Shoreditch Neighbourhood Committee
Topics for discussion include an update on Haggerston Baths; and health and social care services with Hackney LINk, the borough’s independent healthcare watchdog.
The committee covers the following wards: De Beauvoir, Haggerston, Hoxton and Queensbridge.
7pm Wednesday 24 March
Rose Lipman Community Centre
43 De Beauvoir Road N1 5SG
Refreshments will be provided.
Full agenda for the Shoreditch Neighbourhood Committee.
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According to the council’s Governance and Resources Commission, “… Interviews with Members [councillors] found neighbourhood forums near the top of the list of where they added least value in their role as councillors.
“Common complaints included: poor and unrepresentative turnout, and covering too large an area leading to meetings that are not really local to anyone.
“We do not have precise figures for turnout [of local residents] at recent meetings, but anecdotally a generous estimate would be an average of 20.
“With 16 meetings a year, even if different people come to each meeting, this means a maximum of 320 people a year are engaged through this mechanism.
“Taking together the costs of room hire, advertising, printing, clerking and other staff costs, the council’s Neighbourhood Committee and Neighbourhood Forum meetings cost £3,000 each.
“Using again the generous estimate of 20 people per meeting, this means the cost per person is £150.”
Asked by the Citizen if the council is considering getting rid of Neighbourhood Committees and Forums, a Hackney Council spokesperson said, “We are reviewing how we can ensure that we are effectively engaging with residents at a neighbourhood level – and this does mean that we are looking at neighbourhood committees.
“We are committed to meeting and listening to residents at a local level – it is vital we do this if we are to build a responsive council that understands the needs of residents.”
Hackney Council is seeking to improve local councillors’ engagement with residents and is looking at a number of options which have been put together in its 21st Century Councillor project.
These might include such things as ward charters, web contact, mobile surgeries, issue-based public meetings and the Councillor Call for Action. More details about these options regarding the 21st Century Councillors project.
A council spokesperson said, “We have completed the research stage of the 21st Century Councillor project and we are now turning the recommendations into plans.
“Many of the recommendations are internally focused – about how the Council as an organisation can best support councillors in the many ways in which they are actively engaged with residents.”