Relational Constitutions: A provocation for rethinking local governance

Introduction

CfGS is reimagining the role of constitutions, as we look to shape how governance can meet the expectations and the pressures of the future.

This short provocation paper outlines an approach that we are interested in exploring and developing with partners, including government and local governments.

Why a Relational Constitution?

Traditional local authority constitutions are rulebooks. They describe the structures, powers and procedures of councils. But they often say little about the spirit in which decisions should be made —: the relationships between citizens and decision-makers, between councillors and officers, and between the institution and the place it serves.

As local democracy is being asked to do more with less, and with public trust increasingly fragile, governance needs to evolve from simply describing technical compliance to becoming a key part of how councils can establish meaningful partnership and connection with their communities and other stakeholders across a place. That means recasting the constitution as a living document that doesn’t just describe power, but shapes how it is held, shared and made accountable.

We call this a relational constitution.

What is a Relational Constitution?

A relational constitution is a prototype. It imagines how a local authority constitution could go beyond the minimum statutory requirements that a constitution satisfies, by defining how a council would:

• Practice openness, inclusion and participation
• Make decisions through trust-based relationships
• Embed learning and reflection as part of formal governance
• Share power in ways that are equitable and just
• Represent the lived realities of the people they serve

Councils may opt to formally embed a relational constitution through a constitutional rewrite, baking relational principles directly into the core of their governance framework. Alternatively, they could choose to integrate it as a democratic supplement — one that strengthens and clarifies governance by making the informal visible, the implicit explicit, and the relational formal.

How It Works: The Prototype Structure

The prototype includes sections such as:

• Purpose and principles – Defines the values underpinning governance: including participation, equity, transparency, and care.
• Behaviours and commitments – Outlines the behaviours expected of all decision-makers — not only in what they do, but how they do it. It would be likely to how a council would listen before deciding, welcome challenge, and be accountable for relationships as well as outcomes.
• Democratic Practices – Describes practical approaches to embedding public involvement — from co-design and deliberation, to sharing agenda setting and community-led scrutiny.
• Culture of reflection – Builds in routines for pausing, reflecting and adapting — through governance learning, peer review, and open storytelling of success and failure.
• Relational agreements –- Optional space for written agreements between different parts of the system: — councillors and officers, scrutiny and executive, council and community — grounded in shared values and ways of working.

Example: Dual Hub-and-Spoke Governance

One approach that could be explored through this prototype is the idea of a dual hub-and-spoke model for local governance. The key principle is that the two hubs are interdependent. The spokes describe the multiple ways that people are able to connect to governance — so that relationships can help to shape a system.

In this model:

• The first hub is the formal governance centre — council, cabinet, scrutiny.
• The second hub is a civic centre of gravity — made up of community anchors, local networks, or participatory and deliberative spaces that hold public knowledge, deliberation, and voice.

With spokes around routes of participation, scrutiny and oversight, co-design and collaboration, public engagement mechanism and mutual accountability.

These hubs are not separate systems but interconnected. Power, knowledge and accountability flow between them through agreed relational pathways. The spokes represent the many routes’ people take to influence, engage and co-create decisions.

The relational constitution can describe and codify this ecosystem: outlining shared roles, behaviours, expectations and protocols — not to control the system, but to give it shape and integrity.

This idea builds on and is connected to our earlier work on “docking in” — a way of imagining how different systems, structures and communities can meaningfully connect with governance, without being assimilated or marginalised. More on that work can be found here: Docking In – Changing the Way We Act on Local Democracy

Next Steps

This is not a fixed model. It is a prototype meant to evolve through experimentation. We are seeking partners — councils, funders, national actors — to help test and develop relational constitutions in live settings.

Together, we can reimagine governance as a space not just for rules and roles — but for relationships, reciprocity, and renewal.

Centre for Governance and Scrutiny