Community Workers Co-operative & Local
Government Reform
The Community Workers Co-operative has been actively
interested in the issue of local government reform for a
number of years, producing its first publication on the
issue in 1990 "Community Groups and Reformed Local
Government". This document identified a number of
key principles upon which local government reform should
be based. These included:
- Community participation in local government and
an appreciation of the value of participatory
democracy.
- The design of integrated and co-operative
development strategies.
- Greater autonomy for local government.
- Accountability and greater access to local
government for community based organisations.
Why is Local Government Reform an Issue for the
Community Sector?
- It offers new opportunities for the community
sector to become involved with local government.|
- This involvement in turn offers the opportunity
to place issues of poverty and social exclusion
on the agenda at the local level.
- Local government has been identified as having a
particular role in the implementation of the
National Anti Poverty Strategy. Local authorities
need to be encouraged to take this role up in a
meaningful way.
- The Local Development Programme and partnership
companies have been important in placing issues
of social exclusion on the agenda at local level.
Proposals to more closely integrate local
government and local development potentially run
the risk of diluting this emphasis. Community
groups and others must ensure that this
doesn’t happen
.
- The increased involvement in local government
offers a valuable opportunity to increase the
public accountability of local government, a
function which to date is confined mainly to
local government elections, the last of which
took place in 1991.
- Finally, the involvement in reformed local
government offers an opportunity to promote
participatory democracy, which can operate
alongside and as a vital supplement to
representative democracy.
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