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Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

The number of local initiatives that councils carry out nowadays—to hold meetings and set up forums and action groups—is higher than it has ever been and there is no doubt that more people than ever are taking part in them. In many places, there is so much consultation going on that people are suffering from consultation fatigue. Finally, I do not know what proportion of local authorities not only allow but actively encourage people to go along to committee or authority meetings and take part in agenda items that interest them, but I guess that it would be a third. It used to be zero. The amount of and facilities for involvement are rightly higher than they have ever been, partly because people like us have been campaigning for them. The more people take part, the less regard they have for what they see when they do.