CommunityPolitics in myheart and inmy soul

ALDC

A collection of essays about working within theircommunities from seasoned activists on the eve of the fullimplementation of the Localism Act

Dear Fellow Liberal Democrat,

I well remember the dark days just after the Liberal Democrats were formedwhen things looked bleak for the Party. We had slumped ton 4th place in thevote at the European Elections and our poll ratings varied between tiny andstatistically none-existent.

What saved us then and what will help us win again now is our army(somewhat small, but its quality and commitment that matters) of focusdeliverers, door knockers and community campaigners. They set to with awill determined to continue the fight for liberal democracy. They proved tothe people of many parts of the country that not only as there a point toliberalism and that it was a distinct political creed, but also that it meantsomething important to them. It meant better services in their communitiesand better government as we began to take control of large budgets insidemore and more local authborities.

And we began winning again. I would never have won my Constituencies ofYeovil after seventy three years of Tory rule, had it not been for mydedication to community politics.

This booklet has two types of essays. Some from people who have lived andbreathed community politics for years and those who have come to it morerecently. Both sorts are enthusiastic not only about our ‘0ld practices’ butalso about the new opportunities that come the new ways ofcommunicating with people through the new technologies; and from theLocalism Act and other pieces new legislation that will, I hope put morehands in the power of LOCAL politicians and LOCAL communities than atany time for the past 50 years.

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Foreword

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At the end of the day there is a fundamental difference between Lib Demsand our opponents. Our philosophy believes in decentralised power andour practice is to take that power and share it with our communities. LibDems see the area they represent as a place in which to do things; a place toexercise community partnership and community leadership. Ouropponents see the areas they represent as a place from which to dosomething. For most of them their ward, division or Constituency is just aplace from which to get to the Town Hall or Westminster.

There is only one way to fight back. Its to get back on the doorsteps andstart winning people’s confidence again – and then we will start winning inthe ballot box again.

Rt Hon Lord Paddy Ashdown

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What community politics has meant to me for 40 years

Cllr Paul Tilsley – Birmingham 5

A Newcastle Perspective

Cllr David Faulkner – Newcastle 9

40+ years before the Mast!

Cllr Richard Kemp – Liverpool 13

Practicing community politics in Hull

Cllr Abi Bell - Hull 17

Community Politics Started me off!

Cllr Terry Stacy – Islington 21

Localism in practice in Church Ward

Cllr Erica Kemp - Liverpool 25

contents

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What community politics hasmeant to me for 40 years

An historical overviewThe are few Liberal Democrats who werecouncillors BEFORE the Tony Greaves &Gordon Lishman motion at theEastbourne Liberal Assembly in 1970which committed the party toCommunity Politics.

When I was first elected as a Councillorfor Aston in 1968 community politics wasin its infancy with its origins based on the“streets” of Birmingham & Liverpool. Ithelped elect the first Liberal Councillor inBirmingham for generations - WallaceLawler who later became an MP forLadywood. It also started my ownpolitical career with has lasted over fortyyears.

Throughout my political career I’veemployed the principle of CommunityPolitics to engage with people by listeningto their views & opinions and byempowering them to become engaged indecisions which relate to theircommunity and their daily lives.

However there have been times when Ihave had to show leadership and debatethe wider picture.

It was a new experience for voters allthose year’s ago for councillors &campaigners to be out on the streetsthroughout the year talking to peopletaking up their problems, deliveringregular focus newsletters & holdingweekly advice bureaus. New because thetypical councillor all those years ago

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would only turn up at election time to askfor people’s vote.

The Council was engaged on a massivehousing clearance programme in the late60s & early 70s which was knocking sevenbells out of my local community. Throughcommunity campaigning I was able towork with the community to assist with rehousing families whose homes &community was being destroyed, bytrying to get a just result for residentsagainst the corporate juggernaut.

Highlighting & reflecting on issuesCommunity politics wasn’t just aboutgetting the housing department to carryout repairs, get a pothole filled in or fix abroken pavement it was also abouthighlighting significant issues that need tobe addressed and resolved.

Many of the homes in Aston at that timehad outside toilets and no bathrooms. Tohighlight this as an issue I took a familyinto the council House to use the LordMayors “facilities”. I of course invited thepress to come along and the associatedpublicity moved forward the urgent need

for the council to address this particularissue. Yes I did get a dressing down fromthe Lord Mayor!!!

