Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs Huw Irranca-Davies MS visited the Llanhilleth Miners Institute, Blaenau Gwent to hear first-hand from participants of the Blaenau Gwent Future of Travel Citizens Forum.
During his visit the Deputy First Minister heard about recent Citizens’ Forum sessions held on 18th January and 1st February and was interested to learn from the people taking part in the forum about the reasons they applied, their experiences of the process so far and what they hope the forum will achieve.
The Deputy First Minister viewed the Forum as a good working example of involving citizens in deliberative practice to aid decision making and hearing from the participants about their experience will give valuable insight into the reason for, and value in, creating more opportunities such as this one for future community engagement and decision making.
The Welsh Government believes that Wales should be ambitious in creating a robust democratic culture and is keen to find new ways for people to engage with the organisations that affect their lives. The Deputy First Minister is spearheading the establishment of a new Innovating Democracy Advisory Group with Welsh Government, which is currently recruiting members. Its role will be to explore and innovate in this space.
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Place and Environment Councillor Helen Cunningham said:
“Blaenau Gwent Council recognises the seriousness of the climate crisis and in conjunction with our partners has created the Future of Travel Citizens Forum to help understand how travel throughout the borough can be improved over the next five years. Engaging with the views of communities will help understand what is required to make the practical changes needed.”
Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said:
“The citizens' forum in Blaenau Gwent is exactly the kind of work we want to encourage across Wales. It’s a great way of bringing people together to discuss important issues like local transport, so that people can have more of a say in their own communities.
“Our new Innovating Democracy Advisory Group, chaired by Dr Anwen Elias, is exploring ways to have more people have more of a say in how our communities are run. We are now looking for members to join her through an open recruitment process. If you’re interested, we’d be very keen to hear from you.”
The Future of Travel Citizens Forum will agree 10 recommendations at the third session on 15th February that the council and transport partners can include in future work on how travel in Blaenau Gwent should be improved in the next five years.
The Council worked with the Sortition Foundation to select residents by lottery, in a way that is representative of the wider Blaenau Gwent population. The Future of Travel Citizen Forum is comprised of 21 members who were chosen after 6,500 letters were sent out randomly in the borough. From the 164 people who responded individuals were randomly picked to reflect the population of Blaenau Gwent. The forum, delivered by Involve, is part of the council's Innovate UK (the UK Government's Innovation Agency) project under the Net Zero Living Programme looking at the non-technical barriers to Net Zero Transport in Blaenau Gwent.
 |
| Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies interacting with the Blaenau Gwent Future of Travel Citizens Forum members at Llanhilleth Miners Institute. |