ABSTRACT
A very different form and level of participation was meanwhile being developed in Walsall. This contentious borough had won an SRB bid which was based on a decentralised neighbourhood model with which the former leader (expelled from the Labour Party and from his position as leader just as the bid was won) was closely and personally identified. It was a radical vision, as the formal bid made clear. The main focus of this bid was on empowering residents in targeted local communities, enabling them to exercise real power over resources, to tackle the physical and social problems of their areas and to equip them with the motivation, skills and qualifications to obtain employment in and beyond the borough.31
