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Levelling up our communities: proposals for a new social covenant, a report by Danny Kruger MBE
In July the Prime Minister asked Danny Kruger MBE for proposals to sustain the community spirit we all saw during the lockdown. The report was published yesterday, 24 September 2020, with a generous response by the Prime Minister, including a commitment to engage the voluntary sector – which now includes many new volunteers and organisations that didn’t exist before Covid-19 – in a conversation about how to take forward this agenda.
Levelling up our communities: proposals for a new social covenant sets out a vision for a more local, more human, less bureaucratic, less centralised society in which people are supported and empowered to play an active role in their neighbourhoods.
The report is warm about libraries and you may be interested in some of the comments about libraries and the reference to community-managed libraries:
“The fact that the library is an historic institution, a repository of the memories of a local place and traditionally a window on knowledge and a doorway to opportunity for people from ordinary backgrounds, fits it even more for its role at the heart of communities in the 21st century. Many council-run library services are increasingly engaging with communities in designing their services. And where local authorities struggle to maintain local libraries, communities are stepping up to take over and run them. 20% of libraries are now community-managed, and more could be. Government should make a major commitment to support the local library as the hub of the 21st century community”
One of his summary recommendations include
“A new focus on the modern local library, often community-managed, delivering business start-up support and digital inclusion for local communities”
The report can be downloaded here: https://www.dannykruger.org.uk/communities-report
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