Lib Dems launch "Power to the People" strategy

10.25.35am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 23rd Jan 2008

Hereward Cooke

At next Tuesday's meeting of the full City Council, a motion from the Liberal Democrats will call for a new era of participatory democracy to begin in Norwich.

With voter apathy at an all time high, the Lib Dems want to pioneer a new style of politics. The party wants Norwich City Council to listen closely to the people of Norwich and enable them to get more involved in local decisions. By trusting people and giving them more responsibility the Lib Dems want to encourage people to play a greater role in their local community.

Recent controversies (Heartsease School and Blackdale Playing Fields) have shown that local councils and the government overlook public opinion on key issues. The Lib Dems want the council to support initiatives to make it compulsory for local authorities and the government to give closer consideration to all petitions. They are looking for a public consultation to be more than a PR exercise.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats at City Hall, Councillor Hereward Cooke commented: "In response to the Government's call for Councils to react more positively to public petitions, we are wanting to stimulate a wider debate as to how Norwich residents can feel more involved in the Council's decision-making process. We are proposing that the Council sets up a petition section on its web-site and is calling on central government to practise what it is now urging on local authorities, i.e. to take petitions more seriously.

A sense of community needs to be fostered, so that everybody can make a contribution to the common good that counts. People need to have more influence over the large and small decisions that affect their area. We will be looking at some of the ideas, such as creating parish councils in urban areas, expanding special interest groups, making it easier for public views to be known at City Hall and indeed welcoming other ideas that arise in the course of the debate. It is the people who make Norwich what it is, both in principle and practice."

The Liberal Democrats have long opposed the centralised and target driven nature of the Labour government. Under plans revealed by the new Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, power and decisions over public services would be devolved from the government in London to local councils and then to local people and communities. Norwich Lib Dems support his call for smaller and more localised government.

The Lib Dems will put forward the following motion at a the full council meeting next week :

'This Council notes:-

· The growing disengagement from local government most recently highlighted by the Councillor Commission Report.

· The need for a new era of participatory politics where local people feel a greater sense of political involvement.

· The Government consultation paper "Local petitions and Calls for Action: Consultation.

This Council asks the Executive Committee to:-

(1) respond positively to the Government's consultation paper advocating a statutory obligation for councils to respond to petitions;

(2) ask the Government to respond similarly to the petitions and e-petitions that it receives;

(3) make petitioning the Council easier by establishing an e-petition section on the website;

(4) consider setting up a working party to advise how the electorate may be more involved in the decision making process.'