Area Democracy Unit

The Council's Charter

Our Role

We provide the County Council with a focus for its public consultation and partnership work that supports local democracy. We also promote and support the democratic role of our Councillors.

We have a specific brief to:

• Support local elected members
• Co-ordinate and facilitate a country wide programme of public meetings
• Work in partnership with District, Parish and Town Councils, Police, Primary Care Trusts and voluntary groups
• Provide County Council representation and co-ordination on the district based Local Strategic Partnerships

How We Achieve this -

• Promote and support the democratic role of County Councillors in listening to, consulting on and representing the needs of communities
• Represent the County Council on the district Local Strategic Partnerships and contribute to the formulation and delivery of their Community Strategies, within the context of the Worcestershire Community Strategy
• Develop and implement the County Council’s countywide programme of area arrangements/public forums and other consultation events in partnership with District, Parish and Town Councils and other statutory and voluntary sector agencies
• Provide a countywide public consultation and community engagement advisory/co-ordination service
• Support Parish and Town Councils in the production of their Parish Plans as part of the Quality Parish initiative – joining up the three tiers of local governance in Worcestershire
• Support voluntary sector agencies in enabling their contribution to the Worcestershire Partnership

How can you help us?

• Keep us informed of what you are doing so that we can tell others and link it into the district based Community Strategies
• Speak to us if you need help or advice on carrying out public consultation
• Let us know if you would like to be involved in any local initiatives
• Use the programme of county wide local public meetings to raise awareness of your work and consult with your communities.

How we can help you!

• Acting as a ‘gateway’ into the County Council for local members and community/voluntary/statutory sector partners; ensuring that issues raised are referred to the right directorate/panel/officer and outcomes are clearly tracked and communicated
• Being involved in a wide variety of networks, partnerships and community groups in our specific district areas and feeding information on a two way basis into and out of local areas
• Managing and co-ordinating a programme of locally based public meetings county wide, which provides an opportunity to raise awareness of Council initiatives and services, and to consult the community
• Having a broad knowledge of activities within our specific areas
• Offering an in-house advisory service on effective public consultation and involvement, including advice on the preparation of presentations to suit the audience and locality
• Identifying opportunities for the County Council to work in partnership with local communities
• Raising the profile of elected members
• Raising awareness of, and marketing, the County Council and its services and making it easier for people to understand and interact with Directorates

Who are we?

From left to right; Deborah, Maggie and Hazel

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