Civic engagement is currently designed to exclude those whom it purports to engage and "work for". The local and central forms of Govt are skewed heavily against any form of engagement that is not propelled by a major political party and if an independent does manage to intrude into the process, the existing bureaucratic barriers are extremely limiting and quite literally sap any interest or ability to improve the process. Much is made of the term "British Values" in govt-speak, the media, and putative politicians of all stripes. However, the term has no definitive, substantive, nor objective definitions or meanings. The term means whatever the person using it means, which may well be very different to the interpretation that the listener places upon it. I cannot identify any genuine examples of successful UK civic engagement from the preceding 25 years as every initiative seems designed to perpetuate the status quo of "telling" rather than encouraging the general population.

People need to feel that they will have some influence and can make a difference if they get involved, and need to know how the system works. It can be very frustrating to try to get anything done through public institutions and the political process, particularly if you have little money or time. But when officials, politicians and institutions are receptive to citizens, or when people have some knowledge and skill about how to engage effectively, it can be very rewarding for both sides and make a positive difference for the whole community. We need to make institutions more responsive, and give people opportunities to learn how to engage from an early age.

Local and parish councils are badly underfunded to deal with citizens concerns. For example, my local authority has agreed that our parish council can develop a Neighbourhood Plan for our area (a group of villages). The Parish has promoted the idea and promised workshops to develop ideas for the Plan. But the meetings have not happened; they are repeatedly cancelled because the Parish just doesn't have enough skilled and interested people to run them. So we are getting nowhere, which is very frustrating. Likewise, if we ask the local authority to cut back vegatation that is enchroaching on the main road, to unblock gulleys to reduce flooding etc etc, they cannot do so due to funding cuts. I'm told by a member of staff they have a 6 week backlog of emails so they never actually reply to requests! You cannot have a functioning civic society under such severe austerity!

Many young people do not express themselves in 'conventional' forms, but instead articulate their thoughts and ideas through arts-based methodologies including film, poetry, artistic modes of expression. They also need experienced community-based youth workers outside a school space to enable a more open and participatory form of engagement. In Rotherham, we have conducted a number of projects drawing on the AHRC's Connected Communities programme funding to enable young people to express ideas through poetry, film and visual art, with the support of the youth service. This has been very successful in articulating unheard voices of women and girls.

I have spent a lot of time in various communities and in all my life, I've never heard anyone articulate British values. Sometimes there is an oblique reference in popular culture - usually around fair play ("just not cricket") - but never comprehensively stated, re-stated or required to agree to them.

In my view one of the main barriers to civic engagement is the Councillor role. There are too many of them, they are spare time not even part time, they are hardly ever seen by the local community and rarely engage with local people, they spend their lives hiding in town halls in evening meetings which are inaccessible to all but the few who have nothing better to do in their evenings that watch council meetings. The latest census of local authority councillors shows that nearly half of England’s 18,000 elected members are retired, nearly a quarter are 70 or over, and white males still predominate. A spare-time role originally designed to enable working people to serve their communities is rapidly becoming the domain of old folks. My solution: reducing the number of councillors to one full-time one per ward from the current average of three spare-time ones would make it a more responsible and responsive role, attract a higher calibre of candidate, encourage younger people and women to stand, get councillors out of the town hall and closer to their communities, and revitalise democracy from the grass roots. At the same time it would also be a good idea to limit councillor’s tenure so that others get a chance to have a go, new blood is brought in and it’s not the same people for decades – again, see the census data. Fewer but more professional and more representative local councillors are in my view a key means of increasing civic engagement.