Big Society draws scepticism because it is hard to believe that any Government would willingly give up power and return it to the people. Yet people power lies at the heart of the Big Society. It has real potential and it would be quite wrong to write it off as window dressing, an updated version of the Citizen’s Charter, the Cone Hotline etc without at least giving the policy a chance to succeed.
Community empowerment comes in many different forms. For some, it is about taking over the local library. For others it is about recycling schemes, fast broadband, and village energy schemes. Yet it can be large scale too – like the
What links all these things? It is the difference community empowerment can make. People have a sense of ownership and interest in their local assets – it really becomes a community library. People (mainly) fund the projects. Far from being “cover for cuts” it’s about letting people reach into their own pockets to do the things they want to do which Government is not doing anyway. Taking the case of the Port of Dover Big Society project, which I know most about as the local MP, there is private sector funding available. I have been overwhelmed by the number of people locally who have said they want to invest their hard earned savings in Dovorian Bonds to assist the community take over. The purchase would cost the Government no money and lose it no money. It could be done quickly and the Government would have the receipt it wants by Christmas. Traditional style big clunking Government, with a traditional unimaginative Treasury approach, would flog it off on the cheap and fail even to get the receipt in this financial year.
Big Society is an acceptance that Government has so many things to do it loses focus. Communities are better placed to prioritise what’s important to them, are more motivated and more effective than Central Government ever could be. This is the true opportunity of the Big Society - the