An Invitation to Neighbourhood Conversations.pdf

An Invitation to Neighbourhood Conversations.pdf

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  Neighbourhood Conversations Provocation& Invitation paper: This paper acts as an invitation for you to join the Working Group on ‘Neighbourhood Conversations’. The Working Group will advise and support the City Goals delivery team towards a blueprint of a Neighbourhood Conversations infrastructure that makes sense for Sheffield. In January 2024, the Sheffield City Goals were agreed. They represent an ambitious and aspirational direction of travel for our city, with a drive to make change happen at their core. While powerful and necessary, the Goals are insufficient on their own. To build confidence as a city in our collective ability to deliver against them, we must acknowledge that we’re going to have to work differently. Our city ecosystem must move beyond traditional spaces of governance and instead build new muscles for ‘city-wide, neighbourhood deep’ collaboration that drives novel and co-ordinated approaches to delivering change in Sheffield. In that spirit, we are working to develop new governance and collaboration infrastructures for Sheffield that give us all the confidence we need to work together in pursuit of the goals we’ve set ourselves. These infrastructures were identified by the Stewardship Circle convened as part of the development of the City Goals. You can find some of the original ‘pitches’, and a shortlist from which they were chosen, for reference. Launching in 2025, a participatory co-design process will give city stakeholders the opportunity to help shape the following infrastructures: 1. Sheffield Stronger Together: designing a new City Goals partnership and leadership function, which includes the newly-formed Sheffield Stronger Together Leadership Group. 2. Neighbourhood Conversations: supporting ongoing conversations at the neighbourhood level to enable more people to drive forwards and participate in delivering the City Goals. 3. Metrics That Matter: developing a set of human, relatable and accessible metrics that measure progress towards the City Goals, and an implementation plan for utilising these metrics. 4. Next Generation: engaging young people to steward, shape, and respond to the City Goals. 5. Demonstrators and Investment Fund: exploring options for an investment fund built through public, private and civic funds, that can accelerate change and support 'demonstrator' projects. The story so far 1 Putting neighbourhoods at the heart of city-wide collaboration An invitation This paper acts as an invitation to you to join the Working Group on ‘Neighbourhood Conversations’. The Working Group will advise and support the City Goals delivery team towards a blueprint of a Neighbourhood Conversations infrastructure that makes sense for Sheffield. The hope is that you will be able to help:
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  i) set theright parameters and enquiries for the participatory co-design process; ii) mobilise networks and stakeholders in the city who are well-placed to contribute; iii) identify inspiring examples and good practice from Sheffield and beyond; and iv) champion the process and output towards implementation. There is a lot at stake. To achieve our goals and meet the enormous challenges we face we will need the gifts and energy of all the citizens of Sheffield. This means growing the structures we need so people can connect, explore and come together to act. A network of vibrant neighbourhoods will be one of these essential structures. We need to make sure every part of the city can find its voice and get involved. The need Sheffield is a big place. In fact, it’s one of the largest local authorities in the UK, and it’s made up of at least 147 different self-defined neighbourhoods. Its size creates opportunities and challenges. It’s also an ambitious city, and the City Goals offer an attractive vision for its future. These goals include City Goal #8: “We all have a say over what happens in our neighbourhoods, and shape our city around fairness, equity, wellbeing and combating poverty.” However the value of Neighbourhood Conversations is not limited to the achievement of only one goal. Neighbourhoods are where businesses and education start, they are where environmental action takes root, where care and mutual aid is kindled, where new connections are sparked, where culture is celebrated and where young and old come together. A city without neighbourhoods is stale and lifeless. Achieving the City Goals will require the expertise and energy of all of Sheffield’s citizens and all of its neighbourhoods. It is we, the citizens of Sheffield, who will achieve these goals, and our neighbourhoods are a vital infrastructure for us to come together, to debate, to decide and to act. Our neighbourhoods also have different needs and gifts. The City Goals can’t be achieved unless we understand local context, and the opportunities present in every neighbourhood. If we’re not careful, we’ll ignore important details, local innovations and existing communities – this undermines trust and weakens our capacity to act. As much as possible, we want local people to lead their own conversations and create their own solutions. We also need to learn from each other. Good ideas in one part of the city can be