Strengthening local democracy with the citizens of Kirklees

The challenge

In 2016, Kirklees Council set out to understand what a strong, healthy local democracy could look like for the next generation. After years of austerity, councillors were increasingly feeling that local democracy had become overshadowed by the drive to simply maintain services. Staff no longer had a strong sense of being part of a democratic organisation, and citizens did not feel like they had a voice in local decisions and were becoming less trustful of government.

Kirklees Democracy Commission produced recommendations for a more participatory democracy, and following this, we set out to co-create a new relationship between citizens and their council - one rooted in agency, trust, and celebration of the brilliant work citizens were already doing to make their places better.

Our Approach

Through a series of workshops, we worked with residents to uncover what active citizenship meant to them. People shared moments when they felt proud of their place, identified what helps them to take action and what would support more people to do the same. These conversations showed that people wanted to see a different role for the council - a new narrative - one where the council did not just provide services, but enabled the conditions for citizens to thrive.

Alongside this new narrative, we recommended a set of steps for the council to take, so that this new story could be reinforced internally and externally. One intervention was the development of a new measure of success for the council, which we co-created with local people. By equipping council officers with facilitation skills and designing workshops that could be delivered by members of staff, people across every ward were involved in shaping this shared goal. Shaped by People is now a strategic priority for the council, capturing the extent to which people feel they can “make our places what they are”.

Impact and learning

Our work has shifted the culture of local government in Kirklees. There is still much to do, but the building blocks are in place for councillors, staff and citizens to share a clearer sense of what local democracy looks and feels like in everyday life.

This was our first use of the Culture Shift framework within a local council. The work we’ve done with Kirklees Council showed us the importance of not just writing down a new narrative, but making it stick through everyday processes and practices (rituals) like staff training and induction, as well as louder, public-facing initiatives (totems) like the creation of a new strategic goal.