Introduction
I have worked for and been an active member of a wide range of community and voluntary sector organisations and their umbrella/coordinating groups and worked on social policy, social inclusion and renewal issues. aspects. Topics are in alphabetical order.
Battersea Legal services ©2007 Sean Creighton
bassac communities in action .April 2002
Community & Social Issues
Advice Services
• I represented bassac on the London Advice Forum group which
oversaw the compiling of the London Advice Service Alliance
publication ‘Regeneration and Renewal: a good practice guide for
london advice agencies’. This is an excellent guide. See
www.lasa.org.uk/policy/index.shtml#publications
• I was involved in drafting the LASA/LAF response to the LDA Draft
Economic Development Strategy in February 2001, which emphasised the
importance of advice services.
• Battersea Legal Services: joint Law Centre/Citizens’ Advice Bureau
project set up with funding of Wandsworth & Merton Legal Resource
Project on whose Management Committee I was a member of and Chair at
time of wind-up on 31 March 2004 as part of reorganisation of Law
Centre provision in South London.
Affordable Homes
The danger with the Mayor of London and Government’s emphasis on letting London grow is:
• that there will be further socio-economic polarisation
• that there will be inadequate provision of affordable housing for
essential public and other service workers
• that yet more commuters will be sucked into London to work
A more imaginative approach is needed than one which emphasises
the % affordable housing in new developments, and building more
affordable housing. This approach is reflected in the written
evidence (October 2002) I gave to the House of Commons Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister Committee Inquiry Sustainable Housing and
Communities. Session 2002-3. See:
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmodpm/77-ii/77m22.htm
BT Street Payphone Network
• BT’s street payphone network was under threat as a result of
substantial reductions in use due to mobile phones
• BT was increasing the minimum call charge from 20p to 30p but
increasing call time to 15 minutes for 30p in a hope of attracting
more business
• BT consulted around the Regions on further reductions in the
number of phone boxes
• Ofcom, the communications regulator, was to consider the future of
the payphone network as part of its review of BT’s Universal Service
Obligations staring in July 2004.
I wrote a paper ‘What is the future for BT’s Payphone Network?’
(February 2004) for Public Utilities Access Forum and Ofcom Consumer
Panel members.
Community Development
• I was involved for bassac on the PAULO Community Development
Forum oversight of the new National Occupational Standards for
Community Development. See on Federation of Community Development
Learning site: www.fcdl.org.uk. I successfully had incorporated the
need to have an understanding of community history. The standards
were recognised as important in the Home Office consultation paper
‘Building Civil Renewal’ (2003)
• I have tutored on Goldsmiths University Community & Youth work
course since 2002
Community Strategies
As part of my work for Wandsworth Community Empowerment Fund Network (Jan-May 2003), I prepared a draft response to the Wandsworth LSP’s Draft Community Strategy, briefing notes for community and voluntary groups, and facilitated a Workshop for them on the Strategy.
• Statement on WCEFN at Strategy Consultation meeting 3 June 2003
• Building a Stronger Community. Response to Wandsworth Community
Strategy Consultation (person submission)
• Topic Responses (personal submission)
These personal submissions are available on request by email.
The Wandsworth LSP approved Community Strategy can be seen on
www.wandsworth.gov.uk/Home/CouncilandGovernment/CommunityStrategy/default.htm
and the influence of the
Network on it can be seen in the LSP’s minutes
www.wlsp.org.uk
History, Faith & Settlements
My article ‘History, Faith & Settlements’ bassac’s newsletter communities in action (December 2001) is available on request by email.
Local Area Agreements
I gave a talk giving a personal perspective on the community and voluntary sector and Local Area Agreements on 1 December 2005 for the Lambeth Community Empowerment Network. This is available on request by email.
Local Strategic Partnerships
• I prepared briefings and advice on LSPs while working at bassac
which remained in its website until December 2005
• I was involved in writing the ‘Learning from Local Strategic
Partnerships. LGA Advice note on working with the community and
voluntary sectors.’ (Local Government Association. March 2002). This
is no longer listed in the publications section of the LGA website.
