Area Forums

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Brief Description:

Area forums are meetings held in a locality, often held by the local council. Often the meetings are attended by local councillors, together with senior representatives from the local authorities, the Police, Primary Care Trusts and other key local organisations, to debate key topics and answer residents' questions face-to-face.

Description:

The Area Forum workshops are normally run in the evenings. The session is chaired by a local Councillor. A Chief Officer also attends each meeting and ensures that the recommendations made are properly fed back into the Council's decision-making processes.

Area Forums concentrate their conversations on the topics of particular concern to local communities in the area.

The outcomes are reported to Area Forum members either on an individual basis or via an Area Forum newsletter, which is sent out to members after each meeting. The Minutes from each meeting are normally available online.

Normally you do not have to be a member of an Area Forum to attend but you are encouraged to join so that you can be keep updated about meetings and what happens as a direct result of your input.

Used For:

Area Forums provide their members with:

information on Council services and Council policies affecting the local area.
the opportunity to give your input on issues that affect your neighbourhood.
a mechanism to have your say on any issue related to Council business.
actions raised and monitored from feedback.

Suitable participants:

Area Forums are made up of a cross-section of the local community, normally divided by ward including:

Local residents
Local businesses
Local amenity society and residents' association representatives
Members of other local groups, including tenant management organisations, special interest groups, voluntary organisations
Local representatives of the police and health authorities are also invited to attend.

Cost:

Low-Medium

Council buildings or community centres are the normal venue. Costs are incurred in staff time for planning and attending the meetings as well as responding and feeding back to participants.

Time Requirements:

Area Forums are an ongoing process of engagement with the local community. Each Forum meets somewhere between every two months or every quarter.

When To Use / What It Can Deliver:

You should use Area Forums when:

you want to give local people information about new policies and legislation that will affect the local area.
you want to find out what local people think about a new development in the area.
you want to find out what issues are most important to local people.

When Not To Use / What It Cannot Deliver:

You should not use Area Forums when:

you want to make a decision on the local area.
you want a representative sample of the local population.
you want to engage 'hard to reach' groups.

Strengths:

the forums encourage openness and transparency around council decisions.
discussions can be tailored to the concerns of local residents.
area forums provide a direct interface between elected representatives and the communities they represent

Weaknesses:

Area Forums tend to be attended by the 'usual suspects' although many try hard to attract particularly young people and residents from black and minority ethnic communities.
individual workshops may be dominated by one person or particular viewpoint

Origin:

Area Forums have grown out of community meetings which have been held across the UK for decades

Case Studies:

Westminster Council Area Forums (CaseStudies)

Related Methods

Restrictions In Use

None

Further Information

http://www.westminster.gov.uk/councilgovernmentanddemocracy/democraticprocessesandevents/areaforums/
http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/areaforums.htm
http://www.one-ipswich.com/news.asp?sec_id=737
http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/neighbourhood/areaforums/
http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/home/youandyourcommunity/communitylocalcontacts/contactslaf.htm

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