Assembly Project

While waiting for the assembly project to get off the ground in my own area, I decided I would help similar projects elsewhere. This brought me to Salisbury (read: “Solz-buh-ree”) for two days, to try out two different ways of promoting an assembly, resulting in two differing experiences.

While most assembly projects I’ve heard about have been in large cities, Salisbury is a different kind of place. By ancient law it’s a city, by size it’s a medium-sized town with the typical features of a larger district centre. Tourists come here to see its magnificent cathedral, the tallest in the British Isles, and to catch the bus to nearby Stonehenge. I’ve seen both already but this time I could see the cathedral lit up at twilight, resulting in the picture above.

It has a lot going for it, but like most towns, Salisbury is affected by a housing shortage, overstretched public services and the decline of town centres. Locals often complain of the traffic and a lack of things to do, and its only local government is a parish council (government in Britain is absurdly centralised). Local businesses promote it as a ‘City of Independents’, hoping to cultivate an artsy, trendy image like Frome, but such vitality can only be built from below, not above.

What got the Salisbury project going was the Salisbury Democracy Alliance (SDA), a local non-party club who’d been holding monthly cafés to discuss political issues. They had about a hundred contacts they could call on, even if not all were active members.

They held their first assembly a few weeks ago. I might’ve paid a visit if I hadn’t agreed to something else on that day with my family. About 50 came, including 10 volunteers, and a respectful discussion ensued. It was covered in the two local papers both before and after, while the SDA’s own report covers a few things in more detail. The session wasn’t without issues, such as the venue being too small, but that’s to be expected when you’re doing it for the first time.

In line with the format that Assemble suggest, they initially divided into small groups of no more than 8, which then fed into the wider group. In my opinion, the small groups (or juries) are vital to a successful assembly. A large group discussion risks being dominated by the loudest (male) personalities and distracted by the most polarising ideas. A successful people’s assembly favours the solutions that can win the most support rather than the most noise, and allows everyone to have their say, even those who may be shy to express their opinions in front of scores of others.

There were two phases: a discussion of problems and a discussion of solutions. Debates on transport suggested that many wanted more pedestrianised streets and cycle routes. One interesting suggestion was a performing arts college for Salisbury, building on the strength of the local theatre. The SDA plan to hold more assemblies which will later this year produce a Community Charter for the city and inform Assemble’s national citizens’ assembly, the House of the People.

Day 1: Door-knocking

On my first day there, I tried my hand at promoting an assembly by door-knocking (canvassing). After a misunderstanding, I caught up with an organiser from Assemble and two from the local team. I joined the former initially to watch how it was done. This is not the sort of task that comes naturally to me, but I slowly gained the confidence to start leading the conversations myself. In future, we will shift to door-knocking alone. While it’s tempting to keep doing it in pairs, it takes twice as much volunteer time to visit the same number of houses.

We had a script but never followed it rigidly. We started by explaining why we were there and what the assembly was, then asking them about what were the issues facing the local area. If they were interested, we signed up to collect their contact details and gave them the leaflet. Everyone was polite, as they tend to be even if you’re door-knocking for something more contentious like an election campaign. Some were clearly in a rush, while others stopped to chat about issues, mostly local ones rather than charged national ones. My brief training taught me the importance of listening: let them talk 80% of the time.

The response was astonishing. About half the people who answered the door signed up to come.

Are people really that interested? That the street was close to the venue may have helped. Many will have something come up that stops them coming or even simply forget about it, though follow-up contact can reduce that. About two-thirds of their sign-ups came to the previous assembly, which is better than I would’ve expected. It certainly lends credence to Roger Hallam’s hypothesis that one hour of promotion work brings one person to the assembly – if anything, promotion could be easier than that.

I thought we’d have to bombard neighbourhoods like an election campaign to gain a handful of attendees – especially as, though we mentioned being supported by two independent parish councillors, we cannot guarantee that any local government will actually listen. But if the response proves this good elsewhere, it almost raises the question as to whether assemblies will be too popular! Another issue with door-knocking is that it risks a situation where an assembly meant to represent a city ends up representing the handful of streets where you went door-knocking.

There are surely ways around these issues. Perhaps the way forward in the future will be assemblies for wards or even sections of wards.

Day 2: A market stall

On the second day, I joined more of the SDA for an hour to man a barebones stall on the edge of the market square, armed with leaflets and an A-board sign. Facing outwards on the sign was a handmade poster for the assembly. On the back was a survey, as pictured above. It listed issues relevant to the city, and the people we spoke to were given three stickers that they place next to the issues to vote for up to three which were the most important to the local area. The stickers date from a few times this survey has been run, not just when I was there.

There were gaps where many walked past without stopping on the route to the car park. It was especially hard for anyone to stop if they were with others. When someone did come over to speak, it tended to break the ice and encourage others – an experience familiar to anyone who’s run a market stall. A script played a similar role to the door-knocking. This time, people tended to stop for longer to chat. One guy talked with us for quite a bit about a wide range of issues.

The most popular issues brought up with both the signs and chatter were mostly the kind that local government would deal with. This was partly due to wording the question as “issues facing Salisbury”, as well as a sense that a project like this is better suited to local causes. Some national issues were mentioned, and two of the most popular issues (climate change and lack of affordable housing) are both national and local. Other popular issues included traffic, public transport, housing built on flood plains, empty shop units and public toilets – the public toilets in the market square had been closed. Surprisingly, very few mentioned the hospital and doctor’s surgeries, even though tne NHS is always on people’s minds. Perhaps that’s because it’s considered a national issue.

So far, my (very limited) experience suggests that door-knocking was more effective at drawing volunteers, taking account that we could’ve done both with less volunteers. This parallels what I’ve heard about election campaigning. The group’s experience so far found that sign-ups from the stall were less likely to attend than those from the door-knocking. But there are still benefits to running a stall, such as raising awareness of people’s assemblies, and making sure that your assembly feels connected to the wider community and not just a handful of streets.

It is also important to reflect on whether the stall could’ve drawn more. Would it have been better to have the voting board visible? Did we need a more colourful sign? People tend to stream past us on the route to the main shopping centre and car park. Most who stopped were pensioners; families with children couldn’t easily stop for us. Would we have fared better somewhere where people were milling around?

Where next?

Overall, my time spent with the organisers in Salisbury suggests that yes, you can bring people to an assembly. The only challenge is finding volunteers who will put the work into promoting them. That takes some time and patience but it looks a lot more rewarding than most other types of campaigning I’ve seen. I’m hoping that it will help me with setting one up in my own town.