Community involvement UK news/2011-2021

The UKGov says they're looking for bottom-up solutions. A new campaign for community power, led by activists, tells them "We're Right Here", Dec 2, 2021...Daily Alternative

• Government is holding local areas back in quest for net zero, New Local (Oct 20, 2021)

• "I wanted ordinary citizens to feel like they owned the chamber". A mindful review of ex-Mayor of Sheffield Magic Magid's The Art of Disruption, Mar 26, 2021...thealternative.org.uk
• "The Understanding Society Survey in 2015 showed that only 3% of people in the UK are involved in neighbourhood projects, while nearly 60% agreed, or strongly agreed, that they wanted to work together to improve their neighbourhood." Designing participation systems around people, not institutions, Tessy Britton, Feb 24, 2021....tessybritton.medium.com
• The Scottish Citizens Assembly has concluded - and one of its big proposals is a "House of Citizens", as a second chamber for Holyrood, Feb 8, 2021...thealternative.org.uk
• The newly launched UK Democracy Handbook will be a collectively created online space to inform and connect people working for a better democracy in the UK. Jan 26, 2021...nesta.org.uk

Councillors revolt over government plans to dismantle planning system, CPRE Kent, Dec 10...^[1]

• Right to scrap First Past the Post won for Welsh councils.^[2] Nov 18
• Deep Revolution. The Alternative UK.^[3] Nov 23
• Local people have had to improvise during the pandemic. Could their solutions stick? John Harris^[4] Nov 22
• Report for government calls for a new era of 'community power', Sep 24^[5] Proposals include a 'Community Power Act' to give local people power over the design and delivery of public services.
• If democracy looks doomed, Extinction Rebellion may have an answer, John Harris.^[6] Aug 30
• How do you "engage" with British attitudes, respecting their endless variety and nuance? Pol.is (and its AI) can help^[7] Jul 20

• Communities vs. Coronavirus: The Rise of Mutual Aid, New Local (Jul 13, 2020)

What would a "new land contract" for the UK—written from scratch with fairness in mind—actually look like? Can we do some of it straightaway?..^[8] "We also need to invite everyone — and I mean everyone — to see what another land economy could look like. Imagine a Britain in ten years time where everyone has a basic level of security, and a stake in society. Perhaps you'd live on…"  Jun 25...Towards a more democratic and climate friendly way of meeting housing need across England

• Kieran Breen FRSA on how we to achieve a more deliberative and participatory democracy. Jun 3^[9]
• Tomorrow Today Streets, Creating essential micro-infrastructure for post Covid 19 neighbourhoods, TessyBritton.^[10] May 30
• Universal Basic Everything by @TessyBritton^[11] May 30
• Parish councils: an unlikely urban safety net.^[12] Apr 13
• In the UK, trust in government fell 11 percentage points in the year to Autumn 2019, Office for National Statistics.^[13] Feb 20
• Could a "National Citizens Assembly" replace the House of Lords? From local government and Scotland, a provocation and a proposal.^[14] Jan 21

References

When a neighbourhood assembly becomes a community, by @kahui.^[1] Dec 16, 2019

• 'Pop Up Tomorrow' and a journey to 2030. A report.^[2] Nov 8
• Technology will not save us from climate change – but imagining new forms of society will.^[3] Oct 28
• To fight climate change, science must be mobilised like it was in World War II.^[4] Oct 21
• Becoming Unstuck With Relational Activism.^[5] Oct 10
• A/UK has been working with Extinction Rebellion to develop a Future Democracy Hub, now launching.^[6] Sep 7
• What would a new charter for radical democratic reform look like today? by @adamjlent.^[7] Sep 1

