Invitation to a planning meeting with Newham’s Democracy Commission

In November of 2019, we were invited by Newham Council to attend a planning meeting as part of their Democracy and Participation Commission, an independent body providing independent expert advice.

The Democracy Commission was established by Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, after her 2018 election manifesto promised to include the community in decision-making.

The planning meeting to provide support to Newham’s Democracy Commission was led by the Democratic Society, an organisation dedicated to citizen participatory governance, together with the Centre for Public Scrutiny, a charity focussed on transparency, inclusivity and accountability in the public sector.

They will be running a host of activities and events in January 2020, aimed at finding out how the residents of Newham can be more involved in shaping the borough’s future.

Representatives from a range of groups were invited to the planning meeting to discuss how to maximise engagement with different sectors of the community. We were also tasked with sharing our ideas and suggestions for shaping the events that Demsoc and CfPS will be running. We worked with support from the Community Neighbourhood managers, in discussion with Newham Councillors.

We found strong support for our ideas, to the point at which Councillor Terrance Paul, the Cabinet member for finance and corporate services, and Councillor James Asser, the Assistant Cabinet member for supporting environment the sustainable transport agenda suggested arranging a meeting with us at a later date.

This was an unexpected positive result to come out of our inclusion in the planning meeting for citizen engagement. As a fledgling group, having only been established last month, we were happy simply to have been one of the organisations invited to work on this process.

The council have already started to consult with residents on the climate crisis, so using the planning meeting as a place to discuss how we can increase awareness was a good place to start!

We used the experience to look at how the climate crisis can be factored into every facet of citizen participatory democracy and decision-making in all council policy.

We are keen to see climate change mitigatory questions embedded into every possible initiative involving resident participation, to help not only make this a part of all aspects of council (and community) decision-making but to help raise the issue in the minds of all Newham citizens.

Through our direct engagement with the community, we are seeing that levels of climate change awareness vary, with many people reticent to make the necessary changes in their own lives.

Whilst it is a positive move by the mayor to work on laying the groundwork for the community to help shape the borough, we cannot overstate the importance of residents understanding why and how we can all contribute to saving our planet and all its living systems.

At ClimateYouChange, we are committed to accelerating this crucial education.