"I AM so excited about this, so passionate, I really think this could be the start of something which will go nationwide and change the face of democracy across the country."

Coun David Baker, normally a quiet, calm man, is positively bubbling about a new policy Sheffield Council is about to introduce.

The Lib Dems took control of the council back in May and since then have been keen to make sure communities are not only given a louder voice, but that residents are given more power.

Council leader Coun Paul Scriven says he wants to leave office with less power than when he arrived and the Lib Dems are about to put their money where their mouth is by introducing Community Assemblies.

Dubbed an "exciting and ambitious project", it will be three years before the Community Assemblies are fully up and running and Coun Baker, as deputy council leader, is the man charged with seeing through the change.

The idea is simple. The current 12 Area Panels will be scrapped and in their place will be seven new Community Assemblies made up of four wards each.

Each Community Assembly will initially have £50,000 – of existing, not new, money – to spend. The money can only be spent on libraries, parks or street cleaning.

But it's up to local residents how to spend it. They can decide whether to blow the whole budget on resurfacing their local park, pay for their local library to open on Sundays or have a tidying blitz.

Do you think Community Assemblies are a good idea? Add your comment below.

Coun Baker explained: "At the moment the council's budget covers the whole city and Area Panels don't have the power to change anything, all they can do is pass things up to the council.

"The people with the loudest voices turn up at meetings and their views get fed back into the system but they are not the views of the whole community.

"With Community Assemblies, local councillors will be much more empowered and in touch with their constituents.

"They will be able to highlight big problems and say 'we want less grass cutting in the park and to spend the money on the local library instead'."

The council will publish a list of services and the cost – for example how much it costs to open a library per hour or how much to clean a street.

If residents can't agree what to spend the money on, local councillors will make the final decision.

The Community Assemblies will also beef up the role of local councillors and make them more accountable.

"The service that people get from the council will be different from when I came into office," said Coun Baker. "There will be less power in the hands of cabinet members.

"If 12 Labour councillors have been elected in an area then they make the decisions about that area even if it's the Lib Dems who are in charge of the council.

"As a councillor, you will have to put your money where your mouth is."
There is also a twist which could prompt protests from the trade unions.
The Community Assemblies can spend up to 20 per cent of their budget commissioning services from elsewhere.

For example, if Street Force charges £200 a day to cut the grass in the park, the Community Assembly can put it out to tender and find someone to do it for £100 a day.

There are also questions about what will happen if local residents demand their library opens on a Sunday when staff are only contracted to work Monday to Saturday.

Coun Baker says some things may not be possible if they infringe on employees' contractual terms and conditions.

But he adds: "We have to be efficient with the council's budget. It's about providing services that people want, to the standards they require.

"I believe 99 per cent of services will still come from the council but we are not going to ringfence them. It used to be the council did the job and charged as much as they wanted but we shouldn't be paying for services that are too expensive.

"Nowadays jobs are not safe forever. There will be negotiations with the unions and they have to be on board, we can't ride roughshod and don't want to implement changes that reduce the workforce, but we don't want to say that it's automatic the council can charge anything it likes and because it costs a certain amount to provide a service then that's it."

As turnout at local elections is at an all time low, there is the worry that people won't bother turning up to the Community Assembly meetings.
But if residents won't go to them, the Community Assemblies will go to the residents.

Coun Baker said: "Officers will go into the community, into tenants and residents associations, community forums and door-knocking to find out what people want.

"Over the next 12 months we will be working with the police, NHS, fire service, youth council and voluntary sector to set up community plans and to sort out what each area needs."

Log on to www.sheffield.gov.uk/
assemblies for more details.


Community Assemblies
Under Government plans:

• Councils will have a new duty to respond to petitions.

• Chairmen and chief executives of public bodies will face regular public hearings.

• People will have a chance to quiz officials and demand better results.

• Housing associations could be forced to redress tenants when services go wrong.

• Markets, community centres and swimming pools will be handed over to residents to run.

• Councils will be expected to do more to help residents understand how the democratic process works.

Sounds like a good idea, but will it work?
HANDING power down to local residents sounds like a good idea – but it means thousands of people will have to agree on how to spend it.

Labour is in favour of giving people more control but says the Community Assemblies are too big.

Labour leader Coun Jan Wilson said: "We are obviously very keen for local communities to be involved in decisions which affect their daily lives and that's why we set up 12 Area Panels years ago.

"But it seems a backward step to reduce these panels from 12 to seven. Each of these Community Assembles will be four times the size of Skegness! That doesn't sound very local to me."

She added: "The Lib Dems say they are going to give real power to these assemblies, and that there won't be any extra cost, but I can't see how they can set up all this red tape without extra expense.

"Of course we want people to be able to have a say about their area but I don't think that local people will be in favour of Sheffield having seven mini town halls."

Centrally, the Government also wants a fundamental shift in power so communities have more influence and responsibility.

Doncaster Central MP Rosie Winterton, who is also Regional Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber, says it's about giving individuals and communities real control and influence over their lives.

"I know there are excellent examples of people being empowered to influence decisions and help shape their neighbourhoods according to local need.

"This will help more and more people to have the same opportunities."

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