Community Empowerment: Reconnecting Local Councils to Their Communities

Community Empowerment: Reconnecting Local Councils to Their Communities

Date: 22nd October 2009

Venue: Central London

With a commitment to fulfil Public Service Agreement 21 to build more cohesive, empowered and active communities, and a duty to involve communities and local people in a meaningful way in local decision-making from April 2009 through epetitions, citizen juries and focus groups, the government is committed to reconnecting local people to local democracy and local government through community empowerment. For the government, community empowerment is about local people and local government working together to help to solve local problems.

To what extent will the Bill help to reinvigorate local democracy? What measures are in place to support ordinary people to become involved in local politics? To what degree is the available support sufficient? How will the strengthening of overview and scrutiny committees in local councils improve the performance of local government? What meaningful role can communication technologies play in reconnecting people to their local community and to local democracy generally? In what ways will the bill alter both the power and financial relationship between central and local government, and local government and the third sector?

This forum will provide delegates with the opportunity to examine the Bill and the key success factors to reconnect the town hall and the wider community with each person in the community.

More information: http://www.insidegovernment.co.uk/communities/community_empowerment/index.php