Next steps for neighbourhood planning?

So the Localism Act is now on the statute book but what are the next steps for one of its key components – neighbourhood planning? In this guest post, Crispin Moor from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) shares some of his thoughts:

Action for Market Towns (AMT) held a symposium last month for its members to discuss Land Use Planning reforms, especially neighbourhood level planning and views on the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). I was helping frame the discussion on these matters. And in this I was ably opposed by Ben Cowell from the National Trust who have been leading quite a noisy campaign against the Government’s NPPF consultation draft.

I was probably being quietly dismissed by many delegates as just the man from the ministry toeing a Treasury line, though I hope not. As the Prime Minister and other ministers have made very clear, this is not an exercise in concreting our countryside but in getting the balance right between our local and national economic development needs whilst still caring for and, yes, protecting our valued landscapes.

Certainly this is one formal consultation that the Government is taking and managing very properly and very seriously. Some of Defra’s priorities in this agenda include:

- the ongoing Rural Economy Growth Review and supporting the growth of our rural economies;
- sustainable development (of course);
- supporting policies in the Natural Environment white paper including for our protected areas (NPAs, AONBs, SSSIs and Local Wildlife Sites).

Whether the final NPPF will live up to the sometimes lofty demands of National Trust and Campaign to Protect Rural England members I really don’t know. But we should not lose sight of the fact that our planning system is what allows local societies to choose between different development options and paths – but without dodging their proper responsibilities in this area.

Neighbourhood planning and elected local councils and councillors are central to making this machine work as far as possible for the benefit of all.

So now that the Localism Bill is, finally, the Localism Act I do hope that many AMT members (as well as other networks) will make these new processes work well for their communities – working well with local councillors and councils and with local planning authorities.

There is not going to be an old fashioned dirigiste big state solution to local planning challenges. The Prime Minister, Communities and Local Government minister Greg Clark and other ministers (including in Defra) have made this crystal clear.

So good luck to all the neighbourhood forums, development trusts and especially local (parish and town) councils as they turn their excellent attentions to using these reforms to support positive local change and development.

Crispin Moor is from Defra’s Rural Communities Policy Unit

Local councils will be key to implementing new powers

Last week we held our annual conference for larger local (parish and town) councils. The sold out event included a panel discussion on localism and the new powers contained in the Localism Act, in particular the general power of competence. During this session our chief executive spoke about our take on the new powers for local communities, which we followed up with a letter to leading local government journal LGC to share our thinking more widely. An edited version of the letter was published yesterday as the letter of the week, the original text is below:

Local councils will be key to implementing new powers

The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) is the representative body for 9,000 local (community, neighbourhood, parish, town and village) councils.

We believe there has never been a more important time for local democracy. Local people have long felt a lack of ownership over decisions that affect their lives and where they live.

So there is real support for localism and our very local councils have a vital role in community action, representation and service delivery.

We believe that these very local councils can be an effective democratic community leader, encouraging communities and people to take advantage of the new planning, housing, community asset protection and development powers coming their way through the localism agenda.

Local communities will be better able to influence and control what is happening through public service delivery in their area. For example local councils can be at the heart of work with communities to develop neighbourhood plans. The new powers will make it easier for local councils to innovate, make use of assets and work with private sector.

These new powers will add to the extensive range of powers available and we expect this to make the creation of new local councils more attractive – we are already seeing steady growth in the number established, particularly in urban areas and with Queen’s Park, Westminster in line to be the first in London.

Alert principal authorities should be supporting these innovations including the creation of new councils, looking at how they can work better with our local councils and discuss how power and responsibilities can be devolved.

We want to reinvigorate local councils as the closest tier of government to people. The localism agenda is making the role of local councils exciting and vibrant and provides an exceptional opportunity to bring real power and responsibility back to local communities.

In praise of the village fete

Last week the Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles gave a speechurging faith groups to make use of new powers in the Localism Bill to end their reliance on the goodwill of local authorities and to play an active and visible role in society.

