The document discusses putting people in charge of public services and examples in Lambeth. It mentions cleaning up the local area, youth services that work for young people, and boosting the local economy. The main points are that the council will turn itself on its head to act as a facilitator rather than provider of services, and discusses barriers to this approach and how they are being overcome.
Short intro to set the scene – talk about journey & co-op council networks. Cllr F Nosegbe – Lambeth Council. This afternoon short presentation on What are we trying to achieve in Lambeth with the Co-op Council Where are we up to? What happens next? What are the barriers we still need to overcome?
The main vision behind the co-op council was around exploring Lambeth’s new partnership between citizens and services As an administration we started looking into this from early back as late 2009 so not only in response to Govt Cuts! Turn citizens from passive recipients into active shapers of services Deliver more effective, more responsive services by giving users more control Strengthen civil society so it’s better able to deal with challenges Do things ‘ with ’ our communities rather than ‘ to ’ our communities Create a new approach to protect public services For a number of us involved in the delivery and running of public services there are some familiar problems that we are trying to address and fix within our communities, for example : How do we turn Dependency > self-reliance Passive recipients > active shapers Limited aspiration > growing aspiration Problem bringer > problem solver
Community Freshview – aims to improve environmental quality, reduce anti-social behaviour & increase community engagement/partnership working Sees residents join forces with the council to makeover their local areas. Led by residents – if they belong to a community group, or have voluntaries the council will help by giving the equipment, expertise and some extra helping hands. Types of activities include : clearing & tidying area of woodland, removing debris from disused land or cutting back overgrown alleyways Held on Saturday and Sundays all year – all residents need to do is request a date and the council will book you in Community Snow Wardens – initiative launched last September in preparation for Winter 2011 for community minded voluntrees to help clear snow and ice from local streets. Local residents were provided in training and provided with the tools including: A shovel Hi-visibility jacket Gloves Grit bin & a supply of grit Last winter we recruited an army of 250 volunteers to help keep residential roads safe and free from snow and ice. Our Snow Wardens received full training and all of the equipment they needed to safely clear their local streets and they turned out in force during the short period of cold weather in early February. The scheme was a big success and attracted many positive comments from residents and pedestrians throughout the borough.
Co-operative Youth Trust The development of the Young Lambeth cooperative will provide the overarching governance / co-operative approach for some of the Children and Young People's Services in the borough. The trust is focused on developing a new delivery and ownership models for : 5 Youth Centres, 7 Adventure Playgrounds, 15 Stay & Play One O'clock Clubs, the Lambeth Young & Safe Service and Crown Lane Children’s Centre Great focus on Community commissioning – local people deciding which services should be commissioned to support young people. The Young Lambeth cooperative will be a membership organisation with the aim of developing greater involvement and closer relationship between the users and wider community in the delivery of services for children and young people in Lambeth. Strong and representative community membership including involvement of young people will be central to its success.
Launched : 17th September 2009 the Brixton Pound is the UK’s first local currency in an urban setting The Brixton Pound CIC (Community Interest Company) owns and manages the B£e scheme Brixton pound is a local currency designed to support Brixton Businesses and encourage local trade & production – it works alongside (not replacing) pounds sterling for use by local shops and traders Brixton Pounds helps to boost the local economy & encourages local shops to source goods and services locally Notes denominations : B£1, B£5, B£10, B£20 Some traders offer B£ customers special offers for using the money (like a loyalty card for Brixton!) – do check in store for special offers, also keep an eye on our business directory
Turning council on its head – facilitator, not provider Transforming the corporate centre: shared platform Transforming frontline services: cooperative and co-produced models Skills and competencies Culture change Timetable: 5 years to transformation is very ambitious
Barriers we are encountering Personal/organisational: managers, staff, doing themselves out of a job Understanding: key people don’t fully know what we want Capacity: lack of skills, knowledge, to effect transformation (e.g. legal models, new approaches) Risk: managers resistant in case new models fail Stasis: people want to stick with what they’re familiar with Blocking: active or passive resistance to change (e.g TUs) How are we overcoming theses? Change framework External support Communicating our vision better Developing champions in council and community Visiting working examples Leadership Doing it
Lambeth Co-op council principles Partnership with the community Co-production and building on what exists Reciprocity incentives for participating Local employment and skills development Maximum accessibility and equalities National Perspective: The Co-operative Councils Network is a network of Labour Councils that are implementing co-operative policies and ways of providing services, which give communities power and a real say over the ways they are run. So far, 21 councils and opposition Labour Groups have been invited to join the network including some of England’s largest metropolitan boroughs, from Newcastle to Lambeth. More councils will come on board as the Network develops. The Network is run by the Co-operative Party , supported by the Local Government Association Labour Group.