Why Local Matters

Localism is in the news. There's even a Localism Bill going through parliament. As one MP said this must be the first official bill with an -ism as its title. All the political attention and fuss around this just now is due to a growing sense that people have very little power to affect and influence decisions in their own locality - and politicians eventually realise they have to respond somehow.

You have to feel a touch uneasy that a top down measure from central government is supposed to promote bottom up decision making.

Here on Blacka those who've fought to have a say and persisted despite negative feedback can take encouragement from the news that the high voltage power lines are to be removed. Many have grumbled in their beards over the years about this philistine encroachment marching across some of our best countryside but decided there was no chance of removing it. But some are more obstinate than others and don't accept defeat so easily. This is where local people count. Those who walk on Blacka day in day out develop a sense of custodianship akin to those who live in a beautiful village. Such people notice things and care deeply about what they see often. However much SWT would like to claim that they have the best interests of Blacka at heart, how much credibility does this have when the major focus of their work is at their office desks and they themselves live many miles from what they refer to as their 'reserve'.

Whatever we think about the present government's motives the ideas behind 'localism' as a movement are sound: those who have most say in what happens in a location should be those who genuinely know it, live in it and walk in it. Those who cry 'nimby' often have their own agenda: beware developers and big corporations used to getting their own way annoyed by local opposition. Should we really put the top down decisions of remote organisations and government itself before the detailed local knowledge and experience of those most affected?