Councils don’t have a bottomless pit of money, so how can they engage the community to
decide where to invest their budget?
IPWEA has partnered with the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) to produce its Levels of Service
Practice Note. The practice note explores the challenges faced by councils in working within a budget and communicating what is possible within that budget to the community at large.
“These monies are not limitless,” writes Professor Roberta Ryan, ACELG Director in the practice note. “So the needs must be tied to what the community is prepared to pay for. Getting this message across and getting quality responses requires organisations to engage with their communities.”
The onus, therefore, is on the council to educate the community to select the appropriate level of service to meet the community needs, at an affordable cost, while achieving and maintaining a level of financial sustainability.
There are many ways in which the council can communicate its plans with the community. IPWEA has outlined a number of emerging consultation approaches in the practice note that councils can adopt.
Deliberative methods
The concept of deliberative methods is to “provide a space where people can deliberate on complex issues in dialogue with other citizens and in the presence of information about issues”, according to Halvorsen.
Futures methods
The futures method of consultation involves illustrating for people all the possible outcomes of a decision. Involving the community in developing the different scenarios is also a way to empower people and give them ownership of the project.
Appreciative inquiry
Appreciative enquiry takes a positive view of a project and focuses on what it does right. The method can be broken down into four steps: discover (what does the project do well?), dream (how could it work in the future?), design (plan implementation), and destiny (implement plan).
Social media and social engagement
Social media is another tool being adopted by councils to consult with the community at large. Facebook and Twitter are the most commonly used platforms. Often social media forms one part of a wider consultation so as to ensure all segments of the community are engaged.
Engaging a community
PWPro speaks to Waratah-Wynyard and Circular Head Councils Communications Officer Corey Speers to find out how traditional methods of consultation differ to emerging platforms such as social media.
Can you talk me through a case where social media has been used for consultation on a public works project?
Waratah-Wynyard Council has just completed a survey into possible approaches to speed reduction in Sisters Beach. The survey was sent out to residents, but also available online and comments could also be made on the council website and social media. This demonstrates our cross platform approach in complement to traditional activities.
How does social media compare to the more traditional methods of consultation?
Social media is only as good as the message and, equally, the response. Used in tandem with other traditional methods, social media is seen as an effective way to ensure key messages are reaching a wider audience.
Do you still use traditional methods of consultation?
Yes, both councils have identified that traditional methods need to be retained in order to reach the widest demographic possible. As both municipal areas include older people, it is also essential that we don’t put all our effort in something like social media, which has limited reach in this age group.