Breakout 2: Community engagement: reaching the hard-to-reach

Involving local people in the political processes that affect their lives is key to the health of local democracy and delivers more effective results ands services for communities.

For these reasons, community engagement is a hot topic in both national and local government. London councils are leading the way in reaching out to diverse groups across the capital and encouraging a wider pool of talented Londoners to get involved in local politics.

London Councils has put together a publication Six of the Best highlighting best practice case studies of community engagement from across the capital. Interviews with members of the public on their attitudes to local councils in London and their political engagement are also available for viewing.

• Read Six of the Best - outstanding case studies of community engagement from across the capital.
• Watch the short film online

Speakers on the day were:

• Cllr Heidi Alexander, London Borough of Lewisham
• Lisa Greensill, Communities and Third Sector team leader, Government Office for London
• Monica Tuohy, director, London Civic Forum (confirmed)