Communities in control: Real people, real power sets out how the Government plans to give citizens and communities more rights and more power through:
* more information and greater influence over the local decisions that affect them;
* new means of holding politicians and councils to account; and,
* where they choose, more opportunity to get directly involved in managing and shaping how local services are delivered.
The White Paper will seek to address issues around lack of power and influence at a local level. These include -
- New rights for the public to demand action from their council
Councils will be subject to a new duty to respond to petitions. Petitions will enable local people to force an issue onto a council's agenda. With enough signatures that issue would need to be discussed by the full council committee and could be subject to a vote. This could be used to raise issues as diverse as bin collections and street cleaning, or the state of local parks.
- Increasing accountability
Chairs and Chief Executives of local public bodies - such as Councils- will face regular public hearings as part of plans to increase accountability. More visible 'local question times' will give the public a chance to question officials about how they are improving public services and demand better results if they believe local services are falling short of expectations. It will also give CEOs an opportunity to describe the hard choices and trade-offs involved in decision making.
- Getting redress when things go wrong
Some housing associations already offer money back to tenants where they fail to carry repairs out on time. We want to see if this could go further, with redress for citizens when council services go wrong. We will establish a review into redress for citizens that will report in 2009.
- Giving local people a direct say on how budgets are spent
We want every area of the country to have a 'community kitty' scheme - a pot of money that local people can decide how to spend. Local people should have a say in setting priorities for local budgets - for example if they want to see more community wardens or better street lighting. Government Departments are also committed to citizens having a bigger say over youth and community safety spending.
- £70m Communitybuilders fund
Community-led third sector organisations are one of the most tangible and popular ways people get involved and start to actively give something back to their local communities. The Government will be investing £70m in organisations that are the backbone of their communities. This will help strong community groups acquire buildings, take a role in running local services, and become more financially self sustainable.
- Local people running local assets
Street markets, community centres and swimming pools will be handed over to local residents if they can do a better job of running them than councils. 30 new pilots will get underway shortly and a new Asset Transfer Unit will be established to support community groups making the most of buildings and resources.
- Making it easier for people to get a directly elected mayor.
Mayors provide visible local leadership and have the potential to engage more people in politics. We will consult on allowing on-line petitioning as well as paper petitions to be counted towards support for a referendum for a mayor. We will consult on reducing the number of people needed to trigger a referendum from 5% to perhaps 2%, 3% or 4% and change existing rules that mean no referendum can be held for 10 years if referendum is lost.
- Promoting democracy
A new duty will be placed on local authorities to promote democracy. Local leaders will be expected to do more to help residents understand how the democratic process works and how they can get involved. Residents can expect to see information campaigns and town halls being opened up to councillors to hold surgeries. New 'civic champions' - council staff or former councillors who will go out into the community and work with residents and community groups to increase understanding about how they can raise awareness about civic roles they can take up - whether that's volunteering, standing as a governor, a councillor or becoming a magistrate.
- Empowering young people More needs to be done to make politics and local services relevant and open to young people. We will establish a programme for young people to shadow government ministers and elected mayors, develop a programme of internships with local councillors and increase the number of young people who help councils and others understand the impact of their policies on the young
Data from the 2007 Citizenship Survey shows that in the last year just 38% of people felt able to influence decisions in their local area. 50% of respondents to the same survey wanted to be more involved in the decisions that their local council makes that affect their local area.
We have seen some excellent improvements in the performance of local government in recent years. This makes local government well placed to take on the significant challenge of rejuvenating local democracy.
Councils remain the vital elected voice of local people. The White Paper is about finding new ways to allow more people to influence decisions directly. Petitions have been a well-understood part of our public life for centuries. They represent a recognised method of bringing people's views together into a single collective voice. New data published today shows that more must be done to ensure petitions are acted upon.
A new YouGov survey of 1,906 adults across England shows -
* 70% of people have signed a petition - 63% in the last 5 years, and 42% in the last year;
* 90% of people think that councils should take account of views raised through petitions when making decisions - but only 21% of people agree that they currently do;
* 84% of people said they were more likely to sign a petition is a response was guaranteed and over half (54%) of respondents were more likely to organise one if a response was guaranteed
* Of those who have signed or organised a petition 48% were not satisfied with the way in which the council took their views into account; and,
* 34% of us do not know their council's process for submitting petitions.
The new duty on councils to respond to petitions will make sure that petitions have a greater impact and unlock local democracy for a lot more people.
CASE STUDIES
Oldham.
The Empowerment principle has been applied in Oldham, where the local communities of Fitton Hill and Hathershaw have worked with local agencies to produce Neighbourhood Agreements. A Neighbourhood Agreement is an agreed contract designed by both the residents and service providers that agrees to provide the best possible services in an area using existing resources and taking account of local priorities and allow the community to be part of the decision making process. Five Neighbourhood Agreements are being put together to tackle a range of issues. So far, two have been published which deal with environmental issues and anti-social behaviour. The project, just one of twelve pilot schemes across the country, is already proving popular with residents.
Salford
A pilot scheme in Salford involves the local communities in Claremont & Weaste and East Salford in proposing and prioritising projects for highways improvements. Elected Council members approved the devolution of £800k worth of spending on highways improvements to eight community committees. The community committees for Claremont & Weaste and East Salford decided to prioritise their £100,000 devolved highways budgets via a participatory budgeting process. (East Salford actually combined two years' funding to give a single pot of £200,000 to be decided by participatory budgeting). The two committees wished to engage with a wider range of members than would normally attend community committee meetings. The local community also had a role in the design and delivery of the projects. A second event is to be held at Claremont and Weaste in the 2008/9 financial year, building upon success of year one. Finally, a participatory budgeting event will be held in 2008 to inform and encourage senior partners to become more involved in the process and to share good practice.
Liverpool
Residents in North Liverpool were fed up that prostitutes were turning a local street into a no-go area for families. They used a regular 'meet the judge' event to talk to Judge David Fletcher, who heads their local community justice centre. North Liverpool Community Justice centre brings together criminal justice agencies and voluntary organisations to tackle local crime. Its dedicated courtroom, presided over by Judge Fletcher, hears Magistrates' Court and Youth Court cases, as well as cases that would normally be sent to the Crown Court for sentence. As a result of combined efforts between the centre and the police, prostitutes and kerb crawlers were brought swiftly to court. Judge Fletcher disqualified seven kerb crawlers from driving, ensuring that they did not return to the area, or drive to any other area.
