A structure to grow power in local neighbourhoods in partnership with formal civic structures.
Authors: James Lock & Sam Walby
Government in England is by international standards hyper-centralised. This does not just mean that most power lies in Whitehall, it also means that local government is both weak and that the institutions of local government cover very large populations. A city like Sheffield has a population of about 600,000 people but no democratic institutions between the people and the City Council.
The Citizen Hubs concept has been developed by Opus Independents (members of Citizen Network) as part of their work to help citizens work to grow power in local neighbourhoods and around shared interests and to combine to use that power in partnership with the formal civic structures. This proposal is currently being explored as the basis for creating genuine and forms of local democracy as part of the new governance structures being developed after the 2021 referendum result which has forced an end to the 'Strong Leader' model of governance which had been previously applied in the City.
Read and download the free pdf in your browser, link below.
If you are interested in supporting the move toward neighbourhood democracy please join the movement at: https://neighbourhooddemocracy.org
Find out more about Opus Independents at: https://weareopus.org
The publisher is Opus Independents. Citizen Hubs © James Lock & Sam Walby 2021.
community, Constitutional Reform, It's Our Community, local government, Neighbourhood Democracy, politics, England, Paper