• I was involved in writing ‘Effective Local Strategic Partnerships.
LGA advice note for working with the community and voluntary
sectors’ (Local Government Association. May 2001) on Urban Forum
website:
www.urbanforum.org.uk/pdf_files/lga_lsp_guidance.pdf
Multi-Purpose Centres
• These include Settlements, Social Action Centres and Community
Centres
• They are organised by bassac: www.bassac.org.uk and Community
Matters www.communitymatters.org.uk
• I was Annual Conference Workshop Co-ordinator for Community
Matters 1993-98 & 2000
• I compiled first edition of Community Matters Environmental Action
Pack for Community Organisations
• I was Policy Development Officer for bassac (British Association
of Settlements & Social Action Centres) 2000-2
• I have previously been active in the Association which runs North
East Mitcham Community Centre
• ‘Community and Social Action Centres. Understanding their role and
their contribution to Neighbourhood Renewal and Community Cohesion’
- discussion paper I wrote for Merton LSP’s Neighbourhood Renewal
Working Parties (September 2003)
Mutuality, Sustainable Renewal & Radical Politics - Contemporary Debate
See Labour & Mutuality History page.
Neighbourhood Renewal
• ‘Neighbourhood Renewal and small community and voluntary groups.’
Introduction and handout at Neighbourhood Renewal Workshop at
Community Matters/Scarman Trust Community Fair, 25 March 2002. Copy
available by
• Former member (2002-3) of Pollards Hill Single Regeneration Budget
Board, on behalf of Merton CVS. Drafted brief for final evaluation
• ‘Developing Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy in Merton’. Some
Background Notes (August 2003)
• ‘The Community and Voluntary Sector and Economic Renewal’. Notes
for Discussion on the Merton Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy.
(September 2003)
• ‘Community Participation’. A Note for Use in Merton’s
Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy Discussions (September 2003)
• ‘The role of community and voluntary organisations’. A Note for
Use in Merton’s Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy Discussions.
(September 2003)
The above notes are available on request by email.
Planning Reform
• I prepared bassac’s written evidence to House of Commons
Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee Inquiry into
the Planning Green Paper. 2001-2:
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmtlgr/476/476ap10.htm
• I was a member of the team of British Urban Regeneration
Association Steering & Development Forum giving oral evidence to
that Inquiry. See:
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmtlgr/476/2041701.htm
Settlements & Social Action History
The community and voluntary sector has a rich history of social action. While employed at bassac I was involved in setting up a Settlements & Social Action Research Group (SSARG). It produced:
SSARG Newsletter 1 – January 2003
Contents: Group Aims; Sources for Researching Settlement History;
Scott Lidgett; Settlement Networks; Settlements and Housing
Associations; Books on Settlements; Problems of Poverty; Residential
and Educational Settlements – What is the Difference?; Settlements
and Co-operation; Key Stages in Settlement History; Social Action
1880s; Urban Renewal 1990s; Mary Ward Centre; Changing Faces of
Adult Literacy etc 1975-2002
SSARG Newsletter 2 – October 2003
Contents: Short Notes; Remembering Our Histories; Samuel Barnett on
Settlements 1898; Were University Settlements Becalmed by 1939?; The
Children’s Country Holiday Fund; Resources on Settlements at
Glasgow’s Heatherbank Museum; The Origins of Housing Societies – the
role of the Settlement Movement; The Wider World of the Settlements;
Dick Sheppard; Preserving Your History; Learning About and From Each
Other; Victoria Settlement, Everton, Liverpool
SSARG Newsletter 3 – January 2004
Contents: IFS History Conference; Pamphlet on UK Settlement History;
Settlement History Snippets; Robert Browning Settlement; Pleasant
Sunday Afternoon Movement; Toynbee Hall and Oxford House: an 1895
Comparison; Settlements on the Web; Settlements and Play; Other
Snippets; The Settlement Movement. Reclaiming Our Past – Affirming
Our Future. Bernard J. Wohl. Executive Director, Retired, Goddard
Riverside Community Center (USA); Immigrants and Financial Services:
literacy, difficulty of access, needs and solutions. The UK
Experience; Book Review – Women and the Settlement Movement.
