The Coalition's Big Society project has failed on its own terms amid a continued reduction in civic participation and a growing belief residents cannot influence local decisions, a think tank has reported.

In a Civil Exchange paper issued today entitled ‘Whose society? The final big society audit', researchers judge the Big Society programme, which formed a key plank of the Conservative 2010 general election manifesto, has not delivered the radical change prime minister David Cameron had pledged.

The three-year investigation found the Big Society programme did not meet its own target criteria of empowering communities, opening up public services and stimulating social action.