OpenFields

The Big Society: helping communities take action

A Relu Policy and Practice Note (No. 24) that considers whether research from the Rural Economy and Land Use programme offer any lessons for those at the sharp end in building the Big Society: individual activists, elected councillors, and local authorities?

Year of Publication2010

In pursuit of ‘reform, renewal, fairness and change’ the Coalition Government is seeking to build the ‘Big Society’. How can we enable local action on economic, social and environmental issues? And does research from the Rural Economy and Land Use programme offer any lessons for those at the sharp end in building the Big Society: individual activists, elected councillors, and local authorities? The aim of the Big Society, according to a speech from the Prime Minister, is ‘to give citizens, communities and local government the power and information they need to come together, solve the problems they face and build the Britain they want’. ‘Localise’, ‘engage’, ‘empower’, ‘collaborate’ and ‘co-deliver’ are among the watch-words of the moment. Research from across the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme makes a timely contribution to this agenda and builds on what we already know about what makes community engagement successful.

This item is categorised as follows

• Subject Collection > Social & community enterprise
• Subject Collection > Rural policy & development
• Subject Collection > Rural policy & development > UK rural policy

Additional keywords/tags

localismcommunity engagementbig society