David Tait: Business and the council can work well as a team

Perhaps "Big Society" is as good a place as any. Here in Linlithgow we had "Big Society" 40 years before the term was invented. In 1970, when Mel Gray saw the defunct Union Canal as a hidden asset rather than a liability, he did something about it – initially with the help of boys from Polmont Young Offenders Institute. Today the Linlithgow Union Canal Society goes from strength to strength on the back of voluntary input. So understated and unassuming are the volunteers as they go about their business that probably more than three quarters of the local population have no idea of what has been achieved or how it was achieved. It is a fine example of what can be done by someone with enough vision, insight, blind faith and determination to overcome all the obstacles strewn in their path by overweight, out of touch bureaucracy.

Touching on the vital role of the small business community in employment and wealth creation and its necessary interaction with the state the most striking facet of the relationship is the yawning chasm that exists in understanding and empathy between the public and private sectors – especially at small business level. In past decades the business community would have provided a far higher proportion of town council members than is the case now. The inevitable outcome would have been a far better mutual understanding and appreciation of respective skills and expertise.

Now public and private have drifted apart. Mutual respect and understanding are totally absent replaced, as alluded to by Lesley Riddoch, by disdain and distrust on the part of local government towards the business community. That said, here in Linlithgow all sides – local voluntary organisations, businesses and local government – have been working to rebuild that trust and understanding and, collectively, we are very optimistic that those efforts will bring reward.

• David Tait is chairman of the Linlithgow Business Association.