Community politics can also highlight to acouncillor the need to challenge thesystem to resolve issues. When calling ona constituent at their request I as usualknocked the front door only to be askedto “come round the back councillor”. Ithought that this was an unusual requestbut `as requested entered the propertyvia the back door.

When I asked why, I was shown the frontroom that had been striped of all thefloorboards with the explanation “sorrycouncillor we burnt them to keep warm –it’s been a terrible winter and thedemolition of our home will burn themanyway”.

This incident highlighted to me that anindividual issue affecting one family isalso part of community politics – which issomething I’ve never forgotten.

Inner city Birmingham is not known forhigh levels of voter turnout. The

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engagement of people via communitypolitics resulted in increasing the turnoutfigures and more importantlyencouraged people to go out and votesome for the first time.

My own ward of Aston had the highestturnout in the West Midlands CountyCouncil elections when I was re elected in1981. Interestingly a neighbouring Liberalward (Rotton Park) had the secondhighest turnout – testament to the factthat community politics can engagepeople who respond to the practice ofcommunity politics.

What community politics means to me

In brief I believe that community politics isabout championing the needs andaspirations of local communities byinvolving and encouraging activeparticipation in the decision makingprocess and by bringing power closer topeople & their communities.

In the forty plus years that I’ve beenpracticing community politics manyCouncil’s have taken on in part the visionof Greaves & Lishman.

In Birmingham’ case we now havedevolved community budgets andmechanisms to allowcommunity/residents groups to submitproposals for local projects.

Birmingham has also devolved services tolocal districts and created WardCommittees where local people candebate in an open forum communityissues.

This has been a massive step forwardsfrom the 1960’s where control of thecouncil and its decision making processwas entirely centralised. Following theelections in 2012 the new Labour councilwhilst claiming to give powers to wardsinsist that their District Committees tomeet in the Council House!!!

We now allow members of the public tomake representations on planning &licensing applications ask questions atcouncil meetings & consult more openlyon draft policies and plans.

All these developments have involvedcommunities in the decision makingprocess and returned a degree of powercloser to the people.

This degree of localisation would havebeen unheard of in the 60s and all partiesnow use their own style of communitypolitics – although believe that the LibDem style is far more “pure” to theoriginal concept.

The new challenges post 2012We now need to refresh our vision ofcommunity politics. It’s simply no longer

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acceptable to remain static. We need todevolve further an increasing number ofdecisions and budgets and develop newand revitalised campaigning techniquesto ensure that community politics movesforward in the next forty years by muchas its done in the pervious forty.

I’m also convinced that the use of email,Twitter, Facebook and other ecampaigning techniques will be the newversion of Focus.

We also need to encourage more peopleto play their part in communitycampaigning and become involved in thepolitical process. Only by doing this can

we have active communities andlocalised champions committed to theongoing development of their localcommunity which will benefit everyoneconcerned.

The decline in voter turnout in recentyears also needs to be addressed. Thereinvention of a new effective communitypolitics model could address this issuemy making politics more relevant to theindividual voter who is looking for ananswer to question “why should I botherto vote”.

Cllr Paul Tilsley MBE, Leader,Birmingham Liberal Democrats

Paul:Paul Tilsley has been a member ofBirmingham City Council for Aston Ward1968 – 1986 and Sheldon Ward 1988 todate. He was the Deputy Leader of theCouncil from 2004 to 2012

He also represented Aston Ward on theWest Midlands County Council between1973 and1986 when the council wasabolished) and was the Leader of the LibDem group on the West MidlandsRegional Assembly between 1998 and2011

He is now the Leader of the LiberalDemocrat Group on the Council.

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A Newcastle Perspective

There’s a lot of talk going on in the partyabout renewing our commitment tocommunity politics, and rightly so. Manyof us who have had the privilege ofrunning our large cities are now out ofpower and have the time – and indeedthe necessity – to take stock. We did agood job, as was widely acknowledged,but did we do it as uniquely empoweringand transforming Liberal Democratauthorities – or were we just a little morecompetent than the lot we replaced?

