Tag: constitutions
How virtual meetings are shaping local democracy
The way councils meet is changing. With the government moving toward legislation that could allow virtual and hybrid meetings, there’s a unique opportunity to modernise local governance—making it more inclusive, accessible, and adaptable to today’s demands.This blog shares our thoughts about how virtual and hybrid council meetings could reshape local governance, offering a practical look at the benefits, challenges, and opportunities ahead.
The alchemy of governance – understanding the golden triangle
An introduction to relationships in the “golden triangle” of Monitoring Officer, Chief Finance Officer and Chief Executive.
Civility, equality, tolerance and the management of council meetings
A dive into relationships, behaviours and conduct management, involving members, officers, and the public.
Reviewing council constitutions
[UPDATE: the guide referred to in this blog was published in late 2022 and can be found here]. A bit later in the autumn we will be producing a guide to the drafting and revision of effective council constitutions, funded by the LGA. In carrying out this work we’re get to get the insights of […]
Electoral reviews: offering support
Before the pandemic, we and the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) embarked on a project looking at the way that councils (and councillors) engage with electoral reviews. This project is now concluding – it will result in the publication of our research, and amendments by the LGBCE to their guidance to councils on […]
Bolstering governance
This week (w/c 5 July 2021), we are starting work to highlight the need for councils to support and bolster their commitments to good governance, as we continue to emerge from the pandemic. The pandemic has been exceptionally tough. Restrictions are being removed in the coming weeks but we are far from through this emergency. […]
Remote meetings partnership: compendium of information on remote meetings
In England, a partnership of national organisations came together in March 2020 to support councils to put remote meetings arrangements in place. In recent months, the partnership has been co-ordinating discussion on the planned end of remote meeting powers on 6 May 2021, and exploring alternative options and actions to mitigate. This document is intended […]
The governance risk and resilience framework
Introduction What is the governance risk and resilience framework? This material is designed to support individual council officers and councillors to play their part in identifying, understanding, and acting on, risks to good governance. The basics of our framework is based on three stages – The seven characteristics which will help you to anticipate governance […]
“Docking-in”: making traditional governance fit for purpose in a hyper-localist world
More councils are starting to experiment with different forms of decision-making. The emergence of mutual aid networks at the outset of the pandemics – agile, highly local, groups of neighbours getting together at street level to offer immediate help to the vulnerable – contrasts unfavourably with the lumbering setup of the national, NHS-led volunteering scheme. […]