He used the speech to again set out what the Government was doing to help to overcome red tape and regulation that stands in their way of people getting more involved in local life. The link for more information is http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/newsroom/1924848

Now I thought this all somewhat timely as last weekend I took the family down to Lingfield in Surrey for the village church fete which was a fabulous example of local people – enabled by the church community – in action. This fun and well supported event has prompted the below guest post from Defra’s Crispin Moor – writing in a personal capacity – in praise of the village fete:

The humble village fete is repeated hundreds and hundreds of times usually every Saturday across rural Britain during the early summer. They are held on village greens and commons, in churchyards, in school playgrounds and playing fields, or sometimes in a field lent by a local landowner, even in the often large garden of a generous local resident. Such fetes raise funds for a variety of local causes such as local heritage, charitable and sporting projects. In my case in Lingfield – as in many other villages up and down the country – our annual church fete aims to raise money for the care and repair of our local church http://www.lingfieldparishchurch.org/

I understand that in Germany they have a voluntary local tax for the care and repair of church buildings – now there’s an idea! Back here in Blighty it’s more fun: you’re expected to attend the annual fete and spend your own money. Whether on the tombola, the bric-a-brac stall (anyone for more coasters!), at the silent auction, raffles, a variety of games and sideshows from ‘splat the rat’ to the coconut shy. And then there is often a barbeque and the quintessentially English beer tent.

Now village fetes are also excellent spaces for informal local democratic discourse! This means that local people have the chance to grab a few words with their locally elected representatives, be it the local MP, parish or town councillors or even district and county councillors. Often local public services will be represented at these community events, for example with a fire engine that toddlers (and their fathers even!) can peek inside; or by the local environmental services department to talk rubbish (quite literally) in terms of recycling and rubbish collections. Often you can find the local vicar out and about in the midst of his or her flock.

Local businesses are also a strong part of this local democratic mix donating silent auction and raffle prizes, as well as providing locally produced food and so on via the beer tent, the barbeque or at other stalls.

Much enjoyment and fun is had by all, especially local children, at village fetes up and down the land. And three cheers for that.

But the volunteer effort that goes into organising and managing these events every weekend is immense. Taken as a whole, the activity, energy, goodwill and resources produced by these many hundred fetes each year is very significant. These fetes are surely the Government’s Big Society approach very much in action. Some say, given the social benefit produced, it is a shame that the state does not do just that little bit more to reinforce some of the monetary value produced, for example by gift aiding the money raised. Or else, improving further the VAT regime applying to church repairs. This sort of thinking may lie behind the recommendation made by the Commission for Rural Communities and Respublica in their recent paper on ‘The Rural Big Society’ http://www.respublica.org.uk/articles/rural-big-society that Communities and Local Government, Defra and the Office for Civil Society should engage the Church of England and the other churches with significant assets in rural England to explore how these assets can better be used to secure Big Society objectives.

Amen to that!

Yet another whistlestop tour

This weekend sees #localgovcamp head back to Birmingham, the location of my very first unconference outing. I will be going along and returning to that scene – both the place and more particularly the people – which helped inspire and enthuse me on the digital front.

I mentioned the interesting, thought provoking and innovative people I met there last year in a previous post, which also included my quest to start blogging more regularly. Well, I tried, and I’ll keep trying, that’s all I can say.

But so as to pull my finger out in advance of the weekend and get the ball rolling again, I thought I’d provide another whistle-stop tour of some NALC and local councils stuff since my last post:

……in February we had a very productive meeting with Local Government Minister Bob Neill MP to discuss the role of local (parish and town) councils in the localism and Big Society agendas……in the past weeks/months I’ve spoken at numerous conferences and events such as an Ideas exchange organised by Westminster City Council for its officers about grassroots local democracy and community action; Kent County Council’s Listening to communities conference which discussed localism and the future of public service delivery; SLCC’s Practitioner’s Conference on Big Society and the role of local councils; and a West Midlands region event for county associations, rural community councils and principal authorities on participatory budgeting……I met with the Managing Director of LGID to put forward proposals for greater collaboration and support (fingers crossed!)……promoting and developing grassroots local democracy in Stoke-on-Trent were the subjects of a blog post I had published on Pits’n'Pots and an interview with 6townsradio……The Stag Community Arts Centre in Sevenoaks held a sponsors and supporters reception which I went to and heard first hand about the enabling role of the Town Council in keeping the facility going with critical support from an army of local volunteers……in April the Government announced that a partnership of NALC and CPRE had been chosen to take forward one of four national projects under their Supporting Communities and Neighbourhoods in planning project……we published new research into community governance reviews……to help our local councils raise awareness and promote democracy in the run up to the local council elections we published a range of useful resources on local councils and getting more people to stand for election……at an event in London our Vice Chairman, Councilllor Hazel Williams MBE, launched our first ever suite of e-learning courses aimed at helping and supporting our local councillors……I was chuffed that the leading local government journal LGC placed me as ‘one to watch’ on their esteemed #LGC50 list of most influential people in local government……following last year’s publication of our Power to the people toolkit on how to set up new local councils, this area of the website recently got a much needed revamp……the new summer edition of LCR, our flagship magazine, features an interview with Local Government Minister Andrew Stunnell MP, along with articles on community broadband and a great example of the Big Society in action in Sussex……and finally the first of our exciting Communities in Action conferences kicks off tomorrow with the Bristol leg and is packed full of timely and interesting plenary and workshop sessions.

So there we are, there’s loads of other stuff I could include but then it wouldn’t be a whistlestop tour!

Stand and deliver

Anyone who knows me knows I’ve got a lot of time for the tens of thousands of people up and down the country who get involved and make a difference in their community as local councillors. That’s a lot of people, in a lot of places, doing a whole lot of stuff. I for one salute them.

There are around 9,000 local (parish and town) councils in England and most have elections this year on May 5, giving more and more people the chance to step up and become a councillor.

We’ve plenty of information on our website at www.nalc.gov.uk about local councils and councillors with a whole bunch of new stuff being launched in the next couple of weeks. But back in December, at the launch of our new training and skills strategy in London, our senior elected members called for widespread promotion and action:

NALC Chairman, Councillor Michael Chater said: “Up and down the country there are already 80,000 brilliant local councillors doing brilliant things for their local area. But I totally agree with the Minister as I know there are more brilliant people out there with energy, passion, who know what needs doing and go out and do it. Many of these people have never thought about being a councillor and I urge them to make a small step to becoming a councillor which will make such a big difference to their local area.”

Councillor Hazel Williams MBE, NALC’s Vice Chairman added: “We are calling upon all tiers of local government – especially our own local councils – to do all they can to promote democracy and encourage more people to become councillors, particularly in the run up to local elections in May next year. I am urging local people of all colours, shapes and sizes to stand up, to be counted, to get involved, and to help make a difference.”

This week I received an update from my colleague Danny Moody, Chief Executive of our county association in Northamptonshire on their efforts to promote local democracy in the county.

Do you want to do something positive for your community?

Can you think, listen and act locally?

Do you want to do spend your time productively?

These were the powerful and inspiring messages scrolling across the homepage of the brilliant new website – www.stand-and-deliver.com – they’ve developed to spearhead their aptly titled Stand and Deliver campaign.

So I thought it timely to invite Danny to write a guest post on my blog about local councillors and share some of his thoughts on holding public office at a very local level:

Unpaid – yes. Volunteers – no

Big Society demands that individuals contribute a bigger share – but that doesn’t have to mean in a voluntary capacity, nor should it mean that those individuals that are not strictly speaking volunteers are excluded from the opportunities that Big Society presents. I often hear local councillors referred to as volunteers. Sadly I hear this from both outside and within our tier of local government, sometimes even from councillors themselves. I’m particularly agitated when I hear it used in a derogatory way – “parish councils can’t do much, they’re just volunteers”, or from within as an excuse – “how can we be expected to know what the law says, we’re only volunteers”.