First a flashback. It’s now 41 years since Tyneside YoungLiberals campaigned in the west end ofNewcastle, working with the charity TocH, Student Community Action and theWest End Tenants Association to tackle

the issue s of chronic poverty, appallinghousing conditions and Rachmanlandlords, combined with a badlyrundown and neglected physicalenvironment. We brought in George Clarkof the Notting Hill CommunityWorkshop/Grove Community Trust towork alongside the local partners andshare his experience of building effectivecommunity action and communitydevelopment programmes.

Clark’s conclusion was that “far reachingsocial change programmes will not beeffective if they are mounted solely by theauthorities or through the efforts of well-meaning middle class people” – I think hemeant us (a little unfairly). “There needsto be a confidence among those affected

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by social disorders that they mustassume power over their own lives bymaking the decisions which create anddetermine policy. It is impossible to over-emphasise the importance of peopledoing things for themselves. It is self-evident that successful attainment ofgoals achieved by the people themselveswill be more meaningful than if thesesame goals are fulfilled by an externalagency”.

He recommended the development of“social action centres” in the area, localpeople learning new skills of organisation,management and bargaining, and acoordinated community planningframework with local people at the heartof it. Some of this happened, the councilwas shamed into action, a strongertenants association came to play a fullrole and the west end was redeveloped.In truth, however many of the deep-seated problems remain today

As a 23 year old Liberal who two yearslater became the first Liberal to beelected to Newcastle City Council since

the inter-war years, these were headymessages at the time. We were acting as“catalysts” - which is what I understood“community politics” to be all about. Weled on media and public awareness andon direct action – boarding up derelicthouses, and occupying the staff loos atthe civic centre to demonstrate howmany houses in the west end had noindoor toilets! We created the forum thatbrought groups together, and wesupported and helped the tenants to findtheir own voice and to lobby.

I wrote rather pompous articles inLiberator headed “Mobilising People” andarguing for forms of community control. Imoved motions at the rather incredulousand patronising Labour-dominatedcouncil in favour of tenants’ self-management and neighbourhoodcouncils.

Fast forward three decades to 2004 whenan even more incredulous Labour Partywatched us kick them out after 30 yearsof power. I had the privilege of being partof a Lib Dem administration, as Deputy

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Leader and briefly as Leader, running thecity council for seven years.

During that time we fulfilled ourcommitment to “devolve and empower”.We strengthened the powers andbudgets of local ward commitments. Weintroduced neighbourhood chartersthrough a process of grassrootsengagement – local people and groupsidentified their priorities and we used theward committee process as the way ofbeing accountable as councillors fordelivery.

We became the country’s leadingauthority for the practice of ParticipatoryBudgeting, through dozens of projectsand some mainstream spending, withlocal people presenting and choosingtheir own projects, making the decisions.We won the EuroCities’ annual award forparticipation. And we introduced acomprehensive empowermentframework through the Local StrategicPartnership to commit all partners tooperate with and through communities.

However, although we were rightly proudof this progress, by the time we wereswept away for collaborating with theTories nationally, the job was only partlydone. If I am honest, we had barely beguntrue devolution of power to localcommunities. Directly -elected

community councils (but not on a one-size-fits-all basis) and a transfer oflocally-expressed priorities intomainstream departmental spending wereon our agenda. But by no means all of ourLiberal Democrat councillors understoodthis agenda, let alone were fullycommitted to it. I blame ourselves for notproviding the leadership to press on evenmore quickly when we had a perhapsonce-and-for-all opportunity.

We sometimes warranted the accusationof taking the pragmatic or populist linewhen the going got rough. Our electionliterature (especially as it morphed intothe General Election campaign) could bepopulist, sometimes negative and quitedemeaning at times. We defined the“community” in “community politics” asmeaning only neighbourhoods – withlittle emphasis on engaging withcommunities of identity and interest.

I still believe that above all else our role isto be a catalyst for empowering ourcommunities. It’s not enough to be a“good councillor”, to be diligent in takingup the issues that people bring you andto justify it all by winning re-election. Yes,too often we’re simply satisfied withdoing the things that bring in the votesrather than the risky things that can bringreal change by challenging existing powerrelationships. It seems to suit many of us

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that people look our way for everyinitiative. It’s dependency, notempowerment.

The new localism agenda is not reallynew at all. However, it does give us afocus in opposition, and we don’t havethe excuse that we’re too busy runningthe council. We’ll spend time getting abetter understanding of the profile of ourcommunities – the changingdemographics, the groups who arebecoming more vulnerable, the assets ofcommunity value, the people and groupswho can become the progressive voicesfor their communities (not the nimbys)and who we can work with. This not only

helps identify the priorities for the newLocal Development Frameworks andneighbourhoods plans but also how, andby whom, they will be championed anddirected.

