Is the Asset Transfer of Public Leisure Facilities in England an Example of Associative Democracy?

Abstract

In England, public sports facilities and libraries provided by local government are being transferred to management and delivery by volunteers. The catalyst for this development has been reductions in local government budgets. However, case studies explore if this asset transfer "offers a way of restoring the ideal of committed public service in the face of widespread bureaucratic failure and retreat", as a form of associative democracy and empowerment of both the volunteers and those for whom the services are provided.

Management strategies of non-profit community sport facilities in an era of austerity

“…It is clear, and supported by evidence, that the austerity agenda has increased pressure on local governmentthe most significant area of public spendingto move towards privatisation (Jones & Stewart, 2012;Levitas, 2012;Parnell, Millward, & Spracklen, 2015) or the asset transfer of public services to third sector / non-profit groups (Nichols et al, 2015). Sport outsourcing has also been found in education contexts (Cope et al, 2015;Parnell et al, 2015;Parnell et al, 2016).…”

From public to volunteer library provision in the UK: lesson to be learnt – one size does not fit all

“…This paper is an exploration of the practical implications of our research. In earlier work on library asset transfer, we considered the nature of such transfers to be a form of associative democracy (Nichols et al, 2015).We also explored the features of the type of localism that transfer embodies, and its reliance on financial and social capital within volunteer groups (Findlay-King et al, 2017). These most recent case studies indicate broad support for our earlier findings, and we will continue to exploreboth theoretically and practicallythe role of volunteers in delivering library services.…”

“…Volunteering has strong links to ideas of association and social capital, with the latter's emphasis on mutual cooperation, reciprocity and networking (Nichols et al, 2015).The use of the concept of 'social capital' has become increasingly popular in UK policy making and academic discourse, and pertinently to explain volunteering (in the founding work of Putnam, 1995, and in many research applications since, for example Brown and Ferris, 2007). The concept is multifaceted (Wang and Graddy, 2008) and has a variety of definitions.…”

An analysis of third sector sport organisations in an era of ‘super-austerity’

“…King (2013King ( , 2014 has led the way in examining the changing face of LA sports provision in an era of economic recession and neoliberal political governmentality. It is well documented that such conditions have instigated a contraction of local public services and a concomitant transference of responsibility for the delivery of non-essential services, such as sport and leisure provision, on to the third sector (Macmillan 2013, King 2014, Nichols et al 2015. The sample of TSSOs represented within this research were predominantly made up of large and medium sized organisations, and the size of the organisation not only served to dictate the funding sources that TSSOs pursued, but also had a clear bearing on their ability to win commissions or contracts from potential funders.…”