Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Area Forums and Committees: a letter from Cllr Bernice Vanier, Cabinet Member for Communities
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Area Forums and Committees
Dear Resident,
We’re writing to you as you’ve previously attended a Haringey Council Area Forum and we want to explain some changes that we are looking to introduce.
The council agreed this month to bring the existing Area Forum & Committee arrangement to an end and to instead explore how we can find better ways of engaging and working with residents, businesses and partners – and giving local people a greater say over community projects.
While we understand that the Area Forums were popular with some residents, in many areas they have not been well attended.
Over the coming months we will be looking at different ways we engage and involve local communities on issues that matter to you the most, recognising that what may work in one area may not work in another. We will be discussing with your ward councillors different ways we can do this, using local knowledge and expertise.
Kind regards
Cllr Bernice Vanier
Cabinet Member for Communities
Tags for Forum Posts: area forums, local democracy
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dave on
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On 7 May, after four years in power, the Independents for Frome (or IfF) group took all 17 seats on Frome’s town council, with vote-shares as high as 70%, and support from people who cast their other votes for the main political parties in 2010.
The basic aim seems both simple and benign: “Taking political power at a local level, then using it to enable people to have a greater say in the decisions that affect their lives.” But the results have been explosive: the routing of Lib Dems and Conservatives (and, of late, a solitary Ukipper) from Frome’s town council, and the arrival in power of a coalition of self-styled independents, united by the belief that democracy needs a drastic revival.
Meet the newly elected Frome councillors ... with a wide range of skills/experience to bring to their community.
And is catching on .... (read more here ).
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Nick Reading in The Independent wrote an article about Frome in 2012 called "What a democratic revolution in the Somerset town of Frome could teach our political class".
Has anyone spotted an up-to-date report or article which tries to give an overview of weaknesses as well as strengths?
Among the refreshing points made by Frome's Independent councillors in 2012 were that "the quarrelsome, point-scoring culture of party politics stifles genuine initiative and debate ...". And that: "it is a sign of strength to be able to apologise when mistakes are made ..."
Plainly the Haringey Council disease goes much much deeper. But changing just those two features would be a start. It would need leaders and senior staff who admit and really face up to the fact that they are sometimes wrong or partly wrong. And not only when forced to do so by public shaming.
I mentioned Liz Ixer's presentation about waste collection to the Harringay & St Ann's Forum on 5 July 2012. I found it again - posted here by Liz on Slideshare. To be fair, I think it did have an impact on practice; and that both Veolia and Haringey staff made improvements. But I don't recall anyone other than Cllr Stuart McNamara saying publicly something like "Look, we made serious mistakes".
Meanwhile, we continue to have a Council "Communications" team which shamelessly pumps out an unremitting stream of doubleplusgood spin and propaganda.
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