Bath Cooperative Alliance is an independent, non-party political organisation open to all who share our vision. View our Rules of Association.

What is our vision?

Our vision is a local economy in which the dominant emphasis has moved:

Towards: 

Away from:
Cooperation
‘Winner takes all’ competition
Communities taking the initiative
Reliance on big business and the state
Democratic decision-making
Economic decisions dominated by market forces
Production and investment for social need
Production and investment for financial interests
Low carbon economic activity
Economic growth at all cost
People in control of their work
People feeling like ‘cogs in a machine’
Local economic resilience
Vulnerability to shocks in the wider economy

To achieve our vision we aim to:

  1. Build awareness of, and learn from, the various initiatives that are being taken to build more democratic and cooperative local economies.
  2. Connect people who are supportive of these initiatives to explore how we can work together to develop them locally.
  3. Explore the roles operatives and other social economy organisations can play in the local economy.
  4. Publicise the benefits that cooperatives and other social economy organisations can bring to the local economy.
  5. Promote new local cooperative and social economy initiatives and the conversion of existing businesses based on cooperative principles.
  6. Build support to enable cooperatives and other social economy organisations to start up and thrive.
  7. Instigate the individual/cultural changes required to best support our collective vision.