‘Crowding out’ is the notion that if the state withdraws, others will rush in to fill the gap. It’s popular with big society thinkers. They may be wrong when it comes to volunteers crowding in, according to the authors of Public Spending and Volunteering: "The Big Society", Crowding Out, and Volunteering Capital.
Empowerment Works is a movement of people and organisations committed to building support for community empowerment in the South West and beyond. For more information please visit the Empowering Communities website.
Showing posts with label localism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label localism. Show all posts
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Friday, 28 October 2011
Neighbourhood planning - will it make any difference
Just thought I'd share a post about new Neighbourhood Planning proposals in the Localism Bill, including a list of the pilot areas in the South West, which is just posted at http://www.southwestforum.org.uk/neighbourhood-planning-will-new-plans-really-make-any-difference
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Localism – What does that mean?
It’s something I’d rather not be asked by someone with a questioning mind. Should it be a relief that the Government is in the same boat? Or, to wrap it up in the more formal language of the newly published Report on Localism from the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee, there’s a ‘lack of clarity about the nature of localism . . . The Government should be explicit about the choices it has made about what type of localism it wants to pursue.’ Putting it another way ‘the actions the Government has set out so far, both in the Localism Bill and in the programmes of individual departments, give an overall impression of inconsistency and incoherence.’
Monday, 22 November 2010
Government ‘upside down’. What does it mean for empowerment?
The department that funds the regional empowerment partnerships is being ‘turned upside-down’, according to a Deputy Director at the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) who came to speak to our national meeting last week. So are its staff, by the sound of it, 40% of whom will be going in a restructuring which will end in 2012.
The restructuring will leave DCLG (note: no more CLG – the ‘D’ is back) with two policy directorates, Neighbourhoods, which will deal with housing and related issues, and Localism, into which responsibility for ‘enabling Big Society’ will fall. That Big Society work will concentrate on three areas: community rights, race equality and integration, and evidence - ‘informing Big Society’.
The restructuring will leave DCLG (note: no more CLG – the ‘D’ is back) with two policy directorates, Neighbourhoods, which will deal with housing and related issues, and Localism, into which responsibility for ‘enabling Big Society’ will fall. That Big Society work will concentrate on three areas: community rights, race equality and integration, and evidence - ‘informing Big Society’.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Live blog from the Big Society conference
This is a ‘live blog’ from today’s Big Society conference. Presentation and case studies from the day have been added to the Creating Excellence website here, with videos and more still to come . . .
Nearly 200 people gathered today for the Big Society Conference in Somerset Cricket Ground for discussions about what ‘Big Society’ is, what it means for public authorities and community groups in the South West, and what we should be doing about it. The diverse group of attendees including local councillors, council officers and voluntary organisations staff and volunteers were the lucky ones as the event was heavily oversubscribed, with two people interested in every place available.
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