Open Council Network for Councils

There are three major challenges that local councils face that OCN can support you with: internal visibility, external transparency and research and analysis.

Internal visibility

Internal visibility means helping councils understand what other parts of their own council are doing.

Information flow through councils is often slow and challenging, and having a clean, easily-read and digested analysis of what everyone in the council has been doing helps with council efficiency, and generally makes council work more effective and engaging for everyone involved.

How?

1. Provide a weekly summary of council activity to all councillors and civil servants.
2. Provide a searchable, summarised history of council activity by committee, topic and councillor.

External transparency

External transparency means helping citizens understand what councils are doing.

This is one of the most powerful ways to improve democratic health.

It makes citizens feel empowered, which improves their perception of government, and generally improves their happiness and mental health.

It allows citizens to express their views and so improves the democratic outcomes of government.

It lets citizens see how much is happening in their neighbourhood and how positive it is, and generally improves the opinion of the society and council in the eyes of the people.

How?

1. Publish weekly summaries of council activity to all citizens.
2. Allow councillors and civil servants to engage with OCN to ensure meetings are presented fairly and focus is clear.
3. Promote readership of council activity with targeted campaigns.

Research and Analysis

Research and analysis means helping councils understand what their citizens think, and what they and other councils are doing.

This helps councils to ensure their work is valuable and appreciated, as well as identifying areas where they excel, or could stand to improve.

It gives councillors a wider network of experts to call on for support, quantified justification and guidance for their decisions, and generally improves the healthy operation of local democracy in the UK as a whole.

How?

1. Receive on-demand topic-specific summaries of council activity across the UK e.g. which councils are considering their spending on SEND, or giving planning permission to casinos, and what arguments and decisions are being made?
2. Build forums for gathering insight and feedback on issues from citizens.

How to get started?

Send us an email at community@opencouncil.network and we'll be delighted to help.

Don't know who you'll need to engage with internally? Don't worry, we'll work with you to identify stakeholders and build internal consensus.