Penzance Citizens’ Panel could be ‘start of something new’
The experience of the Penzance Citizens' Panel demonstrates ‘[People can] debate difficult issues…given a safe space, key information and sufficient time’ according to Quaker Gavin Barker
Bring back Sure Start, charge double council tax for second homes and end the five-week wait for first payment for Universal Credit. These are just some of the key recommendations made by the Penzance Citizens’ Panel, which was set up by a Quaker to debate the housing problem.
Gavin Barker, from Truro Meeting, and project manager of the initiative, told the Friend that the process had ‘a striking familiarity with Quaker practices’. He said: ‘The five evening sessions spread over six weeks were, in many respects, an extended form of Meeting for Learning. Panel members equipped themselves with key information and a deeper understanding of issues to do with housing, homelessness and low pay by listening to nine expert speakers. These included Citizens Advice, the Breadline project, a trade union rep, and the CEO of a social housing association. They also [quizzed] elected representatives, [such as] Andrew Mitchell, the Cornwall Council cabinet member for housing. We also hope to meet our new MP in the new year.’
The first of the proposals submitted to the local councils – to address street homelessness – comes with other recommendations such as: restoring grant money; providing more mobile and fixed night shelters and warden-supported accommodation for young single people, as well as more early intervention mental health support; and more emergency accommodation for families.
The other key proposals – out of twenty-one – include: a £10 per hour minimum wage; restoring Sure Start centres; implementing a large-scale social housing building programme in Cornwall; reviewing Universal Credit (particularly ending the five-week wait for the first payment); unfreezing Local Housing Allowance and charging double Council Tax on all second homes and holiday lets.
Gavin Barker said that the process showed that ‘in an age of highly polarised and often brutal political debate, people can come together and debate difficult issues in an adult manner – provided they are given a safe space, key information and sufficient time… My hope is that this is the beginning of something new. We badly need to find a way of bringing people together and doing politics in a way that heals divisions rather than exploits them. Friends have a real role to play.’
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