First climate assembly in UK draws up wishlist for council action...^[8] Jul 20

• Alternative.Camden will give people a chance to co-create the future.^[9] Jul 3
• How to take over your town: the inside story of a local revolution.^[10] Jun 12
• Flatpack-Democracy-inspired groups make advances in UK local elections.^[11] May 3
• Citizens Lab 1.0 by Alternative Camden.^[12] Apr 23
• Our public services need communitisation – not privatisation or nationalisation.^[13] Mar 27
• Could this community project be the start of a national transformation? George Monbiot.^[14]
• On the launch of Alt.Cmd [Alternative.Camden] by @joostbeunderman.^[15] Jan 22

References

Community-led commissioning - a new model, Nov 22, 2018^[1]

• Oldham's Community Transformation, Nov 14, 2018...^[2]
• From Scotland, a proposal for a new level of self-defining community power: Development Councils, Nov 3, 2018^[3]
• Poeticians, micro-utopias and citizens assemblies will renew democracy, Aug 26, 2018^[4]
• This disastrous new project will change the face of Britain, yet no debate is allowed, George Monbiot, Aug 22, 2018...^[5]
• Bringing Open Government to Local Governments, Jan 29, 2018^[6]

References

• Viewpoint: Imagine a future that works – for Every One, by Every One, Nov 30...^[1]
• The Festival of Everyone announces full programme of events across the borough this Saturday, Nov 24...^[2]
• Communities to be given 'direct voice' in local authorities' spending decisions, Oct 29...^[3]
• Why We're Bringing A Hackathon To Barking and Dagenham, Sep 29^[4]
• Democracy? There's an app for that – the tech upstarts trying to 'hack' British politics, Jun 6^[5]
• Co-operative places: the five foundations of local change, May 19^[6]
• What if you had real power to shape where you live in a practical way? May 8^[7]
• Involve's new strategy – how we intend to build a democracy that works for everyone, May 2^[8]

From the pub to the Town Council: on how citizens took control of local politics, Peter MacFadyen, Apr 6...^[9]

• Expansion of Community Organisers Programme, Mar 2^[10]
• Three Rules For Helping Rebuild Communities, Feb 17^[11]

References

• Community involvement is marginal in Britain, data shows, Jun 30, 2016...^[1]
• NHS Citizen: Looking back on the Citizens’ Assembly, December 9, 2015...^[2] On Wednesday 25th November the first official NHS Citizens’ Assembly took place at the ExCel Centre in London. This national Assembly brought together over 250 citizens with the Board of NHS England and senior NHS staff to discuss and look for solutions to 5 issues affecting healthcare in England. These issues were:

1. Preventing premature deaths
2. Comprehensive psychosocial approaches to mental health
3. Improving health outcomes for looked-after children and young people
4. Support for people with dementia post-diagnosis
5. Transparency in Clinical Commissioning Group decision making

Engagement at the local level should be citizen-led rather than institution-led, October 28, 2015...^[3]

• Big Society has failed, three year Civil Exchange study concludes, January 20, 2015...^[4]
• Co-production: time to break out of the public service corral, Julian Dobson, January, 2015...^[5]

References

Isabel Carlisle on making space for Nature: the Community Charter, September 17, 2014...^[1]

Beyond Co-production - Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), May 23, 2014...^[2]

• Participatory Budgeting: tough questions and real answers, May 20, 2013...^[3]
• The left must abandon the idea of change from above, December 20, 2012...^[4]
• An imaginary open letter: To those who would ‘engage’ us…, August 9, 2012, By Mike...^[5]
• Westminster World Heritage Site and Parliament Square a national disgrace, Hansard Society, October 25, 2011... New vision putting citizen and visitor at its heart needed.
• Eric Pickles: Citizen journalists and bloggers should be let in to public council meetings, 23 February, 2011...^[6]
• Councils and hyperlocal ‘bloggers’: It’s the council system which needs changing, not how people are allowed to cover them, David Higgerson, February 23, 2011...^[7]
• "If nothing else the transparency that the social web embodies and that government says it wants to deliver with #opendata means that we will no longer be able to hide our policy programmes in big black boxes that we only open up on launch day" Catherine Howe, January 23, 2011...^[8]

References