So my challenge to Liberal Democrats,not only in Newcastle, is this – make ityour priority and passion to get involvedafresh, listen, understand, support – andyes help “mobilise” your communities.That’s real community politics, andalways has been.

Cllr David Faulkner is the Leader ofNewcastle Liberal Democrats

David:David Faulkner was Leader of NewcastleCity Council in 2010/11 and DeputyLeader and Executive Member in theprevious six years. He was first elected tothe council in 1973, having been an activecommunity politics practitioner as aYoung Liberal. In between two spells as acouncillor he was local party chair and along-time election agent andcampaigner.

He is now the leader of the LiberalDemocrat Group on the Council.

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40 plusv years before the Mastin Liverpool!

1n 1967 I did something that changed mylife. At the tender age of 14 I joined theYoung Liberals. I haven’t had an eveningin since.

But the big that happened was not justjoining who I joined for. I was signed up tothe Party in the front room of aredoubtable woman, Cllr Neva Orrell. Thefact that Neva was a councillor at all was anear miracle. At the time there weresomething like 50,000 Cllrs on UDCS,RDCs counties, Shire Boroughs, Cities andthe like. Of these just 330 were Liberalsalthough a few more were around asindependents.

The phrase community politics didn’tmean anything to Neva. The term hadn’t

even been invented for her first 20 yearsas an activist. It was just something thatshe did. Being an intrinsic part of hercommunity was part of her way of life.People trusted her political instincts butvoted for her because they could notvote against ‘there’ communitychampion’, ‘their community activist'.

Of course she didn’t always win butlosing her seat did not stop hewcampaigning for her community. So nextyear or the year after she got back on. Shedid this in one part of Leyland for morethan 50 years. No-one was more surprisethan her when not only did she becomepart of an influential group at CountryHall but actually became the chair of theCounty Council for a very successful year.

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Neva set the pattern for my life because Iadmired her so much that I alwayswanted to emulate her. In the 1960s weYoung Liberals door knocked and didsurveys, again community politics but wedid not call it that. I remember doing asurvey in Chorley and found a reasonablenumber of houses with gas lighting. Thecouncil as furious when we revealed this –it was as secret that they did not want toget out. But it did lead to some action toensure that everyone had electric lighting.

The things got really difficult. In the 1970General Election the Liberals werereduced to just 6 seats in the Commons.2,500 votes distributed differently wouldhave meant the end of our Party. But thatsmall band of brothers and sisters, whichthe Party then was, were not going to putup with that. We went to the YoungLiberal Conference and then the LiberalAssembly having a read a new publicationfrom Gordon Lishman and BernardGreaves. And so community politics wasgiven name, given shape and shown to bea necessary way of proving that our

political beliefs were fundamentallydifferent to those of our opponents.

So I did community politics in Chorley, inLeeds when I worked for David Austickfirstly to get him elected to the Leeds CityCouncil and then t Parliament. Then Imoved to Liverpool where I met the archexponent of community politics inpractice, “Jones the Vote”.

Trevor Jones was a brash Liverpoolbusinessman who when he was havingtrouble with the council turned to theonly person who would help him CyrilCarr. Cyril being not only the Leader butalso the sole member of the Liberal Partyon the 160 strong Liverpool City Council.

What Trevor did supported by people inLiverpool like (Lord) David Alton and inLondon like (Lord) Graham Tope was totake the philosophy and emergingpractices of community politics andapply standard concepts of marketing tothem He realised that political parties arethere to ‘sell’ two things their

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principles/policies an d their people. Ifyou want believe to believe in liberalismyou have to show them liberalism. S o theprinciples of community politics wereadded to the principles of marketing andwhat we now know as the ALDC way wasformed. Blue letters, Focus, bring it withyous et al and action all year round – notjust at election time became a way of life.

So that is what I have always done – but isit enough? As I advanced through theranks and eventually became the Leaderof the Liberal Democrats in LocalGovernment I began to realiseincreasingly that Lib Dems wellunderstood the practice of communitypolitics but that often the principles werebeing left far behind. “We get power togive power away”, had become in toomany cases, “we take power and consultwith people about how to use it”. Weusually governed well, particularlybecause we did consult meaningfully andhave a detailed grasp of our community’sneeds but we did too little to decentralisewhen w e had the opportunity.

