice as far as a pound spent in the local supermarket. And when Knowlsey Council in Merseyside measured their local multiplier effect, they found their local economy had become a seriously leaky bucket - only 8% of their expenditure even reached local people.
All the rest was siphoned off by consultants, big corporations and outside contractors.
How do you plug the leaks? You make sure that when investment comes to your community, it behaves like a funnel towards local business. You also take a critical look at investment that might be worth far more, but acts like an umbrella - shooting the money off to outsiders so that it barely reaches local people.
