Devolution for Devon and Somerset? >>> "instead, it must be a real process of deliberative democracy, with the ability for the public to change aspects of the deal which they want to be improved."

With all the demands from local government for 'greater powers', it is not clear how much 'democratic mandate' there actually is for all of this.

This observation was made recently about events in West Dorset:

BRIDPORT: Internationally acclaimed cartoonist joins campaign for local democracy
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project: and the longer-term demise of district councils >>> Devon and Somerset to merge?

Meanwhile, the 'merging' of Devon and Somerset is happening under the banner of 'devolution' - but how 'democratic' is it?
Futures Forum: Devolution for Devon and Somerset? >>> "but it is certainly not democracy"

The East Devon Watch blog has done a little research:

DEVON/SOMERSET DEVOLUTION: A DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT BLACK HOLE

31 OCT 2015

How many people realise that Devon-Somerset devolution initiative is being led, not by its councils, but by its Local Enterprise Partnership – a sort- of mega East Devon Business Forum? And that it is pressing ahead with its plans without any public consultation?

Heart of the South West Statement of Intent: Towards a devolution deal: September 2015

Members of its board are listed here:

Chief Executive and Non-Executive Directors | Heart of South West Local Enterprise Partnership

How many people realise that power over development and housing for the whole of Devon and Somerset is to be potentially given to Karim Hassan (former Regeneration supremo at EDDC and now Chief Executive of Exeter) and EDDC Leader Paul Diviani – both masterminds of Cranbrook?Heart of the South West: Padbrook Park: Monday 5 October: Leaders and Chief Executives

This is what the Electoral Reform Society has to say about devolution deals in the north of England:

“The public shouldn’t just be given a yes/no option on a pre-agreed deal – we can’t have a fait accompli approach to devolution. There should be proper and meaningful consultation on the deal itself – what powers the public want the Combined Authority to have, and what they want their councils to do and look like in the 21st century.

“A piecemeal approach to engaging the public in the devolution debate isn’t sustainable. If citizens in County Durham are to be given a vote, it’s only right that citizens across the region should too.

How many people realise that the potential devolution of powers to Devon and Somerset are being led by its Local Enterprise Partnership (a collection of business people?

How many people realise that this partnership is suggesting that development and housing matters in the hands of Karim Hassan ( formerly head of Regeneration in East Devon and now Chief Executive of Exeter City Council) and EDDC council leader and Cranbrook apologist Paul Diviani?

“The Combined Authority said the public across the North East would be consulted – and we’ve yet to see what this will look like. It can’t be a tick-box exercise – instead it must be a real process of deliberative democracy, with the ability for the public to change aspects of the deal which they want to be improved. Local ‘Citizens’ Assemblies,’ like the ones we are running in Sheffield and Southampton, could be a great start.

“Let’s have a real debate about devolution and decentralisation. The ERS and leading academics are currently holding Citizens Assemblies in North and South that offer a promising model to follow in terms of engaging local people in the devolution agenda. Politicians in the region and the UK government would do well to watch them and build on them as a way to open up these discussions about where power should lie in our regions.”
Electoral Reform Society says devolution plans could ‘flounder’ without real public involvement

Devon/Somerset devolution: a democratic deficit black hole | East Devon Watch

LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPS

In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead economic growth and job creation within the local area

Local enterprise partnership - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Welcome to the Network
2010 to 2015 government policy: Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and enterprise zones - GOV.UK

There was some criticism of them a couple of years ago:
Vince Cable Slams 'Messy' Local Enterprise Partnerships That He Helped Launch
39 LEPs to growth? | Regeneris - Economic development consultancy

And more recently:
The 39 LEPs?

HEART OF SOUTH WEST LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIP

Heart of the South West Statement of Intent: Towards a devolution deal: September 2015Devolution Statement of Intent | Heart of South West Local Enterprise Partnership

Limited minutes are available:
Board Minutes | Heart of South West Local Enterprise Partnership

There are plenty of regular puff-pieces in the press on this LEP:
How the Heart of the South West is plotting a course for prosperity | Exeter Express and Echo

But beyond this, there is very little examination of the Heart of South West Local Enterprise Partnership - other than the above from the EDW.