I have held all sorts of roles both local andnational in our Party but the thing thatalways keeps me going is my ward.Frankly I love being a local champion,being engaged in the area that I havebeen elected for, above all other parts ofmy political life. Along with Erica I now

represent the ward in Liverpool whereTrevor first practiced his ‘dark arts!’Church Ward is one of the mostprosperous parts of the city and the day-to-day problems are few. But here wehave the challenge of their being fewformal communities to work with. Inanother part of this publication Erica tellswhat we are doing to remedy this.

Before moving to Church ward Irepresented two deprived parts ofLiverpool. It is fascinating to me howmuch things are the same in each area interms of principles FO community politicsbut different in terms of practice.

In Toxteth and Picton the role needed tobe that of ‘heroic leader!’ Being a goodlocal activist was absolutely vital becausewe needed too effect massive change inthe community. Houses were unfit anddecisions needed to be made aboutwhich to repair and which to demolish.Schools were depopulating; communitieswere being stabilised. In suchcommunities Erica, Bert and I needed tobe almost omni-present using ourmandate as local representative’s o shapenew ways of doing things and find newsolutions.

In Church Ward many of our problemsrevolve around planning and licensingissues we need to be ‘calm coordinators’.

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The problems are not so overt but thereare many problems that are covert.Behind many of our front doors there aresingle people quietly going 'doolally' butbecause they have relations and moneyare neglected by many of our systems.

In both types of ward a good councillor issomeone who ‘knows when everysparrow falls’. A person who thecommunity look to for local leadership. Acouncillor who partners look to as theprime coordinator of local action nomatter what their policies and strategies

of their superiors happens to be. Astrategist who knows how to pull downpower and then give it away to localpeople and local institutions.

I hope after 30 years people, whetherthey vote for me or not, will say, “he is agood councillor”. This is not always thesame as saying, “he is a good politician”.

Cllr Richard Kemp CBE is the Leader ofLiverpool Liberal Democrats

Richard:Richard Kemp has just started his 30thyear as a member of Liverpool CityCouncil and has held many positionsboth in control and opposition. For morethan 6 years he was the Leader of theLiberal Democrats at the LGA and servedin that role on a number of nationalpolicy committees. He leads the'Winning with Localism' Operation withinthe Party and contributes to a number ofnational magazines and journals onlocalist and local government issues. Hecurrently chairs the policy review group

for housing which will be reporting to the2012 Autumn Conference. He is now theleader of the Liberal Democrat Group onthe Council.

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Practicing community politics inHull

Community politics is at the core of whatmany Lib Dem councillors do. For a lot ofpeople it is what motivated them tobecome councillors in the first place.Listening to local residents andempowering them to take part in thedecisions that affect their communities isone of the most important things we cando as councillors.

As part of the team that ran Hull CityCouncil I was in the very privilegedposition of putting community politicsinto action. During the Lib Dems time inpower we delegated powers, set up wardbudgets, established local forums andencouraged local people to get involved. Iam proud of what we achieved.

The Localism Act is not the end ofcommunity politics. All it will do is add tothe arsenal of weapons we have at ourdisposal to empower people and ensuredecision making is made at the local level.For me the Localism Act is one of greatestachievements in Government. Not manypeople may know about it but it issomething that aid people all over thecountry to decide the fate of theircommunity and ensure their voice isheard.

What community politics means to meLike most councillors I first got involved inpolitics because of community politics. Iwanted to set up a Neighbourhood

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Watch Group on my street because therehad been a spate of vandalism to cars.

Then I was introduced to Dave McCobbwho persuaded me to stand for election.Pickering Ward, the area I represent, is aplace with a real sense of communitywith Hessle Road running through it,famous in its day for the fishingcommunities that along it. Many thingsmay have changed since the fishing fleetsstopped sailing from Hull but the sense ofcommunity in the area is still there.

After years of neglect from wardcouncillors and the council the area wasrun down, felt unloved and the residentsleft apathetic. So I stood in the 2006

election and put my heart and soul intoputting community politics into action. Ilistened to what people had to say andwithin weeks I had ensured stopped aPark and Ride going down a residentialstreet, got a Safer Route to School inplace and set up a residents group.

