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The BIG Society, abolishment of RDAs and more
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Yesterday dkl and I had a meeting with Adam Afriyie, the MP for Windsor. I bumped into him on the day the Household Cavalry were given the freedom of Windsor and marched through the town, watch some videos of the day here. I have to start by saying I was most impressed with Adam’s attitude to small business. He’s run a number of small businesses and grown them into significant companies and so understands the pain we all go through. I asked, via our various media channels, if any of our members had questions for Adam and duly printed them off and presented the document to him for consideration. He said he’ll come back with answers in a few days. I asked about the BIG Society and this sounds as if it is very much an organic proposition and nature will take its course as it always has done. The morsel of encouragement and renewed faith for me came when Adam and David were talking about the abolishment of the RDAs and the new concept of LEPs - Local Enterprise Partnerships. David discussed this in the traditional way based on local councils coming together with token local businesses where the councils lead the way, make all the decisions, spend the money in a very unbusiness like fashion and then plead poverty when a real idea comes along. (That last bit is my view, not necessarily David’s.) Personally, I have approached most of the councils and only a handful have ever stepped forward and invested a couple of hundred quid in BinB but then expect me to promote all the things they are doing for FREE. A few years ago I was invited to be part of group set up by Business Link Berkshire to review their activities and this, to me, was simply a tick box exercise to meet the previous guidelines which rewarded for stats not necessarily results. And this is where we are today, the government has recognised that the RDAs were very able to spend money but there were not enough successful projects to justify the administrative burden of such an organisation. Councils are thinking that they are going to be getting the money that previously went to RDAs and this is an assumption we all have been making based on our experiences to date with government. But we have a new government, a coalition which means that many of the old rules are being thrown out as we speak and the new rules around LEPs have yet to be formed. The reality is the door is open for ALL of us to be heard. If you have a great idea and can bring people together then there may be a chance that your idea is considered worthy of investment. I’d suggest its worth exploring and spending a few days bringing your thoughts together. There are no guarantees that anything will happen but might I suggest, like the lottery, if you aren’t in it then you can’t win it. There are new men and women in positions of power and the game is changing as the coffers run dry and what they need are great ideas to make Britain Great again ... drum role ... The one clear message that came from yesterday’s meeting is that business will be ruling the school moving forward and not administrators, or that’s what I think I heard and I do hope that is the case because as a business man I understand that you can’t spend what you haven’t got. Too many people feel that the nanny state is responsible for picking up the pieces … well NO it’s not, YOU have to pick up the pieces and make it work stop and relying on others to bail you out. It’s not grants that are needed, it’s investment in good ideas that can then get airborne. Anyone can get a grant, you have to fight for investment in your ideas. GET FIGHTING I will gather more data on who any applications need to be made and let our members know. Thank you. A newly inspired businessman from Windsor looking to keep the wolf from the door and generate growth again as we did in the good old days! Jon Davey Social Media Director Business in Berkshire 01753 852904 07881 744495 |
