Public invited to discuss ‘Decision Making in Sheffield’

Big City Conversation

As part of Sheffield’s Big City Conversation and the upcoming referendum on the city’s governance, residents in Sheffield are invited to an independent event to discuss the way decisions on a city wide scale might be made in the future.

The option to change from a Leader & Cabinet model to a Committee model will be put to the people of Sheffield at a referendum in May 2020. A report led by Councillor Terry Fox and the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee to define the principles of that proposed change, will be brought before Full Council by January's meeting.

As a first step to help people understand, get involved and to capture their thoughts and suggestions about what needs to be done, a public event is being held at the Sheffield Town Hall on Wednesday 30 October.

The event will consider the question: ‘How Should Decision Making Work?’ and will look at the principles that ought to be part of designing any new decision making process to be developed before the Governance referendum in May 2020.

It is part of the recently announced 'Big City Conversation' and this first event will collect evidence for the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee that is carrying out the Review for the City Council.

The event, which will be independently chaired by Active Citizen, Nigel Slack will provide attendees with the opportunity to:

• hear from a range of national experts and local business and community groups about what they think;

• explore and ask questions about the various options; and

• have your say on what is most important to you about how the city should be run in the future.

Mr Slack said: “It’s important that everyone in Sheffield understands what is happening and how they can be involved in the decisions that affect them. Thousands have already shown that they have an appetite to be more involved in our local democracy and want to be part of the conversation on how that will happen. This is a great opportunity to reach and engage with even more people.

"Despite an incredibly short and difficult timescale, I hope we’ll see a packed out Town Hall next week and at future events, where Sheffielders can find out more, have their say and see how things could be done differently. I look forward to taking part in some interesting discussions about the future of decision making in Sheffield.” 

The event is being held at the Town Hall on Wednesday 30 October from 6pm to 8pm.

Everyone is welcome to attend this free event but a limited number of tickets are available. People can book their place on Eventbrite.

During Local Democracy Week and in the lead up to the launch of the Big City Conversation, hundreds of people gave their views about Sheffield at the Council’s pop-up stall in the Moor Market last week.

The Big City Conversation will be launched soon with events across all of Sheffield’s communities plus the option to give views online. All details will be published at sheffield.gov.uk/bigcityconversation