Cookham and Bisham part of 'Big Society' pilot (From Bucks Free Press)

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to spearhead Cameron's Big Society

4:52pm Tuesday 20th July 2010 in Marlow By James Nadal

Labour councillor: Big Society is 'twaddle'

COOKHAM and Bisham are among pilot areas set to test out David Cameron's Big Society plans.

The villages, on the Buckinghamshire border next to Marlow, fall within The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, which will spearhead the project.

The Prime Minister outlined his vision in a speech in Liverpool on Monday, saying it was his 'great passion'.

The concept, to devolve more power to communities and away from Westminster aims to enable groups to run post offices, libraries and transport services.

The Royal Borough will be one of four 'vanguard communities' nationwide.

Bisham and Cookham's parish councils may acquire extra powers as a result.

Council leader Cllr David Burbage said it already has “a track record of devolving power to the individual”.

“Last year we implemented a participatory budget, which has been an enormous success,” he said.

“The Big Society is not a one-size-fits-all programme, or a top-down plan, it’s a multiplicity of community engagement and enablement to take off the shackles of the state and allowing people and voluntary groups to simply get on with it”.

But Labour have criticised the plans describing them as a cover for more public spending cuts.

Cllr Pat McDonald, the parliamentary spokesman for Maidenhead, said: “The Big Society is twaddle. It is probably the poorest and the least able to help in society being dumped.

"Who is going to take up the work the councils are doing?”

Mr McDonald stood against new home secretary Theresa May in the recent election. He came third with 3, 795 votes.

Mr McDonald, who heads Woodland Park youth group said: “We know how difficult it is to get volunteers there isn't an army out there and it's virtually impossible to get people to help so where this army of people is going to appear from to run thing I have no idea.

“Basically they are looking to slash and burn.”

He said if the Government were concerned about helping society it should not have cut the Building Schools for the Future funding which affects a number of Maidenhead secondary schools.

Tory Cookham Parish Councillor John Stretton said he was waiting to hear more details about the way it could affect parish level but was strongly in favour of the concept.

He said it was right that “local people have more power to control things in their own area.”

Cookham Parish Council Chairman Cllr Derek Fry, independent, said it already has some of the powers being discussed but parking could be an additional responsibility.

He said he would be in favour of further powers “providing there was the budget and we were in control of it.”