For my money a local councillor is an elected public figure, not a volunteer. After all, you wouldn’t describe your local MP as a volunteer would you? I am aware of various official definitions of ‘volunteering’ and can see that it is a grey area and open to interpretation. Interestingly, one source I read suggests that the definition should be based on the viewpoint of the individual – in other words you are a volunteer if you feel like you are volunteering. I would suggest that if a councillor feels like a volunteer they haven’t properly grasped the concept of councillorship.

Choosing not to be paid is not the same as volunteering, so here we have the first bit of evidence that councillors are not volunteers. Under the Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 all local councils may pay to councillors a Parish Basic Allowance, subject to certain conditions. For the most part local councils do not avail themselves of this facility and even for those councils that do operate a scheme it is not uncommon for individual councillors to waive their allowance or arrange for it to be donated elsewhere. However the fact that councillors may legally receive remuneration if they chose to takes them out of most common definitions of the term ‘volunteer’.

There are further factors that help to draw a distinction between formal volunteers and elected local councillors as outlined in the table below:

	Volunteer	Local Councillor
Method of joining organisation	May normally join at any time.  Normally no restriction on numbers.  No formal process although some organisations have a selection/approval process.	Statutory process for elections.  Fixed number of seats on council.  Can only join at election time or when a casual vacancy arises.
Tenure	No fixed term.  Individuals free to come and go.  Some organisations may fix a term of office for particular roles (such as chairman or treasurer).	Fixed term (4 years) but may seek re-election.  Councillors may resign or be disqualified but are otherwise not obliged to relinquish office before the end of their term.
Remuneration	Unpaid, but travel and out-of-pocket expenses may be met by the organisation.	Access to Parish Basic Allowance if the council chooses it.  Travel expenses met by the council.
Attendance at meetings	Discretionary, although the nature of volunteering results in high levels of engagement.	Councillors receive a statutory summons to a meeting so have a legal obligation to attend if they are able to.
Sanctions	Organisations may develop rules that individuals are requested to observe.  Failure to do so may result in the individual being barred from the organisation	Councillors operate within a statutory framework and to a Code of Conduct.  Breaches of the Code may result in a councillor being investigated and held to account for their actions.
Powers	Depends on the organisation and the individual’s role within it.  Some volunteer roles can have high influence and importance.	A councillor has no individual power beyond that of the corporate body but is engaged in decision making that incurs expenditure from the public purse.

 

So the mantra should be ‘councillors may give freely of their time but are not volunteers’. Principal authorities and other key partners must see our local councillors as equals in local government and do away once and for all with the ‘Dibley’ image. Local councils though, for their part, must rise to the challenge and strive to achieve ever higher levels of professionalism and knowledge. As a councillor you didn’t volunteer, you subjected yourself to the scrutiny of public election, you were elected and now you serve those that elected you. You hold public office and shoulder the responsibility that goes along with that. You have statutory duties and obligations and, like all public officials, are accountable to those that elected you. And for local councillors, unlike Members of Parliament, those that elected you may often be your friends, neighbours and close associates within your community. So I can’t think of any role in public life that has greater accountability or, indeed, responsibility.

The opportunities for councillors, in all tiers of local government, to contribute to Big Society are clear. But local councils can be the spider at the centre of the Big Society web, spinning together the public, private and third sector strands. After all, it’s what good local councils have already been doing for more than a hundred years.

Danny Moody is Chief Executive of the Northamptonshire County Association of Local Councils

Big Society and community organisers

A few weeks ago I attended and participated in the national conference of the Society of Local Council Clerks in Durham. We work closely with the SLCC – who are the professional body for around 8,000 local council clerks – and whose national conference is always for me a highlight of the autumn conference season. I find conferences and events such a valuable opportunity to network and catch up with lots of people – and this year’s event was no different. It was great to natter to clerks from councils of all shapes and sizes and parts of the country, plus loads of other people who were there such as Sir Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO and Learning Pool’s Dave Briggs.

