Liberal Democrats want the Council to empower local people rather than dictate to local people

12.00.00am GMT Tue 8th Nov 2005

Cllr Paul Scriven believes devolution can improve local services

Read Cllr Paul Scriven's article on how devolution can work for Sheffield. The article was recently printed in popular local newspaper 'the Star' as part of the regular 'Viewpoint' feature.

"Just like many residents across Sheffield, I believe that the Councils services have a long way to go before civic leaders can honestly say that taxpayers are getting value for money. Whilst some services have been improved in the last few years, largely due to the sweeping changes implemented in the early part of this decade, there is no doubt in my mind that they are still far from 'excellent' as claimed by some.

Of course extra investment into our front line services as opposed to the currently mushrooming bureaucracy at the Town Hall would go a long way to improving local services, but I believe they is another way to enhance services without having to increase budgets. By tailoring local services to local communities needs by bringing down decision making to a neighbourhood level, not only will we have services directed by specialist local knowledge but the Council can also re-engage with the people it serves. I believe we need to re-look at how the Council makes its decisions.

The current decision making process of only the controlling political party calling all the shots within the Town Hall doesn't work. Clearly its right that the controlling group control the strategic direction of the Council, but the present system fails to take into account valuable local knowledge that local residents and local councillors possess on the smaller local issues. A good recent example of this defective practice can be seen with the placing of glass recycling points in the South West of the City. What should have been a good news story turned sour when the Council failed to consult local community groups or local members on the placement of the sites, as a result residents are now protesting against the placement of the recycling centres. There is a way that these sort of incidents can be avoided.

The many diverse communities which make up Sheffield are what makes this City such a great place to live and work in. But this diversity also presents a challenge to the Council, that is to make sure that all services meet the needs of each and every community. I believe that the best way of achieving this is to give local councillors, supported by the local residents themselves, the biggest influence in local decision making. The Council currently does have 'Area Panels' operating throughout Sheffield, to be honest, with mixed success. Whilst they provide a platform for local people to raise issues they lack the power and profile that they deserve.

Liberal Democrats would like to devolve power down to a local level so that decisions better reflect the wishes of the very people the decision will affect. We envisage local decision making bodies, made up of local councillors supported by local people, that have budgets for street cleaning, local parks and libraries handed down from the Town Hall. This would allow services to be tailored to the communities needs, it would also allow people greater involvement in the decisions that affect their neighbourhood. So for example, if an area felt that they wanted to keep their local library open all day on a Sunday they could do - but they would be the ones to decide funding priorities. Of course some Council services would be retained centrally, but local decision making bodies would still have an input into things like the road maintenance plan, social services and our education services.

I believe that this system would not only result in better decisions and tailor made services, but it would make local councillors more accountable to the people who elected them. Liberal Democrats want the Council to empower local people rather than dictate to local people. We must do all we can to harness local knowledge to make the right decisions for all our communities across Sheffield"

Cllr Paul Scriven, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Sheffield City Council