Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Shaping the Area Assembly Meetings in 2010
As a result of previous discussions on this site, I wrote to Gina Adamou, the Chair of our area assembly, to ask some questions about the way the Harringay & St Ann's Area Assembly works and how we can influence that.
I posted her comprehensive and useful response on the HoL Wiki.
In that response, in answer to my question about how we can influence the agenda and the mechanism for that, Gina wrote the following:
At the first area assembly of the year, residents are invited to propose specific issues for inclusion within their area assembly.
The mechanism needs to be flexible in order to ensure there are opportunities for urgent or emerging issues to be included as appropriate.
Residents can make contact through the neighbourhood teams to express areas of concern to consider for assembly inclusion and of course direct to their Area Assembly Chair.
So here we are, almost at the first meeting of the year. Do we want any control over the year's agenda?
Here's what they're serving up for the first course (February's agenda):
- Personalisation of Adult Social Care
- PHASCA will be giving a presentation about their Summer Scheme and some of the other projects they deliver
- Street drinking prohibited zones in St Ann's
- Safer Neighbourhood Teams - up dates
- Cabinet Question Time
- HMO - update
- Green Lanes Strategy Group - update
- Soap Box
Is that about right? Like it? Want more of the same? Fancy a different sort of agenda? Or don't you give a toss?
Feel free to use this discussion as a kind of scratch-pad to kick around ideas, but if you want to influence the agenda for the rest of the year then roll-up, roll-up and get on down to al the fun of the Area Assembly fair.
Wouldn't it be nice to imagine a year of productive assembly meeting in which we the residents had as much (if not more) say then the local politicians and council officers. Whose meetings are the after all?
Tags for Forum Posts: area assembly, area forum
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I tend to agree with Mark. The consultations etc seem to be a facade. I went to a meeting of the Transport Forum, attended by Council Officials, Councillors and Police, at which the suggestion to introduce a 20mph speed limit on Wightman was discussed at length. The impression given was that it was not that easy to do, with the requirement for self policing etc.
A week later the Wightman Road proposal was published and explanatory document was delivered to my door. Whatever the merits of the proposal, it seems that the matter was already in hand and arrangements for printing and distribution must already have been made. So why were we not told this at the Transport Consultative Forum ? Is there any point going to these meetings when decisions have already been taken but we are not told about them ?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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You make a fair point Mark. However, I'm not advocating that those elected to represent us are bypassed. What I'm asking is that those eight hours a year that are put by for residents and local politicians to meet and dialogue should be used for a two-way conversation and not for our politicians, and those they select, to stand in front of us in broadcast mode. For the other 364 days and 16 hours, I'm happy to let an able politician get on with the work of representing me (whilst still keeping the listening channel open).
The Council describes the role of area assemblies as follows:
Area Assemblies provide a good forum for residents to raise concerns and engage with the council around issues affecting their community such as community safety; crime; the environment; planning; transport; parking; and more.
Assemblies are held 4 times a year and offer opportunities for residents to contribute ideas and meet with their ward councillors.
Those who've been to an area assembly in Harringay & St Ann's will know how far removed this is from reality.
But it sounds like you're not a great supporter of area assemblies at all Mark. I am in principle. I see them as a critical part of the local democratic process. They're a key opportunity for politicians to listen and understand what people want and to give people a chance to give voice to their views. I don't believe that we should vote once every few years and then leave the politicians to get on with it. I don't think that's a route to a healthy democracy.
Of course politicians will be influenced by local views and opinions. There are two main ways that can happen - in open forum and by private lobby from individuals and interest groups. I'm not an advocate of allowing only the private lobby route. I'm a supporter of well managed respectful open discussion.
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Sounds like we're pretty much on the same page Mark.
I do think that area assemblies have the potential to have a more meaningful role in local democracy (in due proportion to their place in the overall scheme of things). But to deliver on that potential they have to be more meaningful (and bearable) to locals. That means that:
- we need to feel that we're not just going along to be done to
- they're effectively managed
- they focus on the things that matter to the people who live here.
