Notwestminster 2025: Connected by Hope

Grant fund application:

Below is the original text UKGovCamp recieved. Nothing has been redacted or changed.

Name: Diane Sims.

Your email: Notwestminster@gmail.com

Event: Notwestminster 2025: Connected by Hope.

Description: Notwestminster is a free event for everyone who has something positive to say about local democracy, and anyone who is up for the challenge of making it better. We help people to share their ideas, energy and inspiration, and together we find practical ways of strengthening local democracy and creating better citizen engagement.

Our event is participant-led and is organised entirely by volunteers from our informal Notwestminster network. We host a day of workshops, lightning talks and inspiration in Huddersfield. It’s a free event, with an amazing mix of participants including local government officers, citizens, councillors, community organisations, digital and civic technology organisations, young people, democracy sector organisations, academics and public sector workers. It’s this blend of participants, who all want to work together and learn from each other, which makes Notwestminster so special.

Website: notinwestminster.org.uk
Tickets: notwestminster2025.eventbrite.com

Amount requested: £750.

What the funding will be used for: We will use any funding firstly to pay for our venue hire and refreshments, so that we can keep this a free event for everyone. We will use any additional funds to make it easier for people to participate (such as helping small community organisations with travel costs) and to involve more people (for example, by creating digital content which we can share with people who can’t be there on the day).

About you, what you do, and your interest in running this event: I’m a community activist, digital practitioner and local democracy advocate. I believe that democracy happens where you are – and each of us makes it happen. The Notwestminster community was started by a handful of volunteers who wanted to connect with other people who are positive about our local democracy, and who are committed to helping shape it, wherever they are. I’m proud to be one of that small but enduring team.

Although I co-ordinate Notwestminster as a volunteer, I’ve worked in local government for over twenty years and this event also inspires (and is inspired by) my professional work. My role at Kirklees Council involves working with our citizens and partners to grow a stronger local democracy, with a particular focus on citizen engagement, openness and digital networks. I’m currently developing our citizen engagement strategy, building on what we’ve learned from citizens since the landmark Kirklees Democracy Commission.

I work with citizens, councillors and partners to explore how we can strengthen our everyday democracy, for everyone. Some professional highlights for me have been establishing a shared strategic goal for active citizenship in Kirklees (called Shaped by People), which was created with my fellow citizens, and overseeing the development of the pioneering Democracy Friendly Schools programme. All of this work makes me feel hopeful for our democracy, and it makes me want to connect with others who have inspiring things to share.

Notwestminster has become a welcoming community in which we can work together, share experiences and do something positive in all of our local places. It’s a valuable antidote to some of the things that are happening in our democracy today. As we approach our tenth anniversary, Notwestminster feels more needed now than ever.

We are a community connected by hope.