Local Election day prompts list of demands for better democracy in Oxford

Voters were due to go to the polls today (May 7) in Oxford, as well as in the Cherwell and West Oxfordshire district council areas.

Because of the coronavirus, these local elections have been postponed until May 2021, and could run alongside a poll for county councillors.

But while the authorities are focussed on tackling the problems caused by the virus and government-mandated lockdown, a group called the Oxford Democracy Cafe has urged councillors not to forget that they still have other duties.

Read also: Bicester family compare symptoms during coronavirus vaccine trial

The democracy cafe has written a ‘manifesto’ to all councillors, asking them to sign up to it online.

It includes five basic tenets, asking elected representatives to: 1) work across political parties where possible, 2) stay in regular contact with people in their areas, 3) to represent diverse interests, 4) to ask their constituents how they should spend their dedicated ward budget, and 5) to carry out the will of the Oxford citizens assembly on climate change.

In a statement, the group said: “In normal circumstances this manifesto would have been used by citizens across the city as the basis for discussion with prospective candidates.

“In these far-from-normal circumstances we believe the manifesto to be equally important in highlighting how we the people of Oxford wish our representatives to proceed in the next year.”

A member of the Democracy Cafe, Jude Stratton, said it had put the manifesto together before elections were postponed, and would have been sending it to councillors, asking them to thinking about the tenets as the ‘bare minimum’ of what they should do if elected again.

Read also: Why is this Oxford family's ferret running a marathon during lockdown?

Ms Stratton added: “This is to highlight what to expect from councillors if they want to involve the public and to show democracy is more than just a cross in a box every few years.”

The democracy cafe has been meeting since July 2018, and members of the group set up a citizens assembly network to encourage public discussion on climate change.

A member of this network, called OxCAN, sat on the advisory group which helped to steer the city council’s official citizen’s assembly on climate change held in September last year.

Labour councillor and deputy leader Linda Smith said the manifesto was full of welcome suggestions and important issues.

Ms Smith said: “Many of my Labour colleagues hold surgeries, I have tried this but, as often no one turned up, I decided my time was better spent out on the doorstep talking to people. Our former MP Andrew Smith is fond of saying ‘The more people we speak to, the more people will vote for us’ and I think that is true.

Read also: Lord Mayor of Oxford threatened with a tube of toothpaste

“Those hundreds of regular short conversations about what people think about their neighbourhood help us represent our wards effectively and to take action on the issues which matter the most to residents.”

The Labour councillor for Blackbird Leys added that cross-party work, the first tenet of the manifesto, had already led to council initiatives in the city.

She said: “I’ve been particularly pleased with the cross-party consensus we’ve been able to build around our work to reduce homelessness in the city.”

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat group on the city council said there was concern that the democracy cafe could run the risk of setting up a ‘parallel structure’ to existing institutions like the city council.

Lib Dem Liz Wade said: “I have a concern that the Oxford Democracy Café is one of several local and national groups which have sprung up in recent times. Theoretically, they assume the role of informing their communities about the activities of their democratically-elected representatives.

“In practice, they may, sometimes unwittingly, be creating a parallel structure to the established structures of government at every level, and one that does not have the same scrutiny built in.”

Read also: 'Massive' drop in cancer referrals in Oxfordshire during lockdown

She added that her Lib Dem group colleagues ‘know that every day they are accountable to their residents and at elections stand or fall on their record’.

She said: “We try, by every means possible, to inform and keep in touch with our residents at all times – not just at elections.

“We are passionately committed to making Oxford the best place it can be. We do not need our views to be mediated through the democracy café.”

Green councillor and current Lord Mayor Craig Simmons said many of the suggestions made in the manifesto were similar to Green Party policy.

Mr Simmons said: “Last year the Greens ran an open session where we invited people to give their views on the council budget – not just our personal budget – but the entire capital programme.

“That is how we came up with the fact that people did not support the Seacourt Park and Ride extension as a policy for example.”

Mr Simmons added that in holding meetings remotely, the council had the opportunity to hold briefings and invite members of the public to ask questions more easily.

He said the Greens had suggested open sessions for members of the public during digital council meetings, but this had so far been rejected.

Oxford City Council is due to start holding remote meetings via video link later this month.