shared across Sheffield if we develop new disciplines for doing so. Groups who want to work across the whole city will also benefit by partnering with local neighbourhoods, embedding expertise and creating action everywhere. We need to build bridges between all the important networks and systems that currently exist, that currently have no way of meeting with citizens and neighbourhoods. Existing systems can seem mysterious – mistrust and misunderstanding often get in the way of real progress, especially where there are no established patterns of conversation between these formal systems and our local neighbourhoods. Great ideas and good intentions simply unravel when they appear to have been imposed from above, rather than emerging as local solutions. We need a better connected city, and a city whose systems serve and support citizen action. 2
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  There are alreadypoints of light and leadership across the city. These include neighbourhood groups, individual activists, community anchor organisations, local businesses and civil society groups who are closely connected to neighbourhoods. There are also initiatives emerging from both Sheffield City Council and the NHS that seek to move these conversations closer to local people. We need to build on these initiatives, but we also need to challenge ourselves to go further. Although we pride ourselves on being a mature democracy in the UK, there is a declining level of trust in our political system. At its worst, this sows the seeds of hatred and leads to anger and violence. It’s critical we create a culture that’s inclusive, building safe spaces where different perspectives can be heard and where people can discover their agency and their ability to solve problems together. If we imagine the kind of spaces we will need for neighbourhood conversations in the future, perhaps they will have some of these features: How can we encourage conversations to be positive and practical? To achieve the City Goals, we need spaces where people can come together to get stuff done, tackle problems, and spark action around new ideas. We don’t want talking shops and committees that only suit people with plenty of spare time, or which only react to other people’s ideas. Case study: Disadvantaged communities have transformed themselves as they’ve developed agency How do we ensure that our conversations include everyone in the community? Ideally we need everyone to be involved. We need to both respect the places where people already come together and create new opportunities that welcome those who are often excluded. Children and young people are vital to our future, but their voices are often unheard. Many of the groups that are most marginalised, such as disabled people, have unique insights and skills to bring about the changes we need. Case study: In Doncaster peer support is leading neighbourhood change Could neighbourhoods take on devolved powers and control resources? Not everything can be decided at a neighbourhood level – but many things could be. Neighbourhoods should have a voice in decisions around planning and public services, and there are areas where decision-making could be devolved to the neighbourhood level. Community budgets would allow our neighbourhoods to spend money in ways that make sense to the people who have to live with the decision. Case study: It might be possible to manage social care budgets at a neighbourhood level Could neighbourhoods generate new and innovative solutions to the city’s problems? Neighbourhoods hold the seeds to solve problems in entirely new ways. They can generate their own energy, organise strategies for retrofit, purchase community buildings, prevent poor 3 Key considerations
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  4 health, grow andshare food, co-ordinate care and support for local people, and create new business opportunities for young people. A city with 147 creative neighbourhoods has a much better chance of finding a good solution than a city where all the decisions are made within a few large organisations or public bodies. Case study: Coalville CAN have shown how local people can take control of local spaces Could neighbourhoods co-operate on projects and create a powerful network? Neighbourhoods can generate new forms of citizen action, and can also team up to take care of shared community assets: parks, commercial zones, play areas, or a project that spans several neighbourhoods. Connected people generate interest, involvement, and extend the reach of information. Networked neighbourhoods will allow Sheffield to benefit from its own wonderful diversity. Success in one area can inspire even greater success in another. Neighbourhoods can effectively begin to teach each other what they need to learn. Perhaps it would be possible to even see neighbourhoods connect through playful competitions, celebrations and festivals. Case study: There are many innovations emerging that would enable networked learning Can local government and other public bodies work to support, facilitate and learn alongside neighbourhoods? This vision of empowered and networked neighbourhoods also offers a different vision for the role of local government, in convening conversations and ensuring neighbourhoods are inclusive and are tackling real problems. Instead of centralised