Eastleigh, e-democracy and Neighbourhoods
Yesterday I spoke at a workshop for councillors at Eastleigh District Council. They were working on their ICT Strategy and wanted to explore some ideas about e-democracy.
Now Eastleigh is Lib Dem territory and, like Kingston, committed to devolution to Area Committees (aka Neighbourhoods) over 10 years ago. So I didn't need to make out the case for providing spaces, both online and offline, for citizen participation. It was more a question of which tools to use. As usual I directed them to the ICELE website where there is a wealth of advice, case studies and guidance on the use of all kinds of e-democracy tools.
Outside the workshop we had some interesting conversations comparing the ways we have implemented Neighbourhoods/Area Committees. Both Councils have been reviewing their remits and operation, aiming to renew the vision and refresh the practice. I certainly hope to continue these conversations over the next few months, because I think we can each learn from each other. Eastleigh is probably ahead of Kingston in terms of developing Community Strategies at a local level, whilst Kingston has delegated more to Neighbourhoods.
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We are trialling a system of these which are a partnership between the county, district and the parishes.
at the moment they seem to be just talking shops so have had little engagement with the wider community.
i had a look at the web pages on your council's website as well as the eastleigh council site and was interested to know more.
steve manion
London boroughs are effectively unitaries so we can determine just what is devolved down to the Neighbourhoods. We make much of the fact that decisions are taken at Neighbourhood Committees by the ward councillors and with input from residents.
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