Two people I always enjoy bumping into – and talking all things local democracy, community development and public services – are Elisabeth Skinner and James Derounian from the University of Gloucestershire. We have form with the University, in a good way, as they have made a massive and positive contribution to developing and delivering our National Training Strategy, as well being a flag waver for rural community development. One particular conversation with James over the course of the weekend focussed on localism and the Big Society and in particular community organisers. So I invited him to write a guest post to share some of his thoughts. Here it is.

Question: What is the difference between a community development worker and a community organiser?

Answer: Ask me in a couple of months!

Of course, famously, President Obama was a community organiser in Chicago. And, as interpreted by Prime Minister David Cameron, a UK community organiser can “bring communities together, help people start their own neighbourhood groups, and give communities the help they need to take control and tackle their problems.”

Under Big Society plans there are to be “5,000 full-time, professional community organisers who will be trained” – my University should be rubbing its hands! At face value this is a welcome boost to the community development/engagement workforce. Not least as many community development staff are already casting about for new jobs as public sector cuts start to bite and local authorities ditch non statutory work. So potentially community development workers could get their P45 on Friday and start as a new community organiser the following Monday!

But here’s the rub: there are still lots of unanswered questions about Big Society in general and community organisers in particular. They appear to be outsiders brought in to help a community, but then again they may in addition/instead come from the specific community. Are they paid or unpaid? How long are they engaged for, permanent contracts or the usual short-termism? And then there’s the history, as I do wonder if anyone in Government has actually read the work of US community organiser guru Saul Alinsky, in particular his 1971 handbook ‘Rules for Radicals’. On page 100 Alinsky argues that the “job of the organizer is to maneuver & bait the establishment so that it will publicly attack him as a ‘dangerous enemy’” – oh really?! I wonder if this is quite what the Coalition Government has in mind. Or how about organisers fanning “the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression” on page 116?

On the other hand, Alinsky does offer valuable insights in pursuit of the Big Society: “ideal elements of an organiser” according to him include “curiosity, irreverance, imagination, sense of humour, a bit of a blurred vision of a better world, an organized personality, a well-integrated political schizoid, ego, a free and open mind, and political relativity, creating the new out of the old”. And in pole position he places ‘communication’.

What is clear, however, is the point that pundit, politician & journalist, Michael Portillo made in his address to the SLCC conference:

In relation to the Big Society and community organisers it is beholden on us “to write the blank pages”….those interested in democracy, society, mutuality and service have a real chance to mould what comes to pass. If we stride on to the ‘pitch’, we can play the ‘game’, if we do that then we stand at least some chance of scoring!

Let’s get stuck in.

James Derounian is a Principal Lecturer in Community Development and Local Governance at the University of Gloucestershire

Big Society #4: The importance of good governance

To quote the now infamous line during the General Election TV debates:  ’I agree with Nick’. Except in this case it’s not Nick, it’s Rory – more specifically Rory Stewart, the new MP for Penrith and the Border and Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on local democracy.

NALC is currently working with the Group – whose purpose is to promote grass roots local democracy and community governance – to highlight the important contribution of local councils to community empowerment, localism and Big Society through fringe events at the three main political party conferences.

Last week’s fringe event at the Liberal Democrat Party conference in Liverpool saw the launch of a new new policy pamphlet – What is localism? – featuring a series of essays by parliamentarians and other key thinkers on what they think localism means to local councils.

In the pamphlet Rory Stewart MP comments on the critical role of local councils in the Big Society:

“….everything – from organising communities to building affordable housing or generating renewable energy, or taking over a community centre, or rolling out broadband across the fells of Cumbria – needs a democratic body. If a community draws up its own planning regulations, giving it the final say on what can be built and where, that plan must be approved democratically and this should require a parish or group of parishes.”

Hence the agreement with Rory. Local councils – of all sizes, big and small -have an important role to play in Big Society. And other contributors to the pamphlet equally agree on the vital role played by local councils and their army of councillors.

But to follow up Rory’s point about the importance of democracy and greater power bringing greater responsibility – part of that responsibility is about good governance. Local councils may be democratically elected (be it through elections or co-option) but they still need to get the basics right to be able to do their job effectively.

