Greater Cambridge Citizens' Assembly

The first weekend of the Greater Cambridge Citizens’ Assembly took place on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 September 2019.

The second weekend will take place on the following dates in Cambridge:

• Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October 2019

The presentations and panel discussions held at the Assembly will be livestreamed on the GCP Facebook page(External link), and later uploaded to the GCP Youtube channel(External link).  Assembly member discussions and deliberations will not be livestreamed or uploaded.

A Citizens’ Assembly for Greater Cambridge

In a Citizens’ Assembly, members of the public are brought together to consider a public issue and make a recommendation on what action should be taken on that issue.

They do this by listening to evidence, discussing the evidence they hear, and reaching a conclusion together on what steps the administration should take next. The Assembly’s recommendation is then given to decision makers who decide what will happen next.

Member of the Citizens’ Assembly will hear evidence, work with other participants and come up with recommendations. They will have the opportunity to meet with individuals from all walks of life who live and travel regularly within Greater Cambridge, have discussions and hear from engaging expert speakers.

The recommendations from the Citizens’ Assembly will be presented to the Greater Cambridge Partnership's Joint Assembly and Executive Board in November/December 2019.

Organisations involved in the Greater Cambridge Citizens’ Assembly

We have been awarded funding and support from the UK Government's Innovation in Democracy Programme(External link) to hold this Citizens' Assembly. It is jointly delivered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Two independent organisations are delivering the Assembly:

• The Sortition Foundation(External link) promotes the use of stratified, random selection in decision-making. It is responsible for recruiting people to take part in the Assembly; its aim is to ensure the Assembly is broadly representative of the Greater Cambridge community.
• The Involve Foundation(External link) is a UK-wide public participation charity. Involve will run the Citizens’ Assembly - facilitating and designing the process by which the Assembly members learn, consider and come to recommendations about the topic. They will also write the report on the outcomes of the Assembly.

Click here to find out more.

GCP CITIZEN'S ASSEMBLY DAY 2 PRESENTATIONS

Invitation documents for Greater Cambridge Citizens' Assembly - please note the registration process has now closed