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A Trevor Lockwood says:
11.09.10 at 9:56 am ( Big Society ) It’s a lovely idea.
Reality (in Suffolk) seems to be different.
I’m chairman of a community radio station, keen to create a sense of community. The local council decided to update a public park, and applied to the Heritage Lottery for a two-stage application. They received £152,000 as 75% of first project total required on the promise that the District Council would cover the other 25%. They did, saying they would raise that money from voluntary effort. They created a ‘Friends of….’ association. With another member of my team I was elected to the committee, my colleague as secretary. At the first meeting I asked how the money was to be spent, and how we could help. I was told that I didn’t need to know, my job was to weed the gardens. That seemed strange as I knew a contract for £118,000 had been awarded to a Northants-based consultancy to act as lead consultant. The first secretary of the association (a council employee) took most of the rest of the grant money as the newly-created Project Officer.
Next I hear that ‘the committee’ has met (without telling the secretary), decided that **I was disruptive and banned me from the committee and the association. Checking the constitution I found they needed the full membership to remove me (for asking questions). Their response to that was to rewrite the constitution (without reference to anyone). I questioned the three councillors on that committee but received no reply.
**sounds very familiar**
As a local community radio station we’ve received no information about this project.
Next: the county council decides to let community groups run our 44 libraries (as part of a government initiative). We attended a meeting with the Director responsible, the head of libraries and our three local councillors. We suggest we need information in order to tell folk what’s happening. Library staff know nothing. We are told that they don’t have time to tell us anything. I then receive an email from one councillor who has regularly attended our community station to update the local community to say that he’s been told (advised perhaps?) not to come to the radio station any more – because I have expressed an interest in running the library. That was never the case, but I did ask for confirmation that a large property developer had expressed interest, and that they had suggested that libraries were more than buildings, and that they all stood on prime retail sites.
I make no comment. I do question the government’s belief that local councils are the best representatives of the local community. They have too many vested interests.
We’ve tried, in a small way, to encourage the local community, only to be thwarted every time.
I’ll be interested to see how our experience can be related to present aspirations.
Nick says:
11.09.10 at 1:34 pm Trevor you just made my day!
Yes absolutely! what a great and lovely idea this thread is. Yet my own experiences as a ‘ volunteer’ has much resonance as your own. To avoid seeming too cynical I can only politely say that people in positions of local ‘authority’ need to look closely at themselves first and not be too judgmental (or patronizing) to existing help already coming from local volunteers. At the end of the day Mr Pickles cost cutting is aimed squarely at avoiding the kind of situation you mention. Simply ‘shuffling the pack’ won’t do! I simply cringe when I see just how much local money gets wasted in these kind of ways. I am also appalled by the way I have sometimes been treated as a volunteer. Simply ignored or treated on similar lines as an offending youth doing community service! Or worst still doing a good job with other dedicated charity workers and then being unable to reach funding for such small things as leaflets, while at the same time seeing local government produce huge quantities of high quality pamphlets on obscure and esoteric subjects.
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Once again sounds familiar-
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We will watch the progress to the local introduction of the BIG SOCIETY
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BurtonJoyceBLOGGER
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