Westminster City Council Joins Co-operative Council's Innovation Network

Westminster City Council Joins Co-operative Council's Innovation Network

Westminster City Council is proud to announce its participation in the Co-operative Council's Innovation Network, a dynamic partnership dedicated to fostering collaboration and sharing innovative solutions among local authorities. This strategic partnership underlines Westminster's commitment to driving positive change, enhancing community engagement, and embracing cooperative principles in local governance.

The Co-operative Council's Innovation Network brings together forward-thinking local authorities from across the country, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, best practices, and successful initiatives. By joining this collaborative community, Westminster City Council aims to leverage collective knowledge, pool resources, and create a culture of innovation that addresses the evolving needs of our diverse and vibrant community.

Recent success stories of the CCIN include the new recycling and waste policy adopted in Cheshire West; the Trafford Council Community Collective; and ‘Share Shack’ warm spaces in Birmingham. More details here.

Councillor Adam Hug, Leader of Westminster City Council, said:

"We are excited to be a part of the Co-operative Council's Innovation Network. By working together with other like-minded local authorities, we can explore innovative approaches to common challenges, share successful models, and contribute to building stronger, more resilient communities. We’re confident that this new partnership will contribute significantly to the council's ongoing commitment to build a Fairer Westminster.”

Councillors Ellie Ormsby and Jason Williams forwarded a motion at a meeting of Full Council on 24 January 2024, to commit the council to play an active role as a new member of the CCIN, and adhere to the principles of the CCIN as part of our Fairer Westminster Strategy. The core principles include:

• Social Partnership – strengthening the co-operative partnership between the Council, citizens, communities and enterprises, based on a shared sense of responsibility for wellbeing and mutual benefit.
• Co-production - Developing systems that enable citizens to be equal partners in designing and commissioning Council services and in determining the use of public resources.
• Democratic Engagement - Support the active engagement of the full range of residents in decision making and priority setting.
• Enterprise and Social Economy - Promote community-based approaches to economic development that focus on supporting the creation of jobs, social enterprises and other businesses and providing an environment for co-operative and mutual enterprises to thrive.
• Maximising social value - Support the development of a framework and criteria for social value, giving substance to the concept, to ensure better local social and economic outcomes.
• New models of meeting priority needs - exploring new ways of meeting the priority needs of our communities we will encourage models, such as co-operatives and mutuals, which give greater influence and voice to staff and users in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.
• Community leadership and a new role for councillors – Explore ways for the Council to act as a platform for helping the community to contribute to local outcomes, and to re-think the role of councillors as community connectors, brokers and leaders.
• Innovation - Embrace innovation in how we work with local communities to drive positive change.
• Learning - Capture and ‘expand’ the experience and learning from individual projects to encourage broader application of cooperative principles across the Network.