Liberal Democrats give power to Communities to Decide Priorities

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 10th Jun 2008

Councillor David Baker, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council

Decision making about some local services is moving away from the Town Hall to local people. Communities are to be given control of £50,000 currently allocated to their area and will be able to prioritise what it is spent on. They will make decisions about how much of the £50,000 is allocated between parks, libraries, and street cleaning, and how it will be spent via their local area panel.

Councillor David Baker, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council, said: "We are committed to moving decisions away from the Town Hall and giving local people the chance to make decisions that affect their local area. This is a great opportunity for people to influence what happens in their neighbourhood, and is the first step in our work to give local communities a voice and power in deciding how services are run."

The Council is currently drawing up options for each Area Panel to enable panels to debate and decide how they want to change the distribution of the £50,000 in their area. The proposals will be discussed in more detail at Area Panel meetings in July.