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Making Assets Work: Launch of the Quirk Review

Date of speech	15 May 2007
Event summary	Quirk Review report

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Draft text of the speech - may differ from the delivered version.

Introduction

I'd like to thank Barry, Andrew [Robinson] and Stephen [Thake] for all their hard work.

This report is an important piece of thinking.

At its heart lies the belief that community control of assets can empower local people.

That it can bring people from different backgrounds together.

And that it can help neighbourhoods improve their local economy and local environment.

But it should also be seen as part of a more fundamental debate - one about what citizens want from the state in the 21st Century.

The report argues that the role of local government should be about enabling people and communities to take control.

Not telling them what to do - but supporting them to achieve their own ambitions.

And it recognises that sometimes solutions generated from within communities are more effective than those handed down from Whitehall - or indeed the Town Hall.

The citizen and state: "we are all in this together"

Let me start by setting the wider context.

Look back over the post war years. The way the state relates to its citizens has constantly evolved.

Labour's 1945 government laid the foundation for the post-war consensus.

It was a model based on government planning and providing a wide range of services.

As Anthony Crosland and other revisionists were later to point out, it was almost as if more state action was an end in itself.

The truth is that people don't want an overbearing state telling them what to do.

Nor do they want government which leaves communities and individuals to fend for themselves.

They want a government that helps them and others in times of need.

They want a state which takes the action needed for each and every individual to make progress in life.

And they want a state that helps give each and every community purpose and pride.

In 1997 the Prime Minister recognised this when he said that the next decade would be defined by a simple idea - that "we are all in this together".

And Barry Quirk's report today forms the most recent step towards achieving this.

It comes at an interesting time. The relationship between citizens and the state has been keenly debated in recent months.

Everyone today seems to claim to be in favour of giving a stronger voice to local communities, and devolving more power to neighbourhoods and towns.

Everyone seems to says that we need strong community groups and a flourishing voluntary sector.

Who could disagree? But warm words are one thing - setting out how you actually achieve that goal is another.

It doesn't necessarily mean local or central government doing less.

It certainly shouldn't mean a return to the sink or swim society.

Because it is no kind of answer to the challenges we face. Particularly in our most deprived neighbourhoods. In these places there is no shortage of people passionate about improving their local community. But often they lack the money or the contacts that some in better-off areas may have. Leave them to their own devices and you may as well be abandoning them.

The challenge is not coming with warm words. In the real world of government you have to grapple with how you can take practical action to strengthen our communities. How you can take practical steps to help people help themselves.

A decade of progress and lessons learnt

Over the last decade we have been on the side of people who want to make a difference.

We may not have always got it right - or perhaps not gone far enough, or fast enough - but we have sought to empower local people to shape their own local area.

There has been real progress.

Local people are playing a leading role in regenerating deprived areas. In New Deal for Community Areas, there are residents sitting on governing bodies. In Neighbourhood Management pathfinders, people are having their say over how public services can best meet their needs.

Through measures like the right-to-manage, social housing tenants have more powers than ever before. In the coming months, I will look to go further still.

And £182 million has been invested specifically in community empowerment networks - bringing together different groups to help set the vision for their area.

When I travel around the country - to places such as the Community Centre we are in today, or Hattersley, in Tameside, or Lewisham, or of course my own constituency in Bolton - I see what this really means in practice.

It works: empowerment delivers results

It is right that local government should be more open to communities being part of the solution not just because it makes people feel better. It also works.

The evidence from the last 10 years is clear: if you give local people more power, you'll get a better result.

Better services, greater satisfaction with the neighbourhood, and greater satisfaction with the local authority.

Take Tenant Management Organisations.

A recent evaluation found that in most cases, tenant-run organisations did as well or better than the top 25 per cent of Local Authorities.

Not just at handling repairs, reletting and rent collection, but at keeping their tenants satisfied.

Or look at the New Deal for Communities. With local people driving regeneration, they are helping to make their neighbourhoods better places to live.

57 per cent of New Deal residents feel their local area has improved since 2002. Burglaries are down by 30 per cent. Fewer people are afraid of crime and more people feel part of the community.

And the challenges of the coming decade may require more community involvement, not less.

Whether it is reducing carbon emissions locally, providing more for young people to do, or improving people's diet and public health, government acting alone will fail.

We must go further

So we must redouble our efforts. Both central and local government must do more to give local people a greater say.

This is a challenge for all of us. It is always easier to fall back into the traditional default position.

For central government that means thinking that it can always make better judgements about local issues than local authorities can.

For local government, this means thinking that it can always make better decisions on behalf of local people than they can make for themselves.

I can clearly say today that we in central government are committed to playing our role. Devolving power to local government, and empowering local people.

Local government has been transformed in the last decade. It is now well resourced, confident, and performing strongly. So it is time for central government to give more space for local civic leaders to do their job.

That's why drastically cutting back on red tape and simplifying the performance framework is important.

But there is a deal with local government here. We have also strengthened the ability of local communities to be heard, and to take action when they are not satisfied with a service.

In this way culture change and improvement in local authorities can be driven from the bottom up, by communities who want to make their voices heard.

That is why the Local Government Bill currently in parliament also places a clear duty on councils to inform, consult and involve and devolve to local people. We want them to be able to take action on the issues they care about most.

