Current – Page 3 – Research for Action

Democratising Local Governance Posters

Legislative changes in the last decade have increased the power of central government over local authorities. Democratic controls (transparency, participation, accountability and so on) have been continuously eroded. Under a culture of cuts and lack of care, cities have become an important site for residents and communities to provide for one another and drive forward the changes they want to see. But the deep democratic deficits we are facing, and the continuing capture of the local state by private interests, have a direct and damaging impact on people’s ability to exercise individual and collective power in their local areas. Over... [continues]

March 30, 2023

orange protest sign that says "the power of the people is stronger than the people in power"

Current Democratising Governance Events

Cities in Action: Democratising Local Governance launch 27 April

Thursday 27 April 7-8.30pm Join us on Thursday for the launch of the findings from our project Democratising Local Governance! Register now on Eventbrite. Legislative changes in the last decade have increased the power of central government over local authorities. Democratic controls (transparency, participation, accountability and so on) have been continuously eroded. Under a culture of cuts and lack of care, cities have become an important site for residents and communities to provide for one another and drive forward the changes they want to see. But, the deep democratic deficits we are facing, and the continuing capture of the local... [continues]

March 30, 2023

Current Newsletters Uncategorized

Newsletter: Winter 2022/Annual Roundup

Dear friends of Research for Action, 2022 has been a year of major growth and change for us.We grew our work on public interest and audit, began a project with groups in Sheffield and Glasgow on democratising governance and deepened our work with the European Municipalist Network. We have developed as a worker co-op, adding a new member, Gloria Dawson, and a board member, Tim Joubert. We have also developed our mission, vision and values as well as the policies and procedures we need for our co-op to reflect our values, and we are proud of the progress we have made... [continues]

January 10, 2023

Current Newsletters Uncategorized

Newsletter: Autumn 2022

Dear newsletter readers, We are very excited to say that we have just launched a report that showcases the work of various citizen auditors across England! The publication, called ‘Citizen Auditors: investigating local government's accountability gap’ shows ways in which local groups and individuals are scrutinising their local authorities, challenging poor governance and decisions they believe are not in the public interest. It draws on the experiences of a network we have been coordinating this year. Citizen auditors are working on a wide range of issues relating to council spending, but also on challenging poor governance. We support each... [continues]

January 10, 2023

Current Projects

Democratising Governance

This action research project explores campaigns for democratising local governance. Together with collaborators in Sheffield and Glasgow, we look at the strategies campaigners and community groups have used to tackle the democratic deficit and identify more democratic forms of governance at the city level. The UK is one of the most centralised countries in the world, voter turnout in local elections is low, and many local authorities are simply badly governed, as our work with citizen auditors has shown. For this project, we are working with campaigners in Sheffield, It’s Our City!, who spoke to over 20,000 people about governance... [continues]

Audit and Accountability Citizen Auditors Current

Citizen Auditor Network

There is a worrying accountability vacuum in local government. Since the closure of the Audit Commission in 2015, there is neither any overarching oversight of local government audit, nor a central government body that has oversight of governance or spending irregularities across multiple authorities. Even though citizens have rights to information and accountability, these are not often respected. We have documented this in detail in our report, Democracy Denied (2021). This lack of accountability is particularly concerning given the alarming state of local government finances and further rounds of austerity cuts. During 2022 Research for Action has facilitated a citizen auditor... [continues]

Current Newsletters

Summer newsletter: new staff member & project updates

Dear friends and followers of Research for Action, We hope you have been enjoying the summer this far and have been able to take some relaxing time off. Research for Action has grown by a staff member since you last heard from us. Gloria started working with us at the end of June as our brand new Advocacy and Communications Coordinator and we are very very excited to have her on board! Gloria says: Hi, I’m joining Research for Action to work on local audit reform. I’ve had a lot of experience in political organising, activist research and diverse... [continues]

August 16, 2022

Current Guest blog

GUEST BLOG: Building local power – reflections on municipalism

By Steve Rushton In May 2021, Research for Action, Municipal Enquiry and Cities for Change organised an online event called “Building local solidarity and horizontal power”. I collaborated on this project as the local forums facilitator for the UK and Nordic countries for Cities for Change, a decentralised forum initiated and organised by Amsterdam City Council that aimed to strengthen and network municipalism across the continent. Together with Research for Action and Municipal Enquiry, we recognised that local government has been decimated by successive legislative changes and austerity, as Research for Action's work has documented. It often feels politics provides... [continues]

September 30, 2021