The New Community Assemblies

[Gunner 11]

In Shirecliffe it is the Local Councillors that are part of the problem. They have their favourite's for running committee's. One of my problems was the fact that in 2000 I was a Conservative. Just this alone upset some councillors. Bearing in mind the local area committee's are supposed to be none political in the way they are run. Yet we have Blunkett on a permanent campaign trail every chace he gets backed by a certain Labour Counc, that dictates to the committee. However, Sad to say the Shirecliffe Forum and other good projects are in danger of becoming defunct. The TARA will not negotiate with them or work with them Nor will they ask the people of Shirecliffe. Yesterday whilst at the shopping centre I asked many of the shoppers ( I am well known ) who ran the committee's. Where is the tenants ass. Do they know about the local FORUM. Only one person had any interest. Even shopkeepers knew little about what is happening on this estate. Take control of fiance away from the committee's then they lose interest. Some of the idea's I have heard in respect of Shircliffe make me cringe. Every night I see a Community Center closed. Yards away on the park I see local lads with nothing to do. All they want is a place to hang out with their mates. Millions spent on a center that is closed to the youth. Blunkett said this centre would be the hub of the community when he opened it. Blunkett has been wrong so many times. He opened the local park after thousands had been spent on it. What he could not see was the vandalism. The bad woprkmanship, The mess left by builders. The damaged play area and football pitch ? ? ? Bad planning of the whole area. He had to believe what he was told.

[Incubus 10]

The TARA don't have too much power anyway. All the decisions of what goes on in the centre is down to a few interested people who control the committee. You only have to look at the cleaning and maintenance contracts to see whats going on

[Gunner 11]

It can be seen in all area's. Many of the contracts created by the regeneration grants have been given out like sweets to anyone that is in with the right people. I asked for an enquiry into the alarms systems fitted to Sheffiel Homes. I was ignored. Bad quality systems at high costs where the tenant also pays for this every week on top of the rent.

[Albert T Smith 10]

It can be seen in all area's. Many of the contracts created by the regeneration grants have been given out like sweets to anyone that is in with the right people. I asked for an enquiry into the alarms systems fitted to Sheffiel Homes. I was ignored. Bad quality systems at high costs where the tenant also pays for this every week on top of the rent.

 

Form what you mention in your post, you have similar views like myself, though I'm a member of the Labour Party. I would also like to say that David Blunkett is one of the politicians that I've always admired even though he as faults like we all have. His main tragic fault is being unable to see.

 

The entire system of grants to areas needs looking at, because I've frequently thought the a few officials by promoting certain organisation to do jobs, could also see a increase in their own bank balance, though this is hard to prove.

 

One of the main problems with this new idea of the Community Assemblies will be trust. By that I mean, trusting a delegate or person is speaking freely not on the behalf of a political wing. How that is going to be solved I don't know but one thing that I'm certain of is if the financial set-up and this problem are not solved the this idea of New Community Assemblies will be as dead as a doe - doe, with a year with a great deal of political fall out.

[RosyRat 10]

One thing in particular bothers me about the proposed Assemblies - how do you apply local funding and policies to a city-wide service? I'm thinking particularly of the Libraries Department, which has city-wide policies on stock purchase, staffing and service delivery. The small amount of funding available through the Community Assemblies will have little impact on branch libraries and mobile services and sit awkwardly with the current structure which operates on the basis of large groups of libraries being managed together. It also takes no account of the uneven geographical spread of libraries and mobiles around the city.

This is not a model that has been applied to any other Library Authority and I really don't believe the possible consequences of applying it in Sheffield have been thought through.

[Tony 10]

Fair point RosyRat, but I guess that these are the wrinkles to be ironed out, but the combined brainpower of SCC should be able to manage something if they apply themselves. We will see how the idea is implemented and how it develops. I doubt that it will be right first time.

 

The plan seems to centre around dismantling the controlling apparatus of the Town Hall, and for that I applaud it. The former Area Panels were fine in the way that they provided opportunity for transferring information but the ones that I have attended tended to be about SCC telling citizens what was going to happen rather than getting them involved in any meaningful way. This new idea takes that concept and pushes it to the next level.

 

What I especially like about the idea is the concept of giving authority back to citizens, because the bedfellow of authority is responsibility.

[Gunner 11]

I would also like to say that David Blunkett is one of the politicians that I've always admired even though he as faults like we all have. His main tragic fault is being unable to see.

 

I do agree somewhat with your remarks. I know David very well indeed. I was friends with him for a time,. He was also a friend of my mothers ( who was also blind ) many years ago when he used to attend Mappin Street Blind Institute, But he had to rely on many people to keep him informed and also to tell the truth. This was seriously lacking when he was a Councillor, It most certainly was when he became an M.P.

[RosyRat 10]

The former Area Panels were fine in the way that they provided opportunity for transferring information but the ones that I have attended tended to be about SCC telling citizens what was going to happen rather than getting them involved in any meaningful way. This new idea takes that concept and pushes it to the next level.

 

What I especially like about the idea is the concept of giving authority back to citizens, because the bedfellow of authority is responsibility.

