'Big society' gets a little smaller

'Big society' suffered a blow today after it emerged that Liverpool city council has withdrawn as one of four pilot 'vanguard' areas. The decision came after the council said that government cuts were threatening community groups in the area, which big society was supposed to encourage, and had written to David Cameron saying it was pulling out. Liverpool was announced as one of four areas , along with Sutton, Windsor and Maidenhead and Eden Valley in Cumbria, last summer that would serve as a showcase of the big society. Among benefits offered were access to civil servants to offer guidance over breaking down bureaucracy and help with projects such as building affordable housing. Although Liverpool was not an initial vanguard area it was drafted in later as a "parallel vanguard" area. "Our voluntary and community sector is well established and extremely successful," wrote council Labour leader Joe Anderson in a two-page letter to the prime minister and communities secretary Eric Pickles. "[The council] was asked to assist in this initiative around some key projects, including running a 'parallel vanguard programme'. "We took up this challenge wholeheartedly and have invested significant resources to deliver this substantial programme of activity ... [community and voluntary] organisations play a vital role in helping build vibrant and cohesive communities but ... have been seriously undermined." The council blamed the loss of over £100m of grants aimed at tackling deprivation and a poor local government settlement which will see a £141m reduction in spending, which would put voluntary and community groups across the city at risk. The council said it was backing away from big society saying it had been "working with our communities" for years. "We are looking into what the particular issues are and whether there were particular barriers and problems in that particular project," a Downing Street spokesman said. "The purpose of putting in place these first projects was to see what would work and that is what we are doing." It is not the first time that vanguard areas have received criticism. Last year there appeared to be widespread confusion how the system would work.