Letter to the Telegraph

SIR – We are concerned about criticisms of civil society from politicians and commentators in debating “the Big Society”. Some have said “there is no such thing”, that “there is little appetite” for greater citizen involvement in Britain and that “it cannot be done”. They risk undermining the very notion that civil society should play a role in public life.

A PoliticsHome survey found that the majority of people (55 per cent) would like more community involvement in improving the quality of life in Britain, and only 20 per cent said they would not have the time to get involved.

Citizens can and should be allowed to be active in their community by participating in local groups to make simple but significant improvements – for example by lobbying to get new pedestrian crossings put in to save children’s lives, by forming Neighbourhood Watch groups, or by deciding the spending priorities of their local council.

While it can be tough for citizens to run hospitals and schools single-handedly, they can and should – with help from social enterprises as well as the state – have much more of a say over those services and be allowed to commission aspects of local services where they can and where there is demand.

Writing from bipartisan and apolitical perspectives, we believe the notion that civil society should play a vital role in the nation’s future is important. We will stand together to pool our resources to make this a reality, regardless of who is in power after tomorrow.

Tony Burton

Civic Voice

Titus Alexander

Novas Scarman Group

Paul Twivy

Social Entrepreneur

Neil Jameson

Citizens UK

Stephen Kearney, Julia Olsen, Nick Gardham

Action to RE:generate Community Trust

Adele Blakeborough

CAN Breakthrough

Sarah Hodgkinson

Getting on Board

Andrew Dick

Envision

Ben Lee

Social Entrepreneur

Cliff Prior

Unltd

Julia Ogilvy

Project Scotland

Steve Wyler

Development Trusts Association

Tris Dyson

Spice

Emma-Jane Cross

Beat Bullying

Giles Gibbons

Good Business

Alex Watson

Social Entrepreneur

Alison Rodwell

Social Entrepreneur

Jas Bains

Social Entrepreneur

Julian Dobson

New Start Magazine

Daniel Snell and Emily Shenton

Arrival Education

Gail Greengross

Social Entrepreneur

David Barker

Whitebox Digital

Katie Ivens

Real Action

Malcolm Scovil

Leap Anywhere

Rob Owen

St Giles Trust

Jackie Hill-Wilson

G-ten at Ten Lifestyle Management

Sylvia Brown

ACRE

Duncan Cheatle

The Supper Club and ThanksTo.com

Simon Jay

Lift Community Trust

Stephen Dawson

Impetus Trust

Steve Moore

More Media

Tim West

Social Enterprise Wire

Peter Gardner

Last.fm and LeapAnywhere.com

Tracy Blackwell

Pension Corporation

Yinka Makinda

Social Entrepreneur

Rob Lamond

Forster for Change

Marjorie Thompson

Conservative Cooperative Movement

Beverley Clark and Sue Bamford

Say Yes UK

Marcus Booth

Travers Smith

Jo Rice

Spear

Nerys Anthony

Turning Point