Gnosall Parish Council           

The details of the Localism Act were considered in last summer’s GMK. Since then Gnosall has had a successful referendum, so with a Neighbourhood Plan now in place, it is an opportune time to reflect on the impact of the government’s Big Society initiative (and subsequent Localism Act) on our Parish.

The goals of the Big Society initiative can only be regarded as positive. The key aim was community empowerment, so that with help from local government, people could take more control of how things are done in their locality. Social action was another goal, with residents encouraged to be more involved in their communities - giving time, funds and other resources. Thirdly, there was to be an opening-up of public services by demonstrating innovative and new ways of delivering them.

So how successful has this concept and its delivery through the Localism Act been for Gnosall? There is no doubt that a strong and healthy community benefits from the input and involvement of local people. As with other communities, Gnosall already has many groups that would not be able to function without unpaid support provided by local people including; the Gnosall Guides & Scout groups, Best Kept Village, Gnosall Lions, the Parish Council and St John Ambulance - to name just some of the organisations.

With a population of nearly 5,000 residents, could we achieve more in Gnosall if increased numbers were able to contribute time or resources to their local community?  There is certainly a greater need for local people to give their time, but the National Council for Voluntary Organisations suggests the voluntary sector has been badly hit in recent years with increased pressure on the numbers and eligibility of people volunteering. In such cash-strapped times, funding from charitable organisations for volunteer activities has also been hit by a fall in donations. Additionally, as the public sector shrinks (particularly in social care) individuals who might have volunteered are diverting their time to caring for family or loved ones in need.

Despite these trends, Gnosall has witnessed an increase in volunteer input over the past year or so with our community demonstrating real initiative. This upsurge has mainly been in an effort to fill the gaps left by the withdrawal of public services such as the youth club, library and swimming pool. Perhaps this is what was meant by empowering local organisations to show new ways of delivering public services. The drive for much of our recent community activity has come as a reaction to unfavourable external forces rather than our own proactive decision making – whether addressing the loss of our services or combating inappropriate development.

The recent support galvanised by GRID (Gnosall Residents against Indiscriminate Development) and Developing our own Neighbourhood Plan certainly harnessed a true collective spirit within our community and utilised the varied expertise of residents. As good as this final document is, however, in truth it was written under duress and against the clock. Throughout the process there was a constant threat from large-scale developers seeking to beat our community to the plan’s completion date with a series of incompatible and opposed developments.

What was most disappointing was that the largest development application came from our own County Council – looking to cram 150 homes onto farmland, despite sound opposition from both Stafford Borough Council and Gnosall Parish Council. Thankfully, the approved Neighbourhood Plan now affords greater protection from such inappropriate developments, but not before other opportunities were missed for the sort of developments we really needed to see in our village. There is also no doubting the damage it did to many people’s faith in the planning system and the local authority expected to serve them.  Ironically, the long-term cost of maintaining services cut by the County Council, such as the Library and Youth Club, were no doubt considerably less significant than the great amount of money wasted on the ill-conceived County Council housing application.

Many social commentators have cynically suggested the Big Society and Localism ideas were simply a precursor to prepare communities for public spending cuts – only time will tell. Whatever motives were behind the Big Society, evidence confirms that local government is continuing to reduce support for many rural communities across the country. Consequently, if Gnosall wants to enjoy ‘non-essential’ services and facilities in the future, it is increasingly likely we will have to come together to deliver them ourselves. With the support of willing volunteers, the Parish Council is already in the process of restoring a village youth club and library service at the Grosvenor Centre.

Thankfully, Gnosall is a large village and has one of the best organised Parish Council’s in the county - one that has been able to respond to the considerable increase in workload and resources to deal with the challenges emerging from the Big Society. Nevertheless, there are only so many volunteers and resources that a small community can provide and Gnosall parish will always need the support of our local authorities and central government for maintaining everyday services. However, if Gnosall parish is to truly enjoy empowerment on local issues then the community will require the genuine ability to make proactive local decisions. Likewise, in order to deliver satisfactory local services and facilities, a more realistic share and provision of resources is required. At a higher level, this may require greater devolution between local government and communities such as ours – with more consensus and a healthier working partnership between the public, private and community sectors.