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Go
for Gold!
Our democracy: open, local and accountable
The Liberal Democrats are worried about the declining
turnout of voters in local elections, and we want to reverse this
trend. We believe this has happened because people often feel their
opinions are disregarded, they feel powerless to make themselves
heard, and they are confused about what goes on in the Council. Sometimes
they feel that the Council treats them in a patronising or manipulative
way or consults but then ignores them. As a result they feel frustrated
and alienated from the whole local government process.
We want people to have more real power to make
decisions: we believe that if people feel part of the decision-making
process, they will be more likely to use their votes and get involved
in contributing their ideas and their expertise. We aim to make people
feel interested, curious, hopeful, confident, excited and determined
about what the Council does on their behalf.
We believe that it is the role of the elected
mayor and councillors to be the people's representatives at the town
hall and to take responsibility for the way things are run. We are
shocked at the way the Labour administration has constantly 'passed
the buck' when things have gone wrong at the council: denying responsibility
and seeking to blame officers.
We value the contribution to our community of
those who work at the town hall: councillors take decisions, but
staff actually do the work! We want to make Watford Council a good
place to work; what council officers do is important for the town
and they should able to take pride in a job well done.
A Liberal Democrat administration will aim to
be truly accountable to the electorate. All local authorities get
things wrong sometimes and make mistakes. If we should find we have
done so, we will not try to blame others, but will face up to our
responsibilities. We support the recent creation of area committees - Liberal
Democrats proposed this in our manifesto as long ago as 1994 - and
would devolve local decision-making to these committees so that local
decisions are taken as close to the people as possible.
Our policies
to enhance local democracy in Watford are to:
- Answer queries from the public more quickly.
- Make sure that council consultations on
both local issues and broader strategies provides a real opportunity
to influence and change decisions.
- Take all key decisions or those where
there is an element of controversy in an open forum (e.g. executive
committee) to allow an opportunity for debate and a formal vote
before a decision is taken.
- Devolve responsibility for local decisions
to area committees so that they can be made taken at local level:
this would include giving area committees responsibility for:
streetcare (litter and street cleaning); refuse collection; parks
and play areas; management of housing estates; local traffic
schemes (working with the county council); highway maintenance
and landscaping.
- Ensure that council publicity concentrates
on providing information that is of use to our citizens, not
on spin and propaganda.
- Work with tenants and residents associations
and other local groups to develop an effective system to replace
the old advisory committees: enhancing their ability to influence
decisions.
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