interventions, local government can develop the capacity to encourage, inform and connect neighbourhoods and ensure elected officials are in touch with what’s really happening. Case study: Barnsley has a strategy of supporting neighbourhood networks Can we develop participatory and deliberative forms of democratic action? Party politics plays an essential role in the electoral process and in formal governance. But at the level of citizen action and neighbourhood decision-making, it’s likely to be counter-productive. Few people have a strong association with a political party and many fear being drawn into party-political spaces. We need to create spaces where everyone is included, and where local politicians can hear from all sides and have constructive conversations. We need a bridge between a system based on electoral democracy and a space for participative and inclusive decision-making. Case study: Some of the most inspiring democratic action is in southern India This vision can’t be achieved by one simple action or by simply imposing a new structure on the city. We are on a journey together to find better patterns of living and working together as citizens of Sheffield. There are some parts of the city that have made progress, but others have not really begun to find their voice. There may be different solutions for different neighbourhoods, and there may be barriers to remove in some that don’t exist in others. We still have lots to learn.
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  It’s widely acknowledgedthat England is a highly centralised state. This centralisation is not just a feature of the relationship between central and local government. It’s also reflected in the fragile nature of hyperlocal democracy. There is a patchwork of 10,000 parish or town councils in England, and there are even three in Sheffield itself. Most of Sheffield, like many other parts of England, has no fixed statutory or democratic structures below the level of the city. It will be wise to bear in mind some of the risks we will need to manage: The risk of unfulfilled promises, where we dream of ambitious changes but we don’t follow through and people become even more cynical and disengaged; The risk of chaotic structural change, where nothing settles into a recognisable pattern and new habits never have time to develop; The risk of imposition, where we don’t pay attention to the reality of people’s sense of place; The risk of competition between neighbourhoods, where neighbourhoods don’t see themselves as part of a connected community; The risk of capture, where a small number of people act like they can speak for a whole community and close down opportunities to many more; The risk of excessive cost, where we create new costs that the system cannot sustain and which lead to waste and eventual collapse; This risk of conflict, where factions and partisan groups emerge and people do not get the chance to listen and think creatively. Sheffield has a proud history of social action and citizenship. We can revisit our history and articulate to each other a bolder vision for the future. The City Goals already capture much of this spirit, and the Goals can also help us define the characteristics of good governance at the neighbourhood level. We need to nurture inclusivity and creativity, and we can define both the essential requirements of good governance as well as what we would ideally like to see. Young people often seem to better understand the value of their neighbourhood than others, and could lead a process of envisioning the future. Below are some possible strategies for us to consider. They are no more than provocations – ways to get the conversation going. These are based on some of the early conversations that have already taken place, the richness of the city’s heritage, emerging good practices and the global history of democracy. There is so much to build on: ● The development of the seven Local Area Committees ● Three hyperlocal councils, like in Stocksbridge ● The voluntary sector has been leading Collaborative Conversations ● There are already established community anchor organisations, e.g in Heeley ● There are many community groups and emerging new innovations ● The Covid crisis demonstrated the underlying capacity of our communities. Valuing what we have… We need to understand what already exists. We have an emerging citizen map of the 147 neighbourhoods in our city, and some data about what currently exists, all developed by local citizens. We need to name and agree on our map for the city, and we can also go further. We can ask what we value about our neighbourhoods, and what changes we would like to see in the future. This is essential civic data. The conversation about governance is essential to the future of the city, and we have the tools to involve everyone on this journey. 5 Risks What exists & ‘what-ifs’
