A Council with Co-operative Ambitions

What is a Cooperative Council? Adopts Cooperative Principles to change the way they work with citizens and partners: 1.Social partnership 2.Democratic engagement 3.Co-production 4.Enterprise and social economy 5.Maximising social value 6.Community leadership and a new role for councillors 7.New models of meeting priority needs 8.Innovation 9.Learning

Cooperative places Oldham – first Cooperative Council Milton Keynes – first no overall control cooperative council Plymouth – from Fairness Commission to a ‘Brilliant Cooperative Council’ Stoke City Council – ‘Cooperative Working Model’ Edinburgh City Council – ‘Organise to Deliver’ coop transformation programme Lambeth Council – ‘Behaviours for the Cooperative Council’

Cooperative behaviours 21 st Century Public Servant University of Birmingham

Changing how we work PresentFuture Citizens are our customers Citizens are our partners We make the decisions for the city We share/devolve decision making with communities Council staff are providers Council staff are enablers

Where are we now? We want a new relationship with communities  Council typeCore purpose Approach to services Attitude to communities Councils that might pursue this route Neo-traditional council Community leadership and economic growth Mostly kept in- house, but reviewed for cost and responsiveness Community engagement done through existing democratic structures Northern mets and counties, districts not facing deep cuts Pragmatic councils Varies – but generally to protect vulnerable in face of cuts Review on a case- by-case basis with varying levels of radicalism Varies on a service-by-service basis Bulk of local government Commissioning councils Customer service Move to arm’s length delivery, emphasis on markets and choice Communities supported to rapidly take over divested services Southern counties Co-operative councils Community development Co-produced with citizens taking on more responsibility Blurred line between service provision and community activism Next generation Labour councils in London, North West and parts of North East NLGN, Future Councils, Life after the spending cuts, Simon Parker, September 2011

Examples of Cooperative working Regeneration through community collaboration (Lambeth) Homelessness prevention co-op service redesign (Edinburgh) Culture & leisure in the hands of communities through community asset transfer of libraries and leisure facilities (Milton Keynes) Neighbourhood agreement between council and communities, to work together on issues such as waste, and anti-social behaviour (Norwich) Youth service review with young people (Brighton & Hove)

Your challenge What role you can/want to play in helping the council achieve its co-operative ambition?

Do you have any questions?