Welcome to this week’s newsletter. I am hastily writing this edition having just returned from a short break in Poland. As always seems the case when I go abroad, I inevitably find myself reflecting on the civic life of the place I have visited.
I hope I am not alone in walking around a new town or city and looking at it through the lens of a citizen, admiring the examples of civic pride and the ways in which local government pays careful attention to the public realm. Local place shaping is at the heart of local democracy and it is a truly wonderful thing when local representatives are trusted with the time, responsibility and resources to develop and nurture a local area. It results in the development of identity, integration and a sense of pride that is palpable.
My brief experience of Poland was a really positive one, but sadly it has left me reflecting on what might have been for this country had there been a greater degree of trust and devolution of power and resources through to local government in recent decades by all governments.
It is well documented that we have an incredibly centralised model of government compared to most countries and in my experience, this impacts on the ability for our places to thrive and develop in a way that enables them to be the best that they can be. We all know that local citizens and their representatives are best placed to understand the challenges and aspirations for their street, village and town. I continue to hope that we will begin to move to a more trust-based approach where the councillors and councils you all support are given the opportunity, power and resources to make the decisions that are truly intended to make our places grow and develop.
Jo Cox Civility Commission
You may recall in a previous edition of the newsletter John shared some brief information about the developing work of the Jo Cox Foundation. In February 2023 the Foundation launched the Jo Cox Civility Commission with the aim of finding implementable solutions to the problem of abuse and intimidation of our elected representatives.
After consulting with nearly 150 stakeholders, the Commission launched their call to action No place in politics: tackling abuse and intimidation, outlining 28 recommendations which it is felt will make a real impact on this issue. Work is now entering the second phase which is focusing on the need for the emerging recommendations to be adopted. More information on the Commission’s work can be found here and we will be dedicating a webinar to this important area of work in May.
Defending Democracy Policing Protocol
In past newsletters and through our webinars we have become all too aware of the challenges that elected representatives face with regards to threats, abuse and intimidation.
In this context government have worked closely with the police to develop a protocol intended to protect the democratic process from intimidation, disruption or subversion. More detailed information can be found here.
ADSO Consultancy Services
You will be aware that ADSO offers a consultancy service to local authorities. These are primarily focussed on constitution reviews but we also get asked from time to time to work with elected members. We have amongst our ranks as a Non-Executive Director, Professor Colin Copus, who is not only a leading expert in local government, politics and the role of the councillor, but a former elected member himself. So if your council is looking to conduct say a members’ allowance review or a constitutional review, or perhaps development work with your councillors, please get in touch.
Carl Whistlecraft, ADSO Non-Executive Director