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  Community Anchors… Sheffieldis lucky to have many organisations that are firmly rooted in their neighbourhoods. There are also networks of organisations and associations that exist within our neighbourhoods. These are natural starting points for future development. We could start testing out new ways of organising in partnership with these anchors and networks. Civil society leadership… If we increasingly recognise neighbourhoods as an essential building block of citizenship, then we can also ask civil society organisations to work together with neighbourhood bodies to achieve shared goals. Organisations focused on disability, the arts, education, the environment, or anything else will find that there are also local people who want to connect with them to bring about change at the neighbourhood level. Local business development… Communities value having local shops, trades, businesses and opportunities for employment. In social care, there’s an increasing interest in improving the rights of women by making care work more local. Young people are often forced to leave their communities because of a lack of opportunities, but we know that tackling unemployment works better when support and training is truly local. Employers would be better served if local people were equipped with skills to step into employment opportunities. If we refocus more economic activity back into neighbourhoods, we can also increase investment and create a virtuous economic cycle. Public service reform… There are a growing number of opportunities to encourage local governance as part of efforts to innovate in public services. The NHS wants to move towards forms of neighbourhood care. The DWP is looking at local pathways into work. Not only are local people often the key to creating better solutions, they have a right to hold public services to account. Good public sector leaders welcome these conversations because they mean they can improve support and meet more needs. Neighbourhood wealth funds… Assigning budgets to neighbourhoods, ideally in the form of neighbourhood wealth funds, might inspire local groups to come together and create a suitable form of local governance. As a city, we could review these arrangements, track progress and learn together what works best. We could begin with modest budgets, and encourage communities to pool their own resources. This could be a powerful tool for achieving many of the City Goals. City governance strategy… Sheffield City Council has a critical role to play in guiding the development of the city and in shaping public services on behalf of all citizens. It needs a way to work with citizens in a spirit of equality and mutual accountability. The Council can continue to nurture the development of governance in every neighbourhood, but also ensure that neighbourhood governance meets essential criteria for inclusion and justice. Each of the seven Local Area Committees connects to four wards and 21 neighbourhoods – this could provide the outline for the architecture we need. 6
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  Ritual and learning…We can celebrate achievements and review what we’re doing by building events and habits into the life of the city. We might need festivals of citizenship or a city calendar which creates a clear structure for sharing learning and enabling people to discover how they can join in. Imagine if, every week, three neighbourhoods published a report for the whole city describing what they had learned and were willing to share, and what help they needed to make local change. We could be a city where we celebrate citizen action and support each other to get better at it. Learning together… The best approach will be to see the development of good hyper-local conversations as part of a shared experiment. This will be ongoing work, where understanding what we’re learning and sharing that learning in an experimental spirit will be more important than imposing conformity. We have a chance to host 147 experiments in parallel, in each of our neighbourhoods, instead of imposing one model that will not suit every place. We can track what’s happening and work together to define the measures that make most sense. Deeper change… Some of the most exciting global innovations in democracy start at street level. For example, communities in southern India come together at street level to plan and take action, and they also ensure every single citizen has a positive leadership role – they then choose someone to represent them at the neighbourhood parliament. The same structures are repeated for children and young people. As much as possible, decisions are made by consensus – not voting – using a process called sociocracy. These ideas may seem hard to imagine in Sheffield, but there is no reason we can’t start to explore what deeper levels of democracy might look like. There is a hunger for change in our communities. If this hunger is not addressed, we will find people becoming angry or passive. But if we address the source of that hunger, by helping people to find their own citizenship, by enabling people to make the necessary changes in their communities, then we can turn that hunger into a powerful and creative force for good. The ‘ask’ of you This paper shows you where our thinking has got to so far. We would like to invite you to join us in the Neighbourhood Conversations Working Group to help shape our proposals and to design a larger participatory process in April and May. Our goal is to listen to as many different perspectives as possible and build support for meaningful change. Please confirm your interest by replying to Helen’s email as soon as possible. 7 Helen Sims Chief Executive Officer, Voluntary Action Sheffield Workstream Co-lead Simon Duffy Director, Citizen Network Workstream Co-lead