Why we're consulting
The Community Engagement Policy has been revised incorporating the community’s feedback and we are now seeking feedback on the updated document.
What we hope to achieve
The council is working to finalise and adopt an updated Community Engagement Policy that supports strong community engagement.
Background
The council’s Community Engagement Policy was first adopted in line with requirements of the Local Government Act 2020 in February 2021. As part of the resolution, councillors requested a future review of the policy.
In October and November 2022, consultation to inform the review was undertaken with several methods used to garner input from the community.
These included:
- A focus group which met twice;
- Community survey;
- Opportunity for submissions; and,
- A Community Conversations drop-in forum for in-person feedback.
A key part of the consultation was the formation of the focus group which was independently facilitated.
This group provided general feedback on their engagement experiences with the council and critically considered the principles and commitments of the policy, suggesting changes to the wording.
Some of the key themes that emerged from the commentary related to the handling of feedback, availability, information and timeliness.
The focus group and the survey responses spoke to the policy’s principles and commitments with the focus group critically considering the principles and focussing on two in-depth while also discussing the remaining three.
Their feedback and suggestions have been incorporated into the revised policy.
The attachments include a copy with tracked changes showing clearly what changes have been made as well as a clean copy for readability.
Following the review and the constructive feedback provided, council staff are undertaking other initiatives to support community engagement activities including the establishment of a new community engagement platform and the development of new community engagement guidelines.
Ways to have your say
This consultation is open from Wednesday, February 22 to Tuesday, March 21.
You are invited to review the information provided, ask questions and provide feedback during this time.
Ways to provide feedback for consideration.