Developing the representational role of elected members: Local involvement, local action in a Birmingham ward

This article focuses on the developing representational role of elected members in Birmingham as part of the wider modernisation agenda. It describes and analyses 'Local Involvement, Local Action', a local authority initiative to enhance democratic participation that was set up just prior to the publication of new political management arrangements. This initiative is typical of many local authority approaches, combining a desire to enhance the contribution of local citizens with a decentralisation programme to devolve decision making to the sublocal level and begin to 'join-up' the actions of a variety of local partners at neighbourhood level. The article highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the LILA initiative and identifies the wider potential and limits of such decentralisation initiatives to enhancing the representational role of elected members.