Page Aim
Traditionally local democracy has been based on council elections and voters' access to council members. More recently an area's stakeholders have also been able to speak at their local authorities' council and council committee meetings.
Low voter turnout and other factors have led to Government attempts to re-engage local electorates through, eg, its modernisation and locality working programmes.
Using Links’ work in the Coventry and Warwickshire subregion, this page will illustrate how communities everywhere can use decision making processes to lobby on S&P concerns.
Page Contents
Log of recent approaches. Council responses are incorporated into information included in the Local Participation Opportunities page
1. Opportunities for Participation in Decision Making
1 Are Councils Responding
to Information Requests?
2 Copy of the Letter
Sent to Coventry and Warwickshire Councils: VCS Participation in
Decision Making.
3 Information Request
Enclosures.
2. Opportunities to Promote S&P in Local Decision Making
4 Are Councils Responding
to Information Requests?
5 Copy of the Letter
Sent to Coventry and Warwickshire Councils: Six Key Questions.
Page Updates
Each year the site's Local Participation Log will show what work is being undertaken to promote S&P concerns across the catchment area.
1. Opportunities for Participation in Decision Making
Are Councils Responding to Information Requests?
First Information Request
Links’ original information request re opportunities for civil participation in local decision making was sent Monday 01 June 2009:
6 Coventry City Council:
Leader.
7 North Warwickshire
Borough Council: Assistant Chief Executive and Solicitor to the
Council.
8 Nuneaton and Bedworth
Borough Council: Assistant Director.
9 Rugby Borough Council:
Director.
10 Stratford-on-Avon District
Council; Strategic Director.
11 Warwick District Council:
Director.
12 Warwickshire County Council;
Chief Executive.
Second Information Request
The follow up information request was sent Tuesday 14 July 2009:
13 Warwickshire County Council:
Assistant Director.
14 Follow up information
request sent Tuesday 21 July 2009.
15 Nuneaton and Bedworth
Borough Council: Assistant Director.
16 Stratford-on-Avon District
Council: Strategic Director.
The following councils did provide the requested information:
17 Coventry City Council.
18 North Warwickshire Borough
Council.
19 Nuneaton and Bedworth
Borough Council.
20 Warwick District Council.
21 Rugby Borough Council.
These councils did not reply to any of the information requests:
22 Stratford-on-Avon District
Council.
23 Warwickshire County Council.
Third Information Request
a) Another follow up information request was sent at the end of March 2010:
24 Coventry City Council.
25 North Warwickshire Borough
Council.
26 Nuneaton and Bedworth
Borough Council.
27 Warwick District Council.
28 Rugby Borough Council.
b) Follow up Freedom of Information requests were sent at the end of March 2010:
29 Stratford-on-Avon District
Council.
30 Warwickshire County Council.
The following councils did provide the requested information:
31 Coventry City Council.
32 Stratford-on-Avon District
Council.
33 Warwick District Council.
34 Rugby Borough Council.
35 Warwickshire County Council.
These councils did not reply to the March 2010 follow up information requests:
36 North Warwickshire Borough
Council.
37 Nuneaton and Bedworth
Council.
Copy of the Letter Sent to Coventry and Warwickshire Councils
31 March 2010
Dear
Coventry and Warwickshire VCS Participation in Decision Making
Thank you for the information provided in response to earlier contact and noted in the table below, which summarises known details of VCS participation opportunities in local decision making processes.
Recognising the democratic importance of local civil engagement, the Government has introduced a range of measures, which this site aims to outreach. Please could you help us to do this by providing the information updates now requested:
Council led
1. Do council committee meetings make provision for a public question time?
2. Do any council committees have members who are not council members? For example, do any of your council scrutiny / standards processes have places for citizen representatives?
3. Are there any other opportunities for voluntary sector representatives to influence decision making / directly participate in council processes?
4. Many councils are reviewing their 2009 decision on whether or not to opt in to the Sustainable Communities Act. Please advise what consideration your council has given to this.
5. The Links website is to provide a resource for ongoing participation in local decision making. Are you able to advise on a point of contact for future queries. As it is in the interests of everyone concerned that all information included on the site is correct, Links will send the designated postholder regular site update preview disks. Our publication of a POC will also ensure that participation related queries from elsewhere enter council processes at an agreed place.
LSP led
6. Are VCS representatives currently members of the Partnership board? If so please give details of third sector organisations involved.
7. Please can you tell me what LSP theme / administration groups are currently active? (Examples of LSP administration groups are Coventry Partnership’s Progress, Impact and Evaluation Group and Operations Group).
8. Are VCS representatives members of any LSP theme groups? Please give details.
9. Please advise how interested parties may become involved in the work of the area’s LSP board.
10. I understand that a new SCS has been published. Please send a copy of this so that a sustainability audit may be included on the Links website.
Voluntary led
11. Please outline details of any forums bringing voluntary organisation concerns directly into council decision making processes, eg North Warwickshire’s Voluntary Action North forum.
12. TSAs are becoming established nationwide. Has the council considered how best to maximise the local TSA’s democratic potential?
