Mary Reid

For the last couple of years I have served as Vice Chair of the International Centre of Excellence for Local e-Democracy (ICELE).  The Centre was funded by the Dept of Communities and Local Government, but managed (very effectively) by Lichfield District Council.

ICELE's main work has been with local councils and regional bodies, providing training and advice on the use of modern media to improve democracy.  It has also constructed a website that contains hundreds of resources for councils - guidance, case studies, project evaluations, as well as reviews of commercial and open source tools that are already available.

During the last two years I have been fascinated to see the emergence of the Government's empowerment agenda. From my perspective, governments don't 'give' power to citizens - citizens already have it since it is they who pay for government. What governments (including councils) need to do is to listen to what people are telling them, and make sure that the decision-making processes bring citzens and their elected representatives together to find solutions to problems.

It was clear to everyone that the 'e' channels would be crucial to the success of the empowerment enterprise - not, of course, as the only channel of communication, but because the Internet and mobile devices are, for many people, the core methods that they use.

So it has come as a great shock to many to learn that Communities and Local Government is pulling the plug on ICELE, just when it is needed. In fact, ICELE officially ceases in a week's time, at the end of the month.

ICELE had been through a period of uncertainty and delays over funding since the end of last year, but the expectation was that eventually the future would become clear. In the end Lichfield wrote to the Minister asking for clarity and indicating that it could not, as a small district council, take any further financial risks.

At the moment discussions are taking place to decide what will happen to a number of ICELE's 'products', including the website with its huge directory of resources. The long-term future of the blogging platform that I use, originally ReadMyDay and now relaunced as BloginaBox, is uncertain, although I have indicated very strongly that this must be maintained. Another possible casualty is Voice, the community website system which has been taken up by hundreds of community groups.

I will provide updates on progress - there is a two month interim period when hopefully these problems will be solved.

In the meantime here is the press release that I worked on with ICELE:

ICELE to seek pragmatic approach

Cllr Matthew Ellis, Chairman of the International Centre of Excellence for Local eDemocracy, said:"Whilst it has been made clear that Lichfield DC would not be seeking to take ICELE forwards in the future, we have been calling for a formal decision to be made by the Minister for some time. It takes considerable time and money to create a trusted and recognised brand, which ICELE has now become, not just in the UK, but in Europe. It would be unfortunate if the Centre was closed down before a useful and sustainable home for both its products and its brand can be secured." 

He continued: "The Centre now has partners across the UK and Europe, having been successful in securing, with others, future funding for specific areas of work. We believe it would be unfortunate if ICELE, as a focal point for sharing information and best practice, and some of the projects were simply abandoned. I'm hopeful that the talks we are now having with CLG will ensure that a thorough review is undertaken to find a sustainable future for areas of potentially ongoing work." 

Although ICELE will cease operations at the end of June, with the interim funding recently agreed with CLG it could provide resources for work to be undertaken to secure a future for VOICE and other aspects of the Centre's work.