Agenda item

Report RCC05 by the Head of People, Projects and Performance.

(Enclosure)

The Chairman welcomed Beverly Agass, the Chief Executive to the meeting who presented the Head of People Projects and Performance’s report on consultation activities. 

She began by briefly referring to the forums that used to take place across the district. The format of these had tended to be formal and used to be attended by a small core of residents each time.  In order to try engage with more people on a less formal setting the Council were trialling different approaches. 

Drop in sessions had been held at various locations in the District earlier in the year and just recently they had been held as part of other activities that had been happening such as the Olympic Torch run through the District and community events. They had been themed on quality of life and service representatives had been on hand to advise residents on topics linked to this theme including healthy eating/healthy walks and healthy environment.    

More formal consultation activities had been held in connection with issues such as the Grantham Action Plan where display boards and Planning Policy Officers had been on hand to answer specific questions, the Wyndham Park survey where both face to face and web based sources had been used and analysed.  The Community Access Point and Wherry’s Lane projects at Bourne. Officers from both Assets and Finance Sections had attended to inform the public on the main proposals.

Consultation events and activities coming up were the Gravity Fields Festival and the promotion of Destination SK project.  The third phase of the southern quadrant consultation was being undertaken by Planning Policy and would involve drop in sessions at Grantham Library and Witham Place in November 2012.

Feedback to residents had been undertaken quickly with issues being resolved or questions answered in a shorter space of time.

The second edition of the Parish newsletter had been circulated, including an update on which Head of Section was the contact point for each Parish.  The Parishes had been split into five clusters with each one having 12 parishes and a Head of Section as a contact point for any issue that a Parish had.  It was hoped that this would help build a better understanding between the Council and Parishes.

Mrs Agass then spoke about other issues that were being looked into by the Consultation Team who had been asked to carry out a scoping exercise to determine what the corporate consultation requirements were for the Council as a whole.  This would include the drop in sessions and the community events that had been held during the year. Other areas being looked at were a citizen’s panel with a cross section of people both young and old who were engaged with issues including social media such as twitter, facebook etc.  It needed to be established what the Councils requirements were and how we can consistently improve, keep in touch with all residents, be accessible and open to new methods.

A comment was made about how many people we consulted, reference was made to the small proportion of people who attended the old forums, how did we consult with the vast amount of people within the district.  Mrs Agass referred to SK Today which went to all households in the district. Consultations were mentioned in these publications and residents signposted to where they could contribute, whether by post, phone or through the website.  Often unless an issue affected people locally they would not get involved with a consultation, they expected the “Council” to just get on with the job.  

Discussion then followed on various issues including feedback and the parish clusters. Ward Members wished to know which parish fell into which cluster especially as some District wards straddled parishes. If there was an overlap who should the Parish Clerk Contact.

Ø    Action Note

Members were to be circulated with a list of the Parish Clusters showing both Parishes and District Wards and which Section Head covered the area.

 Further discussion followed on contacts within the Council and how some Parish Clerks who were new to the job did not fully understand what they were expected to do, they could benefit from having a buddy system which they had had in the past. If the Parish Clerk knew to go direct to an Officer to deal with a specific issue they should go direct rather than through the Cluster Officer who could be inundated with e-mails about issues that they personally could not deal with. Mrs Agass said it was a way for Parishes to  communicate with the Council and get real time intelligence on issues which specifically affected that Parish. The Chairman asked if numbers could be submitted to the next meeting showing how many Parishes had contacted their Cluster Officer.

Ø    Action Note

To feedback to the next meeting the volume of contact (phone calls, e-mails) that the Cluster Officers had with Parishes in their area. 

The emphasis was on communication between the parishes and the Council.  Reference was made to the new Planning Regulations and the affect that this would have.  The Service Manager Legal and Democratic indicated that the changes would make disputes such a boundary disputes extremely difficult, but this area did not come under the remit of this PDG.

A Member asked if it would be possible for Members who wished to have a face book page; Mrs Agass said it was something that could be looked into.  Further discussion followed with a Member expressing the view that the Ward Councillor for an area should be the conduit for information between the Council and Parishes.

Further discussion followed on how the Council consulted on issues to get views and opinions of the residents of the District by using a Citizens Panel.  The Chairman asked if an update could be given at the next meeting on the current situation with regard to the Citizens Panel.

Ø    Action Note

An update on the Citizens Panel to be given at the next meeting of the Group.

The Chairman thanked Mrs Agass for attending the meeting.