Katharine Bentley Beauman Women and the Settlement Movement, (London
and New York: The Radcliffe Press, 1996) – Kate Bradley;
Multi-purpose Working – For What?; Schools as Sources on Settlement
Histories
News Digest – January 2005
Archives Policy
These are available on request by email.
With changes in personnel and commitments it did not prove possible to develop this Group and it has been wound up. The material in the newsletter is still of relevance, and readers of this website wanting to know more about Settlements are recommended to read:
• University of Birmingham Conference ‘Back To The Future. A History
of the Settlement Movement’ in 2000, and published papers (ed. Jon
Glasby, 2001)
• Jon Glasby’s ‘Poverty & Opportunity. 100 Years of the Birmingham
Settlement’. (Brewin Books).
www.brewinbooks.com/socialfiles/povertyhbtext.htm
• Ruth Gilchrist & Tony Jeffs’ ‘Settlements, Social Change &
Community Action. Good Neighbours’ (Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
2001)
www.jkp.com/catalogue/book.php?isbn=1-85302-764-2
Utility Issue Involvements
• Public Utilities Access Forum: Secretary 1991-2000; individual
member 2000-April 2004
• Member, Consumer Panel of former telecommunications regulator
Oftel (absorbed by Ofcom)
• Speaker at 25th Anniversary event of National Right to Fuel
Campaign on behalf of bassac which had helped found the Campaign in
1975
• Undertook review for Ofwat of the problems involved with Water
Resale in 1999, leading to Ofwat Water Resale Order 2001 improving
protections for tenants and mobile home tenants from being
overcharged
• Secretary to Towards a Water Saving Trust Steering Group
• Organised Towards A Water Saving Trust Conference 1997
• Supervised for PUAF Joseph Rowntree funded research project on
water charging, resulting in report ‘Paying for Household Water
Services from 1st April 2000. From Problems to Solutions. A
Discussion paper by John E Thackery. (PUAF May 1997). Summary on
Joseph Rowntree website:
www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/sp115.asp
• Written and oral evidence for PUAF to House of Commons Environment
Committee on Water Conservation & Supply (1996). See Committee
report ’Water Conservation & Supply’ (HMSO).
• Advice to Save the Children on its research project ‘Water tight.
The impact of water metering on low-income families’, an important
contribution to the debate leading to the ban on disconnection for
non-payment.
• Support to, and speaker at launch of Parliamentary All-Party Water
Group
Voluntary & Community Sector Infrastructure Review
• My personal response to the Active Community Unit’s consultation (December 2003) is available on request by email.
Wandsworth Community Empowerment Fund Network
• I was Development Consultant Jan-May 2003
• See Wandsworth Local Strategic Partnership website news 20 March
2003 for the statement issued on Iraq based on my draft:
www.wandsworth.gov.uk/wlsp/wlspnews.htm
• WCEFN website: www.wcen.org.uk
• See also Wandsworth Community Strategy on Social Inclusion &
Renewal page
• WCEFN’s Network News ( www.wcen.org.uk - go to Newsletters)
contains notes by me on:
o ‘Reflections on the role of the Network’. (July 2003)
o ‘The Importance of Multi-Purpose Community Based Centres’ &
‘Developing Wandsworth VCS Infrastructure’. (February 2004)
Water Debt and Water Price Rises
During 2003 water companies were increasingly complaining about the rise in debt since the Labour Government banned disconnection of water supply for inability to pay the bills. Some were justifying price increases on all their customers to take account of the financial loss due to higher debt levels than were assumed when the water regulator set the parameters for their current charge levels.
Yet the companies refused to publish any detailed figures on that debt, which can then be put to close public scrutiny. I drew this to the attention of the EFRA Committee of the House of Commons in its review of water prices to question Ofwat and the companies on the issue. The Committee recommended that affordability should be a key consideration in price setting.
