Big on rhetoric, small on details

“We must be the change we want to see in the world”. Mahatma Gandhi’s profound statement on how every person can shape their experience for the better might be considered too bold a philosophy to launch a Government initiative. Nevertheless, this is what the website for David Cameron’s labour of love, the Big Society, has chosen to lead with. The Prime Minister’s pet plan may have escaped the notice of many, sandwiched as it was by news of public sector job losses and extensive budget cuts.

Getting to the heart of what the Big Society is however somewhat tricky. Launching the initiative in Liverpool in July, the Prime Minister was coy as to what the idea actually entailed: “You can call it liberalism. You can call it empowerment. You can call it freedom. You can call it responsibility. I call it the Big Society”. Cutting through the rhetoric however the main message seems to be achievement through community engagement. With rising societal apathy and an ever decreasing sense of local identity, the Government is looking to devolve power back to the “nano level”, as a way of inspiring people to take on projects at the grass roots level.

The scope for the initiative is broad. Mr Cameron used the examples of “building affordable housing, tackling youth unemployment [and] inviting charities to deliver public services” as ideas of services the community can engage in. The scope however is much wider.
 
The idea is neither unfeasible nor undesirable. Though the modern society is increasingly atomized and the sense of community has declined over past decades, there are many willing to engage and contribute time towards projects that benefit their local areas if given the opportunity to do so.

Criticisms
Skepticism however looms over the initiative, particularly due to the time of its arrival. The huge budget cuts that Government is enforcing are resulting in projects on almost every level being slashed, many of which effect local communities. Examples, such as the estimated 700 schools whose building works were halted indefinitely under a budget review of the partly PFI-funded Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme indicate that some of the cuts that Government are currently making.

With this unprecedented level and range of cuts, gaps or terminations in services will need to be filled and the Big Society could be seen as the plug. The initiative will promote the idea of local groups taking on cultural projects, such as volunteering to maintain museums. It has also been suggested that the architects of the Big Society will promote local people and organisations to counteract cut backs in schemes such as BSF by creating their own local schools in disused properties, such as out-of-use churches or disused commercial properties. Yet as the only funding that is currently available comes from dormant bank accounts, it is questionable how far this will be a Government-backed scheme and how far it is expected that the communities are expected to mop-up the services that Government has chosen to drop.

Action
Despite the inevitable concerns regarding the scheme, projects are already beginning to embrace the localism principle. One such example is that of a village tackling its own infrastructure problems.

The village of Northlew, located seven miles from Okehampton in Devon, has been unable to secure a broadband internet service due to the village’s rural location and the corrosion of existing copper cabling. Telecoms companies had quoted as much as £400,000 for the required exchange and new line to be built and fitted so that the village could receive faster internet putting it well outside of budgetary reach.

Unable to foot the bill for such an endeavor, residents resolved to the tackle the problem by themselves. Forming a local company and raising the money through charity events and council funding, the village under took the work itself, linking new cables from a fibre optic signal in the south west through to a distribution point in the village church. An innovative piece of technology then multiplies and emits the broadband signal from the top of the church tower. Houses then have receivers to pick up the signal.

The set-up achieved at a cost of £50,000 for installation, with a £7,500 year cost for the line. With households paying £18 a month for the service and a take up currently of 150 houses, the service will pay for itself in around two years. The scheme has been so successful that it has led to the creation of a company dedicated to providing services to villages in similar predicaments. Westcoastbroadband.net is currently working with 40 villages to help find solutions for their internet needs, with at least five villages expected to get online with broadband speed internet by March 2011.

In another example, a local organisation was formed to take on the perceived failings of a local government agency and beat them at their own game. Opportunity Peterborough is government-funded urban regeneration company, a quango whose role is to attract business to the city. Operational for the past five years, there had been widespread local frustration with Opportunity Peterborough at its slow pace of new developments and relative failure to engage with the people of Peterborough about activities. This situation was exacerbated upon the report that 40 percent of the quango’s yearly budget for 2008/9 – a sum of £470,000 – had been spent on consultants and marketing. Despite a minor triumph with the opening of a fountain in the city, regeneration works have now all but dried up in the city.

