Will try to find out more about how the UK Community Councils operate.

There was recently (1st November 2011) a conference:

“The day began with the results of our survey on the state of the sector, a presentation from Rachel Newton of Urban Forum on localism and neighbourhood councils, followed by a lively AGM and Councillor Bill Randall who talked about tackling inequality, empowering communities and developing a sustainable city. In the afternoon community groups led on open space discussions and asked some important questions to a panel of public sector partners on equalities, volunteering, commissioning, collaboration and communication. An audio clip of the questions put to the panel and their responses will be available soon.”

http://www.cvsectorforum.org.uk/cvsf-conference

Someone got the word “resilence” into the refining workshops on the Community Summit draft objectives and strategies outcomes held this week at WCC.

This guide from the UK may be worth buying and timely for local use here:

“The Urban Forum Guide To Community Resilience is an invaluable resource for any community.

With the era of austerity upon us and the public spending cuts bringing greater challenges, this handy guide, which has expert contributions from many organisations, is a timely, practical way to strengthen your community and make the best use of its assets.”

http://www.urbanforum.org.uk/handy-guides/urban-forum-guide-to-community-resilience

Grattan Institure Media Release
14 November 2011

Getting the housing Australians want

“Our cities are at a critical point in their development. We need a fresh start that helps Australians get the housing they want and gives residents a say in the future of their neighbourhoods and cities,” said Jane-Frances Kelly, Cities Program Director at the Grattan Institute.

Launching Grattan’s new report, Getting the housing we want, Ms Kelly said that under the current system no one wins.

“Developers point to a range of barriers to building housing in established areas, while residents, denied a real role in deciding the future of their neighbourhoods, often feel they have no choice but to oppose all planning applications and all change.”

“Yet at the same time, our cities continue to grow and more people are forced to live further from family, friends and jobs,” Ms Kelly said.

A previous Grattan report, The housing we’d choose, contained the first substantial survey of the housing preferences of Sydney and Melbourne residents. The survey showed that contrary to stereotype, Australians want a mixture of housing choices – not just detached houses.

Grattan’s latest report proposes reforms to change what is built to better match what Australians say they want, while enabling residents to take an active role in shaping their neighbourhoods in partnership with the housing industry and government.

The report proposes the creation of opt-in Neighbourhood Development Corporations that bring together residents, developers and governments to oversee significant development in an area. They would be independent bodies with real powers over planning and delivery. They would enable residents, developers and governments to plan together, then act.

They would assume powers over planning, land acquisition and design for the life of the project. A Commonwealth-State Liveability Fund would provide funding for new parks and community facilities in return for support for a significant change in the amount and type of housing in the neighbourhood.

Ms Kelly said governments also needed to encourage high-quality smaller developments, which made up the bulk of new housing in many established suburbs.

A new Small Redevelopment Housing Code would establish clear standards for housing of two storeys and under, which, depending on lot size, contained between 2 and 10 dwellings. These developments would get planning approval within 15 days if they were met. In return, the Code would ensure that small developments are better designed than they are now, and respected the needs of neighbours and the character of an area.

Ms Kelly said that while change was always difficult, the status quo also carried costs for existing residents and for their children. “This report offers a pathway to making our cities better as they grow.”

Download a copy of the report
http://www.grattan.edu.au/publications/117_report_getting_the_housing_we_want.pdf

Reply from James regarding public at GovCamp 2011

“I just wanted to let you know that the event is open to the public.

There is a general philosophy about “no sales pitching” (in this context, no political pitching) at events like this, which is based on the BarCamp unconference format:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarCamp#Structure_and_participatory_process

BTW You might also like to add a link to http://govcampnsw.info/ to your post.

Thanks for the info, James.

I am waiting to hear back if this event is open to members of the public:

GovCampNSW
NICTA Lab, Level 4
Australian Technology Park
13 Garden Street, Eveleigh 2015
Saturday, November 19, 2011 from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM

From their website:

“If you work for government – or with government – whether federal, state or local, this one-day forum is for you.

GovCampNSW is about the power of ideas and conversation. It aspires to build upon the gov-tech / 2.0 focus and look beyond to shaping innovation in government in NSW.

This GovCamp “unconference” is simply a space to open up the public sphere conversation – to create a comfortable place where new thinking becomes possible and enables new outcomes. There are no long presentations and the topics are yours – you get to create the agenda.

So this GovCamp is about how government works, as well as how it works for citizens. It’s about the pressures of needing to do better government with less; about meeting growing public needs and expectations within an increasingly transparent and stretched public space.

Discussion will include:

Cultural change leading to open government.
Social technologies and service delivery.
Policy 2.0: Why do apps have all the fun? “

http://govcampnsw.eventbrite.com/