Why it is important we continue to cover local politics in city

REPORTING on decisions made by councils and other public organisations has been a staple subject for local news providers since our inception.

And that is a tradition that has continued to today as a result of a unique partnership between the BBC and the local press.

The local democracy reporting service was created in 2017 as a result of an agreement between the BBC and the News Media Association, which represents the majority of the UK’S regional press.

The BBC agreed to help fund a dedicated team of reporters to work for other news providers on local democracy stories, which could then be shared among local newsrooms across the country to ensure the decisions made by official organisations on every patch are opened to public scrutiny.

Since then the impartial and unbiased stories written by local democracy reporters have been shared with 900 ‘local news partners’ across the UK and formed the backbone of all our local political coverage.

And the Telegraph and Coventry Live runs the franchise on our patch.

Our local democracy reporter Tom Davis works to ensure the public has the opportunity to find out what they need to know about the goings on at local authorities.

In the last year alone, Tom has produced an array of stories which have been widely reported, not only on Coventry Live, in the Telegraph and by the BBC, but also by other news organisations on his patch.

These include: Senior councillor investigated for Covid rule breach: We received a tip-off about a senior cabinet member who was filmed flouting Covid rules at a large gathering broken up by police, breaking the very rules the council had been urging residents to abide by. The report ultimately led to the cabinet member resigning his role.

Residents win battle for gates on crime-ridden alley: Residents embroiled in a threeyear battle to have gates installed at the back of their Coventry homes to tackle a spate arson attacks, break-ins, vandalism and fly-tipping, felt they were getting nowhere and being fobbed off.

By taking on their issue and raising it with the council and housing developer, we managed to help get the action they sought to keep their community safe.

Inside the centre giving hope to Cov’s most vulnerable: Homelessness can happen to anyone and is always an issue that needs to be covered sensitively.

When a new Steps for Change centre opened in November last year to help rough sleepers and the city’s most vulnerable, we were able to interview some of the people who had used the service, which helped to shine a light on the issue.

U-turn on plans to scrap all free parking at city park: We uncovered moves by Coventry City Council to scrap free parking at the city’s popular War Memorial Park when the proposal was buried among a raft of different initiatives in the council budget plans.

Our story announcing the moves prompted such a strong reaction from readers that the council decided to keep some free parking at the site, allowing people to stay for free for up to three hours.

Risk of floating vehicles on hospital car park: Planning applications are a major part of a council’s work and often provoke the strongest reaction from voters.

So when the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire announced plans for a 1,600-space car park, it didn’t exactly prove popular with people who live nearby.

We spoke to them about their concerns including an exit point which they feared would pile hundreds of cars a day through their tiny estate.

Their concerns were not only noted by the council and hospital, but the controversial exit point was removed, when planning permission for the car park was finally granted.

£10m flood bill prompts alternatives: When it emerged in the agenda for Coventry Council scrutiny meeting that it had scrapped plans for flood defences in Allesley and Upper East Green because the cost of the scheme had risen to £10m, we went out to interview people whose homes were nearby.

They told us they feared their homes will be flooded every time it rains because they had been told they had a one-in-five chance of flooding

The council then held a series of consultations on defences, which ultimately led to new funding being set aside for flood defences after challenging the council over the issues.

This week is Journalism Matters week, which aims to showcase the vital role journalism plays in our society.