Greater Cambridge Citizens' Assembly

The Greater Cambridge Citizens’ Assembly took place over two weekends in September and October, as follows:

• Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 September 2019
• Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October 2019

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

A headline report of the Greater Cambridge Citizens' Assembly has been published by Involve(External link).

The report is also available in a number of different formats on the MySociety website at the following links:

• Web(External link)
• Minimal formatting(External link)
• Kindle

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 delivered 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.

Greater Cambridge Citizens' Assembly 2019 Playlist - All Sessions

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