Part 1 of Communities by slogan can be read here and part 2 here.
‘Big is beautiful’ became the cry to ‘save money’ because local people don’t want to pay or are unable to pay the level of local taxes to pay for local services. Income tax reached unbelievable heights in the Labour era of the 1970s. Local councils were made to merge, not many job losses but what was lost was truly local accountability and pride in ‘your’ town or county.
The local council increased staff and taxes but reduced services, civic pride became unfashionable along with the ancient robes, the Mayoral car was scrapped presumably to set an example and to further reduce local pride, a government edict required that car registration plates lost their local designatory letters and even tried to enforce the carrying of the EU logo on them.
At the same time the local ‘driving test centre’ was closed in favour of more modern facilities miles away.
The same with the police service. ‘Big was beautiful’ and local officers serving local people went out of the window in favour of mobile patrols and eventually the closure of many police stations. Police houses were sold off and the local accountability of the local ‘bobby on the beat’ became a thing of the past, along with all their local knowledge.
Out went the much-loved cottage hospital (remember Blair’s mantra in the 1990s – ‘Schools and Hospitals? The hospital turned into a hospital factory 15 miles away which struggles to fund its ever-increasing workload and staff levels and goes from one crisis to another. It was opened with great fanfare as a ‘centre of excellence’ – another slogan now looking rather tired.
In OUR town the railway station was demolished and became a ‘halt’ and services reduced, the railway maintenance works closed at the same time with job losses.
As car ownership increased, the bus services declined and in places ceased altogether leaving some of our rural communities without any public transport.
One of the cries of ex-service men, was ‘never volunteer for anything’ if ‘they’ want it doing then ‘they must pay for it’ and so it transpired. In the cradle to grave’ society that the welfare state promised fewer and fewer people volunteered for organisations that needed committed volunteers with many closed as a result.
The motorway age brought problems to OUR town too, increased pollution from traffic, road safety and traffic management issues and – not always obvious an increase in crime – by people able to commit crime in OUR town and then return to the big city.
In our town infrastructure is wearing out and services are stretched to the limit, no longer do we have a local connection, with many of the public services contact is now mostly by email or by telephone to a ‘hub’ meaning no personal contact at all.
Streets and car parks are dirty, litter is everywhere, homeless by choice or otherwise sleep in shop doorways, pavements go unrepaired causing often serious accidents in older people, ambulances can take up to an hour or so to respond, there is no longer a local ambulance station, the fire station has been under threat of closure and full time staff are to be reduced.
The police no longer provide reassurance of foot patrols, anti-social behaviour goes unchecked and is increasing even in daylight hours.
Many of the clubs have closed, along with the pubs, the post office, the police station, the infant school, the cinema, even a local recreation park. Youth organisations struggle to get volunteers and to retain them, there are some exceptions though usually large national charities that offer discounts and free membership to volunteers, clubs struggle to appoint ‘officers’ who needs the work and aggravation? Who would want to be a school governor and be buried in paperwork and government restrictions and propaganda? Who would want to work with young people in today’s climate? Who anyway has the time to volunteer when they are acting either as unpaid carers for their own parents or for their grandchildren?
This is what successive governments have created over many years, it was indeed a slow march through the institutions but now the cracks are showing , their actions have destroyed whole industries, institutions, communities, family life and the social order and – if the present situation continues – the U.K as we have known it.
And these people talk about localism, (this from parliamentary candidates parachuted into the area after being accepted by who knows from an acceptable ‘list’). What for? To make the little people feel good and ‘we’re all in it together.’ Too late, you destroyed the social and material fabric of OUR Town, the stability, the pride the good will and the trust, the unity and the community spirit.
Don’t lecture me about ‘community engagement,’ or community cohesion’ try engaging yourself OUR localism is OUR town and OUR country which you are destroying or, some would say, have already destroyed.
The main parties are centerist in the way that everything is run from the centre…Westminster……local constituencies are ignored and only of any interest at election times otherwise they are seen as “ out in the sticks and know nothing”…which has lead to government/civil service having an attitude that they know best.
There is an article today in the Telegraph about how there should be a total rethink on the tax system…..another part of government that has become a Westminster dominated “ tax and spend” ideal…
Give the public back the power locally to spend money on what they need,not what Westminster thinks they need
Ukip should exploit this failings.
A good friend of mine has advocated localism in a very broad fashion, something he and I believe in.
Your detailed run through especially in the current part is spot on and so illustrates what us over 60 have experienced, in a nutshell. Well done.
I am told ‘transparency’ is a good word.
What a wonderful reminder your combined article is. I am reminded most of our sense of ‘social responsibility’.
Easy to forget the bigotry and injustice of those halcyon years. The freedom and euphoria of the post WW2 decades. The world was young and we felt free. Free from fear, a bizarre ‘death by CO2’, of burdening debt, and to a lesser extent crime. Life was simpler, and for most, honest.
Many would argue that the disruptive steps were necessary; they were not! Instead of damaging society we should have been improving it.
We listened to and lost our way because of ‘intellectuals’ and ‘ideologues’. Or was it more sinister?
Regardless of those forgotten hardships, life for most was better, and the young of today will not know the sunlight and excitement of the blissful suburban utopia that was.
Yes Jake makes a point but it must be more than a similarity of Victorian change. Now we have lost the word ‘our’, just as we have lost ‘social responsibility’, ownership, and now are losing identity.
The laughable Localism Act of 2011 which was supposed to ‘facilitate the devolution of decision-making powers from central government control to individuals and communities’, does nothing of the sort because our monies go to Central Government. Council Tax represents 4.2% of Government revenues.
https://www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn09.pdf
Not only that, power is maintained in a host of areas such as Planning, Education, Health and Policing. Our communities have been undermined by Westminster mainly through adherence to EU directives but also through sheer incompetence.
Yes Norman, we have been told ‘big is beautiful’ but to those who open their eyes, and in most cases, ‘small is beautiful’ is the reality.
Big is vulgar, wasteful, undemocratic, imposing and false. Small gives ownership, pride, democracy, and identity with social and environmental bonuses. But there is more, with technology small becomes efficient!
Of the three tiers of governance, local, national and supranational, one can be removed completely and a second curtailed considerably. No prizes for guessing that Localism wins on almost all fronts.
Thank you for this article it will be a good reference for me. Richard is correct UKIP could extol and supply this change in focus if only it will get its act together. So well worth hanging in there. Agree, ‘what is the option?’
Local candidates for local councils – people who live and, hopefully, work in the locality – independent of thought and independent of ‘party’ – thinking about what affects their local community and acting accordingly – paying no heed of fashionable ‘isms’ – remembering the money being spent belongs to the community, not to be used on ‘pet’ projects or theories – encouraging others to ‘do as you would be done by’ and – to pinch a neat phrase – ‘ask not what my community can do for me, ask what can I do for my community’. And a dose of common sense would be useful, as well.
Norman, only one answer. Support and vote UKIP. I believe these concerns are shared by many in the party. The Brexit Party is all about Brexit – LOL! Plus, maybe electoral reform. All very well and good. But, we need politicians with a deeper concern. What is the option?