Samenvatting

In this article, the authors analyse the extent to which the perceptions of councillors regarding their traditional roles of representing, setting frameworks and monitoring are influenced by citizen participation in local policymaking. Based on open survey questions, they highlight the explanations councillors give regarding a perceived increase or decrease in the importance of these three roles. Divided opinions about the changing importance of the representative role appear to be mainly due to different views on what citizen participation actually entails. There is, however, general consensus on the value of an integral final assessment by the council in which the general interest is central. Many councillors also attach importance to setting clear frameworks in advance and monitoring both the course of the participation process and the implementation of the outcomes of citizen participation afterwards. In addition, they asked councillors about new roles related to citizen participation, which shows that councillors see a facilitating role for themselves. They want to give substance to this in various ways: motivating residents to participate in participation processes, providing participants with substantive information, guiding participation processes, and communicating with residents and the municipality.