We need a social infrastructure commission | Letters

In terms of community needs, pubs, corner shops and libraries are as important as theatres and art galleries, writes Colin Tweedy

Aditya Chakrabortty (The blackouts summed up a crisis of our public spaces, 14 August) vividly describes a crisis that is pervading the social fabric that holds people together. The loss of public parks, libraries, pubs, and the hollowing out of our town and village centres, is destroying the communities that politicians of all colours want to support. Chakrabortty calls for the setting up of a social infrastructure commission to audit what we have and help protect what we are losing. I could not agree more that such a commission is a vital first step.

For 28 years I ran the charity Arts & Business, which advocated private funding for the nation's culture. I grew to realise that often the arts are imposed on communities in a top-down (albeit well-meaning) way that fails to address the real social needs of the community. Pubs, corner shops and libraries are as important as theatres and art galleries - it must not be an either/or. I now run the Built Environment Trust and its home, the Building Centre. Here we have observed the rapid erosion of the physical fabric, both public and private, of our built communities, playgrounds, shops, cinemas, playing fields, even park benches.

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