Every Pound Counts

11:03am Friday 14th September 2007

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John Bird is famous for having founded the Big Issue magazine and his latest venture, the Wedge Card, is very interesting. It is a way to get discounts and special offers from local shops and independent businesses. The plan is to re-vitalise local communities by offering an affinity scheme to customers using local shops and services in Central London. It is a loyalty card for using local businesses. www.wedgecard.co.uk

In Totnes, a market town in South Devon, they have gone a stage further and are printing their own money. 10 Totnes pounds will cost you £9.50 and are legal tender. You can spend them with any participating local business. The aim is to make the town more self sufficient by assisting the development of a permanent local money system that supports the local economy and prevents money from 'leaking out'.

There are also about 300 Local Exchange Trading Schemes, or LETS, across the UK, including the Leominster Lets and the Wye Exchange in Herefordshire, which encourage people to exchange goods and services directly with one another.www.letslinkuk.net

These are all examples of economic models which build communities and decrease our reliance on global monetary systems. As we have seen with the recent US mortgage crisis, which will have knock on effects on the UK economy, the current system makes us vulnerable to circumstances beyond our control.

So how about a Wedge card for Herefordshire? My colleague Shirley Ali Khan has a proposal for a Herefordshire Loyalty Card. The proposition goes beyond encouraging us to spend locally to rewarding and incentivising a wide range of sustainable practices in the County. If adopted widely it could help to differentiate Herefordshire, enhance community spirit and improve the wellbeing of the Herefordshire people.

‘Every action counts’ is the new catch phrase, and given that buying goods and services locally is one of the pillars of sustainability, I would add ‘every pound counts’. Spend it wisely.

Peter Norton