November 8, 2011  

Beware the Big Society Trap

Wandsworth has invented a wonderful new trap for the unwary councillor – it’s called the Big Society Grants Fund.

Instead of making £1 million available to large organisations like the Citizens Advice Bureau, the Tory councillors have come up with a Big Society grant fund of £150,000. So far the average grant is only a few hundreds of pounds. They have been distributed to a range of local groups for a myriad of reasons, from helping an oap home to buy new TVs and PCs to assisting a club organise soccer for young people in the area north of Clapham Junction Station.

The really neat trick though is that instead of relying on established and perhaps slightly distant organisations such as the CAB, which have serviced their customers in a very traditional way, the Council has introduced a much cheaper version dependent upon patronage and friendship.

This new grant system makes the councillor, yes including me, feel important and well respected as we sign off relatively small sums of money – £5-700 say for a new TV system for an oaps sheltered home lounge. Now that is really nice but are Labour councillors right to think, as Tories obviously do, that these small very directed grants are any substitute for the big sums that once went to organisations like Cancer Support or Citizens’ Advice Bureaux?

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About Tony Belton

Labour Councillor for Latchmere Ward 1972-2022, now Battersea Park Ward, London Borough of Wandsworth Ever hopeful Spurs supporter; Lane visit to the Lane, 1948 Olympics. Why don't they simply call the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, The Lane? Once understood IT but no longer

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