St George to get first taste of devolved power
By The St George district of Bristol will have its first taste next week in deciding how City Council money is spent in their area.
The St George Neighbourhood Partnership meeting on February 9 is one of a series marking the latest step in the devolution of control to local communities on how money is spent.
Bev Knott: This is just the beginning
The partnership made up of a range of local people – residents, councillors, police, fire and rescue, and health services – aims to put into practice the ruling Liberal Democrat leadership’s call to end the “culture of centralisation” in city politics.
On the agenda at the meeting next week, members of the St George partnership will consider how their budget should be spent on highway maintenance works and minor traffic schemes.
Councillor Bev Knott, Cabinet Member for Care and Neighbourhoods, said:Â “Here is an opportunity for local decision making to improve services and make them more efficient because decision makers are part of the community.
“It is also about bringing the whole decision making process out of the Council House and into the city’s communities so that people will not feel remote from this process.
“This is just the beginning – further powers will be devolved over the next few years. The first slice of money – £13.5 million in total across the 14 Partnerships – is just the start in giving people greater control over council services.”
The Neighbourhood Partnership scheme was unveiled last September by council leader Barbara Janke as a way of building “confident communities”.
The money will be devolved in the first instance, spread among the 14 areas, so that the local forums can debate and decide how and where each area’s cash will be spent. Another phase is planned for later this year, where issues such as transport, leisure facilities and rights of way can be decided at a ‘hyperlocal’ level.
Introducing the plan will cost taxpayers £500,000 in administration — but Mrs Janke said the one-off costs in the first year would be saved over the next three to five years as the scheme gathers pace.
The success of the scheme will be judged by the response of the public — but the council leadership believe that the results of a recent study, which showed only one in four people in the city felt they had any influence on local decision-making, will prove to be popular.
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