David Cameron has proclaimed his vision for the ‘Big Society’ at a time when deep cuts in many areas of public spending are on the horizon. They are cuts that will have severe consequences on the quality of life of millions.

Events of the past few years have eroded old confidences and many people have questioned the validity of the ‘private market’ model. It is a time of enormous challenge and yet also one of opportunity. The possibilities, for example, of different forms of ownership are being looked at with a fresh eye.

So it is extremely timely that a valuable and thoughtful review of community and mutual ownership, conducted by researchers at the Institute of Education in London, and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), has just been published.

Stephen Thake, advisor to the JRF’s community assets programme, said at the launch of the JRF publication: ‘History tells us that those in power have not protected the interests of co-ops and mutuals. We cannot take the ability of the community sector to thrive for granted. I think this needs to be written into the constitution – a bill of rights for the community sector so it can thrive in the twenty-first century.’
See www.jrf.org.uk/ for further information.

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