Public Consultation is vital for good Governance but, is not happening.

 Dear Helen, Dan and Laura - a decent reply would be nice to receive, please

1. Public Forum item on every WMCA and council agenda.  My own council has had this for years.  It must be extended as a vital way to influence senior officers and members.
2. My suggestions are not any kind of protest but simply ideas for you and your leadership team to consider.
   
3. I AM a peaceful and polite climate activist wanting less apathy and more interest and action.  Collaboration, working together for the benefit of all.

Dudley Council allows each member of the public no more than 3 mins each at some committee meetings.  Very few take advantage but, it is the right thing to do!     Tim Weller

FROM 'The Guardian':

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/28/european-nations-must-end-repression-of-peaceful-climate-protest-says-un-expert

European nations must end the repression and criminalisation of peaceful protest and urgently take action to cut emissions in line with the Paris climate agreement to limit global heating to 1.5C, the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, (Michel Forst)  has said.

After a year-long inquiry that included gathering evidence from the UK, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, Michel Forst said the repression faced by peaceful environmental activists was a major threat to democracy and human rights.

All of the nations inspected are party to the Aarhus convention, which states that peaceful environmental protest is a legitimate exercise of the public’s right to participate in decision-making and that those engaged in it must be protected.

But Forst said that across Europe the response to peaceful environmental protest was to repress rather than to enable and protect.

“The environmental emergency that we are collectively facing and that scientists have been documenting for decades cannot be addressed if those raising the alarm and demanding action are criminalised for it,” he said.

“The only legitimate response to peaceful environmental activism and civil disobedience at this point is that the authorities, the media and the public realise how essential it is for us all to listen to what environmental defenders have to say.”