Creating Community Conversations - Gallomanor

"She's alright, she is"

As everyone knows about consultation, it's important to have the full feedback loop. We can't expect young people to take IAC seriously, and get passionate about taking part, if it seems like no-one REALLY takes any notice. So I asked the councillors from last year to tell me what difference I'm a Councillor had made - I wanted to know what councillors had done about things young people had raised, so that I could tell the young people about it. I also wanted the councillors to tell me if they felt it had improved the relationship between young people and local politicians - had it made them more approachable?

I got a lot of great stories back on both points - from the councillor who'd got a goal put in a local playing field (yep, just one, there was one already, but ONE goal isn't much use for playing football...) to the councillor told me how his investigation of whether some trees could be replanted uncovered an overlooked £1.8 million extra for the parks budget. And lots of stories of improved relationships with schools, youth groups and local young people.

However, the story that really made me laugh was Cllr Bev Lilley, (who was IAC winner for Mansfield District Council last year and is hopefully pictured, if I've done this right, being crowned 'Youth Champion' live on air at local radio station Mansfield 103.2). Bev told me how she was driving through Mansfield and spotted some lads messing about and building a ramp in the road. She stopped the car and told them that they couldn't leave the bricks and planks in the road, it was dangerous (she sounds a bit like my Mum. One day, remind me to tell you the story of my Mum single-handedly stopping a late night fight in a car park using only the power of her teacher-voice...).

Anyway, Bev's told them, the boys all stop what they are doing and look at her. There's a pause and the biggest lad, the ringleader, says, 'Who's she?!'. One of the other boys, who Bev didn't recognise, stepped up and said, 'Oh, she's from 'I'm a Councillor' , she's alright she is!', which it seems is the magic right answer and they all helpfully move the debris. Bev says she doesn't think these lads would have spoken to her before the event. Now if that isn't making a difference and breaking down barriers, I don't know what is.

Fizzy Christmas

We wish you a Fizzy Christmas.

In a belated moment of Christmas Cheer we have sent out some bottles of Champagnes to the winners of the draws in the surveys we have run recently.  The winners were:

ICELE Recruitment Survey - Tim Anderson of Norfolk County Council
I'm a Councillor Council Feedback - Nadine Squire of Tunbridge Wells District Council
I'm a Councillor Councillor Feedback - Cllr Joye Rosenthiel of Cambridge City Council
I'm a Councillor Moderator's Sweepstake - Craig Swatton, who predicted the most winning councillors for the second year in a row.

Enjoy your bottles and have a very Merry Christmas.

It's all over!

Well, I'm a Councillor 2006 has now finished. It's been our best year yet and we've had an absolute ball. A list of our winning councillors is up on the site here.

Congratulations to all our worthy winners, commiserations to the evicted councillors and a big thank you to everyone who took part - councillors, teachers and young people. You make the event what it is.

We'll hopefully see you all again next year!

Breaking News on IAC Live Chat

Students in Coleraine were first to hear about progress in the NI Devolution talks today.  During a Live Chat session Cllr John Dallat who was attending the talks in St.Andrews broke into the conversation to say:

Cllr John Dallat: Peter - Good News Peter as we speak a settlement has been reached in Scotland. My top priority is funding for young peoples education. You are the first to hear as the news breaks.

So, in Northern Ireland, they heard it first on www.bigvote.org.uk!

Quiet before the storm

It's now Saturday afternoon and on Monday morning I'm a Councillor kicks off in 33 councils across the country (Dumfries and Galloway finished yesterday as it is now half term in most of Scotland).

All is quiet now, a few councillors are still to post their manifestos and Sophia is putting the finishing touches on her team of seven moderators. 

But on Monday morning everything will spark into activity.  Councillors who tried to post their manifesto late on Sunday night, but forgot their log in details will be in the phone.  Teachers will call to ask for more access code cards and Elgar Technology College (Worcestershire) have booked the first live chat at 10am.

The two weeks of the event are extremely exciting.  Will the councillors we expect to win get the votes? They did in Dumfries. Which council will register the most students? What anecdotes will we harvest this year?  Every day brings something new and we all learn a bit more about how to get Councillors and Young People talking.

You should drop in and have a look round.  Visit www.bigvote.org.uk and log in using "guest" for both username and access code.  You'll then be able to switch between all 33 councils and see e-democracy in action.

You've got to love live chats

We had a good live chat today in Dumfries and Galloway, with Cllr Sean Marshall showing how it should be done, asking young people questions and getting them talking. They got very enthusiastic, telling him about what they wanted to see in their area. So enthusiastic that Sean was deluged!

It can be hard work for a councillor, when lots of students are all asking questions at once and I don't think Cllr Marshall realised how well he was doing. When it settled down he asked, 'Are they all gone now? - it feels like I just got hit by a tornado!'

Secret confessions of a moderator I

Hi, I'm chief moderator every year, although until the event starts I'm the only one. It's not too bad, I boss myself about a bit and then sneak off for sly tea breaks when I'm not looking...

I'm mainly doing prep at the moment, except when something's happening in Dumfries and Galloway (the only council that's live now). However today I was taken by surprise by a group of young people from Coleraine so keen to engage their local council they were over a week early! To be honest, I think they were just having a nose around, but it was nice to get a bit more practice and check everything's working as it should.

It was also nice to have time to chat properly with site visitors - once the event is live, I won't get much time to do that. I think they'll have some interesting questions for the Coleraine councillors, and they were kind enough to say they'll recommend me for a raise on the feedback questionnaire!

I'm a Councillor...2006 going, going, gone live

I'm a Councillor, Get me out of Here 2006! has gone live in Scotland already this year.  Dumfries & Galloway Council's event has been live all week.  On October 9th a further 33 councils from all over the UK will go live too.

We're covering all four corners this year.  From Coleraine in the North West of Northern Ireland down to Tunbridge Wells in the South East of England, from Swansea in Wales to Middlesbrough in the North East of England we've got 200 councillors who will all be subjecting themselves to questioning by young people for two weeks in an attempt to engage with them and help make local democracy more relevant and useful to a new generation.  This is all happening as part of Local Democracy Week.

Visit www.bigvote.org.uk and login as a guest (username "guest" and access code "guest") and have a look at what is being asked.

We'll post up some of the highlights here throughout the event.

IAC Deadline Day

It's been a hectic day today calling all the councils who have expressed an interest in I'm a Councillor but from whom we've not had a definite yes or no.  We'll do a final count tomorrow but it looks like we'll have about 35 councils taking part in October which is a great result.

We're also getting lots of calls from the councils already signed up.  Lots of questions being asked, advice sought, queries clarified. 

The best one today came from Lambeth.  Angela Birch, the Youth Council Development Manager running the event, wanted to check the maximum number of councillors who can take part (it is six).  She had sent a quick email to members there asking for interest and has had 17 councillors say they want to take part!  That's the kind of response we like to see.

Think Local, Act Global

This year we are running an international version of I'm a Councillor alongside the 30 plus UK councils already signed up to the event.  In the second week of the fortnight students will be able to also access a second version of the site where they will be able to read what local politicians from around the world do to engage their young people.

We've recently sent a letter to 40 embassies in London inviting them to nominate a politician to be one of the five who appear on the site.

It was fun to note that the first embassy to respond was the country where it all started, Greece, and the second was a country whose democratic credentials get a poor press in the UK: China. 

If we don't get enough embassies responding we will be recruiting from existing contacts but if anyone out there has an interesting politician to recommend we'll certainly take a look.  Please email with your suggestions or leave them in the Comments.