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Focus: research, mapping, education, network‑building, solidarity economy values.Relevance: can help map existing and emerging commons/solidarity actors in Lewes and Sussex; methodological ally for your “fractal economy” framing.Postal: Solidarity Economy Association Ltd, Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3XG.
Focus: permanently affordable housing and land in community ownership via CLTs and related models.Relevance: natural partner for your housing commons and equity‑for‑support work; they already work on shared equity, affordability and governance.Address: 34–35 Butcher Row, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY1 1UW.
Focus: governance frameworks where councils and community bodies jointly steward assets (markets, housing, utilities) for common benefit.Relevance: directly aligned with what you’re trying to do with Lewes Town Council and The Lewes Commons in relation to land and sites.“Commoning the Public / New Municipalism in the UK” report:
Community Led Homes / regional hubs – offer practical support on community‑led housing (CLTs, co‑ops, co‑housing) across England; contact via CLT Network’s “Contact us” page for local enabler hubs. Inclusive / community economies initiatives – e.g. Bristol Inclusive Economy Initiative and similar “inclusive economy” programmes, which explore post‑capitalist and community‑economy approaches in UK cities.
Solidarity economy and community businessThe Solidarity Economy Association supports a network of co‑ops, community businesses, community energy and mutual aid initiatives aiming to “build an economy beyond capitalism” in the UK. Community benefit societies and co‑ops have raised over £150m in community shares for locally owned businesses and infrastructure, including energy, housing, food and spaces. Community‑owned land and housingThe National Community Land Trust Network supports over 500 CLTs and community‑led housing groups holding land and homes in perpetuity for community benefit. These models use long‑term leases, resale‑price caps and democratic membership to keep housing affordable beyond the market.Public‑common partnerships and municipalismUK municipalist work, inspired by cities like Barcelona and Naples, explores how councils can co‑govern assets (markets, housing, utilities) with communities, creating public‑common partnerships rather than public‑private ones. Reports like “Commoning the Public: Translating European New Municipalism to the UK Context” set out legal and governance strategies for this approach.
Integrated cost‑of‑living membershipWhile many projects address one domain (housing, energy, food) at a time, the Lewes model proposes a single membership that replaces multiple household bills for food, mobility, utilities and services. Members pay no more than they currently do overall, but payments go into a cooperative commons that guarantees baseline access through collective procurement and shared infrastructure.Equity‑for‑support housing modelInstead of shared‑equity or resale‑capped ownership, residents who own homes can transfer them into a housing commons in exchange for lifelong secure tenancy and a support bundle (housing, utilities, food, mobility). Their equity is tracked internally as a “support credit” that is drawn down over time as the commons supports them and others, without ever becoming a cash‑out claim. This goes further than most current CLT models in de‑linking housing from individual wealth accumulation.Explicit anti‑colonial and anti‑extractive designWhereas most UK models talk about affordability and inclusion, the Lewes proposal explicitly names the colonial and racialised nature of the current economic system and builds in guardrails (priority voice, reparative flows, equity monitoring) to prevent new commons structures from reproducing old hierarchies. Fractal structure and tokens as accounting, not moneyThe proposal uses the same pattern – membership, baseline access, contribution, equity‑for‑support – at multiple scales (household, street, town, region), enabling “fractal” replication. Local tokens are used carefully as accounting tools for contribution and access (e.g. in a Library of Things), with strict caps on purchase and non‑convertibility back to cash, so they can’t become a new way for wealth to dominate.
Lewes Town Council and Lewes District Council can:Support commons ownership of key sites (e.g. the former Bus Station) via asset transfers, long leases or joint ventures. Channel social housing and community‑led housing funding into commons‑owned schemes.Use procurement, planning and partnership powers to back cost‑of‑living membership models (food, energy, transport).Local charities, co‑ops and community groups can:Align their own assets, services and memberships with the fractal commons pattern, rather than creating isolated projects.Participate in governance of commons nodes and bring their existing communities into the membership.Use existing funding relationships to open space for more systemic, post‑capitalist experiments.
