Like the teenagers we seek to influence, councils are only too susceptible to peer pressure. No sooner have we started to feel confident enough to say that we will no longer be hostage to targets than we all seem to be jumping collectively on the bandwagon of save, save, save.
And it seems to be a truth universally acknowledged within local government that a community of any description is in want of engagement. Despite research suggesting that levels of public participation have remained at about the same level since 1918, we are committed to suddenly coaxing large numbers of people out of their apparent indifference.
But rather than focusing on finding new ways in which the community can engage us, I believe the real issue is to make councils and other public institutions more receptive. Satisfaction from participation comes from feeling that you have effected change on an issue about which you care. So perhaps what we need more than e-petitions, citizen juries and the like, is a shift in mindset in public institutions – a readiness to admit mistakes and to act on feedback; receptivity rather than engagement. ‘Receptiveness,’ George Eliot wrote, is a rare and massive power like fortitude.’ It’s a power we could usefully tap into.
Town Hall Matters 