Community Assemblies

Huge changes to put local people at the heart of decision making, including devolving budgets for parks, libraries, and street cleaning, are being proposed.

 

Plans for seven Community Assemblies, which will change the way the Council is run, are being drawn up, and will take around 9 months to implement.

 

 

Councillor David Baker, Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council, explains: "Our proposals for Community Assemblies are about giving people a voice and choice.  They signal a massive shift from current ways of working and put local people in charge of their local services, starting with local library services, local parks and how local streets are cleaned.  This will allow services to be shaped according to the needs of local communities, moving away from a one size fits all approach dictated from the Town Hall."

 

"Assemblies will also mean a much stronger role for local Councillors, making them directly accountable for what is happening in their community.  Every single ward councillor will be part of decision making about budgets for their area."

 

"Each assembly will agree a Community Plan for the area.  Assemblies will set targets agreed with local people, be able to prioritise and set service budgets within their boundaries, and direct how local services are delivered to improve the area," he added.

 

At a meeting next Wednesday (23rd July) the Council’s Cabinet will be asked to agree the proposals and the timetable for implementing the new assemblies.  The seven Community Assemblies will each comprise four electoral wards (see map below for details).  The proposal is to implement them in May 2009.

 

The report outlines that Community Assemblies will:

 

 

 

We recently announced plans to start moving towards this way of working.  Each of the current 12 Area Panels will be able to influence the way £50,000 is spent in their area, deciding how much is allocated between parks, libraries, and street cleaning, and how it is spent.

 

The new Community Assemblies will build on the success of the current Area Panels, which have been in place for over 10 years.  During that time the Panels have successfully engaged residents in local activity and supported the development of voluntary and community groups.  However, they have been restricted by limited funding and a lack of power to directly influence and make decisions on local service delivery.  This will change with the introduction of the new Community Assemblies.