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The
government’s proposals to improve local democracy fall short of giving people real
power brap CEO Joy Warmington told
councillors, policy makers, and key members of the third sector.
Speaking at
a conference organised by ADEPT, a community development agency, Ms Warmington
told the assembled delegates that the government’s proposals were too focused
on spending decisions and the delivery of public services.
“I believe
that empowerment is about more than local management or ‘participatory
budgeting’,” she said.
"In my view
it should have a fundamentally political purpose too – it should genuinely
enable people to take greater control of their own lives and be more able to
challenge and change those things that shape their lives. I’m not sure that
this is what I see as yet in the Government’s new agenda. The current proposals
begin well but don’t go far enough.”
She went on
to say that the proposals in the white paper encouraged ‘participation’ rather
than ‘empowerment’, and this raised a host of issues.
“For BME
communities, the issue of representation follows on from participation as
inseparably as the cart follows the horse,” she explained. “The notion is
rooted in the view that BME communities are so different that some kind of
‘conduit’, some kind of representative, is needed through which an understanding
of that community can flow.”
This
inevitably leads to problems as individuals are then
required to speak for a whole community of people, regardless of whether they
have the knowledge or capability to do so.
The
government’s communities white paper was published in July this year.
Among its proposals are a new duty to promote democracy, a £7.5m Empowerment
Fund to help national third sector organisations turn empowerment
proposals into practical action, and a new duty for councils to respond to
petitions. Click here to read brap’s response.
To read
Joy’s speech in full click here.
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