This section archives articles, commentary, and debate on community empowerment and related topics. Arranged by date of posting.



August 2007

The state has only aided our seasonal spates of thuggery (23rd Aug 2007)
My favourite culprit for the apparent rise in social anarchy is the stripping out of familiar leadership from communities.

A radical passion (9th Aug 2007)
We need a more fine-grained approach to tackle multiple deprivation at the micro-level. Governments lack the flexibility, the combination of moral toughness and sensitivity to people's personal circumstances, that is necessary to reach the most difficult cases. The answer lies in communities themselves.

July 2007

Give locals control of council cash (19th Jul 2007)
Evidence suggests that the government's plan for every neighbourhood in the country to have control over some council cash can indeed work, argues Peter Hall (Regeneration and Renewal magazine)

June 2007

Building a different kind of state (28th Jun 2007)
The relationship between state and communities must change - not just because in an age when deference has declined, people want more of a say, but because communities are likely to be more successful socially and economically when power is dispersed and there is transparent accountability. 

April 2007

Local Initiatives in Great Britain (26th Apr 2007)
The Local People Leading campaign has a growing army of supporters and now a website.  Fellow enthusiasts of community empowerment will appreciate this article by Stan Windass – from 1982!  25 years later it is entirely topical.

March 2007

Voluntary group issues warning over creeping local authority control (20th Mar 2007)
Some local authorities are trying to gain control over the third sector to make it easier to meet their local area agreement targets, the vice chair of a collapsed voluntary group has claimed.

Urcs are too detached to help communities, Scots practitioners told (5th Mar 2007)
Urban regeneration companies in Scotland are costly, politically complex and too detached from communities to be effective delivery vehicles in some parts of the country, according to an expert.

Critique of 'Community right to buy' (1st Mar 2007)
Land reform campaigner Andy Wightman has posted a review and critique of 'Community right to buy' on his website. Here's his page of recommendations.

Feburary 2007

True power comes with ownership (1st Feb 2007)
Some communities will elect to become a lower tier of the state – much more responsive to local needs – good luck to them.  But the ones which will be really transformed will be those which also grasp the challenges of the market; those which promote a culture of enterprise and independence – those determined to take control of their own destiny.

November 2006

How we can learn from the Scottish experience (30th Nov 2006)
Professor David Donnison argues that a new profession is emerging whose skills include a capacity to work with local communities and their volunteers.

Perils of empowering the people (22nd Nov 2006)
Community wishes can be short-termist and self-defeating. It's the fate of public managers, and the councillors and ministers they serve, to say so.

Get back to our roots (21st Nov 2006)
A movement that started in east London could be a model for a community based politics of the future

Open letter: Whatever happened to learning for democracy? (14th Nov 2006)
Three lecturers from Edinburgh University have circulated an open letter protesting that the broader democratic process is being increasingly managed, regulated and controlled.

October 2006

Community Power (12th Oct 2006)
Nicholl Stephen, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats nails his party's colours to the mast regarding the community agenda, in his recent 'premanifesto' document

September 2006

The price of devolution is conflict: don't assume it's always a bad thing (29th Sep 2006)
The discussion about devolving power calls for difficult trade-offs, negotiations and an understanding that conflict is often not only inevitable but also necessary. Instead of running scared, we need to create spaces where it can happen safely.

A battle looms over decentralisation (29th Sep 2006)
The transfer of power to communities is a stated priority of New Labour during this, their third term of government. Powerful forces will resist decentralisation and sometimes I think they are stronger than us.

Scotland shuns its community duty (22nd Sep 2006)
The Scottish Executive's latest regeneration statement makes virtually no mention of any community role in the regeneration process. The document could only come from an administration stuck in some municipal time warp.

Communities must feel listened to, not muzzled. (21st Sep 2006)
"From being reluctant decentralisers, I believe we have reached a tipping point. We must now instinctively hand down power unless there is a good case not to," says Communities minister Ruth Kelly.

Going wrong in Glasgow? (7th Sep 2006)
57 Local Housing Organisations want to take over their own houses in Glasgow, but Glasgow Housing Association may not let them. Jimmy Black wonders why ...

August 2006

Generating a cash stream for locals (18th Aug 2006)
In Scotland's Highland region a creative link has been made between small-scale wind power and people power by helping communities to develop income-generating renewable energy projects.

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