That’s where minimum standards as promoted through the current Quality Parishes Scheme become so important. What all local councils have in common is a commitment to their local communities and the Scheme encourages demonstrating to local people that they are representative, in touch with the community, competent, and also capable of taking on an enhanced role.

All organisations need skilled and trained staff. Likewise good communications and community engagement need to be at the heart of any civic and civil society organisation. Robust and proportionate financial controls are a given, as should be good conduct and behaviour by decision makers – in this case those councillors who admirably volunteer their time but hold public office.

These are some of the underpinning principles and philosophy behind the Quality Parishes Scheme: it’s not rocket science and all local councils should be aiming to meet these most basic minimum standards.

But there still needs to be greater support and recognition of the importance of minimum standards, good governance and working toward and achieving Quality status, and at all levels – by Government, MP’s, principal authorities, local councils themselves and by communities in general.

There is at present a real opportunity to unlock the potential of local councils to play a greater role at community and neighbourhood level, to facilitate and enable more voluntary activity and involvement in decision making and also to improve their productivity and effectiveness. To deliver the Big Society local councils will more than ever need to have the confidence that their house is in order. A commitment to minimum standards is an important way of increasing the profile, as well as improving the reputation and perception, of this bit of grassroots community governance and action already making a real and positive difference in local communities.

Being effective, modern and fit for purpose – the core principles advocated through the Quality Parishes Scheme – is more than just about ticking a box. It’s about an attitude of mind of being as effective as possible and getting the basics right.

On that point, perhaps Rory and many others would agree.

Crispin Moor is one of the Directors of the Commission for Rural Communities

Justin Griggs is Head of Policy and Development at the National Association of Local Councils

The Big Society #3: The community right to build – do we know if it will work?

The Big Society reform that has currently got lots of discussion and confusion swirling around it is the Government’s plan to introduce a ‘Community right to build’. All the ambitions sound, in both Big Society and localism terms, spot on. The big and radical idea is that if a community agrees that it wants to develop and it can secure proof of support through a local referendum, then it can get on with it, without the need for planning consent.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps says that these reforms will “shift power from Government to communities to allow local people to deliver the homes and development that they really want, without being told that their own expansion doesn’t fit with their local council’s plans.” He also says that “”Far from the Nimbyism that often hits the headlines, up and down the country there are entire communities willing and eager to give the go-ahead for new developments in their area. The countryside must be a vibrant place to live, and cannot be allowed to become a museum”.

But a central part of the proposals are that they go ahead only when the level of local support achieved in a local referendum is at the 90% mark. It is not clear why the threshold is so high. Or indeed the democratic theory that allows a minority to block what could be a large majority view within a village community.

And because of this issue there is scepticism in some quarters. A good example comes from Brian Green in his ‘building blog’. He has some robust views that others have voiced more tentatively and politely. His nub of the matter view is that these proposals are ‘a charter of rights for NIMBYs’. He argues that “The more expensive the housing stock is in the ‘neighbourhood’ the more reasons there are to …  say ‘no’ to development. What is more, people who now live in desirable areas would under these policies have a further incentive to stop new homes being built in their neighbourhood. It will raise the price of their homes and show prospective buyers that the neighbourhood is “not for building”. That’s worth at least £30,000 on the price of a house in many of England’s more pleasant spots.”

So, it looks like an interesting experiment. Although we hope there’s more evidence backing up this policy than we’ve seen to date. Perhaps for many places it would be best to stick with the existing, imperfect, planning system rather than go down this ‘right to build route’, with all its risks and opportunity costs? But we certainly don’t want to be accused of semi-inverted “metropolitan snobbery”, as Decentralisation Minister, Greg Clark, painted critics of these planning reforms in his speech to the Royal Town Planning Institute in June!

