In Gordon Brown's first days in office, we launched the Governance of Britain document, one of the most important government papers for decades.

It is a bold statement of intent to reform our unwritten constitution by passing more power to local authorities and citizens. In many ways, it is the triumphant culmination of all of those pamphlets and seminars on the ‘new localism' we've experienced together in the past few years.

We are all localists now (even those hitherto more wedded to the traditional levers and pullies of central government). And, for the avoidance of doubt, Gordon Brown returned to the devolution theme in his important speech on the ‘new politics' to the NCVO a few days ago. He made it crystal clear that this is a government determined to devolve – not just to the town hall, but to the doorstep.

He said: ‘I want to see a vibrant, reformed local democracy, from neighbourhood level engagement, community calls to action, a renewed focus on the devolution of powers and responsibilities to local government, the accountability of our police and our healthcare services to their communities.

In this way people can connect neighbourhood meetings, local ballots and elections and new forms of community action for decision-making and the exercise of power over issues they care about in their daily lives.'

This should be music to the ears of local government. Representative democracy, emboldened and enhanced by increased participatory democracy. There should be no contradiction between the two; only in academic text-books are they separate and distinct. Every local councillor knows that ‘local democracy' is a complex interlocked network of active citizens, pressure groups, statutory bodies, campaigns, committees and elected and unelected centres of power.

Many local authorities have been conducting citizens' juries and panels for years. The most far-sighted have engaged communities in deciding priorities, allocating cash and steering strategy, and know that this helps councillors be better councillors. This is not an agenda that councillors have any cause to view with trepidation; it should be embraced.

Devolution is not just about delivering better services, vital though this is.

It is also about creating a local democracy, as a counterweight to the global forces that buffet our communities, as a bulwark against cynicism and selfishness and as proof that democracy works. I have never seen councils as units of local administration – they should be lively centres of local politics.

I await the findings of the Councillors' Commission led by Dr Jane Roberts, which will give us some practical ideas for improving the effectiveness of local representatives. I want to make standing for the council an attractive option for a wider range of people and to see even more talented and dedicated people stepping up to run local authorities.

My summer holidays included a trip to the municipality of Corunna in Spain and a meeting with local politicians and officials. Like all comparative political systems, there were things that wouldn't translate very well, such as the centrally controlled party list system. I can't imagine many locally chosen ward councillors in Britain favouring such a change.

One attractive aspect of their arrangements is the clear delineation between the different layers of government and the clear understanding of which layer provided which services. This clarity leads to greater accountability in contrast with our own system which can be confusing for the citizen to navigate.

As we work towards a new ‘concordat' between central and local government, as part of the new settlement between citizen and state, a transparent understanding of who does what, and where to complain when it goes wrong, must be at the heart.

A final salutary thought: real and lasting devolution doesn't happen because of speeches, nor can it be imposed by central government. It must be built by local citizens, brick by brick, over time.

As Donald Dewar was fond of saying: ‘devolution is a process, not an event.' So the onus now shifts to my department, town halls and to communities to make it work.  This is the localist moment – if we fluff it, it may not come around again.

Hazel Blears is the secretary of state for communities and local government