Community involvement UK

This article focuses on information specific to the United Kingdom. Please see our Community involvement page for a topic overview.

In the UK, three out of five – 60.3% of the voting population, (Jan 2020) – are unhappy with the functioning of our democracy. In 2005, levels of democratic dissatisfaction in the UK stood at 32.8%, despite the Iraq war. [1]

"The Understanding Society Survey in 2015 showed that only 3% of people in the UK are involved in neighbourhood projects, while nearly 60% agreed, or strongly agreed, that they wanted to work together to improve their neighbourhood." Designing participation systems around people, not institutions, Tessy Britton, Feb 24, 2021. [2]

Community action projects

Flatpack democracy

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Quotes

"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about" Margaret Wheatley [3]

See also

Interwiki links

Independents for Frome W

External links

  • Flatpack Democracy, DIY guide to creating independent politics
  • The Isle of Wight Independent group: Framework for Change, the equivalent of Frome’s Ways of Working and Principles rolled into one:

Community charters

"Community Charters are rights-based documents which set out things in a local area which residents have agreed to be fundamental to the present and future health of their community, and related rights and responsibilities." [4]

The UK’s first Community Charter was developed by residents of Falkirk, Scotland, in response to the UK’s first application to commercialise unconventional gas. The St Ives Community Charter was launched in 2017. The Community Chartering Network is currently providing support for similar initiatives in North Yorkshire, Dartington, and for communities along the river Dart.

The Community Chartering Network is a UK-wide network with a shared commitment to community empowerment and responsible environmental stewardship. It was set up to explore and establish new models for community engagement and rejuvenation around shared lived experiences of place, and essential rights and responsibilities. Its mission is to support communities who wish to ensure genuinely sustainable local development. In achieving this, its aim is to enable truly resident-led outcomes through collective decision-making approaches which are open, transparent and inclusive, and tailored to specific local objectives, issues, needs and context.

Resources

Funding

  • Local Trust, a place-based funder. "We work with 150 Big Local areas, where people are making their communities even better places to live."

Maps

The Civic Crowd, aims to map initiatives and ideas for citizen-powered change, providing an open public domain resource

DCLG Community Rights

Other resources

  • Citizens' House in Parliament, added 12:46, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
  • Breaking the Mould, One Day Conference held at Frome Town Hall, April 2018
  • Heading Upstream, Barnsley's Innovations for Social Justice, 2017 centreforwelfarereform.org
  • Community Chartering Network
  • In This Together, 11 July 2011, neweconomics.org, tells the stories of people who are improving public services by working with the people who use them and delivering public services in a radically different way. It describes a range of practical projects and includes personal testimonies from individuals directly involved. These examples have at their heart equal and reciprocal relationships between professionals, people using services, their families and neighbours – an approach known as ‘co-production’.
  • Participation Works, 21 Techniques to encourage community participation, 14 June, 1998 added 17:05, 17 February 2020 (UTC)
  • Open and accountable local government: plain English guide, GOV.UK - A guide for the press and public on attending and reporting meetings of local government.
  • Placecheck
  • WriteToThem provides contact details for elected representatives at all levels of UK government, and users can send messages to them directly from the site. W
  • This is the #CitizenShift, by New Citizenship Project
  • Resources from involve.org.uk

Quotes

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather, teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Where democracy counts most it is nowhere to be seen…by the time we are asked for our opinion, there will be little left to discuss but the colour of the road signs”. George Monbiot [5]

Research

We’re all in this together: harnessing user and community co - production of public outcomes, Tony Bovaird and Elke Loeffler, June 2013 birmingham.ac.uk

Democratic Audit, independent research organisation, established as a not-for-profit company, and based at the London School of Economics. "Our core objective is to advance education, and to undertake and promote research into, the quality and effectiveness of UK democracy."

Video

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News and comment

See separate article: Community involvement UK news

Events

Campaigns

Unlock Democracy, campaigns for a more participatory democracy in Britain. It continues to work with and support other organisations such as Local Works on the Sustainable Communities Act. W

See also

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References

  1. ↑ theguardian.com
  2. ↑ tessybritton.medium.com
  3. ↑ The Alternative UK
  4. ↑ communitychartering.org
  5. ↑ The Guardian
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