If we can get that right and get the same level of attendance and participation as for the Muswell Hill assemblies, then the better politicians will listen to at least some of what's said in the meetings because it'd be a representative voice of the people.
So I was hoping to get a few views here of what sort of things folks would like to see this year's meetings cover.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Actually, I think Councillors, as champions of their area (to paraphrase the council website) should be at the centre of a process whereby they are engaging constantly with people (not just when they want your vote) about what is needed for an area.
I do vote for them to go and do the tedious stuff like sitting in meetings, negotiating with bureaucrats etc, but the area assembly should be the chance for people to come together to share concerns, ideas and experiences and for the councillors to listen and act upon the most pressing needs and interesting intiatives. Of course, some people don't want to be involved at this level but if they actually felt that the things they asked about/suggested were acted upon, they might feel the meetings were worth attending.
Our AA doesn't work like that. The most simple ideas (like having AA on Saturdays a la Crouch End) aren't followed up. Communication is poor. Despite constant requests for an emailed agenda before the meeting, after 2 yrs, still nothing. Often the people invited to talk seem to be given more time to talk about fairly minor issues like community payback than residents to raise points on the soapbox, if in fact there is time for it at all. Cabinet question time can be a frustrating process if indeed any of the cabinet members are actually there at all. Last time, two of them stayed for about 20 minutes saying nothing although the topic was traffic for which on of them was responsible, then ran off to Muswell Hill although apparently they said nothing there either (a good nights work for them, no?)
Mark, our AAS are a shambles. We aren't even getting the same level of effectiveness as others across the borough, so I think, given the fact that we were told not so long back by the then cabinet member for community cohesion that they were to continue to be the primary means of community engagement, we have a right to expect at least the same quality of AA as other people in the borough get.
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But Mark, we are not looking for alternative ways of doing things. We are looking for ways to make the existing processes more effective. If we don't not watch them, they cook up schemes to put commercial organisations into public parks or adverts on bridges. How are we to scrutinise if not in open meetings?
The AA is a council run meeting in which the councillors should take a central role. The AA should be an integral part of their interaction with the community not a bolt on that they attend when they haven't got a more important meeting to go to. Cllrs need to meet the voters, they need to listen be held accountable if necessary, and be reminded of their primary role to champion the ares. 8 hrs a year is not much to ask for in terms of their time and it could and should be a useful experience for all of us.
Without public open meetings which is what AA should be, we are prey to small special interest groups having undue influence and ordinary voters being shut out. There are lots of ideas and even legislation pending to beef up the cllrs role but as one of our local politicians has said on a previous thread, they don't want to dicatate but act on what people want. Area Assembly should and could be one way that people can hold them to account.
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Item 1: How could we structure these meetings to be more productive and less "we talk, you listen, you ask questions, we promise to bring the answers next time and forget" (or words to that effect)?
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Permalink Reply by Chris brock on
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Hugh, Liz, following the discussion to date and based on my own experienes of AAs when I lived in Crouch End, I would suggest we put maters raised by members of the community at the top pf the Agenda, and invite people to suggest items for discussion in this section before hand (maybe a week or two before hand). We would need to figure who decided what items would be included in this section, but perhaps the head of the local residents' association would be a start
Also limit any presentations to say 10 minutes each. This would limit councillors' ability to fill the meetings with presentations and booting any local concerns to the end, by which timehalf of us have wandered off or nodded off.
I also like the idea of holding them on a Saturday... except of course some people work on Saturdays too. Perhaps the answer is to rotate when they are held, so they are not always at 7.30 on a Thursday evening
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That all sound sensible Chris - perhaps what's realistic this first time round is to get an agenda item that seeks to agree a new format for meetings to include a mechanism for people to suggest agenda items. (It seemed to me rather daft that Gina's response to me suggested that residents can only propose items at the first meeting of the year.) I will write to Gina asking for an agenda item in this next meeting.
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Ookee, Gina replied this AM and she's going to add an agenda item about meeting format. So if anyone has any thoughts................
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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I want one just like the ones in Crouch End and Muswell Hill.
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