The Preston Model — Anchor-Institution Procurement Reform for Local Economic Growth

Preston, a mid-sized English city, was among the most deprived places in the UK in the early 2010s after a major shopping-centre redevelopment collapsed in 2011. In 2013, Preston City Council partnered with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) to test an "anchor institution" procurement strategy.

Twelve large local anchor institutions — Preston City Council, Lancashire County Council, the University of Central Lancashire, Lancashire Constabulary, NHS bodies, Cardinal Newman College, Preston's College and the Community Gateway Association, among others — with combined annual spending power of roughly £1.2 billion, mapped their supply chains and reformed procurement rules to favour local, cooperative and Living Wage employers within public-procurement law. A £1.6 million council catering budget was redirected to Lancashire farmers.

Preston City Council's own local spend rose from 14% of its budget in 2012 to 28% in 2016 (NPC case study). Across the wider anchor network, procurement spend retained within Preston rose from a £74 million baseline in 2012/13 to over £112 million by 2017/18, and retained spend across Lancashire rose by roughly £200 million (from £248.7 million) over the same period (Co-operative News, citing CLES analysis); the Police and Crime Commissioner's local spend rose from 52% to 71%. Around 4,000 additional employees came under Real Living Wage accreditation across participating anchors, two new worker-owned businesses launched, and Preston posted the joint-second-largest improvement nationally on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation between 2010 and 2015, later moving from 143rd to 130th out of 324 areas on the Social Mobility Commission index.

Independent commentators note the model does not by itself create net new regional economic activity — it mainly redistributes existing anchor spend toward local suppliers — and results depend on anchor institutions sustaining political commitment through changing councils; a proposed North West Community Bank, billed as the next key phase, remained unfunded as of the most recent reporting.

Read the full analysis: https://www.thinknpc.org/resource-hub/place/case-study-the-preston-model/