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Engaging citizens in devolution

Devolution aims to provide councils and combined authorities with greater flexibility and freedom to improve public services and outcomes in their area. To fulfil these aims residents should be engaged and involved in decision making and commissioning processes.


This wider participation (or civic and democratic engagement as it is referred to) should be integrated into the process of developing and implementing devolution agreements or ‘deals'.

This online resource outlines the importance of engaging citizens in devolution and provides materials to support this; including a set of principles and approaches that can be used as deals are being developed and implemented.

Approaches to civic and democratic engagement

There are a range of approaches to civic and democratic engagement that are being used locally.

These resources have been developed in partnership with the New Economics Foundation.

Has your local authority been looking at ways to engage citizens in devolution or service design? If so, we want to hear from you at [email protected]