Community led
13. Please could you advise when the Council will be reviewing its decision re Sustainable Communities Act opt in?
Please advise if (and where) any of any of these details are readily accessible on the council’s website, and note that all data provided will be published during May’s website update. Thank you very much for your assistance with this information request.
Yours sincerely
Paul Galley
Information Coordinator
Information Request Enclosures
1: Recent Government Measures Promoting Civil Participation
Local Government Act 2000. Strong and Prosperous Communities (Local Government White Paper) 2006. Local Strategic Partnerships – Shaping Their Future, ODPM, 2006. Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power (Empowerment White Paper) 2008. Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2008.
38 SCSs, LSPs and related
processes, such as CENs, LAAs, LDFs.
39 The National Indicator
Set, which includes measures of community engagement.
40 Annual Comprehensive
Area Agreement reports encouraging engagement.
41 The responsibilities
and duties of local council members have been strengthened to respond
to / take the lead on local issues through petitions and calls for
action.
42 The Duty to Inform, Duty
to Consult and Involve, Duty to Cooperate.
43 The Local Democracy,
Economic Development and Construction Act.
44 Production of the IDeA
/ LGA self assessment website tool to highlight citizen involvement.
45 CLG publications including
Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous Communities, Action Plan for
Community Empowerment, Third Sector Principles of Representation
and the NI14 guide on influencing decision making / strategies for
increasing empowerment.
46 The LGA / NCVO Votes
and Voices paper which outlines the complementary nature of representative
and participatory democracy.
47 Comprehensive Community
Engagement Strategies.
2: The Importance of Civil Participation in Decision Making
Government concern about its representational legitimacy is a prime reason for measures to encourage more participatory democracy. Another concern is that current governance structures are not equal to the challenges presented by our global unsustainability.
Source of data: www.electoralcommission.gov.uk/electiondata
2005 General Election Votes
MP Electorate
Votes %
Coventry North East 21,178
Bob Ainsworth 70,225
30.2
Coventry North West 20,942
Geoffrey Robinson 73,180
28.6
Coventry South 18,649
Jim Cunningham 68,884
31.8
North Warwickshire 22,561
Mike O’ Brien 75,435
29.3
Nuneaton 19,945
Bill Olner 73,440
27.2
Rugby & Kenilworth 23,447
Jeremy Wright 83,303
28.1
Stratford-upon-Avon 28,652
John Maples 84,581
33.9
Warwick & Leamington 22,238
James Plaskitt 81,205
27.4
2. Opportunities to Promote S&P in Local Decision Making
Are Councils Responding to Information Requests?
First Information Request
Links’ original information request for information re the role of S&P in local decision making was sent Tuesday 22 June 2010:
48 Coventry City Council:
Leader.
49 North Warwickshire Borough
Council: Assistant Chief Executive and Solicitor to the Council.
50 Nuneaton and Bedworth
Borough Council: Assistant Director.
51 Rugby Borough Council:
Director.
52 Stratford-on-Avon District
Council; Strategic Director.
53 Warwick District Council:
Director.
54 Warwickshire County Council;
Chief Executive.
Copy of the Letter Sent to Coventry and Warwickshire Councils
22 June 2010
Dear
Six Key Questions
Thank you for the information provided in response to earlier queries. This will soon be included on the sustainabilitylinks.org website.
Recognising the democratic importance of community engagement, the new Government is set to introduce further participation initiatives across civil society. Please could you help Links outreach this by providing the information now requested.
These six key questions are being sent to Coventry and Warwickshire’s six LSPs and the county’s PSB. They’re intended to reveal the level of each area’s support for community input into sustainability decision making.
LSP led opportunities:
LSP processes are intended to address democratic exclusivity and engage ‘hard to reach’ groups. There are countless VCOs working on sustainability concerns nationwide – most have a large number of grassroots supporters, several have local branches.
1. How does your LSP board give representation to these organisations?
2. Apart from through an ongoing commitment to theme group work, how can VCO representatives agenda items for, and bring expertise to, your area’s LSP board meetings?
Sustainable Community Strategies are intended to reflect areas’ long term visions. Evidence of the world’s environmental, economic and social unsustainability increasingly demands urgent action (the Transition initiative presents perhaps the best examples of credible community level responses).
3. Does your LSP periodically audit its SCS for anachronistic world view content? If so please could you give brief detail of the last review.
4. Has your LSP considered how to build into its work a systemic means to address the local implications of global unsustainability?
Voluntary sector led opportunities:
5. Have your Council and / or LSP given active support to the current development of a local Third Sector Assembly and how best to maximise its democratic potential?
Community sector led opportunities:
6. Is your Council periodically reviewing its decision not to opt in to the Sustainable Communities Act and establish a Citizens Panel? Has your LSP been given a chance to consider the Act and whether to recommend opt in? Please give details.
Next update…
More on the new local democratic opportunities – plus a report on how Coventry and Warwickshire councils responded to approaches about last December’s COP15 climate change summit in Copenhagen.
Please
contact us with any information or feed back:
E-mail - info@sustainabilitylinks.org.uk
Post - SustainabiltyLINKS, 3 Park Road, Bedworth CV12 8LH