20 September 2011
Fast-track democracy is fast-track freeze-out
St Helens Council should re-instate ward committees
and try harder to make them work rather than scrap them and blame the public
for their demise.
That’s the reaction from St Helens Green Party after the council decided to give them the chop due to low attendance and under spent budgets.
Ward committees were established across the borough to give residents a bigger say in what happens in their area, plus an annual budget of £30,000 each to be spent on environmental improvement projects. Many wonderful local projects were supported through the system, such as St Mark’s Centenary Community Garden in Haydock and Sutton Mill Dam.
The council is replacing them with a ‘Councillor Improvement Fund’, which gives individual councillors sole control of both the power and the purse strings they previously shared with community representatives and other local organisations. The budget has also been cut to around £15,000 per ward.
St Helens Green Party spokeswoman, Ann Shacklady-Smith says:
“Sadly, this isn’t the kind of Councillor Improvement Fund we need. It’s yet another blow for our already discredited local democracy and amounts to a fast track freeze-out for the public rather than, as claimed, fast track democracy.
“Ward committees were established by the council in partnership with St Helens Community Empowerment Network (CEN) to help get local people, not just politicians, involved in making the decisions that shape their lives. But the CEN was not even consulted about the decision.
“It’s no wonder there’s so much apathy and cynicism around. Local councillors should be working harder to understand why and make things work, rather disengage even further from the communities they claim to represent.”
St Helens Green Party understands that under the new system councillors can make their own arrangements around consultation on how best to spend the new funds. The party is urging community groups borough-wide to contact their local councillor to find out what arrangements they intend to put in place to consult with local residents on spending priorities.
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