After the pandemic, Oxfordshire CC was determined to build on its relationship with the voluntary and community sector, says Cllr Mark Lygo

Listening involves being humble enough to acknowledge in the first place that you don’t and can’t know everything. If you don’t have an open-mind you won’t make the right judgements when decision time comes. It’s a ‘top-down’ attitude in to which bigger organisations can drift without self-awareness.

At Oxfordshire CC we know our local voluntary and community organisations do an immense amount of invaluable work at grassroots level on a daily basis. While we understand it, admire it, significantly fund some of it and work alongside it, we could never have full knowledge of the challenges and opportunities our local voluntary organisations experience day in day and out.