Lessons from Recent Polls and Referendums

Lessons from Recent Polls and Referendums

Anticipating the Impact of the Localism Bill

14th June 2011, London - Prospero House, Borough High Street, SE1

The Government’s plans for Councils to hold more polls and referendums may affect a lot of people’s roles in public engagement

Elected Members will certainly be impacted. We have traditionally voted for people; suddenly we will all be going to the ballot box to give our view on specific policies or on neighbourhood plans. It makes a change to the democratic mandate for Councillors, who can themselves initiate polls.

Chief Officers who have relied upon Councillors to take sometimes-difficult decisions, may now have to take account of the possibility that some of these may become subject to local referendums. It will change the preparation for and the consultation required before tough choices are made.

Public engagement staff and those responsible for community dialogues will find many campaigning groups keen to attract popular support. They likely to be very attracted to seeking referendums on their chosen causes and may well fight hard for what they believe if and when a poll is declared.

Electoral registration staff, obviously face a greater workload, but Democratic services and Overview & Scrutiny functions as a whole may be impacted.

But the innovations proposed in the Localism Bill may have serious implications well beyond local authorities. Anyone engaged in the Planning or Regeneration fields will be affected. So will other local service providers including the Police and the NHS.

Our event is designed to help you think through all the issues and gain confidence in discussing the implications with colleagues in your organisation


For more infomation and booking details please go to 
http://www.consultationinstitute.org/training-and-events/course--and--event-calendar/?booksys_event=199