The Big Society in Sutton

Ian Birnbaum, Interim Chief ExecutiveLondon Borough of Sutton

December 7, 2010

About Sutton • South West London suburb, population

185,000 and growing

• Liberal Democrat since 1986 with increased majority at the last elections

• Known for work on sustainability, One Planet living, BedZED, partnerships, high-performing schools

• Areas of wealth and deprivation

• People say they want to get more involved

What does the Big Society mean in Sutton?

• Authentic to the London Borough of Sutton - our long-standing mission is to create a borough in which all can take part, and take pride.

• Fundamental to our transformation change programme – Smarter Services Sutton, which focuses on behaviour change, personalisation, and re-engineering service delivery.

• Big Society during a time of austerity – particularly challenging but also an opportunity.

What Big Society activity is happening in Sutton?

• One of four Vanguard areas in the country• Four initial Big Society projects• Encouraging and leading other activity: grit

distribution, open data and encouraging transparency are good examples

Hackbridge Sustainable SuburbOur ambition is to develop a trulysustainable suburb using theprinciples of ‘One Planet Living’.

We aim to achieve this via majorimprovements to the builtenvironment and a range ofcommunity engagementprogrammes

Hackbridge Sustainable Suburb• Development of the Hackbridge

Community Forum to support community place-shaping champions.

• The creation of a community-led River Wandle restoration project

• Development of a low carbon energy network with the private sector,

• Encouraging community involvement in land management

Sutton Life Centre

The Sutton Life Centre will be used as a hub for several streams of activity:

• Support for the training a new generation of community organisers who can support the creation of neighbourhood groups particularly in deprived areas

• Teaching a whole range of people the skills for community investment

• Our ‘citizenship’ programme will work with vulnerable families on how they can benefit from regular community involvement

Sutton Life CentreCitizenship Citizenship

Provision of innovatively-delivered, thought-provoking experiences

Web developmentWeb development Deliver a new web presence

Local resourceLocal resourceLocal community resources offering facilities for local groups of all ages and encouraging volunteering

Regional resource covering Regional resource covering London and the South London and the South EastEastAward-winning development hub pioneering national developments

Health choice through integrationPromoting the Big Society by taking forward the Government’s White Paper:

developing new opportunities for patient voice through local Healthwatch new arrangements for public health

new governance arrangements through Health and Wellbeing Boards

Health choice through integration• Early adoption of some public health responsibilities and targeted public health campaign work

• Development of a new Health and Wellbeing Board

• Early development of Healthwatch and local GP user groups to develop patient engagement and patient voice opportunities

Enabling Smarter Travel ChoicesSutton continues to build on the productive relationship it has developed with TfL

through the delivery of Smarter Travel Sutton (STS)

Improved travel choices through better infrastructure and greater accountability

To give people greater responsibility for how their roads, cycling routes, buses and trains are organised

Objective - TfL and Boroughs working to deliver schemes more efficiently and give residents a stronger voice in the development and implementation of transport schemes

Enabling Smarter Travel Choices

Three key elements to enable Smarter Travel Choices:

• Commitment to the Integrated Transport Package approach

• Open and transparent communications with residents

• Reducing bureaucracy

The key questions we want citizens to ask

• What can (and should) I do for myself?• What can (and should) I do for others?• What can (and should) local services and agencies do to

help me?

The example of free grit• Residents encouraged to pick up grit for themselves and,

where appropriate, for their neighbours – and to use it to clear their pathways.

• An excellent example of the Big Society (and the three questions on the previous slide) in action.

An online library service, funded by NESTA, to help residents share books with each other

Powered by Open Data – we will be opening up the library catalogue and lending data to the public

www.suttonopenlibrary.wordpress.com

Concluding remarks

• Big Society is not new – but it’s a powerful organising idea

• The re-calibration of the relationship between individual and state is a central element

• Take Part, Take Pride is authentic to Sutton and is at the core of the Big Society, emphasising as it does both participation and responsibility.