CABINET MINISTER SEES BOSCOMBE LOCALISM IN ACTION

Posted on Wednesday, 07 July 2010 04:49PM by Lisa Northover

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles traveled to Boscombe today to meet local residents who are taking responsibility for their community and hear first hand from council staff their cost saving and red tape cutting ideas. Joined by members of his ministerial team Mr Pickles visited Boscombe seafront to see how entrepreneurs and community champions have recently turned a car park and derelict buildings into a thriving area with modern beach huts, a shop and a restaurant. A great example of the Big Society in action. Local community members chat to Andrew Stunell OBE MP – Parliamentary Under Secretary of State to the Department for Communities and Local Government Following this he met local council staff at the Overstrand, Urban Reef restaurant to hear their ideas for cutting back waste and making savings as part of a Government wide promise to ask people and the public sector for their ideas. I chat to Andrew Stunell Mr Pickles is attending the three-day Local Government Conference in nearby Bournemouth. In a keynote speech on Tuesday he is expected to launch a campaign to scrap unnecessary rules and regulations. He will call on council workers to help him identify the swathes of bureaucratic red tape and regulation that are preventing local communities from doing what is best for their area. Mr Pickles Eric Pickles said “Too much power has been sucked out of communities into Westminster eroding trust in politics, and sapping responsibility and initiative with stifling bureaucracy. “It is clear from what I am seeing here today in Boscombe that there are local people who want to have the freedom and power to change things for the better in their area. Seeing how they have transformed the sea-front for themselves is further evidence to me that Whitehall needs to get out of the way and trust people to get on with things for themselves.”