Then I was elected as a councillor and thework continued. Friends associationswere set up for our parks. Regularsurgeries set up to listen to residentsconcerns. Forums and residentsassociations were established to ensurepeople had their voice heard. All this wasbacked up with a lot of old fashioneddoor knocking and surveying all year

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round to make sure my ward colleaguesand I had our fingers on the pulse.

I am happy to say six years on theresidents of Pickering ward have come toexpect a high level of service from theirlocal councillors, we really have anexcellent record of action. We still have along way to go and I look forward toworking with local people to face thechallenges ahead. Playing a part inimproving the area I represent andlistening to local people is whatcommunity politics is all about for me.

Community politics in Hull (what we haveachieved)

Before the Lib Dems came onto the scenein Hull community politics didn’t exist. Itwas one of those traditional northerncities that had been returning legions ofLabour councillors since time began. Atone time every member of the councilbut one was Labour.

Then in the late 1990s things began tochange. At first one Lib Dem Councillorwas elected. Then a handful more then in2002 the Lib Dems took control of theCouncil and Labour’s power was brokenfor the first time since the mid-70s. To saythis even took the then group by surprisewould be an understatement. In the endthey were in power for one brief year. In

that time however they started the workthat we would pick up when we tookback power in 2006.

During this time it was clear that theopposition thought this was all just apolitical trick. Even today you get thefeeling that they think consultation is justa speed bump on the road to making adecision. That delegated budgets andpowers are somehow a bit of a waste oftime and it would be quicker and easierto make the decision centrally.

As a Lib Dem I am committed tocommunity politics and I am proud of thesteps we took in Hull. The reaction of theopposition has served only to reinforcethat belief. Should we regain power in thefuture I think one of the first things wewould do is re-examine what wasachieved and look at ways ofempowering local people further andensuring decisions are taken at agenuinely ‘local’ level.

The future of community politics

The Localism Act as I stated in myopening remarks will not alter what manyLib Dem councillors are doing. What isimportant is that we take stock andreflect in what is for many of us in localgovernment a time of opposition.

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I think it is important that we define theterms of community politics. For too longI feel we practiced the spirit ofcommunity politics but not the law. Weconsulted, surveyed, set up forums, withsome powers and budgets delegated.Most of this ‘decentralisation’ went onlycouncillors.

I feel that we got very good at listeningand very good at ensuring wardcouncillors have a say but I am notconvinced we went far enough inempowering local people further.Community politics is not about listeningand devolving budgets. It is aboutempowering people to make the

important decision about the areas theylive.

The future of community politics for mewill be identifying the progressive,forward thinking and impassioned voicesin our communities and supporting thosepeople. It will be about adapting ourphilosophy to the rapidly changingdemographics and the economicsituation our communities face. I suspectthe challenge in the future for councillorswill not be about working forcommunities but working withcommunities.

Abi:Abigail Bell has been a Councillor inPickering ward for 6 years. She was theDeputy Leader of the Council and aCabinet Portfolio Holder from 2007 to2011. She is now the Leader of the LiberalDemocrat Group on Hull City Council,which is the main opposition.

"I would not even be sat where I amtoday if it was not for community politics.I was a teenager on a run-down councilestate in Tower Hamlets and knew thingsshould be better than this for my familyand my neighbours.

I challenged the Local Lib Dem Councillorabout their leaflets complaining aboutstate of local football pitch. Rather thansending me away with a flea in my ear theLib Dems listened to what I had to sayand encouraged me to take my thoughtsand articulate them to other people andin different places.

That really tells you all you need to know,they listened and they encouraged andthat is community politics. It is differentto just representing a community or evenyour party. Tower Hamlet's and Islingtonhelped me understanding that a goodpolitician is one that gives power awayand that is the reason why I joined theparty. To let people make their owndecisions.

At the time I could not have imagined thatit would have led to 26 years ofcampaigning for my community ...... andthe door knocking and Focus deliverythat goes with it. Maybe communitypolitics should also come with warning!

But in those years, having sat on twoinner London Councils, it is clear to me isthat there are loads of great community

politicians. Not all of them are elected.Some of them are in other parties. AsLiberal Democrats we do not have amonopoly. Good community politics ishow you act when working with andrepresenting others.

