We don’t often post other’s articles here, but it’s worthy of note that Norfolk, and more specifically, Norwich, features in this piece. The impossible decisions that the local authority is making are something of a given. We can’t turn back the clock. Many, many people will suffer as a result of these plans. The real concerns are twofold. One lies in the timing. With so much daily hyperbole about cuts and the strains the NHS is under, many people are desensitised to terms like ‘a perfect storm’. There are services being drastically cut alongside wholesale welfare benefit changes and cuts, a housing system that simply doesn’t work for many and hitherto unseen pressure on statutory services. These combined factors are going to have an impact beyond policy-makers’ comprehension and not just on people with ‘protected characteristics’. The other point of note, which probably isn’t unique to Norfolk, but sometimes feels so, is the absence of truly groundbreaking and innovative solutions. Saying that services will still be delivered to the vulnerable no longer stacks up against cuts of this magnitude. It requires root and branch re-thinking and where is this going to come from? I’m not going to sit here and say that social enterprise has all the answers, but if you look at just some of the drive, leverage and social impact they have, are they not worth bit of investment locally? What have we got to lose?
