Housing could hold the key to Big Society comms challenge

I’ve blogged before about suggestions that the Big Society is failing to cut through public confusion and apathy. Surveys have revealed that most people do not understand it, leaving those responsible for delivering the vision with a major challenge. So it’s with interest that I started reading The report of the Commission on Big Society, published this month, which [...]

Links I like 11.05.11

A couple of views on the Big Society Two commentators have made some interesting points on the Big Society in the last couple of days, which I thought I’d share here. Sheffield-based regeneration writer Julian Dobson blogs about the Incredible Edible Todmorden project, which features in a book published today on what’s termed the ‘Civic [...]

Three things I picked up from yesterday

I didn’t attend a street party yesterday (there wasn’t one where I lived). I didn’t even watch the wedding of live on TV (my daughter had a trampolining lesson to attend at 11.30am), although I caught plenty of it afterwards. But it wouldn’t be right for me to blog about anything else other than the [...]

High Bickington lauded as localism flagship

I blogged last month about an inspiring community-led scheme in High Bickington, Devon, which has brought villagers together to deliver badly needed housing and workspace for local people. I was delighted this morning to read the two-page write-up Planning magazine had devoted to the project, following a visit and some interviews organised at the site a [...]

Links I like 11.03.12

Bottom up sweet spots for the Big Society – Matthew Taylor’s blog  Taylor writes about examples of the commercialisation of the Big Society, where businesses get involved in activity that benefits customers. He calls this area of action ‘the sweet spot’. Others may see it as rebranded Corporate Social Responsibilty (CSR), which has been around for years and is proved [...]

Looking at real life localism

I spent yesterday in the village of High Bickginton, which hosts the best  example of localism in action I have seen. Villagers are driving forward a fantastic development - by local people, for local people - which is set to deliver affordable housing, workspace, employment opportunities and community facilities. I was there with a colleague, supporters of the project and a journalist from [...]

Big Society debate continues…

It’s worth sharing a post on the Big Society – from Andy Sawford at LGiU. There is much more to say on this, as demonstrated by some Twitter exchanges I’ve had tonight over councils’ ability to send newsletters to residents. One man’s localism is another man’s fish and chip wrapper, perhaps. Sorry you can’t see the picture [...]

Big Society needs local clarity to counter confusion

Debates about the meaning of the Government’s Big Society plan highlight some fundamental communication challenges for its supporters. The most pressing obstacle can be seen in recent survey results, which suggest that most people do not understand the what the Big Society stands for. This has led some critics to suggest that it is being used to shield big cuts, rather than represent [...]

Time for a Big Society debate

The CIPR has had some valid things to say this week about the ‘Big Society’ and the role communications could play in enhancing the public’s understanding of this idea. The institute’s CEO Jane Wilson has blogged about the subject, arguing that local communicators and leaders are better placed to build support for the Big Society than Government. This debate continued on CIPRTV, which looked at (amongst other [...]

Report highlights comms as key to localism drive

I blogged recently about how localism needs effective community engagement to work well. A newsworthy report by Deloitte this week has highlighted this as one of the main challenges identified by local authority chief executives, who are expected to be at the forefront of the localism drive. Deloitte interviewed chief executives of 15 local authorities, who collectively manage a £7.4bn budget and employ more than 100,000 [...]