Local fetes, festivals and concerts have made up the summer season in our communities for generations, so it is troubling that many voluntary groups face cuts to their funding, despite all the rhetoric about the Big Society, says Nick Raynsford.

This is the season of the Big Society. Across the country, voluntary organisations and community groups are organising local activities, fund-raising barbecues, local fêtes, festivals, fun days and other similar events.

Councillors and MPs do the rounds, demonstrating their support for a range of local groups and causes, taking care to be seen and having enough small change in the pocket to be able to buy the appropriate raffl e tickets, jars of marmalade or homemade cakes. The more adventurous may agree to spend 10 minutes in the stocks being pelted with wet sponges to raise a few extra pounds for their favoured school, charity or community group.

Nick Raynsford: Partnership and co-operation, rather than substitution, should be the guiding principles of Big Society

This, of course, has been part and parcel of my life as an elected councillor and subsequently, MP almost every summer over the past 40 years. What is perhaps most telling is the continuity.

Despite remarkable changes in so many other aspects of our lives – the arrival of the Internet and mobile phones, to give just two examples – the traditional range of stalls and entertainments at local summer fairs continues with astonishing predictability.

The lucky dip, the second-hand book stall, the Irish dancers, the brass band, the plants and bric-a-brac stalls that I have visited or watched this summer could all have been there at any time in the previous 40 years – and, indeed, for much longer.

This speaks volumes about the extent to which voluntary and community activities are deeply embedded in the fabric of our society. We didn’t describe this in the past, as ‘The Big Society’, but it was there, and hugely important.

So, the question that is obviously prompted by the prime minister’s much repeated, if not always well-understood, rhetoric about the Big Society is what difference, if any, will it make?

Will the Government’s stated wish to promote the Big Society enhance the existing networks of voluntary organisations and encourage more active participation by members of the public?

Will it change the way in which such groups operate, or their relationships with the Government or local government and, if so, will those changes have a positive impact? At this stage in the life of the Government and the promotion of the Big Society, it is diffi cult to offer a defi nitive judgment. But the initial indicators do not suggest to me that we are on the verge of a signifi cant advance in the nature and scale of voluntary activity.

Given the existing, extensive network of community and voluntary groups, it is diffi cult to see where the additional impetus is going to come from. Some new organisations will appear, but other existing ones will fade away. This has always been the pattern with the voluntary sector.

Particularly in the case of local organisations, or local groups supporting national charities, we should not underestimate the extent to which a relatively-small handful of people keep the group alive. If only a few such people move away, lose heart or die, the local organisation may well fi nd it impossible to carry on.

It is also the case that some of the most effective local community groups come into existence because of a specific threat or urgent cause. If their response is successful and the threat is withdrawn, or the main objective achieved, the impetus needed to keep the group going as an effective force may well quickly dissipate.

This process of ebb and fl ow is a natural one and should not lead to value judgments about the signifi cance of voluntary organisations. It is simply a refl ection of the nature of the organisation.

But it does have implications in the context of the stated intention of the Government to promote the voluntary sector as an alternative to provision by the state.

For, it is clearly not wise to substitute an organisation with an uncertain future for one which has a statutory basis where one needs to have guaranteed continuity of service. One of the other visible features of most of the summer fairs or fun days that I visit is the presence of many public service organisations. Whether it is the police, the fi re brigade, the NHS, or local authority, their presence at such events is a very clear indication of the extent to which our society depends on them, and on the partnerships between them and local community groups to identify and meet local needs.

Indeed, many voluntary groups depend on fi nancial support from local government and other public service providers. Their inter-dependence in ensuring that local community needs are properly met cannot be over-emphasised. So, it is particularly troubling to know that many small voluntary sector organisations are facing fi nancial diffi culties and, in some cases, are having to suspend or reduce the services that they offer because of cuts in the grant they receive from the Government or local councils. It is indeed ironic that, at a time when the Government is proclaiming its belief in the Big Society, so many of the groups which epitomise the concept are fearful of their survival.

So if the Big Society is to mean anything more than political rhetoric, it will be important for government ministers to recognise that partnership and co-operation rather than substitution, should be their guiding principles. If they are in any doubt, they should visit one of their local summer fêtes and see the process in action.