Charlotte Hollins
Manager of Fordhall Farm & We’re Right Here campaign leader
On Monday I jumped on a train down to London to listen to Pat McFadden – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – speak about public service reform, thanks to UCL Policy Lab doing a brilliant job of connecting community businesses to what is happening in politics.
Taking risks
The newspaper stories about the speech made it sound as though it would only talk about how technology could fix public services. But it didn’t! Pat spoke about how we need a ‘test and learn’ approach to public services, where people are able to take risks, find out what works and what doesn’t, and then be able to change what they’re doing.
For anyone who works with or runs a community business, this will sound familiar. We take risks every day. We’re constantly testing new ideas (we have lots of them!) and learning from them. We’re dynamic, creative, and resilient as a result.
Where we’re already doing this
Right now, we’re trying something new in Market Drayton with support from Power to Change and CTRLShift. Alongside our local council, we’re forming a Community Covenant, which is a power-sharing agreement where local people, community organisations and councils come together to share power, resources, and make decisions together.
As it happens, we’re trialing it as part of a project to design a new Community and Family Hub in our town, which was also something Pat focused on in his speech. Rather than the council deciding where the hub should be or how it serves the local community, we will be making those decisions together.
What we’re learning
We held our first meeting the other day and – as expected – it wasn’t all plain sailing! But that’s what working with communities to make places better is all about. It is going to be tricky at times, it is going to be a risk, it will involve making mistakes, but that is what testing ideas is all about. Most importantly, we learn from them.
We’re just one community in Shropshire, but there are thousands like us in villages, towns, and cities across the country. We want to hear more of the honesty that Pat showed on Monday when he said, “I haven’t got all this figured out from beginning to end.” Often the new ideas and appetite to try them out are found in our communities.
A campaign that I’m a part of called We’re Right Here, is calling for legislation that would help put these ideas into action by giving communities a legal right to shape local services and share power with their local authority.
With opportunities like the English Devolution Bill coming up, we’ve got a clear message to Pat and his colleagues in government: work with us.