It is not easy, it takes time and energy toempower others and sometimes youhave to leave your own strong views atthe door for the greater good or becausethe majority want something different.As Liberal Democrats we sometimesstruggle with this. We are involved inpolitics because we have views on awhole host of issues. We may not agreewith others let alone empower those thatmay make our life harder or fight adifferent corner. Our democraticstructures make it difficult too. Lack ofinterest from all sides of an argument

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Community Politics Started meoff!

make us very conscious that not all viewsare represented. Our fear of political,financial and social 'failure' stops us fromtrying stuff out and seeing if it works orcould be done better. In 26 years I canonly point at a few instances where I haveenabled real community politicssuccessfully. But the localism act can,and I hope change this.

It is why we often retreat into describingcommunity politics in terms ofcommunicating our decisions or doing

casework, rather than the real revolution -which is day-in-day out conversations inthe community that influence whathappens. From where trees are plantedand who plants them though to howservices are delivered. Stretching furtherthe stuff I learnt in Tower Hamlets abouthanding power to communities, tenants,friends groups, community organisationand the money to go with it. Things meand my colleagues in Islington put intopractice during the 10 years we run thecouncil.

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So what would help me reengage with myyouthful passion for community politicsnow that I am a cynical hack of over twodecades. Here are a few thoughts.

Six things that would makecommunity politics easierand better:

1. The Government should stop treatinglocal councils as the rationing arm fornational Government. Go the whole hogand give us time, money and power andtake the full responsibility. Only then canwe engage our residents in a meaningfulconversation that can deliver the holygrail of improved services and reducedcosts that suit our area. The localism actis the start, we still have some way to go.

2. Make time for better conversations. Ifwe were really honest we would all saythat the solution for the future of librariesneeds to be much more radical. But wenever set aside the time to have properconversations as a nation and locally. Weonly ask people to respond to proposalsnot explore the issues and variety ofsolutions. We need to be doing this onlots from how we police our streetsthrough to the running parks but wenever set aside the time.

3. Accept that empowering people takesskill and resources - it's not a short-cut toget something for free. So let's investproperly in developing the skills of thosewho want to engage, from the tenantsassociation to elected representatives.Helping councillors be more facilitative intheir community by giving them support.We would all get a lot more done andsociety would benefit as a result.

4. Stop pretending a £10k communityfund here and there is communitypolitics. It is playing around the margins.Call it something else. It is part of thejourney but not the end result. We canoften believe our own rhetoric too much.

5. Change the electoral system. I wantour councils to be a mix of interests andbackgrounds. I would like some of themto be Lib Dems but it is not necessary fordelivering good local services. I want usto have elected reps based on thechallenge and experiences they willprovide and then create the space for thedebate happen. Disagreements,collaboration and negotiation are allpositive aspects of the decision makingprocess and I would love to facilitate,through empowering leadership, acouncil that could do that. Our currentsystem always means our hands are tiedbehind our back and not free to reachout.

6. Even in this party we spend too muchtime reinforcing the left or right spectrumin our political system. I don't give a damnif you a "orange book Liberal" or a fan ofthe "social Liberal Forum". You can neverdeliver community politics if you can onlysee the answers in those terms. The truthis the solutions will come from boththose ideological positions and none.Community Politics is about how you gotthere, how every possibility has had thespace to be aired and considered andwhether our community orneighbourhood feel responsibility for the

result. I want us to win the augment notimpose the solution. We don't know best.

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Terry:Terry Stacy was Leader of the LondonBorough of Islington from 2009/10 andDeputy Leader and Executive Member inthe previous seven years. He was firstelected to the London Borough of TowerHamlets in 1998, on his second attempt,having been an active communitypolitics practitioner in the resident'smovement. He has held a range ofpositions in both his local party andregionally. He prides himself on takingthe battle to Labour heartlands, and isoften the first person to "throw thepuch" in the war, fighting stairwell, bystairwell.

He is now the leader of the LiberalDemocrat Group on Islington Council,and is an adviser to the Liberal DemocratGroup at London Councils the umbrellaorganisation for London localauthorities.

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Localism in practice in ChurchWard

Although I have been a councillor fornearly 20 years I’ve not ever really beenexcited by any legislation coming fromgovernment. It has usually been the casethat I’ve tried to work effectively in localgovernment despite any legislation notbecause of it.

