Welcome to the Currency Group page

Contact: Adrienne Campbell 01273 252077 adrienne.campbell@dsl.pipex.com

Transition Town Lewes is planning to pilot a local complementary currency for the use of Lewes residents and retailers.

As a result of unexpected pre-launch international media coverage in May 2008 we have created a website with some of the TV, radio and press clips here

We are still working out the details but this is where we have got to:

Mechanism

  • We will initially release a fixed number of Lewes Pounds at a high profile launch in the autumn of 2008. They will be both given away and sold, possibly at a discount in pound equivalents.
  • Initially the pilot will be for a fixed period, probably a year, after whihc it will be reviewed.
  • The notes will be bought and sold from several places around town, including possible a bank/post office and the tourist office (though we've not yet discussed this with them). Initially the currency will be backed by sterling; we will investigate more secure forms of backing such as locally generated energy, as the trial progresses.
  • The design will be distinctive and printed using security methods to deter forgery
  • The currency will be accepted by a number of local shops who will agree to tender the currency in advance and who will be identified by signs in their windows and listing in a brochure.
  • The currency will also be used by individuals and non-retail businesses to trade among each other for goods and services.

Benefits to the Lewes community

  • Strengthens the local economy (local multiplier effect) and adds resilience
  • Develops a sense of ‘mutuality’ - stronger community ties
  • Increases tourism/Lewes’s reputation nationally
  • Increases local employment
  • Encourages the use and learning of tradeable skills

Benefits to Lewes retailers

  • More business for local business (encourages people to shop locally)
  • Acts as a loyalty scheme
  • Marketing opportunity and differentiator
  • Changes customer perception about shopping options
  • Low risk (backed by sterling) and no-cost
  • Increased trading in sterling as well as local currency
  • ‘Connects’ local businesses in a similar way to the community bag
  • A way of using spare resources, eg meals at a locally-owned restaurant can be offered in the local currency during off-peak times

Benefits to Lewes householders

  • A way to reconnect with the local community
  • A sense of pride in being a pioneer
  • No risk and low effort
  • Reduces food miles
  • Increases economic resilience
  • Helps individuals develop and advertise new livelihood strand

Further reading can help us develop our thinking around money and economics and question the current powerful paradigm. This issue is not difficult, it's just different.

Press coverage of the Lewes pound The Argus newspaper CNN international news

Get involved: contact hello [at] TransitionTownLewes.org.uk