Citizens’ Assemblies ‘an investment’

July 2023

Another letter in the Salisbury Journal this week (July 6) arguing that CAs are ‘an investment’

Following on from previous week’s letters to the Journal, this week saw a letter from Mike Hodgson arguing that it was wrong to see Citizens’ Assemblies as a cost.

“I agree with Dickie Bellringer and his assessment of the benefits of Citizens’ Assemblies. He says that councillors and the political parties see CAs as a cost. I see them as an investment, ensuring good planning results in the effective implementation of schemes; not just assessing them in terms of cost, but also in terms of them being fit for purpose and achieving the desired objectives.

“With £18k spent on a CA the People Friendly Streets scheme may not have happened as it did, thereby saving considerably more than the £18k [which would have been] spent. CAs are an investment. An investment in doing the job right in the first place and as such, save money not waste it.

“Councillors seem to assume CA overrides their democratically elected decision-making powers, rendering them redundant. It does not. While councillors fulfil and important elected role safeguarding the people and the people’s purse strings, a CA is an information gathering tool and exercise in understanding the issue in question, the pros and cons,the problems and opportunities.

“As such it is a democratic adjunct to quality decision-making providing high quality information from informed citizens. The final decision will always reside with the council and the councillors, because they are the elected decision makers and are democratically in control of the budget.

“However, as Sir Winston Churchill once said, having good quality information is critical to making good decisions”.

Mike Hodgson