How David Cameron's 'Big Society' began in Birmingham's Balsall Heath
He discovered people like 56-year-old father of five Abdul Hamid in Balsall Heath. Mr Hamid was one of those men who patrolled the streets, claiming them back inch by inch, and is now a street warden for the forum.
“It took us four years to get rid of the prostitutes and the kerb crawlers,” said the former market trader. “I was out every night on top of my other job and so were other people.
“People ask me why I did it and it’s simple – I didn’t want to see prostitutes sitting on my wall any more or go to the shop for bread and milk and come back with a black eye and no money.”
“Every neighbourhood has people like Abdul,” Dr Atkinson adds. “But it’s only once they realise that they can make difference by coming together that they become empowered.
“There needs to be a sheepdog to guide them, especially when funding is so hard to come by. What I would say to the Government is that you can’t start at the stage we are at now. Of course it would have been easier if the money had been there and it would have made it easier for others to follow us.”
Dr Atkinson has every right to feel aggrieved about the lack of funding.
He says that a fraction of the forum’s annual budget comes from police and Birmingham City Council, he estimates he has saved the police as much as £1 million a year by tackling crime.
On top of that, the retired college lecturer believes a total of £90 million has been added to the value of the area’s city-owned housing stock.
It all paints a healthy picture of a suburb where residents say they are the most satisfied in the city, according to a survey.
While it would be easy to assume that satisfaction is born out of falling crime levels and the sight of hundreds of planters and hanging baskets which have replaced the prostitutes on street corners, a report by the right-wing think tank Demos suggests it stems from street level democracy.
The work of the forum has been underpinned by about 20 residents’ associations, some covering only a few streets but wielding genuine influence and powers of persuasion.
That is a fact recognised by Demos author Max Wind-Cowie who says such grass roots democracy is one of the “bedrock components” for Big Society.
His paper, Civic Streets, was launched in Balsall Heath and focuses not only on the forum, but also the example of Castle Vale, where the resident-led Castle Vale Community Housing Association has achieved similar successes.
“Communities that come together, establish a plan of action, and consult the wider community have already demonstrated collective efficacy and commitment to improving their neighbourhoods,” states the report.
“This is a vital first step, and should be a pre-requisite for the kind of radical devolution of funding and power that this report promotes.”
The man who has helped to promote democracy in Balsall Heath is Abdullah Rehman, who quit his job as a shopkeeper to become a “capacity builder” responsible for setting up new groups and ensuring attendance stays healthy.
“It’s down to nothing more than getting people to develop the confidence that things can change,” he said. “They don’t have to see a huge victory, it can be the small things that get the ball rolling and then you go from there.
“But we can’t tell people how to do it because every neighbourhood is different.
‘‘They have to learn for themselves but I think the Government can help them to do that.”
Mr Rehman and his family played host to Mr Cameron when he came to witness first hand the mechanics of Big Society in action in 2007.
The Tory leader still writes to Mr Rehman’s young daughters and if Big Society takes root elsewhere, he might owe a few more letters of thanks to that corner of Birmingham.
