“PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLIES”: A GREAT WAY TO ADDRESS COMPLEX CIVIC ISSUES.
Request People’s Assemblies in submissions on PC29.
Around the world there is a need for greater citizen involvement in major governance decisions, and People’s Assemblies are one such, offering better decision-making and less divisiveness.
New Zealand is no exception in this, and the 2023 “Future of Local Government” review found there is low public trust in councils and listed the first of its five “key shifts” as
1. Strengthened local democracy – from low public trust and participation in local governance to citizens participating in local decision-making; councils being trusted and reflecting community diversity.
The report encouraged councils to trial “participatory democracy”, carefully structured processes involving a truly representative cross section of the community, and providing access to specialists and skilled facilitation (see further information below).
A people’s assembly would have been ideal at the formative stages of PC29, but now that the plan change has been formally advertised the process is more constrained by legalities.
Even so Council should actively explore how such a process can be used to benefit PC29 and other future council processes.
Without changing the content of the rest of their submissions, we encourage all submitters to add the following to their submission:
Objection: That the development and consultation associated with Plan Change 29, while perhaps conforming to the minimum legal requirements, has still left significant sectors of the community feeling unheard, and has arguably failed to adequately consider various matters that it should have, such as the character of neighbourhoods, or how effective intensification can best proceed over time.
This would in part be met by: Council actively seeking an opportunity to establish and fund (with assistance from central government if available) a people’s assembly or comparable process to consider Plan Change 29 in as wide a frame as possible. This is with a view not only to better informing council’s decision making, but also to helping restore community confidence in Council when that has been eroded by much of the process to date.
The search for such an opportunity should, if necessary to establish such a process, include considering whether a Variation to the Plan Change should be implemented as a means of creating the best opportunity for input from such a citizen-centred process.
Useful links:
govt.nz/Local-Government-Final-report Irish government citizens assembly
