David Cameron set out his plans today to create the Conservative's "Big Society" and pledged to deliver a dramatic redistribution of power "from elites in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street".
In a speech in Liverpool he said he hopes to liberate four areas from the strictures of red tape and central government.
Liverpool, the Eden Valley in Cumbria, Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire and Sutton in south-west London will become "vanguard communities".
All four authorities approached the government to experiment with running the parts of their public services they think they can administer better.
They may have central government budgets handed over to them to administer at street level, attempt to improve local transport links themselves, take over command of local assets such as pubs and community services, have a greater say over planning permission or local transport and, in the case of Liverpool, allow volunteers to keep a popular local museum open for longer hours.
"Yes, there will be problems – financial problems, legal problems, bureaucratic problems. Yes, there will be objections – local objections, objections from vested interests. But you know what? We're happy about that," said Cameron.
"This process is all about learning. It's about pushing power down and seeing what happens. It's about unearthing the problems as they come up on the ground and seeing how we can get round them. It's about holding our hands up, saying 'We haven't got all the answers. Let's work them out, together.'"
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
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