Agenda item

Local Engagement and Community Empowerment

It was moved by Councillor Andrew Sangar, seconded by Councillor David Baker, that this Council:-

(a)

notes with regret the proposal of the current Administration to abolish Community Assemblies;

(b)

believes Community Assemblies have been a wholly positive step for the Council in encouraging local engagement, strengthening local accountability, and empowering local councillors and communities;

(c)

furthermore, confirms that, despite the claims of the current Administration, the work of Community Assemblies and the number of residents engaged extends far beyond the formal meetings;

(d)

in addition, notes that a number a public sector organisations have aligned their structures to Community Assemblies to ensure better partnership working;

(e)

believes that the end of Community Assemblies would spell a return to the Town-Hall-knows-best attitude, where local concerns are increasingly ignored by Town Hall bureaucrats;

(f)

furthermore, regrets that the demise of Community Assemblies will lead to a further entrenchment of what is believed to be a ‘favoured areas’ policy and that, as a result, thousands of Sheffielders will not get a fair deal from the Council;

(g)

notes the comments of the Labour Chair of the Northern Community Assembly in The Sheffield Star that plans to cut Community Assemblies were “regrettable”, “appalling”, “not an easy move” and “not something we wanted to do” and furthermore that the Assemblies have been “extremely valuable”;

(h)

feels that some funding should be retained to ensure Community Assemblies can continue to operate and support their communities;

(i)

however, believes that even if funding is withdrawn, the formal structures and branding of Community Assemblies should be retained; and

(j)

therefore, calls upon the Administration, regardless of the outcomes of the Budget Council meeting on 1^st March, 2013, to maintain the broad structure of Community Assemblies with some officer support from the Council.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Mazher Iqbal, seconded by Councillor Geoff Smith Councillor, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the substitution of the following words therefor:-

(a)

regrets that this Government is making unprecedented and unfair cuts to Sheffield City Council and that the Council has had to reduce spending by £140 million over the past two years with a further £50 million for 2013/14;

(b)

is committed to local engagement and community empowerment, but believes that the unprecedented level of cuts that the Council is facing means that spending £2.4 million per year on locality engagement to the detriment of other services cannot be justified;

(c)

acknowledges that if this level of saving was not found from the locality engagement budget, it would need to be found by making cuts to other parts of the Council’s budget and believes it is disingenuous of the main opposition group to call upon the Council to protect Community Assemblies without offering any explanation as to which budgets they would cut;

(d)

will continue to encourage local engagement and community empowerment, however accepts that this will be with significantly reduced resources due to the unfair Government cuts that the Council is facing;

(e)

believes that the current Community Assembly system is flawed as it has failed to engage communities sufficiently and has as its main focus formal Assembly meetings which have often failed to attract the public or convince them that they were influencing decisions;

(f)

notes that Councillor David Baker, one of the Lib Dem architects of Community Assemblies, is reported within the write-up of a Sheffield for Democracy meeting, called to discuss Community Assemblies, on 23rd October, 2012, as offering the perspective that “Community Assemblies (other than the North East Community Assembly) have not operated as intended”;

(g)

acknowledges that despite the flaws in the system, some good local work has been achieved by Community Assembly staff, local members and community groups;

(h)

believes that more of a focus on working at a ward level will encourage community engagement and participation;

(i)

notes that the initial consultation resulted in a wide range of views, with many constructive suggestions which will be considered carefully;

(j)

confirms that the work to develop the future model for local engagement and community empowerment is continuing and that there will be a second round of consultation with the intention of producing a system which maximises, as far as resources allow, local engagement and community empowerment, and supports partnership working in the City; and

(k)

further confirms that at first the new system will have to operate within a limited and reduced budget, but notes that in future, if more resources become available, it will be possible to enhance the new system through additional funding.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-

RESOLVED:  That this Council:-

(a)       regrets that this Government is making unprecedented and unfair cuts to Sheffield City Council and that the Council has had to reduce spending by £140 million over the past two years with a further £50 million for 2013/14;

(b)       is committed to local engagement and community empowerment, but believes that the unprecedented level of cuts that the Council is facing means that spending £2.4 million per year on locality engagement to the detriment of other services cannot be justified;

(c)        acknowledges that if this level of saving was not found from the locality engagement budget, it would need to be found by making cuts to other parts of the Council’s budget and believes it is disingenuous of the main opposition group to call upon the Council to protect Community Assemblies without offering any explanation as to which budgets they would cut;

(d)       will continue to encourage local engagement and community empowerment, however accepts that this will be with significantly reduced resources due to the unfair Government cuts that the Council is facing;

(e)       believes that the current Community Assembly system is flawed as it has failed to engage communities sufficiently and has as its main focus formal Assembly meetings which have often failed to attract the public or convince them that they were influencing decisions;

(f)         notes that Councillor David Baker, one of the Lib Dem architects of Community Assemblies, is reported within the write-up of a Sheffield for Democracy meeting, called to discuss Community Assemblies, on 23rd October, 2012, as offering the perspective that “Community Assemblies (other than the North East Community Assembly) have not operated as intended”;

(g)       acknowledges that despite the flaws in the system, some good local work has been achieved by Community Assembly staff, local members and community groups;

(h)        believes that more of a focus on working at a ward level will encourage community engagement and participation;

(i)         notes that the initial consultation resulted in a wide range of views, with many constructive suggestions which will be considered carefully;

(j)         confirms that the work to develop the future model for local engagement and community empowerment is continuing and that there will be a second round of consultation with the intention of producing a system which maximises, as far as resources allow, local engagement and community empowerment, and supports partnership working in the City; and

(k)        further confirms that at first the new system will have to operate within a limited and reduced budget, but notes that in future, if more resources become available, it will be possible to enhance the new system through additional funding.

(Note: Councillor Robert Murphy voted for paragraphs (b), (d), (g) (h) (j) and (k) and abstained on paragraphs (a), (c), (e), (f) and (i) of the substantive motion and asked for this to be recorded.)