Enhancing Local Democracy Conference 2009
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Summary
This year, SEE’s annual conference was held at Local Government House in Westminster. This is the LGA’s conference centre – and it was a great venue for a really vibrant event.
We had over eighty delegates there – a mix of councillors and officers from a wide range of local authorities. Apart from our own member councils, a number of London Boroughs were represented, as were local authorities as far afield as Sunderland City Council!
Highlights of the day included the two keynote speakers – David Aaronovitch and Gerry Stoker. David is one of our best known political journalists and commentators and he talked about the move in recent years to what he describes as a “monitoring democracy” where all our actions are subject to the harshest of scrutiny by not only the more traditional media, but via social networking sites.
Participation and engagement do not sit comfortably alongside the culture of the individual as consumer and the emphasis on choice, claimed David. Whilst there is plenty of information out there in the public domain, he pointed out, there is a real lack of involvement in the decision making process.
These points were echoed later in the day by Gerry Stoker, Professor of Politics and Government at Southampton University. Gerry talked about the need to close the gap between “the governors and the governed”, and of the importance of making empowerment non-partisan.
Also appearing on the conference platform was John Austin, from the newly formed Association of Democratic Services Officers, talking about the Association and their new website, which was launched at the conference.
Delegates also heard from Andrew Summers of South Bank University. Andrew is the course tutor for the Post Graduate Certificate in Local Governance, and he was joined by some of the first graduates from the course.
In addition, delegates were invited to attend two workshop sessions during the course of the day, with a choice of four different workshops each time. Amongst the most popular choices was the session on ‘Promoting Local Democracy’ run by Kent CC, the workshop on Democratic Services, which looked at the changing role of the DSO, and Public-I’s ‘Building the Virtual Town Hall’.
There were a number of exhibitors there with stands for delegates to look at during their breaks, in between networking with colleagues.
Presentations from the conference:
Workshop 1: Promoting Local Democracy - a Case Study
Paul Wickenden, Local Boards Project Manager, Will Farmer and Andrew Bowles, Kent County Council
This workshop looked at the experiences of Kent CC in working with the District and Parish Councils in Kent to develop models for enhancing localism,promote the role of all locally elected Councillors, involve the community in local decision making and addressing local priorities and needs.
Workshop 2: Community Engagement and the Web
Dominic Campbell, FutureGov
This session included a look at the opportunities social media provides for local authorities, and in particular, for councillors themselves.
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Workshop 3: Scrutiny - What Does This Look Like Now?
Tim Gillings, Acting Director, Centre for Public Scrutiny
This workshop examined the impact of new legislation, as well as the development of partnership Scrutiny. Additionally it looked at the outward focus of Scrutiny.
Workshop 4: The Role of the Local Strategic Partnership
James Moody, Test Valley Partnership and Peter Johnson, PtP
This workshop looked at some first hand experience of how LSPs can lead to improved community engagement, from an LSP perspective.
Presentation to follow
Workshop 5: Building the Virtual Town Hall; useful things to do with the Web 2.0
Catherine Howe, Operations Director, Public-i
Councils are already making use of social networking tools like Facebook or YouTube to connect and communicate with their citizens. Local Government now needs to move beyond experimentation and this workshop looked at ways of connecting informal participation on the web into a more strategic approach to Local Democracy and how to use it as a basis for democratic renewal.
Workshop 6: Democratic Services - New Roles, New Responsibilities
John Austin, Assistant Director, Corporate Governance, London Borough of Enfield
The workshop focused on responding to new legislation and the empowerment agenda, as well as a more outward approach to promoting local democracy.
Workshop 7: Can Local Democracy be Made to Work in a Partnership Setting?
Jeremy Cook, Executive Head of Legal and Democratic Services, Adur and Worthing
The workshop looked at how to keep individual identities with joint working arrangements. It also looked at where Adur and Worthing came from and where they have reached today.
Workshop 7: Approaches to Participation
Perry Walker, New Economics Foundation
A fun and interactive workshop where delegates had the opportunity to try out the NEF Democs Conversation kit, on the subject of empowerment.
Feedback
"Excellent day, well worth it"
"Speakers were really thought provoking"
"It was all very interesting, and as always the opportunities to share experiences with colleagues from other authorities offers many benefits."
"Workshop sessions were great"