We think that when these reforms come out in the wash at the local level, it will often be the role, and the responsibility, of local (parish and town) councils and their committed volunteer councillors to make planning work positively for local places. As the National Association of Local Councils has pointed out these reforms may be missing out on the potential and important role of local councils. NALC argues that where a community brings forward any development scheme it should be granted because it:

• has the support of the local (parish and town) council and the community, on the basis of a high quality community led plan;
• shows evidence of need;
• is of suitable scale and size, with no overwhelming site constraints on drainage, archaeology, and biodiversity.

This view, shared by Action for Communities in Rural England, is arguably both more radical and more pragmatic, as it is rooted in existing institutions and in representative democracy.

Much of the detail of the Government’s proposals will be seen later on, especially in the eagerly awaited Localism Bill in the autumn. But these questions do need to be sorted out – and soon. The risks of continuing confusion and more importantly of depressing the development of much needed local affordable housing, needs to be addressed.

So it is good to see that the Communities and Local Government select committee is to undertake an inquiry (partly) into this subject. Some scrutiny and questioning of the Government’s intentions will be helpful in clarifying how these reforms will work in practice. And we hope that this will include a stronger and more defined role for local councils.

It’s also worth noting that the Rural Coalition will be publishing its recommendations to Government (central and local) and others on these matters on 16 August, details should be on the CRC’s website on that date. The coalition, headed up by Matthew Taylor, is advising the Government on ways to foster more proactive local planning, stronger community involvement, delivery of more affordable housing and encouraging more new businesses opportunities. With a broad membership including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Country Land and Business Association, Local Government Association, Royal Town Planning Institute, Town and Country Planning Association as well ACRE, its views should carry some weight. One would hope.

Crispin Moor is one of the Directors of the Commission for Rural Communities

Justin Griggs is Head of Policy and Development at the National Association of Local Councils

The Big Society #2: Strengthening local leadership

Okay, so one of the things the Big Society thing revolves around is an agenda to empower communities to come together to address local issues. This is to be achieved by giving new powers and rights to neighbourhood groups, quoted by the Coalition Government as the ‘little platoons’ of civil society and the building blocks of the Big Society.

Whilst this ambition is obviously to be applauded, again this approach doesn’t yet acknowledge or reflect the existing 80,000 people in England active in civil society as local (parish and town) councillors.

Whether they’re called community leaders or organisers, local champions, or bastions of grass roots democracy doesn’t really matter; current and future councillors play a big role in supporting the Big Society.

It was great that Civil Society Minister, Nick Hurd MP, got a taste of this for himself when he visited Crosby Ravensworth in Cumbria recently and met some inspiring local people. And, as he said on Twitter, it was “good to tap into the rural view” and “we need to make it easier for them”.

So, putting it simply – these councillors as community organisers volunteer a hell of a lot of time to help make their community and the lives of local people better. And not just time spent making decisions in meetings or banging on about services provided by their principal local authority. Their role is also act as organisers and convenors, bringing people and groups together to discuss and solve local problems. Arbiters when things aren’t going quite so well. Advocates when the voice of the community needs to be articulated. Decision makers when they can exercise their powers to benefit community well being.

It is critical that this growing army of grassroots activists of all ages, shapes and sizes – there are around 2,000 more councillors now than there were just over 10 years ago as a result of the creation of new local councils across the country – play their part in supporting the Coalition Government’s ambitions.

But they will need support. Just like other volunteers, and certainly just like the 20,000 or so paid councillors in principal authorities. Training and development for local councillors has been a key feature of modernization and reform in the last 10 years. In the past, modest investment from Government and other agencies has been critical in supporting this, but more on that in the next post.

The successful model from the US of generations of community organisers trained by Saul Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation – which also trained Barack Obama as a community organiser in Chicago – gets a mention in the Big Society literature. So what else can we perhaps pinch from other countries? Participatory budgeting, which originated in Brazil, is starting to be used more and more by local councils to involve people in spending decisions. The new well being power is also now being used in innovative and creative ways by local councils – be it saving local pubs and post offices, building health centres or giving supermarket vouchers to the elderly at Christmas.

