all credits: Newstart Magazine
8th July 2010

The government has chosen four ‘vanguard communities’ to pilot its vision of Big Society. Liverpool, Eden Valley in Cumbria, Windsor and Maidenhead and the London borough of Sutton will each be given a community organiser and access to dedicated civil servants to help empower local people to take control of services.

Prime minister David Cameron made the announcement at an event in Liverpool today, calling it the ‘biggest, most dramatic redistribution of power’ from the state to individuals.

He said: ‘We need to create communities with oomph – neighbourhoods who are in charge of their own destiny, who feel if they club together and get involved they can shape the world around them.’

The communities chosen have all approached the government asking to be given the chance to take over local assets themselves. In Liverpool, Brookside and Grange Hill creator Phil Redmond, the city’s culture champion, wants to expand a local volunteering scheme that would allow museums in the city to extend their opening hours.

But the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA), which supports local third sector organisations, is worried ‘savage cuts’ to voluntary sector funding will damage Big Society initiatives already in existence. ‘Our members have been helping communities take charge of their own destiny for years,’ said Neil Cleeveley, Navca’s director of policy and communications. ‘It is this voluntary action that creates the ‘oomph’ that David Cameron talks about. It is the essence of Big Society but it doesn’t happen by chance. It needs support; which means protecting funding, especially grant funding, for vital local groups.’

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Read David Cameron’s speech here >