With a new Labour Government in power, despite enormous financial challenges ahead, it is exciting to see how co-operative values and principles are already forming part of the path forward. From devolving power down to those who have skin in the game in their communities, to Labour’s ‘Local Power Plan’ involving widespread investment in community energy projects, co-operation is at the core of the Government’s transformative agenda.

In local government, we know how co-operation can help us to solve some of the biggest issues we face, often in the most challenging of circumstances. With years of increased demand and reduced funding, local authorities up and down the country have had to turn to innovative ways of delivering for their communities, and in many cases we find ourselves turning to co-operative ideas in our quest to build thriving places.

That is certainly the case here in Milton Keynes, and I was pleased to speak recently to fellow co-operators and councillors about this at the Co-op Party’s ‘​​Local Government Forum’. As well as offering a valuable opportunity to hear from Co-operative Leaders across Britain on how they are delivering for their towns and cities, I was grateful for the opportunity to share some of the ways our co-operative values have shaped our actions in Milton Keynes, from small-scale ward-based projects, to city-wide initiatives.

Take, for example, our work on sustainability, which I lead on as Cabinet Member for Economy, Sustainability and Innovation. Where developers don’t meet sustainability targets in a build, they must contribute through section 106 to a Carbon Offset Fund, where funding can be applied for by community groups and public organisations for building works that will provide long term carbon emissions reductions. This has helped community spaces to not only reduce emissions but bring old buildings back to life and secure their futures as modernised community hubs – as well as reducing costs for service users.

We’ve also been working on a ward level to reduce food waste and provide cheap food for local people by working with SOFEA to open a community larder. Food that would have been thrown in the bin by supermarkets is collected, and members of the larder can pick a certain number of items a week as part of their membership.

And we’ve been working alongside a local co-operative, MK Community Energy, to help local people access better information on how to retrofit their homes.

On the economy, we’ve implemented a community wealth building scheme, More for MK, where we encourage anchor employers in the city to use local companies in their procurement, as well as using them as one of the city’s major employers ourselves as a council. This means more money spent in Milton Keynes goes back into our city’s economy.

The road ahead is still challenging for national and local government, but to deliver a better future for people and places, co-operation needs to remain at the heart of what we do.