 

I'd be the first to agree with you about the Area Panels being meetings where officers made presentations and asked for feedback. Having been on an Area Panel for 3 years I can say that the reason for this was that so few members of the public turned out for the meetings. Certain members of the public would faithfully attend every Area Panel meeting, whether it was in their community or not with the express purpose of bringing up their particular issue. Good for them, but we need input from local people about how their neighbourhoods are managed. I very much hope that the Community Assemblies will attract more people, but how I don't know. We have a tremendous amount of apathy where our neighbourhoods are concerned, with plenty of criticism about what the Local Authority is doing and precious little wish for active involvement.

I applaud the concept of giving authority to citizens, but not "back" to them. They've always had it but most choose not to use it. Let's hope the Assemblies actually make a difference to public attitude.

[andco 10]

I'd be the first to agree with you about the Area Panels being meetings where officers made presentations and asked for feedback. Having been on an Area Panel for 3 years I can say that the reason for this was that so few members of the public turned out for the meetings. Certain members of the public would faithfully attend every Area Panel meeting, whether it was in their community or not with the express purpose of bringing up their particular issue. Good for them, but we need input from local people about how their neighbourhoods are managed. I very much hope that the Community Assemblies will attract more people, but how I don't know. We have a tremendous amount of apathy where our neighbourhoods are concerned, with plenty of criticism about what the Local Authority is doing and precious little wish for active involvement.

I applaud the concept of giving authority to citizens, but not "back" to them. They've always had it but most choose not to use it. Let's hope the Assemblies actually make a difference to public attitude.

 

Do you think this "precious little wish for active involvement" may possibly be due to a long uphill struggle in ensuring our voices heard when it comes to concerns about performance and service delivery on specific issues

[RosyRat 10]

Do you think this "precious little wish for active involvement" may possibly be due to a long uphill struggle in ensuring our voices heard when it comes to concerns about performance and service delivery on specific issues

 

andco

 

Sorry, I can't answer that, as I don't know which issues you're referring to and which Area Panel you attended. Poor turn-out is an increasing problem at all meetings involving communities, even some of the Tenants and Residents Association meetings. I think that the issue is just that - they're meetings and people would rather stay at home/go to the pub/visit friends than sit in a hall for 2 hours and discuss thier neighbourhoods. After all, if no-one turns up the work of the Council will still go ahead.

 

This is why I'm concerned about the proposed Community Assemblies. I think they'll suffer from the same problems as the Area Panels in that most people don't like going to meetings.

[Tony 10]

I very much hope that the Community Assemblies will attract more people, but how I don't know. We have a tremendous amount of apathy where our neighbourhoods are concerned, with plenty of criticism about what the Local Authority is doing and precious little wish for active involvement.

 

 

I expect that the roving format of the AP's is largely to blame. Our AP moves around the area and each meeting concentrates on that area only, with only the local councillors tending to turn up. That means that we get a chance to have a say about local issues roughly once a year. If you miss it you wait another year.

 

I would hope that these new CA's will have a wider area brief so that you can attend a meeting in July and get a progress report / follow up comment / make further input a couple of months later.

[Gunner 11]

andco

 

Sorry, I can't answer that, as I don't know which issues you're referring to and which Area Panel you attended. Poor turn-out is an increasing problem at all meetings involving communities, even some of the Tenants and Residents Association meetings. I think that the issue is just that - they're meetings and people would rather stay at home/go to the pub/visit friends than sit in a hall for 2 hours and discuss thier neighbourhoods. After all, if no-one turns up the work of the Council will still go ahead.

 

This is why I'm concerned about the proposed Community Assemblies. I think they'll suffer from the same problems as the Area Panels in that most people don't like going to meetings.

 

 

Have you never asked yourself why people never turn up at meetings. The meetings and committee members are not as democratic as one would think. The fight for Chair can be viscious. Little people, After what they think is power. As said previous. Try and vote against a motion, You do so at a risk. I myself have served on many committee's. My doors have been open for advice and help all hours of the day and night. I have done this since 1978 since leaving the forces When I tried to get an active committee on this estate in 1997 I and others came under attack from others that wanted to take over the inactive committee. Then along came the FORUM in 2000. I have never seen such a battle for power as we had. One man became very ill and died as a result. I was attacked, My home was attacked. This was because we would not vote for a motion we thought was wrong and needed further advice. I was since proven correct with the dissappearance of a local busnessman. It is not an easy job running a committee. People thought it was. Now we hear very little from the TARA, Nothing at all from the FORUM, Now the FORUM is in turmoil. The new Community Center is not as good as expected. Promises made to our youth for the last twelve years have been broken time and time again. When local people are asked about the TARA or FORUM, They do not know what you are talking about. Many bad decisions have been made that have cost money. The refurbished park is a disgrace. We should be part of the decision making I agree. We should have a rep on the area housing as we used to have. But the running of the estate and all decisions should be left to those that know best. To shove the responsibility onto local people who ( Forgive the PUN ) are ignorant of local planning and other local political issues is wrong. To connect committee's to a Political Party is wrong. I forgot my Political Life when sitting on a committee. Though I am a Conservative that never came into what I thought about my community. I wanted to do the best I could as a member of a community not a political party. But this does not work with the present set up. It is run entirely by and for certain local Councillors. The committee's are the puppets on a string............They just sit around then have meetings with pie and pea suppers. Meeting even General Meetings that are unconstitutional maybe illegal. Time must be given and notices sent to all when a general meeting is due. Also there must be a quorum. Very rare have a we had a quorum. People have lost interest, Too many fights arguements as a result. It seems that some TARA's and FORUM's have become mafia's.