Given the Coalition Government’s support for strengthening local leadership there is, we think, merit in piloting and experimenting with stronger, more visible models of mayors in some local councils. Particularly among the larger town and city councils. Visible and influential local community leaders are a successful feature of many other countries around the world. So, why not here? They have been advocated by many, including the New Local Government Network, to help reinvigorate our democracy and improve civic engagement.

There are 1,600 small towns and large villages (with populations between 1,500 and 40,000) in England. Yet none with a strong local mayoral model to lead and serve these places. Let’s innovate and give this a go.

Current opportunities for reconnecting local people with what happens in their local places are very exciting. But new and valiant ideas, however tried and tested elsewhere, shouldn’t detract from the existing excellent efforts of many councillors and councils serving their communities. Whether this effort is from voluntary sector groups or from (statutory) local councils, now is the time to be smart and find and harness complementary solutions. Baby and bathwater time it ain’t.

Crispin Moor is one of the Directors of the Commission for Rural Communities
Justin Griggs is Head of Policy and Development at the National Association of Local Councils

The Big Society #1: And our local parish and town councillors

The central feature of the coalition’s programme for government, other than addressing the budget deficit, seems to be the Big Society thing.

The Big Society thing is all about the activity of the state being too pervasive and crowding out community life and individual responsibilities. The Prime Minister himself has made it clear that “the Big Society is not just going to spring to life on its own: we need strong and concerted government action to make it happen”. He wants to see the state supporting ‘social entrepreneurs’ and “more community activism and more community activists”.

The voluntary and community sectors are mostly loving the Big Society narrative. The blogosphere is full of discussion and debate about the risks and opportunities facing their sector.

But we think there is a big missing part of the story. Namely the role of councillors and in particular the 80,000 or so local (parish and town) councillors and their 9,000 local councils. In a short series of blog posts we want to address this gap. We want to explore how grassroots community governance and its councillors are already, despite all the barriers, demonstrating the Big Society and localism in action. This will include looking at reforms to land use planning, the use of local data and the emergence of ‘hyperlocal’ websites and how these can deliver more for local people, and why these 80,000 community champions need to be better supported, recognised and celebrated.

We think that local councils are a tried and tested and trusted model of grassroots neighbourhood action that we could do so much more with. And this is especially the case in London and other metropolitan areas.

We will suggest how local councils can improve, develop and become more effective. We have lots of questions, ideas and suggestions to put forward.

In particular we are keen to get some feedback on whether or not we’re on the right lines, or just barking up the wrong Big Tree.

So firstly a few words in praise of our fabulous army of local councillors.

They get virtually no support from central government. There are limited tailored grants or programmes. In some areas of the country they are treated with suspicion and given little support from principal authorities. Likewise this is sometimes true of their own local voluntary and community bodies. Local councillors get no pay. And often no praise. The political parties generally ignore them, except at larger town council level. Local councillors quite often get ignored or laughed at by the mainstream media, and they still get tarred with the same brush as all other politicians.

Being a local councillor seems like a pretty thankless task. So why on earth do they volunteer so much time to do it?!

By and large because they care passionately about their communities and want to contribute to putting something back into their local societies. This is fantastic and not to be overlooked – that’s a lot of people already actively supporting the Big Society.

Local councils do have a range of powers and responsibilities. They can levy local taxes and can borrow to invest in the community. They can work in partnership with local voluntary and community sector people, such as those managing village and community halls. Sometimes they are the very same people! Local councils help to develop very local plans, such as community led plans and they then help deliver on the action plans that result. They can monitor local public services and speak up for the community when improvements are needed. Importantly local councils also provide and support an extensive range of local services more directly. And, by goodness, they do.

But we think that maybe they could be doing a whole lot more. And we think that central and local government (for example, through CLG and the LGA) could help them to do more. But not by spending loads of money or reinventing the wheel. Where there is a will, there is a way. More to follow in later blog posts!

Crispin Moor is one of the Directors of the Commission for Rural Communities
Justin Griggs is Head of Policy and Development at the National Association of Local Councils