{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,7]],"date-time":"2026-02-07T15:51:48Z","timestamp":1770479508576,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":11,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2006,9,1]],"date-time":"2006-09-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1157068800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,9,1]]},"abstract":"Purpose<\/jats:title>Bristol City Council has received national and international recognition for its local e\u2010democracy work. This paper seeks to tell the story of three phases of development of local e\u2010democracy in Bristol. In summarising findings from the national evaluation of the Local E\u2010democracy Project, the paper also aims to consider stage four \u2013 where Bristol's e\u2010democracy programme is headed next.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title>Bristol acted as a lead authority on the evaluation of the Local E\u2010democracy National Project. This was a large multi\u2010method academic study, which set out to examine the aspirations and experiences of a variety of \u201cactors\u201d involved in more than 20 e\u2010democracy pilot projects across England. Professors Stephen Coleman of the Oxford Internet Institute and Ann Macintosh of the International Tele\u2010democracy Centre at Napier University undertook the evaluation, working with Bristol City Council as part of an E\u2010democracy Experts Group.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Findings<\/jats:title>Findings from the national evaluation have been published in reports covering \u201ctop\u2010down\u201d (authority\u2010led) and \u201cground\u2010up\u201d (community\u2010led) approaches to local e\u2010democracy. This paper applies evaluation findings to Bristol City Council's experiences. It highlights how authorities can use e\u2010democracy to move between information sharing and consultation and then to creating space and conditions for ground\u2010up participation.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Research limitations\/implications<\/jats:title>The paper focuses on common themes, rather than an in\u2010depth account of all of the national evaluation findings as they relate to each project that was considered. As a case study, this paper concerns the particular experiences of Bristol City Council.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Practical implications<\/jats:title>The study offers insight aimed at local authority e\u2010democracy practitioners.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Originality\/value<\/jats:title>Over the past five years, Bristol City Council has accumulated considerable practical experience of local e\u2010democracy. The authority has benefited from a close association with leading academic experts, leaving it perhaps uniquely positioned to share learning from critical self\u2010reflection.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/00012530610692366","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2006,9,26]],"date-time":"2006-09-26T07:54:55Z","timestamp":1159257295000},"page":"416-428","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Developing local e\u2010democracy in Bristol"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"58","author":[{"given":"Stephen","family":"Hilton","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b1","unstructured":"Blair, T. (2000), \u201cSpeech given at the Labour Party Conference in 2000\u201d, available at: www.guardian.co.uk\/labour2000\/story\/0,7369,373640,00.html (accessed March 2006)."},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b2","unstructured":"Coleman, S. (2005), From the Ground up \u2013 an Evaluation of Community Focused Approaches to E\u2010democracy, Local E\u2010democracy National Project, available at: www.e\u2010democracy.gov.uk\/knowledgepool\/default.htm?mode=1&pk_document=460 (accessed March 2006)."},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b3","unstructured":"Hilton, S. (2001), The E\u2010communications Revolution, Bristol City Council, Bristol, available at: www.bristol\u2010city.gov.uk\/ccm\/content\/Council\u2010Democracy\/Consultations\/e\u2010communications\u2010revolution.en (accessed March 2006)."},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b4","unstructured":"Laljee, M. (2005), Understanding E\u2010engagement, an Experimental Case Study, Bristol City Council, Bristol."},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Macintosh, A. (2005), From the Top Down \u2013 An Evaluation of E\u2010democracy Activities Initiated by Councils and Government, Local E\u2010democracy National Project, available at: www.e\u2010democracy.gov.uk\/knowledgepool\/default.htm?mode=1&pk_document=459 (accessed March 2006).","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-32257-3_1"},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b6","unstructured":"MORI (2005), E\u2010democracy Survey 2005, Local E\u2010democracy National Project, available at: www.e\u2010democracy.gov.uk\/knowledgepool\/default.htm?mode=1&pk_document=259 (accessed March 2006)."},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b7","unstructured":"Napier University (2005), \u201cExperts work together for the first time to evaluate local edemocracy\u201d, news release, available at: http:\/\/itc.napier.ac.uk\/ITC\/news.asp (accessed March 2006)."},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b8","unstructured":"Public Administration Select Committee (2001), Innovations in Citizen Participation in Government, House of Commons Parliamentary Report, available at: www.publications.parliament.uk\/pa\/cm200001\/cmselect\/cmpubadm\/373\/37303.htm (accessed March 2006)."},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b9","unstructured":"RBA Research (2005), Democracy \u2013 What Does that Mean? \u2013 Young People's Views of Democracy On\u2010 and Off\u2010line, E\u2010democracy National Project, available at: www.e\u2010democracy.gov.uk\/knowledgepool\/default.htm?mode=1&pk_document=465 (accessed March 2006)."},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b10","unstructured":"Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) South West (2005), News release, 9 December, available at: http:\/\/southwest.rtpi.org.uk\/planningach.pdf (accessed March 2006)."},{"key":"key2022030720250442400_b11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Weaver, M. (2002), \u201cBest value and inspection: the issue explained\u201d, The Guardian, 29 October.","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-185617397-1\/50004-6"}],"container-title":["Aslib Proceedings"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emeraldinsight.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1108\/00012530610692366","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/00012530610692366\/full\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/00012530610692366\/full\/html","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T11:36:45Z","timestamp":1753357005000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emerald.com\/ajim\/article\/58\/5\/416-428\/118025"}},"subtitle":["From information to consultation to participation and beyond"],"editor":[{"given":"Barrie","family":"Gunter","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2006,9,1]]},"references-count":11,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,9,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1108\/00012530610692366"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/00012530610692366","relation":{},"ISSN":["0001-253X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0001-253X","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2006,9,1]]}}}