However, next door in Cornwall, it has been noted that LEPs can do without 'all the burden and bureaucracy of the past':

The LEP is a great opportunity for the private business, public and voluntary sectors to work together to build a stronger and better economy for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly without all the burden and bureaucracy of the past.

Cornwall's Death Knell for Democracy - Archived UK Column Forums
Membership of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership Board is announced

Here is an example of a bottom-up approach to planning at the other end of the South West:
Don't give up on Saxonvale development, residents urged | Frome Standard

LOCAL CITIZENS' ASSEMBLIES

Democracy Matters: Why we’re launching our own Citizens’ Assemblies

Posted by Josiah Mortimer 11th September, 2015

With so many constitutional debates flying around – and so little public involvement in them – we think it’s time for citizens to have a say about where power should lie in the UK. So next week, leading academics and civil society organisations (including ourselves) will be launching a major democratic project in Parliament.

The Economic & Social Research Council-funded ‘Citizens’ Assembly’ pilot projectwill be launched in the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday, and comes ahead of the local Assemblies themselves being held in Sheffield and Southampton in October and November. Dubbed ‘Democracy Matters’, the two mini-constitutional conventions (AssemblyNorthand AssemblySouth) will bring together citizens and politicians over two weekends, in a ground-breaking gathering to debate Britain’s constitutional future at a local level.

Democracy Matters: Why we’re launching our own Citizens’ Assemblies | ERS
Citizens to be given a say in devolution agenda | UK Citizens' Assembly Pilots


Experimenting with citizens’ assemblies in the UK

GRAHAM SMITH 19 October 2015

Two experimental citizens' assemblies in Sheffield and Southampton, starting this month, show the way forward for debating constitutional change across the UK.

In October and November, two citizens’ assemblies will be taking place in Sheffield and Southampton. Organised by a coalition of academics and civil society organisations under the banner Democracy Matters, Assembly North and Assembly South represent significant interventions in contemporary British politics.

First, the assemblies will be dealing with a fundamental constitutional question: how should we be governed? The main focus of the assemblies will be devolution and decentralisation of power to English regions. The Devolution Deals that are current government policy are piecemeal reforms. And as the term ‘Deal’ suggests, they are stitched together by local and national elites: citizens have had no say in how they should be governed. Following the much publicised Devolution Deal for Greater Manchester, a Deal for Sheffield has been announced recently by government. A similar Deal for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is under consideration. But what do citizens in these areas make of the decisions being made in their name? What forms of regional power would be supported by the people who live locally?

Second, the assemblies are explicitly organised as pilots to showcase the potential of the citizens’ assembly model as a way of engaging citizens on constitutional decisions in the UK: an explicit response to conservative voices that suggest they are not suitable for, and would not work, in the UK. Assembly North and Assembly South follow in a line of citizens’ assemblies that have been organised in Canada (British Colombia and Ontario), the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland and aim to show that such assemblies can be organised effectively in the UK. Central to this model are the principles of random selection and deliberation: the idea that a diverse body of ordinary citizens, chosen on a near-random basis so as to be (close to) descriptively representative of the citizen population, are willing and able to deliberate and make recommendations on constitutional questions.

Experimenting with citizens’ assemblies in the UK | openDemocracy


The UK's constitutional future is being decided behind closed doors

Katie Ghose

Decisions about devolution of power to councils are being taken in the inner sanctums of Westminster and Holyrood – without citizen involvement

 

This government has not consulted its people in decisions over devolution deals. 

Friday 16 October 2015 

Following the Scottish independence referendum, the UK’s entire constitution has entered a state of flux. Power is shifting from one place to another, or rather from one place to a whole host of other places. For those who have long called for one of the most centralised states in the western world to respond to the localism agenda, there are many welcome developments.

