If you haven’t registered for the ‘Councillors Connected: The Social Media Online Conference‘, you can still register now. It happens online and it starts tomorrow.
The confirmed speakers include…
Councillor Richard Kemp, of Liverpool City Council, Deputy Char of the LGA Executive and Leader of the LGA Liberal Democrat Group
Councillor James Cousins, of the London Borough of [...]
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I missed this at the time, but here’s an example of what happens when you spend a fortune on a commission and ask them to ignore the trees while describing the wood.
In Public Service magazine, Professor Michael Clarke offers an account of his work as chairman of a committee that looked at the city’s governance.
For [...]
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I’ve just discovered the Local Government Officer’s blog. It’s a really good blog that does (as a visitor remarks) what blogs do best - anonymous low-horizon perspective commenting from an insider.
The latest post asks the question:
Is it better for Councillors to live in the area that they represent?
Or, more accurately, how much better is it [...]
Filed under: Being a politician, Councillors, What makes a good representative? | 4 Comments »
Time for one last look at the Conservative party’s local government green paper Shift Control. A quick canter through chapters four and five, and then some conclusions.
Chapter Four is about spending. It says a Conservative Government will:
give local people greater control over how central government funds are spent in their area;
phase out ring fencing, [...]
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Time for a look at Chapter three of the Conservative local government green paper, Shift Control.
This chapter is the section of the green paper that focuses on democracy, so there’s a lot to talk about. The chapter says that a Conservative Government would:
provide citizens in all our large cities with the opportunity to choose [...]
Filed under: Conservatives, Council services, Councillors, Deliberative democracy, Direct democracy, Elections, Mayors, Political parties, Unelected agencies | No Comments »
Part three of a series of articles looking at the Conservative local government green paper, Shift Control.
This time, chapter two. This chapter is about localism, and promises that a Conservative Government would:
give local residents the power to determine the balance between the level of council tax and the level of services
delivered;
drastically reduce the centrally imposed [...]
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Part two of a series of articles on the Conservative green paper on local government, which are also appearing on the Democratic Society blog.
Section one of the green paper discusses local housing and economic growth. The Conservatives’ proposals are:
enable local authorities to benefit financially when they deliver the housing that local people need;
give local [...]
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In a welcome bit of political prodding (it always usually comes form civil servants or NGOs) Conservative Home is urging Tory councillors to use Twitter. You can see a detailed list of twittering councillors on Cllr Tweeps.
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Local decision-making should be less constrained by central government, and also more accountable to local people. We will encourage democratic innovations in local government, including pilots of the idea of elected mayors with executive powers in cities.
David Cameron’s green paper Shift Control, published yesterday? No, the 1997 Labour manifesto, and if you want a good [...]
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Here’s Wandsworth’s Councillor James Cousins on the value of interactivity for councillors:
“What is surprising is not just how many local people were tweeting, but how many were eager to engage and use Twitter to communicate with their councillor. While I often sit in a draughty library with no-one attending my surgery it is quite the [...]
Filed under: Being a politician, Conversational localities, Councillors, Web 2.0 and democracy | No Comments »
Ingrid Koehler wants to know what the Key questions about local government and social media are.
Her list is:
What are the greatest areas of potential benefit in councils using social media?
How can councils support local communities and individuals in becoming digitally enabled and empowered?
How can local and hyper-local social networks increase community cohesion and empowerment.
How can [...]
Filed under: Conversational localities, Councillors | 1 Comment »
Elected mayors. They’re a controversial topic in local government, with many councils and councillors staunchly opposed to them. Until recently, the creation of an elected mayor needed a public referendum - most of which have been lost following opposition by councillors. Now, a simple council decree can introduce one, but if councillors are opposed, that’s [...]
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It’s Friday. Time for a bit of a laugh.
This ‘Yes Minister’ YouTube provides a rough outline. Annoyingly, I can’t embed it here, but it’s worth a visit…
And on the wider perception of councillors, here’s Vic & Bob’s take:
Joking aside, if there is one thing that desperately needs rebranding, it’s the very [...]
Filed under: Being a politician, Centralisation, Councillors | Tagged: Councillors, Yes Minister | No Comments »
My friend, former Hansard Society e-democracy watcher Ross Ferguson says:
A local government will fall head-over-heels in love with the promise of eDemocracy and launch into an ambitious project to put digital front-and-centre of its democratic processes and service provision. It will be facilitated with next-generation municipal ICT and it will capture our imaginations but it [...]
Filed under: Being a politician, Consultations, Councillors, Deliberative democracy, Democratic renewal, Obstacles for democrats to overcome, Public administration, Web 2.0 and democracy | No Comments »
Well, we knew it was coming - here:
“New proposals to make it easier to get local leaders to hold a referendum on their leadership structure, putting communities firmly in control of their town and council, has been published for consultation by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.”
It is particularly interesting that these votes will be on the [...]
Filed under: Councillors, Direct democracy, Petitions | 1 Comment »
The very smart MySociety project developed Fix My Street a while back. Now you can post pictures to it by iPhone.
There is no reason why councillors can’t be encouraged to be active users of this - and to ensure that everything that they post to it can be fed onto their personal web-pages. This would [...]
Filed under: Being a politician, Councillors, Web 2.0 and democracy, What makes a good representative? | Tagged: Community councillors | No Comments »
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