If we are lucky, we have things in our career that stand out and make a personal impact on us. There are few pieces of work of which I am more proud than creating Waltham Forest’s first-ever Citizens’ Assembly examining the complex issue of how to stop hate and make everyone feel safe and welcome in our borough.
Waltham Forest is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in London with more than half of our residents having a minority ethnic background. We have a proud history of welcoming people to live here and 86% of residents agree this is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together.
But when we embarked on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Integration Fund pilot – we call it ‘Connecting Communities’ – it became clear to us that hate was still a problem for many residents. While the data told us that we didn’t have a particular problem, the personal testimony made the impact clear.
Community-sourced solutions seemed to be the only route to tackling the issue, and we began to consider a Citizens’ Assembly.
Many have been impressed with the way in which Citizens’ Assemblies can bring communities together to discuss difficult topics. However, the questions in the assemblies which we had seen revolved around infrastructure or constitutional matters. Few assemblies to date have dealt with social policy issues.
Waltham Forest is not an especially risk-based council, but we knew this topic and method wasn’t without challenge. At a conference on deliberative democracy I was told my topic was ‘brave’ one too many times for comfort...
Assemblies are by their nature selective and we were aware of the need to make sure everyone in the borough had the opportunity to tell us their experience. We carried out extensive pre-engagement with borough wide surveys, focus groups and an open call for evidence. The feedback from communities most at risk of hate was that they felt that too often they are asked for solutions. They welcomed a broader approach to the problem.
We also tested our question options with residents in local shops and cafés which we believe was key to an exceptionally high and representative response to the selection process.
At the start, we made a difficult call not to include 16-year-olds and instead carried out widespread pre-engagement with our young people. Looking back, I don’t think we’d make the same decision today.
This led to five days in February and March with a demonstrably representative 45-member panel considering the question: with hate incidents on the rise across London, how can we work together to ensure everyone feels equally welcome and safe in our borough?
Assembly members were encouraged to discuss the issues as they saw them in an open, frank, and honest way. Watching them deal with this difficult issue with respect, humour, insight and the utmost care for each other has been one of the great privileges of my career.
Key to the success of this project was hearing from residents who may not usually speak with us. Watching them deliberate, negotiate, and prioritise their recommendations was a lesson in collaborative leadership.
While the final report was delayed by COVID, the backdrop of that emergency and the Black Lives Matter movement have made the topic even more critical to us. In July, our Cabinet agreed to fund and immediately implement four initiatives taken directly from the Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendations:
- The launch of a bystander intervention programme to equip residents with the skills to challenge and prevent hate crime.
- The creation of a Citizens’ Panel Working Group to oversee work on the issue.
- The launch of an awareness-raising campaign.
- Work to ensure reporting of hate crimes is easy and that the data is used to allocate resources efficiently.
Next, a detailed action plan will be developed and brought back before cabinet in October, and further funding sought. Communicating this with our residents is vital – assembly members need to be able to see that their work has made a real impact. They will work with us on our Citizens’ Panel holding two vital roles as the project moves onto its next stage – holding the council and partners to account and championing the work within our communities.
Our partners The Democratic Society and Involve UK did a brilliant job of working through the sensitivities of the topic and driving our assembly to be the best it could be while creating a safe space for everyone taking part. They are truly the best in the business and worked in partnership with us throughout.
So, what have we learned? While many fear opinions across the world are becoming more polarised it is up to us at the most local level to provide the glue that prevents our communities from drifting apart. Councils must bring their residents into the heart of decision-making on the most crucial issues they face. We need to be brave to go beyond traditional approaches and trust our communities to find solutions as we ask them to trust us daily.
We also must see beyond assemblies. They are a brilliant way to deal with complex issues, but there are many deliberative approaches that can be applied more adroitly to decision-making.
Lastly, the culmination of an assembly is not the process itself but the delivery of the recommendations. The Citizens’ Assembly’s legacy will be the changes we make in preventing hate and how we work differently with our partners and communities.
Rhona Cadenhead is strategic director corporate development at Waltham Forest LBC