When I was 18 and in the Upper Sixth inschool a young man came to talk to usabout community politics. We were an allgirls school so this was in fact a veryexciting prospect and we gave this poorbloke our full attention. It’s perhaps ameasure of how sad I am that I soonforgot to sit watching him and thinkingabout how good looking he was, and

started to listen to what he was actuallysaying. I remember he spoke aboutgetting people involved in makingdecisions about the area they lived in. Hetalked to us about how those who areelected to take decisions on behalf ofpeople should involve them first in thosedecisions.

Time rolled on and 15 years later I becamea councillor. Throughout this time I’veendeavoured to work as a communitypolitician. However, it’s only since theintroduction of the Localism Act that Ifeel like I’ve been given the opportunity tomake this happen in a meaningful way.

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A year ago our local vicar, Alan Kennedy,gave me a ring. He’d read about theLocalism Bill as it then was, he’d rungDowning Street and was now ringing meto see how we were going to write aneighbourhood plan for our area.

Alan then called together a small group ofpeople he knew who were also interestedin the concept of communities decidingwhat they wanted for the area and we satand talked about what we could do.

I made it clear that my role as a councillorwould be to assist the group but not bethe figurehead. I helped Alan with details

of all the resident’s associations in theward, all the voluntary groups whoworked, all the schools, and anyone else Iwas aware of who might want to have asay in a neighbourhood plan. Alan ofcourse knew all the church contacts!

I was able to help the group understandsome of process regarding the LocalismAct particularly with reference to the 21people we might ask to sign a petition toget the council involved in writing aneighbourhood plan for our area. Alanwrote to all our “stakeholders” explainingin plain english the potential of the Act interms of developing a neighbourhoodplan. With the letter he enclosed a

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“petition” for them to sign and return tothe council.

Within a few weeks we had over 50people who had returned the petition.

As a Liberal Democrat in a group of 10 onLiverpool City Council I’m very aware thatwe don’t have too much ability toinfluence how the council is run at themoment. I knew that the Localism Actwould enable me to insist on the councildeveloping a Neighbourhood Plan as longas I had those 21 signatures but I wantedto do this by a powerful act of persuasionrather than using the force of the law.

The 50 people who signed the petitionwere 50 people the council couldn’tignore. They included the local PoliceInspector, the headteachers of theschools in the area, the Practice Managersfrom the GP surgeries, most of the Chair’sof the Residents Associations, and otherassorted groups such as the “Friends ofCalderstones Park” and the “MerseysideWoodturners Association”.

Before we sent the petition to the councilI wrote to the Cabinet Member, CllrMalcolm Kennedy, who had responsibilityfor this area to explain to him exactlywhat the group had done over a period ofseveral months, what the group would

eventually like to achieve and what helpwe would like from the council.

Malcolm agreed to meet Alan and Maggie(who was the secretary of the group andalso knew a huge amount aboutlocalism!). He agreed to assist the group ifwe could outline the type of help wewanted and this is the stage we havereached as I write this.

The process has not been easy I have toadmit. It has taken a lot of time and effortto get to this stage and we haven’t evenbegun to start the process of askingpeople what they want to go into theneighbourhood plan! This has simplybeen about getting the process started.However, I believe that we have set solidfoundations and worked with some goodprinciples. This is a community ledprocess. Having Alan at the front is verypowerful and much more effective than award councillor as well as being the rightthing to do. Spending a lot of timeidentifying all those people who areinvolved in our area has been one of thebest things we’ve done. Making sure wetry to work with the council and notagainst the council is another importantapproach. Finally, having a clear goal insight which is to make sure the future ofour area will be decided by those wholive and work in the area has made all thehard work worthwhile.

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I am excited and daunted by the taskahead. Turning the Localism Act intosomething that is happening in our wardrather than a weighty tome sitting on ashelf somewhere in Whitehall is ourresponsibility as Liberal Democratcouncillors. For those of us who cameinto politics to be community politicianswe have finally been given theopportunity to make this happeneffectively. Please don’t let thisopportunity pass you by.

In the meantime, if you were the youngman who spoke to us all those years agocould you let me know as I’d love to knowwho it was!

EmmaCllr

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Andrew Stunell,

.

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Andrew:Cllr

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Daisy Benson

Community politics is at the core of whatmany Libs.

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Daisy:Cllr Daidy benson

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Tessa munt

cars.

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Tessa:Cllr Abigail Bell Hull

ALDC