{"id":1683,"date":"2025-08-04T15:28:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T14:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/justclp\/?p=1683"},"modified":"2025-08-04T15:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T14:29:10","slug":"1683-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/justclp\/1683-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the future? The Civil Society Covenant: a new era of civic values or business as usual?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Back to the future? The Civil Society Covenant: a new era of civic values or business as usual?<\/a><\/h2>\n

Authors: Prof Gavin Parker and Dr Mark Dobson, University of Reading<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

On the 17th July 2025 the UK Government announced their policy for a \u2018Civil Society Covenant<\/a>\u2019, setting out a\u00a0\u2018new principles-based arrangement for re-setting the relationship between UK Government and civil society\u2019<\/em>. This centres on a commitment to value a range of inputs made on a voluntary basis, whether this be in terms of time, money or knowledge. Such announcements relating to active citizens and the role of voluntarism are often presented by government to position civil society actors as \u201cpart of the fabric of our nation\u201d and included in this embrace are a wide range of volunteers, groups, charities, faith organisations, co-operatives, trade unions, philanthropists, social enterprises and social investors. A very large chunk of society overall.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Covenant\u2019 states that government will \u201cpromote participation and inclusion by involving people in decisions that affect their lives, ensuring their voices are heard and removing barriers to democratic participation\u201d. This sets up a strong position, which appears to promote greater democratic engagement. Cutting to the chase then, the concern is that this type of political rhetoric can mask the reality of the main policy goals and agendas being pursued by administrations. The present government have made it clear that they intend to pursue a growth agenda \u2013 so how does this dovetail? The policy agenda of the David Cameron Conservative-led coalition government in 2010 brought us \u2018Big Society\u2019 and the Localism Act 2011 but this was accompanied by a wide and deep public sector austerity agenda and push to drive growth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The Starmer-led Labour government \u2013 and its overall mission to deliver economic growth and 1.5 million homes by the end of the Parliament, and now this Covenant, is in many ways a continuation. If we take local environment and development as a focal point here, then we can see the ongoing discrepancy. The recent\u00a0Planning and Infrastructure Bill<\/a>\u00a0has focussed on speed and delivery to unlock growth, and includes several measures that seek to actively reduce opportunities for public consultation and inputs (such as for large infrastructure projects and housing schemes), as well as limiting representative democracy, for instance by reducing the role of elected councillors. Something isn\u2019t adding up somehow.
\nWe can also note the recent withdrawal of funding for statutory neighbourhood planning \u2013 an important plank of the 2011 Localism Act. This has been a means for local people to have some control over development in their local area (but only where this supported additional development). A\u00a0debate<\/a>\u00a0was held on the practical demise of this policy in Westminster just last week.\u200b\u200bWhile the Covenant contains a welcome message from government about the value of active civic engagement, the use of \u2018community empowerment\u2019 rhetoric and policy can be a cynical salve to avoid criticism for other more \u2018important\u2019 government objectives. The virtues of civic society are extolled by many politicians, these appear contingent and are typically channelled via pre-determined activities. And so, it is important to keep in view the broader system-wide policy agenda being pursued by the present UK government. While the recently published\u00a0Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill<\/a>\u00a0will provide more opportunities for local representation through mayors, the reintroduction of strategic planning and local government reorganisation raises further questions around how \u2018effective neighbourhood governance\u2019 and \u2018democratic participation\u2019 will fit; more work for the ongoing\u00a0Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods<\/a>\u00a0to consider.
\n\u200b
\n\u200bBeyond questions of the relative importance placed on active citizenship and community engagement, we might also be concerned about the increase of unpaid labour among the population in the face of growing economic insecurity and inequality. There is a clear ethical and moral dimension here \u2013 the encouragement of voluntarism appear benign but unfulfilled claims regarded democratic engagement and exploitation of volunteer time will only further serve to undermine public trust. Rather than \u2018resetting\u2019 the relationship between people and government this can deepen a worrying divide. Following sustained government promises that have often fallen short of the mark over the past half century we would advise a very cautious scepticism here and simultaneously encourage civil society actors to voice about the need to keep government accountable across policy fields given such offerings.<\/div>\n

Both authors are based in the Department of Real Estate and Planning, University of Reading and have been researching neighbourhoods, citizenship and planning matters extensively. Their contact details are:
\nGavin Parker:\u00a0g.parker@reading.ac.uk<\/a>
\nMark Dobson:\u00a0m.e.dobson@reading.ac.uk<\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

Also published here: CPA Blog | Community Planning Alliance<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back to the future? The Civil Society Covenant: a new era of civic values or business as usual? Authors: Prof Gavin Parker and Dr Mark Dobson, University of Reading On the 17th July 2025 the UK Government announced their policy for a \u2018Civil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":1686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBack to the future? 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