Keeping wealth local: opportunities for Argyll and Bute

15 October 2026

How can more of the wealth generated in Argyll and Bute stay here, supporting local jobs, businesses and stronger communities?

In episode 12 of the Community Planning Podcast, ABTSI Chief Executive Takki Sulaiman joins Ishabel Bremner, the Council’s Economic Growth Manager, to explore what Community Wealth Building could mean for our area.

Their conversation with host John McLuckie of Argyll and Bute’s Community Planning team moves from the principles behind the approach to practical opportunities in housing, energy, care and local business development. At its heart is a straightforward ambition: ensuring that economic activity brings lasting benefits to the people who live here.

As Ishabel explains, the purpose is to ensure that:

“economic wealth is generated, circulated and retained within local communities”

Community Wealth Building brings together five connected areas: spending, fair employment, land and property, inclusive ownership, and finance. That means looking at where public bodies buy goods and services, how people are employed, and how community ownership and investment can help wealth circulate locally.

For Takki, this opens up possibilities that connect economic development with community wellbeing. Could local organisations train and employ people to provide care close to home? Could major infrastructure developers work with housing associations to create homes that serve communities beyond the lifetime of construction projects? And could shared ownership of renewable energy generate a larger, lasting income for communities?

These are opportunities to explore, with investment, capacity and partnership needed to make them happen. As Takki puts it:

“there’s an opportunity really to think differently about how we organise public services and recycle the wealth that’s generated back into our local communities”

Ishabel highlights foundations already in place, including support for business start-ups, bringing empty commercial properties back into use, supplier development and work on fair employment. The next step is to connect this activity more deliberately, embedding Community Wealth Building within the Council’s economic strategy and wider partnership working.

The discussion also considers how this approach could connect with public service reform, prevention and a stronger community voice. For a rural and island area, that raises important questions about how services, investment and decision-making can respond to local circumstances.

Both speakers recognise the challenges, including limited resources and the need to ensure that communities with less capacity are supported to participate. But their shared message is clear: working together offers an opportunity to build a fairer local economy.

Listen to episode 12 of the Argyll and Bute Community Planning Podcast.