And it is why we are introducing the "Community Call for Action", which will give people the right to an answer from the council about their concerns via their local councillor.

Community ownership and management of assets

These measures will give all people a stronger voice that local authorities need to listen to.

But many people want more than that. But there are some who have energy and commitment and want to get actively involved in improving their area.

That is what community ownership and control of assets is all about.

And it is why Barry's review is an important step forward.

We all know what it can be like to see a derelict building, unused but full of potential, and not be able to do something about it.

And many of you will know what is possible when people with commitment can own or manage community assets themselves. Transfer of assets has been undertaken with great success in some places.

Sometimes it will just be a small community group.

But sometimes it will be a larger organisation - what some call a community anchor organisation.

Like the Burton Street Project, where we are today.

The Project took over these premises from Sheffield City Council 12 years ago. Initially on a peppercorn rent, and more recently by acquiring the freehold at a heavy discount.

It now provides a home for 100 local groups, and 2000 people use it each week.

It gives a base for skills training, help to get people back into employment, social enterprise development, family support, services for people with learning disabilities, and arts and recreational activities.

I'd like to congratulate everyone who has made this project such a success - and thank them for welcoming us here today.

Burton Street is one of the more impressive and larger examples, but it is not isolated.

There are plenty of other places where community ownership or management has made a difference.

Like Gamblesby, in Cumbria - where a local group took over a derelict old civic building. The community gained not just a new focal point for social activities, but a renewed sense of identity.

Or like Heywood, in Rochdale, where a group came together to manage the local market - that had been on the brink of closure. They helped it get off its knees and thrive.

The evidence seems clear to me.

Of course, as the report today points out, we need safeguards. Community ownership of assets will not always be appropriate. But local people - even in areas facing seemingly insurmountable problems - do have the drive to be more involved.

And owning or controlling an asset is a powerful way of achieving this. I have always thought that for individuals financial assets - not just income - are important in allowing people to aspire and get on in life.

The same is true in communities. Owning a building can bring security and confidence to look ahead. It can bring different groups together in a shared public space.

Accepting the Quirk Review's recommendations

That is why I'm delighted to accept the Quirk Review's recommendations in full.

The vision is compelling. The report asks us to imagine a world where community control of assets is an everyday fact of life, enriching towns and cities in every local authority.

And the proposals will help make this a reality.

I believe a package of four key steps will help drive real culture change. Giving local authorities the confidence to play their part. Helping local communities understand what they can do.

• First, it means more clarity about the expectations on local authorities. Contrary to what some think, they can transfer assets, there are ways of managing the risks and the benefits can outweigh the opportunity costs.

• Second, it means more informed community groups, with the capacity to take on asset transfer. I am delighted that the Development Trusts Association will be leading a nationwide partnership to support and promote community ownership of assets.

• Third, it means more bottom-up pressure. Communities can use the Community Call for Action to register their request. That will guarantee a response, but sometimes they may still face barriers. So it is also right that as a fall-back, an existing power called the Public Request to Order Disposal, or PROD, should be better known and used. This enables communities to appeal direct to the Secretary of State to direct the sale of an asset, if they feel they have not had a satisfactory answer from the council.

• Fourth, it means providing the right incentives. That is why £30 million has been made available to help local authorities renovate surplus or derelict buildings - on the proviso that they are transferred to community groups. This funding is from the Office for the Third Sector and Ed will no doubt talk some more about it.

And to help ensure this delivers results I can announce a further £400,000 today to fund 20 pilot partnerships to push ahead and really show what's possible when local authorities and the local community sector work together. Within 12 months we want this to have taken forward at least 40 significant transfer projects.

And building on this good practice, in the future I see no reason why every local authority should not have a senior designated person to push things forward - a clear community assets champion. Actively working with councillors and local groups. And making sure that inside local government this issue is given the priority it deserves.

Like in Cheshire where a council officer has specific responsibility to broker asset transfers to community groups. He knows what assets are available, works with different bits of the council and works to make the whole process go as smoothly as possible.

Or in Brighton and Hove where I understand they have one person overseeing a £11m asset transfer project.

Now I am aware that for many community groups looking to take over local assets the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Too often in the past they have found doors closed, and expended huge amounts of energy to no avail.

But this simply cannot continue to happen. So alongside the LGA, we will be monitoring progress closely.

I am also delighted that Barry and his team have agreed to review the progress made by local government and its partners in a year's time.

Conclusion

Community empowerment can bring huge benefits. Barry's report today shows that community ownership and management of assets is an important part of this.
There are opportunities, but also challenges for all of us.

For central government, the challenge is to free up local civic leaders and to empower local people.

For me and party, the challenge is to live up to the vision set out by Gordon Brown last Friday of "the citizen in control, being served, not told, by government, a servant state".

For every local authority, the challenge is to be like the best local leaders - not seeing more open ways of working as a threat, but being open minded about the benefits it can bring.

And for community and voluntary groups the challenge is to work constructively with local government leaders who want to bring about change. Sometimes they will also need to pull work together, using the strengths of those in the VCS who have the most capacity and experience to negotiate with the local authority.

So there are challenges ahead. But real opportunities too. And I am confident that, working together, we can harness the potential to make all our communities stronger and more prosperous for years to come.