Little does Buckinghamshire Council know - but they now have a bear in charge of council meetings!!
;-)
This was after my presentation at the Place Shaping event organised by the Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Association of Local Councils. Link to the event is here.
Here is what I said:
In Buckinghamshire, there are 142 Town and Parish Councils. Back in May - just 21 of these councils had contested elections. In Milton Keynes there are 41 local councils that are subject to regular elections and the last time this happened, 17 were contested.
What conclusions might we draw from the fact that in Bucks only 15% of town/parish councils were there more people prepared to stand than there were seats available? (Albeit a bit better in MK)
- General apathy?
- People are happy with their local council?
- Community members don't see parish/town councils as being that important to them?
- The ridiculous nomination form puts lots of people off?!
- Or some other reason - take your pick…?
But I hope we might agree that having more contested local council elections would be a good thing - what's democracy without choices?
So the question is - how do we get more people willing to stand?
There are many answers to that Q
One of my answers is to get more young people interested - and keep them interested! Not just because I want more people contesting local elections - and I want more people under the age of 60 sitting around council tables… I also want more people involved & engaged in making a difference to our local places.
More people shaping our local places - taking action - being fellow designers of what happens in our communities
And that's what I been doing - and just like the Jesuits - I am aiming to get them young
When I was Mayor… (told the story of how the book came about)
Schools - reading stories … (told them about my experience of reading my book in schools and talking about local councils etc)
Read the bit about Roxie & Sushalla - (part of the chapter - why did you want to be a councillor anyway?)
That's the message - as it has always been - hasn’t it?
Think global - act local
Or really just act local to help build vibrant, caring communities that are helping every person create dreams, ambitions & then realise them…
I want everyone to be authors of their own lives - not walk on parts in somebody else's narrative! I believe that we as parish/town councils can be a big part of helping people do that.
And the only way we can really do that is by involving and engaging more and more of our local communities - no matter what their age.
In other words - as local councils - we just need to be kind and caring.
