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Third Sector Review

Yes. To continue the point, I want to put in a plea to local authorities regarding small social enterprises. When local authorities plan redevelopment schemes, they all too often overlook the fact that small social enterprises are often displaced by new developments. I am thinking of the little companies in my constituency that were literally under the arches. One can now find high-class stabling for the racehorses in Chester and, as happens in other cities, the space under the arches has been used for smart cafés and bistros. Local authorities are good at saying, ““Yes, we need to allocate sites for affordable housing””—well, perhaps not all local authorities, but my local authority has been quite good at doing so—but affordable units for small social enterprises are also important. My other point about local authorities is that they need to have flexible planning policies. Too often they turn down applications for socially beneficial businesses to go into units, saying, ““Oh, this is a retail unit, so you can't change the use to a launderette””, or something like that. Finally, I want to put in a good word for the 7,000 charity shops throughout Britain, which are run by an army of volunteers and raise more than £500,000 a year for the third sector. It sounds as though I am having a jibe against local politicians, but too often we hear them saying, ““Oh, this is terrible! The increasing presence of charity shops is a sign of economic decline.”” I say to that, ““Rubbish! It is a sign of how robust the third sector and voluntary organisations are.”” Not only do charity shops raise a lot of money for the third sector; they also raise awareness of the charity. I am sure that a number of hon. Members present will have received the same invitation from Barnardo's that I have. They will find me behind the counter in my local branch of Barnardo's on ““Make a Difference Day””, which I believe is 27 October. The voluntary sector has gone from strength to strength over the past 10 years, but there are still too many people in our affluent society who feel marginalised and isolated. We need a clear vision for the future. One vision that I should like to offer is to use the example of the children's centres that have been rolled out across our communities. They have done an immensely important job of bringing together under one roof all those public services and voluntary organisations that care for, help and support children and their families. As we move further into the 21st century, I would like every community to have a volunteers centre. I am not talking about spending lots of money on bricks and mortar—we could use the village hall, the church hall or the school that has closed down. However, we need a place where all the volunteers can share resources, meet and network. That would be a good model for the future.