At the recent State of the Borough Debate, the people attending were able to interact on key questions with electronic voting pads. Two of the questions were around understanding of the Big Society and localism. Neither subject got a majority vote for understanding but localism did a little better than the Big Society.
Both concepts were promoted by the Conservatives when in opposition. Localism has been advocated by all three main political parties but sometimes with a different name. Labour has used the term ‘co-operative communities’ while the Liberal Democrats have offered ‘community politics’. It is natural that our newish government should want to lead with bold initiatives, and Big Society and localism are key components of that aim.
Big Society is about empowering local communities and promoting social action. It is also about agencies removing some of the bureaucracy and restrictions that exist which can sometimes impede community involvement. The concept is sometimes misrepresented as a desire to return to Victorian models of philanthropy and self-help. This interpretation misses the point that the Big Society is complementary to the role of the state. As David Cameron said, “There is such a thing as society. It is just not the same as the state.”
A shining example of the Big Society in Crawley is Let’s FACE (Focused Action onCrawley’s Environment) It!. This is a national award-winning community-based initiative which made a huge contribution to Crawley winningBritainin Bloom.
There has been some history of local government being very paternalistic whereas in the future we might expect there to be a more collaborative arrangement where agencies and the people they serve work together. It is possible to develop too much of a dependency culture. This was illustrated in some quarters by recent winter weather conditions where there was an unrealistic expectation that local government might clear every pavement of snow, even when we the people had some ability to do that ourselves.
Similarly we can create a tendency to blame government for everything but give it credit for nothing. If we have business that is doing well, how likely are we to “blame” the government for that compared to the likelihood of us blaming government if it is doing badly?
Localism is another concept that has been expressed in different ways, with David Miliband using the term, “Double Devolution”, implying a transfer of power and influence from central government, beyond local government and into communities. Within localism, there is also space for the concept of direct democracy, exemplified by local referenda, as compared to our more traditional representative democracy.
While localism is empowering, care is needed to manage expectations and tensions. One of the clearest examples is with the sometimes conflicting aspirations between housing and planning, where the need to more housing is accepted but few people want it anywhere near them. It is necessary to ensure that the wider community interest and the common good are managed into the process. This is especially true with the operation of local referenda.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council
1st March 2011