Local forums to go

For many years, decisions that affect our local communities on things like smaller highway safety schemes and community grants have been taken by local councillors at Area Forums. This gave local people a chance to go along and have their say and meant the decisions were made by the councillors who knew the area and understood the issues.

Now the Conservatives are proposing to take away those decision making powers and merge the Forums with the Safer and Stronger Community Groups. The decisions would instead be made by central committees, which themselves are being merged, reducing the opportunities for people to have their say. More decisions will be taken by officers behind closed doors, rather than by elected councillors out in the open where they can be held to account by the public.