Photo by Sebastian Derungs, via flickr

In the light of David Cameron’s speech on Monday, launching his vision for a “a social recovery to mend the broken society”, East London Lines will be giving an overview throughout the week of the Big Society in our boroughs.

We will be talking to charities and community organizations based in Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham and Croydon, who offer services to East Londoners. They will explain their views on Cameron’s “mission”, and talk us through how they think the Big Society vision will actually work for them.

Cameron sees the Big Society as an opportunity for social recovery, “whether it’s broken families or whether it’s some communities breaking down or whether it’d the level of crime, the level of gang membership…”

Critics have billed Cameron’s “passion” as a vague, rose-tinted picture to plaster over the cracks of over-zealous cuts, thought to amount to £5 billion over the coming four years. Labour leader Ed Milliband has gone as far to say: “Mr Cameron’s cuts undermine the Big Society.”

Will the Big Society breathe a new lease of life into East London’s broken communities, or will the charitable sector be broken itself, stretched to provide services with fewer resources and less manpower than ever?

Check back over the course of the week to hear how key providers of your local community care intend to respond to the coming changes.