Community Consultation

Once you have established your group or organisation and have decided to proceed with a particular project, it is essential that you carry out some form of community consultation, especially if you are hoping to apply for funding from external sources. Large funding bodies such as the National Lottery will always look for community support before they will consider taking the application further.

Community Consultation is key to the sustainability of a project - it gives you a mandate (or not) for your project and will encourage new members on to your groups. There are many different methods of consultation or engagement from basic information and consultation to deciding and acting together. The Scottish Executive produced in 2005 The National Standards for Community Engagement which are a practical tool to help improve the experience of all participants involved in community engagement to achieve the highest quality of process and results. So if you want to ensure your Community Engagement is carried out in the best way possible these standards should be your framework.

Surveys and Questionnaires

There are various ways to find out the views of your community. You could carry out a survey or questionnaire, a form of research that enables you to ascertain opinion on certain issues. There are two ways to carry out a survey. You can either distribute forms for people to complete on their own over a set period of time, or you can actually interview people individually, completing the forms for them. It is probably more effective to carry out the latter method, but it is obviously more time consuming.

You must make sure that the people you survey represent a fair sample of your community. For example if you know that 30% of the population are under 18, but your survey includes only 5% in this age group, your sample will not be representative of the community as a whole. In a small community it may be possible to interview every person, but in a larger area that would not be feasible, in which case you should make sure you have the appropriate percentages of people within the older and younger age groups.

The results of the survey then need to be evaluated.

Useful information can be found on the Forward Scotland Community Webnet - Planning and running a survey, which can be accessed on:

www.forward-scotland.org.uk

“Planning for Real”®

Planning for Real ® was established by the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation in 1977, and has evolved to become one of the most popular and well-used methods of community consultation in the U.K.

It is a technique that involves the whole community, allowing everyone to have a say and put their views forward. The process involves the building of a 3D model of the community which can be carried out by local adults and children. It gives everyone involved a chance to learn about the history of the area and to start looking at the community as a whole, expressing ideas and concerns.

Next are the Planning for Real ® events, which are open to all. They can take the form of a “Fun Day” or a “drop-in “ event where all members of the community are able to come in and view the model and place coloured “suggestion” and “problem” cards on it in the relevant places. This process is done anonymously and there are blank cards for people to add their own ideas. It is a good idea to have “experts”, such as housing officers, the police, and planning officers present to answer any questions and offer advice

During the event, the cards are removed at intervals and carefully recorded for use in the “Prioritising” stage.

This often takes place at a separate meeting, although some communities carry this out at the main event. At this meeting all of the suggestions put forward are given a priority of NOW, SOON, or LATER and the results are recorded and eventually a list of priorities emerge which go on to be included in an Action Plan, which is owned by the whole community.

If your community wants to find out more about Planning for Real®, contact the Buchan Development Partnership who have trained staff available to help you through the process.

Alternatively, contact The Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation, The Poplars, Lightmoor, Telford NF4 3QN
Tel: 0870 7700339 Fax: 01952 591771
www.nifonline.org.uk