Fed up with this situation, local people and businesses clubbed together to form their own group to attract business and promote Peterborough. Working with a limited budget and a team of 700 volunteers, Growborough has focused on achieving local goals rather than making lofty plans. The group has promoted Peterborough as a business location through as well as identifying new potential jobs areas. It has also engaged with local people through mediums through the internet and social networking in an attempt to find out what changes local people would like to see in the city.

Though these are small steps, Growborough are having an impact. Their activities are attracting local interest through newspaper and local radio, and some have already claimed the group are more successful than their quango rival. With Opportunity Peterborough likely to be dissolved along with other Regional Development Agencies by 2012, David Cameron will likely be hoping that the likes of Growborough will be replicated across the country.

Possibilities
If the Big Society is successful in reengaging people with their local areas and inspiring communities to act, areas of the country could see huge benefits. Regeneration projects in particular could benefit as a result of the promise by the Department of Communities and Local Government to clear any “bureaucratic log-jams” that might obstruct local schemes and halt upcoming opportunities.
 
Speculation remains though on how great a long term impact the Big Society will have, ranging from a lasting change to a few weeks of PR. The likelihood remains that the directives that would crop up during the scheme would have happened regardless.

Nevertheless, eyes will undoubtedly fall on the four areas chosen to pilot the initiative. The councils of Eden Valley in Cumbria, the Windsor and Maidenhead area, Sutton and Liverpool will all receive funding to establish projects as well as have access to the Big Society bank, created from dormant bank accounts. Vastly different in size and prosperity, what these areas can achieve will illustrate what the rest of the England and Wales can expect from the scheme.

Following the publication of the above article, Neil Darwin at Opportunity Peterborough issued this response:
 
At Opportunity Peterborough, we have been responsible for raising the profile, economic development and skills of Peterborough. Delivering growth and regeneration has been tough in challenging economic conditions but we still harbour ambitious plans to develop the area. And despite difficult financial times, we have managed to accomplish some of the goals that we initially set out to achieve.

We recognised early on that the traditional methods of funding development were unlikely to deliver our ambitions for the city. And having seen other regenerative schemes falter in other parts of the country, we looked at ideas of conquering this. Together with our partners, we sought and explored a raft of innovative ways about how new capabilities could take the city’s aspirations further forward.

Opportunity Peterborough’s focus therefore changed from being an urban regeneration company to one focused purely on a strengthened role to ensure improvements in skills, economic development and marketing, within the city. Since June of last year, we have made several strides in boosting inward investment in the city, retaining businesses and promoting the city. We have managed to attract major high street retailer, TK Maxx, to Peterborough, who will open a large new store next spring.

Supporting local business is a core aspect of any successful regenerative scheme in a city. Through grant funding, we have supported local businesses upwards of £180,000 for two years. We have so far helped fund the expansion of over 21 businesses, creating over 31 new jobs and safeguarded nearly 100.

We also launched a free Bondholder scheme to provide the city’s businesses with networking opportunities. Membership of the scheme continues to grow, with over 200 companies already registered. This scheme also helped forge further relationships with over 40 potential investors from a range of key sectors.

Another scheme we vindicated was creating a skills pledge for Peterborough that saw businesses commit to up-skilling their current workforce. Furthermore, through the scheme we managed to secure public and private sector funding to help people not currently in education, employment or training to gain new skills.

The city has also managed to further its ambition to become Home of Environment Capital through the innovative Peterborough Model project which was in conjunction with IBM which received national acclaim. Opportunity Peterborough also managed to raise £90,000 to support Peterborough businesses bid for public sector contracts.

Opportunity Peterborough is also leading on the recently approved Greater Cambridge – Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), to ensure the city continues to receive the public funding and economic development opportunities it needs.
 
Marketing has also been a vital part of this drive and funding is contingent on investing a proportion of our budget on highly targeted promotional activity. This has included an entirely revamped website, new city brochure and nationwide PR campaign, which has already seen rewards with major investor enquiries and retention of businesses within the city. Further steps have been taken to work more closely with our colleagues in the local ‘Growborough’ programme.

Ultimately, achieving the recognition and investment that Peterborough needs, in what has been an incredibly harsh economic climate, will take time and perseverance. There is no monopoly on the future of the city and we have always welcomed the help of all interested residents, businesses and groups to support our ambition of making Peterborough the UK’s most attractive sustainable business location.
  
Neil Darwin is director of Economic Development at Opportunity Peterborough