Relationship‑building with key alliesContact Solidarity Economy AssociationRole: mapping of Lewes’ solidarity economy; shared learning on network‑building and communications.Contact National Community Land Trust NetworkRole: technical support on CLT/commons structures, equity models, and community‑led housing funding routes.Initiate dialogue with PCP / municipalist practitionersRole: legal and governance design for public‑common partnerships between Lewes councils and commons entities.Joint exploratory sessionHost an invitational workshop with:councillors and senior officers,representatives from SEA and CLT Network,local co‑ops, charities, housing groups, climate/justice campaigns.Purpose:map current assets and initiatives,identify a first pilot node (e.g. a site or neighbourhood),agree a small set of shared principles.Pilot design briefCommission a short joint design brief for a Lewes pilot (e.g. Bus Station site + cost‑of‑living membership), drawing on:CLT/commons housing expertise,solidarity economy and PCP governance methods.Use this to approach funders and the District Council with a concrete, system‑level proposal.
housing,cost‑of‑living provisioning,equity‑for‑support,anti‑colonial governance,carefully constrained tokens,
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Landscape of allies (UK post‑capitalist / commons actors)
These are key organisations and networks you can reference in the guide and potentially approach as partners.
1. Solidarity Economy Association (SEA)
A multi‑stakeholder co‑operative supporting the growth of the solidarity economy in the UK: co‑ops, community businesses, commons initiatives and mapping projects.
Contact
2. National Community Land Trust Network (CLT Network)
Umbrella body for community land trusts across England and Wales; supports community‑owned housing and land with training, policy work and practical resources.
Contact
3. Public‑Common Partnerships (PCP) advocates
A set of researchers and practitioners developing “public‑common partnerships” as an alternative to public‑private partnerships – public bodies and communities co‑governing assets as commons.
Contact (indicative)
There isn’t yet a single “PCP Agency” with a public contact page, but:
You can approach authors and partners listed in these documents (e.g. via In Common / In Abundance and Stir to Action) to explore PCP technical support.
4. Community‑led housing and wider solidarity economy
Beyond housing and PCPs there are broader “inclusive economy” and solidarity networks:
These do not have a single national contact, but the CLT Network, SEA and municipalist networks are the clearest anchors.
Briefing note for Lewes councillors and local organisations
Title: Lewes Fractal Commons – how it relates to UK post‑capitalist practice
1. Why this matters
Lewes is not alone in looking for alternatives to a failing housing and cost‑of‑living system. Across the UK, communities are experimenting with new forms of ownership, governance and economic organisation under the banners of the solidarity economy, community land trusts, public‑common partnerships and community currencies.
The Lewes Fractal Commons proposal sits firmly within this emerging landscape but goes further by integrating several strands into one coherent local system.
2. What’s already happening in the UK
There are three main clusters of relevant practice:
Together, these experiments show that commons‑based, post‑capitalist practice is credible, legally workable and increasingly recognised by policymakers and funders.
3. What is distinctive about the Lewes Fractal Commons proposal?
The Lewes Fractal Commons proposal builds on these UK precedents but is more ambitious in four key ways:
4. Why councils and local organisations are crucial
For Lewes, councils and local organisations are essential to making this real:
5. Suggested next steps
6. The opportunity
What is being proposed in Lewes is not out on a limb; it stands on the shoulders of CLTs, solidarity economy networks, public‑common partnership advocates and community currencies already operating in the UK.
The distinctive contribution is to weave these strands together:
into a single, locally grounded system.
For Lewes councillors and local organisations, the question is not whether this is realistic in absolute terms – similar elements already exist around the country – but whether we want Lewes to be one of the places that deliberately pulls them together into a coherent, life‑affirming local economy.
If you want, I can also draft template outreach emails: one to SEA, one to CLT Network, and one to potential PCP/municipalist partners, framing Lewes Commons as a next‑generation pilot and inviting exploratory conversations.
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