Purpose of Report
1. To update
members on the projects that the Consultation and Engagement team
delivered between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
2. To inform
members on the work to begin benchmarking demographic data to
ensure the councils are reaching all relevant audiences, and to
help measure if the councils are increasing engagement among
audiences we’ve historically failed to reach, particularly
young people.
Strategic Objectives
3.
The activities
detailed in this report supports the council’s Corporate Plan
2020-2024. Carrying out effective consultation and engagement
supports the Corporate Plan goal of working in an open and
inclusive way.
Background
4. In the
last financial year, the Consultation and Engagement team conducted
22 consultations, launched 21 feedback forms, and supported four
neighbourhood plans consultations and five conservation area
appraisals.
5. The
team’s new annual report (attached at Appendix A)
highlights the key findings from each project and the actions the
councils have taken thanks to the outcomes of these consultation
and engagement activities.
6. The report
has been put together to show the variety of engagement the
councils carry out and demonstrate how consultation and engagement
findings have led to changes in council services. For example:
7. 234
respondents helped us shape our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy,
the feedback has resulted in the development of our Equality and
Diversity database, consisting of local groups, charities and
organisations that relate to the protected characteristics such as
age, gender, ethnicity and disability. This database will help us
ensure our consultations are shared across a broad spectrum of
groups.
8. The 314
responses received to the Joint Local Plan Issues consultation have
helped to shape the next stage of the Joint Local Plan Options
consultation.
9. Crashing
was a theatrical production, a live performance commissioned by the
Community Safety team and delivered to Year 9 and 10 students. 81%
of respondents said they think they would now be able to recognise
the signs of CSE. The feedback shows that the production was
successful at educating young people about child sexual
exploitation (CSE) and the success of the production has led to
plans for it to be repeated in coming years.
Next Steps
10. It is proposed that
the report is on the councils’ websites and circulated to our
consultation databases to show how their support and feedback has
been considered.
11. The report will
also form the starting point for improved communications with our
wider audiences on the benefits of community engagement, and to
demonstrate the councils are serious about taking public views into
consideration when shaping our services.
Climate and ecological impact implications
12. This report is
provided for information purposes only and as such has no direct
climate and ecological implications.
13. However, the report
does refer to several projects which helped inform the
council’s ongoing approach to tackling climate change. For
example, the Joint Local Plan consultation sought views on the
themes of reducing carbon emissions and nature recovery and
landscape. The waste and recycling sessions included in the report
would also contribute towards reducing waste and protecting our
resources.
Financial Implications
14. This report is
provided for information purposes only and as such has no direct
financial implications. All of the costs for projects covered in
this report were conducted within service budgets.
Legal Implications
15. This report is
provided for information purposes only and as such has no legal
implications.
Procurement implications
16. This report is
provided for information purposes only and as such has no
procurement implications.
Risks
17. This report is
provided for information purposes only and as such has no
identified risk implications.
Conclusion
18. The new annual report
will help us track the demographics of those responding to council
engagement activities over time to ensure we’re enabling all
our communities to influence their council services them, not just
those who are already engaged with council activities.
19. Publication of the
report, and the associated improvement in communication around
consultation outcomes, helps improve the transparency of council
decision-making. In part it does this by showing stakeholders how
we’ve listened to views and modified our plans, strategies,
and policies thanks to public input.
20. We expect this to
encourage more audiences to participate in future projects –
both those who have previously responded to our engagement, and
those who haven’t, therefore widening our group of active
consultees.
Background Papers
·
Consultation and Engagement Annual Report 2022-23
