Getting closer to communities What can partnerships do for us?

Elected Member training pack | Community Engagement and Empowerment

• Understand the benefits and drivers for getting closer to our communities

• Explore the role of elected Members

• Understand how partnership working can help

• Assess the effectiveness of current methods

• Identify challenges and opportunities

• Learn from good practice elsewhere

• Identify how to put our ideas into practice

Aims of the session

Agenda for today

1. What do we mean by ‘getting closer to our communities’?

2. Why bother?

3. What role do elected Members play?

4. How can partnership working help?

5. Where are we now?

6. What can we learn from other areas?

7. Where do we want to be?

8. What are the next steps?

What do we mean by ‘getting closer to communities’?

• Giving local people a voice

• Consulting with local people on their needs and wants

• Giving citizens more control over the way local services are designed and run

• Working with people

• Shifting power and responsibility to local people

• Treating local residents as partners

• Enabling people to shape services and make decisions

Some common themes:

• Listening

• Involving

• Enabling

• Empowering

• Engaging

• Influence

• Choice

• Power

• Trust

• Collaboration

• Leadership

• Delivery

Examples:

Neighbourhood working

Community litter picks

Community Charters

Volunteering

Redress

Asset Management and Transfer

Participatory

Budgeting

National Policing Pledge

Community Forums

Thriving voluntary and

community sector

Local budgets for

ward councillors

Citizens’ Panels

Why bother?

• Improve resident satisfaction

• Deliver better services

• Build trust between residents and local service providers / elected Members

• Create more cohesive and integrated communities

• Revive civic society and local democracy

• Secure external funding

• CAA - more focus on local people’s perception / experience of services

• LAAs – responding to local priorities

What’s the current picture?

• 51% satisfied with local services overall – a decline

• Voter turnout below 40% at local government elections

• 4 in 10 feel their voices are heard at the local level

• 38% feel able to influence decisions in their local area

• 9% of people involved in some kind of civic participation

• Majority feel that their local councillor does not represent their view

What role do Elected Members play?

Community Leaders

Advocates for their ward

Respond to constituents’

needsIdentify

local priorities

Hold local services to

account

Represent the local

community

– Councillor calls for action

– Petitions

– Overview & Scrutiny

– Local surgeries

– Community forums

– Local budgets

How can partnership working help?

• Access to specialist knowledge

• Increased capacity to deliver services

• Closer links into local communities - including more excluded groups

• Access to a wider pool of skills, data & resources

• VCS – understanding needs of individual communities; volunteering opportunities

• More creative solutions – more flexible and innovative services

• Increased efficiency

• Shared lessons and good practice

Group Exercise 1:Where are we now?

• How well do we know all of our local communities?

• How engaged are we with our communities?

• How do we empower local people?

• How are Members involved?

• How well do we work in partnership?

What’s are other areas doing?

• Neighbourhood Charters – Brighton; Staffordshire Moorlands; Chorley Smile Campaign

• Local ward budgets - Westminster

• Participatory Budgeting – Harrow

• Asset transfer – Ordsall Community Café; Tatton Community Centre

• Youth Grants – West Sussex

• ‘Natural Communities’ - Wiltshire

Group Exercise 2:Where do we want to be?

• What do we want to achieve?

• What do we need to do to get there?

• What are the pros and cons of different methods?

• What are the barriers?

• How will we measure success?

How can we get there?