From Co-operative Councils to Co-operative Places

Lead Member Oldham Council
Year 2017
Status Policy Labs
Report

Principles met

Community leadership and a new role for councillors

We will explore ways for councils to act as a platform for helping the community to contribute to local outcomes, and to re-think the role of councillors as community connectors, brokers and leaders.
New models of meeting priority needs

In exploring new ways of meeting the priority needs of our communities we will encourage models, such as co-operatives and mutuals, which give greater influence and voice to staff and users. in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.
Social partnership

We will strengthen the co-operative partnership between citizens, communities, enterprises and Councils, based on a shared sense of responsibility for wellbeing and mutual benefit.
Walking the talk

As a membership organisation, we will make this statement of our principles operational by: • Co-operation among members: Our members work together to help each other implement our values, sharing experiences and learning. • Openness of membership: Full, Associate and Affiliate Membership is open to any qualifying Council, organisation or individual who shares our values and is committed to putting them into action. • Co-production of the Network’s work: Members help shape the Network’s work programme and the content of events and written products. • Action-focused: The network is a vehicle for helping councils translate co-operative values and principles into policy and practice. •Membership-based: The network is majority funded by modest membership subscriptions from its member Councils, Associates and Affiliates. •Non-party-political: Members share the belief that working co-operatively within and across communities holds the key to tackling today’s challenges.

About the project

The Co-operative Council concept is five years old. Twenty-two councils have now declared themselves ‘co-operative’ and become members of the Co- operative Councils’ Innovation Network (CCIN). They can be proud of the value set they have created, and proud of the changes in culture and practice they have sought to achieve.

The context for Co-operative Councils has been stark. Massive demand challenges and a climate of fiscal austerity. Big-ticket reform areas in health, education, criminal justice and welfare are re-shaping the landscape within which they operate. The emergence of devolution and city-regional working as the new vehicle for growth and public service reform within places. And, latterly, the Brexit vote illustrates a profound disconnect between some civic institutions and the people they represent and serve.

We believe that the Co-operative Council ethos is more important than ever. It is a strong statement of intent about the power of collaboration, and a bulwark against what can feel like an increasingly fragmenting and negative political discourse. But a powerful ethos is not enough. More needs to be done to turn hitherto marginal gains into tangible shifts in mainstream practice that make a real difference to citizens.

Our hope is that Co-operative Councils can draw from the foundations outlined in this report to begin shaping answers to a problem that we have heard again and again through our research and practise with local authorities, namely: “we know more about what we don’t want than what we do…” It is up to Co-operative Councils to take the intellectual and policy risks required of their strong social ethos. They must take the lead in meeting the challenges of community dislocation with a radical approach that is fundamentally rooted in strong relationships up and down the chain from communities to ballot box and back.