Summer News: governance upheavals, audit reform saga, how you can help our research
Posted inAudit and Accountability Councils in Crisis Current Newsletters Projects

Summer News: governance upheavals, audit reform saga, how you can help our research

Dear friends and followers,  Summer is in full swing and there’s lots happening in the world of local democracy. Here are some of the most recent news from Research for Action and friends, and a call for help with our current research…Government wants to abolish the committee system - against the will of Sheffield residents In June, the government announced its intent to ‘simplify’ governance arrangements for local authorities in England, effectively forcing all councils to transition to the leader and cabinet model. It said that the alternative, the committee system, ‘can be unclear, duplicative, and wasteful, leading to slower, less... [continues]
Posted inCurrent Events Newsletters

New Year News: Councils in flux, and more…

Hello!Happy New Year from us. There is so much going on, and we wanted to share a quick roundup of where we are with local government right now. We also briefly reflect on Research for Action in 2024, before it gallops away in the rear-view mirror, before sharing some things we are looking forward to which you might be interested in too.- Councils in crisis, councils in flux - It is an incredibly busy time for those of us following local democracy. We are working on a long-term research project on council ‘bankruptcies’ and their implications for democracy and accountability;... [continues]
2023 in review: and looking forward….
Posted inAudit and Accountability Citizen Auditors Current Democratising Governance Newsletters Projects Uncategorized

2023 in review: and looking forward….

As 2023 draws to a close, we wanted to share with you some highlights of Research for Action’s work. It has not been a great year for democracy - for example in local audit, which is one of the areas we work in, the UK Government has chosen not to deliver promised new legislation. But at the same time we are part of new and growing networks of people determined to do things differently. It has been a year of great collaboration with others who care about local democracy, be it project partners in Sheffield, Glasgow or Europe-wide, or the... [continues]
Summer newsletter: posters, films, podcasts and more
Posted inCurrent Newsletters

Summer newsletter: posters, films, podcasts and more

Research for Action Summer Newsletter 2023Hello!It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch, so this is a bumper Summer edition of our newsletter, with some beautiful posters centred on local community power, films and podcasts about radical municipalism across Europe, and some exciting developments in our work on local audit and accountability. Democratising Governance In March we launched one part of our project on democratising local governance in Sheffield and Glasgow; four posters by artist Reece Thompson centred on the themes of transparency, care, power and opposing austerity. Together with project partners from Solidarity Against Neoliberal Extremism (SANE) and... [continues]
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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]
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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]
Summer newsletter: new staff member & project updates 
Posted inCurrent 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]
February newsletter – new director, new project, new connections!
Posted inNewsletters

February newsletter – new director, new project, new connections!

Dear friends and followers,It has been a busy start of the year, focusing on organisational development as well as our new project, coordinating a network of citizen auditors. More on our work below. On the organisational side we have some exciting news as in January, we welcomed a new director to Research for Action: Tim Joubert. Tim is doing a PhD at the University of Leeds on radical municipalism in the Greater London Council of the 1980s, and his interests are in social movements, urban contestation and radical history among others. He teaches urban geography at Leeds Beckett University and... [continues]
Posted inNewsletters

June newsletter – audit reform roundtable 29th June & more

Hello,  Hope you are enjoying the Summer that has finally come!  Below is some news from us and a very important update on the next event on audit reform - it has been rescheduled for the 29th of June, 10-11:30am. Apologies to those who had already booked. If you hadn’t yet, below is the link.   EVENTS   Audit and accountability failure in local government - where next for reform?  Tuesday 29th of June 2021, 10-11:30am, zoom With this roundtable of experts on audit and accountability, we aim to start a dialogue between stakeholders who are calling for improved audit... [continues]
October newsletter: share your experiences of local accountability
Posted inNewsletters

October newsletter: share your experiences of local accountability

Hi all,  It’s a busy autumn after a summer break, and we need your help again! One of the most important strategies in our work on LOBO loans has been supporting residents to submit objections to the loans locally. The right to do this (as well as the right to inspect council accounts) is granted by a piece of legislation called the Local Audit and Accountability Act. The collective action of submitting objections has helped to bring attention to LOBO loans. Unfortunately, we and our networks have found that it rarely works in our favour, as auditors are reluctant to... [continues]