Open Space write up (UK conference May-07)

Specific Topic Working with Government

 

Overarching question How do we sustainably expand and support the network of communities working on transition?

Proceedings

Editor notes:

  • Lots about working with government also in the Energy Descent Action Plan session.
  • One key point to come out of this was to avoid creating an alternative government. There's lots of talk in "new paradigm" movements of creating parallel public infrastructure, but this group did not promote that approach.

Getting to know the Council

  • Start with the assumption that they want to be helpful!
  • Seek first to understand
    • listen carefully
    • learn their language
      • "strategic planning"
      • "area action plans"
      • "community plan"
    • be humble
    • find out how you can help
  • Get to know them personally
    • know their specific interests (or if they're not that interested in specific issues, be aware of that too)
    • don't underestimate their passion, commitment or knowledge
  • Get to know what they're responsible for and their allocated areas
  • Be aware of the "quality status" of the council at the TC (town), PC (parish) and DC (district) levels
    • this obliges them to commit to certain community actions
    • we can take advantage of the transparency and accountability that results from this
  • Read all their documents in order to:
    • identify common areas
    • identify areas where they can provide support
    • identify blocks
    • quote passages/points from the documents back at them when the time is right
  • Understand the tensions between different levels of government, eg local vs county
    • the county council, being more focussed on the motor car, can stop local transportation initiatives such as street trees and cycle paths

Getting involved in the Council

This is about figuring out not just how they can help us, but also how we can help them...

  • Establish partnerships and community with them
  • Don't create alternative parallel infrastructure
  • Provide input to policies and plans, including national and long term plans
    • we can work together and learn together
  • Get involved with, and respond to, public consultations
    • the steering group can ask the council to be involved/included in all consultations
  • Use question time at council meetings - make sure the questions are brief, to the point and neutral
  • Make sure your approach is inclusive
    • look at all the different tiers of the council
    • include all the political parties to avoid fracturing the potential support
    • this will usually necessitate you finding a neutral position to start with
  • The council has obligations around sustainability that we can work with
    • the planners are crucial here and need to be given the right language to connect sustainability with the transition initiative
    • avoid the bland language that sustainability can sometimes engender
  • TT individuals can talk to ward councillors and attend surgeries

Getting the council to support your Transition Initiative

  • Identify a "good project" and get them involved
  • A good project has the following attributes:
    • potentially will make someone in the council look good
    • will deliver kudos to the council generally
    • has no obvious barriers to support it
    • is attractive to the local press
      • often local press has an antagonistic relationship with the council and TT projects, being community focussed, can really help with this
  • Key candidates for this type of project are:
    • children
    • schools
    • the public

Getting Transitioners into government

  • Local councillors can get involved in Transition Teams and the Steering group
  • People in Transition Teams can put themselves up for election [this was done in Glastonbury,Totnes, Lewes and mebbe others - Ed]
  • Candidates can actually pledge to support a Transition Initiative in their election manifesto, as done by the Libdems in Leamington Spa
  • other councillors will also be keen to engage because it might bring 100% support from the transition initiative

Using the expertise of the councils

  • At the CC (county) level, they have expertise in:
    • education
    • health
    • social services
  • A lot depends on the individual officers concerned, here's a list of likely suspects to engage with:
    • planning department
    • Chief Exec of DCs
    • Town Clerk at TCs
    • Environmental health officers
  • These individuals often want to move in the directions proposed by the Transition Initiative, but are under pressures from other directions

Using the resources of councils

  • They may give grants of up to £5k as seed funding
  • Some have no money to give
  • Make sure you research potential funding at the TC, DC and PC levels

Other ideas

  • Get TT on the Town/Community signposts just like the "Fair Trade" signs
  • Start with a project that will be well received eg Allotments and help them with this by:
    • identifying demand
    • looking for options

Stepping into the Housing debate

  • Talk to volume housebuilders
    • encourage them appreciate the market for genuinely sustainable housing
    • avoid being exploited by the developer
    • oppose if necessary
  • If the housebuilders don't engage, you can bring that back to the council
  • "Affordable housing" is a vague term and typically developers will take advantage of this lack of clarity
    • make contact with social housing organisations re building sustainable housing
    • consider promoting the idea of social housing (to let) that is run by responsible bodies, such as housing associations
    • if this approach is found to be successful, make sure it's identified as "best practice" and made available to the network

Government as landowner

  • This means that they can help with:
    • community orchard
    • sustainable housing
    • allotments
  • Be aware that there may be conflicting pressures on the councils in this area