The Labour Government was beginning to wake up to the serious issue of the affordability of public and utility services for low income households. A review was underway in the Cabinet Office. This concern seemed to have been triggered by rising energy prices, the threat of higher water charges, the time-bomb brewing over the level of Council tax rises and the pending re-valuation, and the recommendation of the EFRA Committee that affordability is an issue in the setting of water charges.
My written evidence to the House of Commons Environment Food and
Rural Affairs Committee Inquiry ‘Water Pricing’ (Session 2003-4) can
be seen on:
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmenvfru/121/121we08.htm
I also submitted written evidence to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee Inquiry on ‘Water: The Periodic Review 2004 and the Environmental Programme’. Its report published on 6 May 2004 can be accessed on pages 152-155 of http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmenvaud.htm
The Committee concluded:
‘Overall we were disappointed to find that despite the concerns
expressed by Government, Ofwat and water companies about the
unpalatability of increasing water prices more is not being done by
all of them to reduce costs to customers, particularly those less
able to pay. The issues of diffuse pollution, customer debt and
affordability need to be seriously addressed as they all add
significantly to water customers’ bills. Dealing with these will
have a greater impact on the cost of water to customers than
attempting to cut spending on the environmental programme, which
would reduce the majority of water customers’ bills by a few pounds
at most.’
'Water prices are going to continue to rise for the foreseeable future. As result there will be an increasingly large proportion of the population on lower incomes that will find it difficult to pay water bills. If the Regulator is to continue to price water realistically, as is his duty, the Government is going to have to address this issue seriously.’
Writings 1973-2000
• Universal Community Service: Access for all to Internet Services
at Community Level. Council of Europe Malta Conference, 2-3 November
1999. General Report edited by Claire Milne and Sean Creighton.
Council of Europe 2000. The full text is available through a link on
Claire Milne’s Antelope Consulting website
www.antelope.org.uk/reports.htm
• Article on Water Saving Trust in Utility Week 1997
• 'Saving Water'. Utility Week, 2 August 1996
• Low Income Consumers and Competition in Utilities. A Discussion
Note. Public Utilities Access Forum 1996
• Privatised Utilities and Regional Management. Simon Marvin,
Stephen Graham & Simon Guy. (South East Economic Development
Strategy, 1996). Contributed ideas and material.
• Developing 'The Culture of Contribution'. Universities and the
role of Graduates. Now & Then, Sheffield University Alumni Magazine
1996.
• Environmental Action Pack. Practical Ideas for Community
Organisations. Community Matters, 1996.
• Local Agenda 21 - Taking the Environmental challenge forward.
Community, November 1995
• Implementing Local Anti-Poverty Strategies. AMA Conference report
1995.
• Older people and the telephone at home. A report for Age Concern
England. 1995.
• Water Bills 2000. National Local Government Forum Against Poverty
Conference Report 1995; compiled and edited with William Baker.
• Increasing Telephone Access. in ‘USO In A Competitive Telecoms
Environment’. Analysys. 1995
• Increasing Telephone Access. Association of Metropolitan
Authorities Local Gov. Anti-Poverty Unit Briefing Note No. 3, 1995.
• Water & Warmth. Association of Metropolitan Authorities.
Anti-Poverty Action Conference Report 1993.
• Community Safety. Local Perspectives. AMA/Local Government Drugs
Forum. Report of joint meeting 1993 with editorial introduction.
• Dignity Without Liberty. A Report on Lay Visiting to Lambeth
Police Stations. (Bristol Centre for Criminal Justice 1991). This is
now available on the National Archives website:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ERO/records/ho415/1/rds/pdfs/hors188.pdf
• Housing section in Thatcher's Britain (Pluto Press/New Socialist
1983)
• The Decline of Private Rented Housing. Labour Party Information
report 1983.
• The Housing Crisis. Labour Party Information report 1983.
• Unemployment. How can branches help? Poverty, Child Poverty Action
Group journal, No.32, Autumn 1975.
• Welfare Rights Stalls. A guide to their role, establishment and to
working on them. Child Poverty Action Group 1973.
Page Updated: February 2007