Examples of the ‘Big Society’ are everywhere – but need support

Gervase Phinn is an author, former school inspector and library campaigner.

“NO one is born hating another person because of the colour of their skin, or their background or their religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, then they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

So said Nelson Mandela at his Inauguration as President of South Africa in 1994.

This is what I understand by the Big Society. It is an inclusive society, one that cares for the vulnerable; it is a tolerant, compassionate world in which children regardless of race, gender, disability or geographical location receive the very best mankind has to give. It is a society which values music and drama, art and science, books and reading, a world where there is grace and justice but where there is also love.

In this great county of ours, therefore, we must preserve the small rural schools which provide such a rich environment of learning, retain our libraries, for books are the architecture of a civilised society and reading is the protein of growth in learning, support Home Start, which provides such invaluable support for parents and young children, set up bursaries to help young people into apprenticeships and help those from less advantaged backgrounds to continue their studies.

The Right Reverend Stephen Platten is the Bishop of Wakefield.

BRANCHES Everywhere – once the motto of a leading high street bank, it sits quite well with the Church of England. Indeed the Church is no bad model for the Big Society with parishes rooted in every local community.

Yorkshire was there at the beginning: St Paulinus at Dewsbury and York, Wilfred at Ripon and Hilda at Whitby heralded the web that is now the parish system. But 14 centuries have passed since then.

What should the Big Society mean for Yorkshire now? West Yorkshire was one of the engines of the industrial revolution, but now coal, shoddy and wool sound like historic commodities – names from a textbook of economic geography.

The death of industry has carved the heart out of many local communities. North and East Yorkshire were the prime creameries of England, but now the dairy industry is under threat. Farmers are disheartened and uncertain of the future. All this is corrosive of self-esteem and particularly of community self-esteem.

Here lies our essential need to nurture and cherish a Big Society. Our future lies partly in our own hands especially at the local level. All agencies can contribute here – the Church is challenged by this imperative. Big Society is not just a political slogan. It is essential for human flourishing.

Yorkshire is good at cherishing identity but we need to work together locally to nurture it.

Kathryn Apanowicz was the partner of TV presenter Richard Whiteley, and is a charity fundraiser and campaigner.

I REALLY can’t stand the word society – what does it mean? I agree with Mrs Thatcher there.

A lot of things are already run by charities and volunteers like hospice care and people raising money for baby units; does David Cameron not realise this?

If it wasn’t for the charities, and all the work they do, we would be up a creek without a paddle.

To me, I find it insulting that looking after cancer patients is so reliant on charity. I’m involved with the Marie Curie Hospice in Bradford which costs £9,000 a day to run, and that money has to be raised. Isn’t this the Big Society already in action?

We are raising money for people to die with dignity. What else are we supposed to do? Stop this and get the same people – and it is always the same fantastic and brilliant individuals – to start raising money to keep a library open, or whatever the Government is planning to cut next?

Ben Stafford, from Leeds, is head of campaigns at the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

YORKSHIRE’S countryside already benefits from the enthusiasm and energy of the Big Society. Visit its beautiful national parks and the fruits of voluntary activity are all around you – dry-stone walls repaired, pathways maintained, trees planted. The national parks employ paid staff, but they also rely on the dedication of an army of volunteers.

The CPRE’s own volunteers are also active across Yorkshire, responding to development proposals, clearing up litter, promoting hedgerow conservation and management, and much more besides.

So is the Big Society a good thing for Yorkshire’s countryside? The answer is a qualified “yes”. A huge amount can be achieved by voluntary activity and community groups. Our countryside would not be as beautiful, as diverse or as wildlife-rich as it remains. But volunteering needs support and, yes, money too.

Taking national parks again, cuts to the budgets of the authorities that run them is likely to reduce their ability to carry out education work and raise public awareness. The Big Society needs proper support to flourish at its best.

Mike Pannett is a former police officer and author. His next book, Not On My Patch, Lad, is published in April.

IF I learned one thing during my 20 years of policing, it is that here in North Yorkshire we look out for each other.

My big concern today, in the face of massive cuts in public expenditure is, how do we maintain it?

As a serving officer with North Yorkshire Police, I worked hand in hand with many voluntary groups and charities. My Country Watch, for example, had about 60 members – farmers, gamekeepers, ordinary concerned residents – patrolling 600 square miles of country in their own vehicles, in their own time, at their own expense.

In addition, we regularly worked alongside the Search and Rescue teams, as many as 800 volunteers who are funded 100 per cent from voluntary donations. The tragedy of today’s economic situation is that North Yorkshire Police, struggling to balance their own budget, can no longer afford to be one of those donors.

We need to look elsewhere. North Yorkshire County Council seems happy to shed jobs at the ground floor level and North Yorkshire Police is cutting hundreds of jobs. But how many senior staff are to go? How many have volunteered to take a pay cut? You see it in private industry; why not in the public sector? In a genuinely Big Society, everyone shoulders some of the burden.

Carl Minns is the Lib Dem leader of Hull Council

IF you ask people what they think the Big Society means, you will rather get a shrug of the shoulders. Also, at a time of public sector retrenchment, many believe the Big Society is a plan to close services or make staff redundant.

From what I understand, I believe it should mean the transfer of power to and through councils to local communities.

In this context, the Big Society is nothing new, and good councils have been acting in this way for years. In Hull in 2006, the council decided to put a former Carnegie library for sale on the open market. The local community organised themselves and lobbied the council to transfer the asset to them to enable the formation of a reading room/heritage centre. We now have a thriving centre, that is run by the local community, and giving a great service to the public.

This is what the Big Society should be about, local people having the power to take control of their own communities. If we can add this to the devolution agenda, we have a chance to reverse decades of central control from Whitehall and to renew civic pride and civic involvement.

Ann Cryer is the former Labour MP for Keighley, charity campaigner and community cohesion expert.

THE help from Yorkshire Forward and local councils that is no longer there is now undermining the very organisations that form the Big Society. I’m involved with many – the Manor House Museum at Ilkley, Worth Valley Railway and the Yorkshire Dales Society to name three – and they are all suffering.

I’ve also heard that the Big Society is designed to encourage integration. My view, certainly in Keighley, is that there is a big – and increasing reluctance – by the Pakistani community to move towards integration. Muslim elders may make some helpful noise but the reality is that they don’t want to because their power base is within a well-defined community. It is apartheid.

It is nothing that can be addressed by the Big Society. It can be tackled by saying no more spouse visas unless the applicants have excellent English and an excellent education – 80 per cent of marriages in Bradford now are trans-continental. You don’t need English to get a visa – just an ability to get round regulations.

It’s nothing to do with the Big Society; it’s about immigration regulation.

Kevin Sinfield is the Leeds Rhinos skipper

WITH regards to the Big Society, I believe the coalition is simply trying to save money and it is a bit of a cop out.

However, although parents and volunteers do a great job and without them a lot of our junior and amateur sport would disappear, I do think we need a combination of the two.

Better funding and probably more volunteers and parents stepping up would benefit the whole nation.

My children are six and three now and the eldest does a bit of everything – football, swimming and a bit of rugby. He’s keen on them all and I’m keen to get him to try all of them but there is a need for more help.

I know a little bit about Stanningley ARLFC. Our players Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Jamie Peacock both started out at that Leeds club and we’ve got quite a good relationship with them.

Some of the work going on there is beyond the call of duty. They are doing things for children to make sure they are kept off the streets and the facilities are first-class. It’s stopping a whole host of problems from obesity to crime and I know it goes on at many other clubs around the city.

But if funding is not here, people who want sport to continue in local communities will have to start putting their hand up more compared to the past to help those others out.