Local

Localised snow falling on Blacka at midday.

Much talk on the news today of localism and goverment intentions to devolve power to the community. If I believed this to be true I would be celebrating but we should all have learned to be sceptical. In practice who will be the people running things? Will Veolia no longer be dealing with waste disposal? Will local people be in charge of bus routes and public transport policy rather than huge businesses like First and Stagecoach? And of course who will be running our countryside? The answer is that managers will still be in charge, managing in the interests of businesses which may or may not be mega-charities. Strangling would be the only way to get them to loosen their grip. Businesses like SWT spend much time constructing a narrative that portrays themselves as community organisations. However much we know this is fiction the decision will be taken by politicians and bureaucrats who are themselves part of the same cosy and exclusive 'community of interest', while local people will still be on the outside.
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The best we can hope for is active participation in the scrutiny and the holding to account. Let's face it. Our local councillors do a pretty poor job at this. Anyone who's attended council meetings can attest to the shocking failures of our elected representatives to carry out this basic democratic function. The centralisation of most decision making, taking all freedom of movement away from Town Halls has given little or no responsibility and even less job satisfaction to local public figures. If this localism is really going to mean something then we must ensure the grass roots is where decisions are made.