Hometown Foundation Website – About Us
The Hometown Foundation is a Scottish registered charity, number SC040228, which has been formed to enable community development based on co-operative principles. The Foundation’s key aim is to enable local communities to become stronger by having much greater control over the things which are most important to them.
To achieve this, the Foundation will provide the means to transfer ownership and power from the state to local communities focussed on providing the best possible outcomes in their own areas.
The Hometown Foundation’s first project is Owenstown, a new town in South Lanarkshire, which will provide eight thousand new homes alongside eight thousand new jobs. The town will be wholly owned and controlled by its residents via the Owenstown Cooperative Society. Similar projects are presently under consideration in a number of urban areas.
Trustees
The activities of the Hometown Foundation are directed and regulated by its Board of Trustees. Current trustees are Arthur Bell CBE, Robert Durward, Stuart Crawford, John Lockhart.
Arthur J A Bell CBE (Hon)FIDM FRSA BSc founded his first company, Scotland Direct, in Robert Owen’s New Lanark in 1973. He created such diverse businesses as Scottish Gourmet, Whisky Connoisseur, and The Thimble Guild. Twenty-one years Chair of New Lanark Housing Association and is also Chairman of New Lanark (Conservation) Trust. Currently he’s also Chair of three other charitable bodies - The Food Trust of Scotland, Biggar Civic Society, and Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association. Arthur has long believed business was not just about ‘taking out’ but also about ‘giving back’. The Hometown Foundation is a fine example of such giving back, and can only bring benefits to both areas and people that our grab-all society has left behind. It is forward looking in the spirit of Robert Owen, and has the opportunity to make a ‘real difference’ where it is needed most.
Robert Durward, is a long term entrepreneur having started his first business in 1968. He is a firm believer that people of his generation are duty bound to put something back for those who follow. His conviction that towns need workplaces to function properly results from the fact that he was raised in the Ayrshire lace town of Darvel which was once a thriving community with numerous factories and an international reputation.
John Lockhart, BA(Econ)(Hons), Ph.D. is a public policy consultant working with the voluntary and community sector. He has worked with a wide range of groups in a training and research capacity and has lectured in higher education. He currently runs Policyworks, a public policy information network. Having a long-standing interest in community development, he sees the potential for new towns to be driven by community values rather than the old urban planning models.
Stuart Crawford was born and brought up in Glasgow. After university he qualified as a chartered surveyor before joining the army as an officer in the Royal Tank Regiment. He left the army in 1999 in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and started his own public affairs firm. Stuart is also a writer and journalist and a Director and Trustee of the charity Depression Alliance Scotland. He volunteered to be a trustee of the Hometown Foundation which he considers to be a unique and exciting initiative. Helping communities help themselves reach their social, economic, and cultural potential is something he very much wishes to be involved in, and the Hometown Foundation presents an ideal opportunity to do this.
