When London temporarily buckled under the pressure of rioters two years ago, most people could only manage to stand by and watch in horror.

But for a community activist from Worthing, adopting the role of a bewildered spectator wasn’t an option.

Artist and author Dan Thompson, 39, led an online campaign called #riotcleanup and managed to gather a team of more than 12,000 volunteers to help clean up the battered capital.

For his efforts, Prime Minister David Cameron sent him tickets to the prestigious opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and labelled him as “a great example of British leadership.”

Such was the success of the #riotcleanup, he was impressively included in GQ’s Top 100 Most Influential Men list for that year.

Since then he formed #WeWill- Gather – a function that allows people to start positive projects in their community and find like-minded volunteers to help complete it.

But when he’s not catching the eye of powerful politicians, Mr Thompson works to make use of empty high street shops and provides advice and support to projects up and down the UK.

He is the founder of the Empty Shops Network, a project that encourages the reinvention of redundant spaces in the UK’s high streets.

He’s also the author of Pop-Up Business for Dummies, a book that teaches people how to plan and launch a successful pop-up business in their town centre.

Mr Thompson was nominated for the Local Hero award by an anonymous caller to The Argus.

He joked: “I’m really proud someone has nominated me but I’m concerned they were too ashamed to name themselves.

“I’m passionate about new ideas and innovation and just generally making our towns and cities a better place.

“My projects aren’t about telling people what to do or how to do things.

“It’s more giving people a chance to do a number of these things for themselves.”

For more information on Mr Thompson and his various projects, visit mrdanthompson.wordpress.com.

The Argus:

Hundreds of heroes go almost unnoticed in our communities.

But The Argus is determined to give them the recognition they thoroughly deserve.

We have teamed up with housing repair and maintenance company Mears to launch our weekly Local Heroes Award.

We are inviting readers to nominate their candidates and tell us why they have put them forward for the award.

Contact Kimberly Middleton on 01273 544519 or email kimberly.middleton@theargus.co.uk