The cities and local government devolution bill is on its way to becoming law. At the beginning of October the government announced the latest stage of its northern powerhouse agenda, striking a deal with Sheffield leaders worth £900m over 30 years. And the leaders of the Scottish and UK governments are thrashing out a deal for massive devolution of powers north of the Tweed.

But there is a glaring omission in all this otherwise admirable dispersal of power. Where are the people? What do they think about it? Why haven’t they been consulted? The future constitutional shape of the UK is being decided as we speak – behind closed doors.

The dynamic conversation about Scotland’s future, triggered by its independence referendum, involved nearly everyone in Scotland and many more beyond. It took place in town halls, schools, pubs and shops. But as the dust settled on that remarkable democratic event, the conversation effectively ended. Discussions about where power should lie were taken into the inner sanctums of Westminster, Holyrood and town halls.

The English, in particular, have not had the chance to discuss their constitutional future as the Scottish and, to a lesser extent, the Welsh have. Major decisions are currently being taken about where power in England should lie, from local and regional devolution to English votes for English laws. There must surely be a role for citizens in making these decisions.

The last Labour government had its fingers burnt when it came to consulting the public about devolution. A series of proposed referendums asking for consent for regional assemblies was met with public scorn and lack of interest. Perhaps the current government, as it seeks to devolve power, is mindful of that earlier failure and unwilling to repeat it.

But referendums are a blunt tool. For every Scottish independence referendum, there are three or four plebiscites which fail to spark a real debate (the referendum on the alternative vote is a case in point). There is another, better, way to involve the public in making decisions. It’s time the government took seriously the case for a UK-wide, citizen-led constitutional convention. This would empower citizens to deliberate and ultimately decide the future constitutional shape of the UK.

There has been a lot of talk along these lines, but no concrete demonstration of what a convention would look like. The Electoral Reform Society has therefore teamed up with a range of universities to set up two pilot citizens’ assemblies, essentially mini-conventions, which will bring representative samples of the population in the Sheffield and Southampton areas to deliberate on and decide where power should lie at a local level. For the first time citizens will have the chance to grapple with issues around devolution.

As the government pushes ahead with its Sheffield deal and negotiates with local leaders elsewhere in England, it now has the chance to take note of what people actually think. It would be wise to do so because ultimately, consent for constitutional reform has to come from citizens themselves.

The UK's constitutional future is being decided behind closed doors | Public Leaders Network | The Guardian

• SHEFFIELD 
• SOUTHAMPTON 
• ABOUT 
• PRESS

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3

Citizens' Assembly South

The outcome of the Scottish independence referendum raised big questions about how we are governed in England.

With Greater London adopting new powers, residents in and around Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight (the Solent) are wondering if similar changes could revitalise our region. Some residents believe that shifting more power to the local level will deliver public services more effectively and use public funds more efficiently. Others are concerned about adding extra layers of administration.

The Solent has been amongst the national leaders in the pursuit of new deals between local authorities and Westminster. However, shifting new political power to the region must be in a form that is supported by the people who live here.

“Our citizens’ assemblies will put the voice of local people at the forefront of debates about how we are governed. This represents is an important opportunity for people to shape the debates about the future of the Sheffield and Solent regions”

Professor Will Jennings

Academics from the University of Southampton are part of a team of leading international researchers who are interested to discover what power to the people might mean for England. Through two pilot assemblies, they want to give people more say about the decisions that affect them and give them a meaningful role in changing how politicians make decisions. This will be an important opportunity to shape the future of the Southampton, Portsmouth and Isle of Wight region.

These two pilot assemblies will be held in Southampton on 24-25 October and 14-15 November, and while places for participants are limited, all members of the public are invited to contribute to the process through the ‘Make a submission’ link on this page.

Materials and further information will be made available throughout the process, while findings, press releases and briefings will be released via the About page.

Southampton | UK Citizens' Assembly Pilots
.
.
.