#Sutton's #BigSociety vanguard tells us what the BS will be like: not a lot so far.

My local council, Sutton, is a 'Big Society Vanguard Council', so I thought I'd find out what the Condem's big society means when it's put into action. Stimulated by my local LibDem publicity sheet, I looked at the Council's Big Society website.

They're claiming four Big Society projects: transport, the 'Life Centre' for training young people in lifeskills, the Hackbridge environmental scheme and consultations about health care. I've excerpted what they're able to claim.

Not a lot, is the answer; all these are things they were doing anyway (the Life Centre, a valuable ideas, has opened but has been building for some time). Or, they've got to do it (like te GP consultations) so they'll brand it Big Society anyway. Indeed the Council leader claims on another bit of the site that Sutton is a big society sort of place with lots of community activity (it's a middle-class area, so not surprising). This virtually admits that they're not going to do anything special.

I can't avoid the suspicion, since presumably they've had extra money to be a vanguard, that, in the tradition of well-run voluntary and local government organisations everywhere,as soon as there's some funny munny about they've looked round their activities and rebranded some of the 'Big Society'.

We'll wait to see, and I'll carry on reporting.

Amplify’d from www.sutton.gov.uk

We're now working on Integrated Transport Packages across our district centres.

Our 'Life Centre', opening in October 2010, will use world class facilities to become a hub for the whole region and a catalyst for change.  We will put young people in virtually real situations

We will teach a whole range of people the skills for community investment. We will illustrate the rewards of volunteering schemes and social action

Sutton's Hackbridge project

will build on our "Community Forums" to provide a national model that will develop the community skills to resolve issues with the government agencies, local councils, partners and the private sector.

This project will trial the arrangements set out in the Government's White Paper, working with GPs to commission local services and supporting the integration of health and social care. Read more at www.sutton.gov.uk

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/anh06