The Voice of Authority - Digital consultation in practice

The Voice of Authority:

Digital consultation in practice

7 May 2020 Post webinar report

In partnership with:

Post Webinar Report Digital consultation in practice 7 May 2020

In partnership with: Chair: Toby Fox Managing director, 3Fox Panelists Mark Bland

Paula Ellis

Programme manager, Mini

Corporate engagement

Holland, London Borough of

manager, Liverpool City

Waltham Forest

Combined Region Authority

Mike Saunders CEO, Commonplace

OVERVIEW Sponsored by Commonplace, this the sixth episode in The Voice of Authority webinar saw the panel discuss how digital consultative methods are being deployed to support transport, housing and regeneration projects.

The discussion ranged widely and this report contains a sample and summary. Watch the webinar in full at thevoiceofauthority.co.uk, and subscribe to stay updated on future episodes.

Post Webinar Report DISCUSSION SUMMARY The session this week varied from previous episodes in that the focus was very much on practice, rather than policy and strategy as has been the case so far in the webinar series.

Digital platforms have seen increasing use in recent years, but they are very much having a moment right now given the limitations that Covid-19 has placed upon traditional channels of consultation. The panellists each offered their own perspective and experience in working with a digital platform, in this case Commonplace.

Paula Ellis, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) Liverpool City Region first began to work with Commonplace last year, and initially commissioned it for two large projects. The first of these was around developing its spatial development strategy with citizens across the Liverpool City Region, and the second was on improving connectivity and travel solutions in Liverpool city centre. One of the advantages Engaging with citizens and communities and people at this moment in time is the most crucial thing that we need to do to make sure that when we start to build back better, the future that we have for our citizens, we get it right.

Paula Ellis

for LCRCA in having that established relationship with Commonplace, is that they are able to develop and deploy online platforms relatively quickly – “most of the time, probably within less than 48 hours”, according to Ellis.

LCRCA is the executive arm for public transport across the Liverpool City Region, and as such it has an obvious concern at present to monitor use of public transport and to ensure critical workers are able to get to and from their places of work. For this project, they had a fantastic response – 1,300 visitors to the website in a week with 266 of those visitors contributing, meaning they have commented, completed a survey or liked or shared the information with others. Eighty of those people have also chosen to subscribe as well, which means they can be re-engaged with at a later date. In total, 53% of their respondents wanted to have further

Post Webinar Report conversations going forward, and 42% were willing to give contact details allowing them to be re-contacted for more specific lines of questioning.

The real standout for Ellis when using a digital platform like Commonplace, in a crisis situation such as the one now faced by local authorities, is the speed with which it can be deployed. “In a crisis situation it’s really essential that you can deploy your engagements platform very, very quickly to people as they need it. And digital technology is one of the best ways of being able to do that.” With this in mind, Ellis also pointed to the usefulness of social media. While emails can sit in inboxes unread and phones go unanswered, social media tends to get a higher level of engagement and response. However, it does need to be “extremely targeted to those groups that you need to contact most to make sure that you are being inclusive in your engagement techniques”. Ellis further cautioned that we should not take for granted that people have access to the requisite technology to access digital platforms, or indeed that younger people (normally considered better placed to engage with digital platforms) necessarily have access.

“During this pandemic, people have been financially affected and impacted. And that means that some of our younger people and some of our communities in the most deprived areas have lost that advantage.”

Mark Bland, London Borough of Waltham Forest Mark Bland heads up the Waltham Forest Mini Holland scheme, and thus his inclusion in the panel felt pertinent given the expected upsurge in cycling in the recovery phase. Waltham Forest was one of three outer London boroughs to receive Mini Holland funding. However, when it received this funding in 2014, the council faced a multiplicity of issues to be dealt with as part of its implementation – including congestion, polluted residential streets, and lack of cycling facilities. The authority has since hit its target of 10% journeys by bike, and in total the scheme consisted of 30 individual projects bringing this goal to fruition. “We recognised that we needed a very comprehensive, an intensive engagement programme in order to capture the right information so that the projects could be fine-tuned into what residents wanted.”

Post Webinar Report Commonplace provided the means to implement such a programme. The changes needed were not universally popular – there were large-scale protests, and the council were taken to judicial review. However,

We reduce costs because the value of the information, the quality that we get back, means that we can deliver schemes that are much more focused on what residents want.

Mark Bland

the council won this JR on all counts, this due in no small part to “the robust nature of the information” that was able to be provided to the judges, generated by Commonplace.

Bland pointed to transparency as an advantage of using a digital platform, and the opportunity to engage with great numbers than traditional methods allow. Waltham Forest has a population of about 250,000, and across the board they have had about 50,000 responses, and 60,000 to 70,000 individual comments.

Mike Saunders, Commonplace This webinar episode was very much motivated by the question of how consultations can continue to be completed at a time of reduced social contact, and while digital platforms are obviously useful in this regard, they can add value to consultations in other areas. Speaking on this point, Saunders cited three areas in particular – people, insight, and trust. On the first of these, digital platforms allow for a greater volume of people to be engaged with – as well as a greater diversity. “Over a million people have engaged with Commonplace platforms”, Saunders explained. “If you think about all the other platforms and social media it’s many more times than that.” To this end, Saunders encouraged the audience to embrace social media.

“They can be a daunting prospect, but if you do engage, you’ll get a very positive response.”

The use of digital platforms makes it easier to join up data and display it visually – thus making it easier to read and easier to share with the public. When the public can engage with this information, they feel involved in the conversation, and this allows for trust to be built. “If you can create this trust you can move people from a kind of gut reaction they might have to new

Post Webinar Report I think that it is difficult at the moment to start this conversation in the midst of emergency but it is really, really important. And the opportunity is so much more than just digitising what happened previously

plans, which might be combative, to a place

Mike Saunders

Will digital platforms replace all other forms

of collaboration.” With digital platforms, there is scope to update as plans progress – further making stakeholders feel involved.

of engagements? The sentiment given by

Saunders and indeed the panel was no. However, digital platforms do offer a very practical solution to current difficulties in consultation posed by Covid-19, and looking forward digital platforms will likely be best employed in tandem with more traditional forms of engagement.

“Face-to-face is the richest form of engagement – you’re never going to be able to replace that.

What you need to do is build a strategy where digital amplifies, gets additional reach, creates a ripple effect.”

QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY COMMONPLACE Q - How can you work with people of non-English language backgrounds? - Shabnam Ali, service lead economic development, Slough Borough Council

A - We have deployed sites in both German and Welsh in languages and can consider this approach if the engagement is targeting a largely non-English speaking community.

Q - How do we reach those communities that don't have access to digital platforms? - Paul McRae, programme communications coordinator, Calderdale Council

A - We can be used in conjunction with traditional offline methods and often our clients have multiple routes to reach as wide an audience as is possible such as face to face events, surveys and flyers.

Post Webinar Report Q - Do you have a view on whether it's the right thing at the moment to continue with digital engagement (eg. on housing development schemes), or not – on the basis people may be dealing with very difficult health/financial personal situations and it's not right to expect to meaningfully engage? - Stewart Grant, Resident Engagement Manager, London Borough of Redbridge

A - We have provided a range of customers with a free service during the Covid-19 outbreak to help with their resilience planning.

Q - Do you have any advice on how we can better reach children and young people virtually?

- Gabrielle Abadi, Strategic Planning Officer, London Borough of Hackney

A - On average, we reach a much younger audience vs. traditional engagements. For example, 70% of our audience is younger than 45. We use multiple social media channels for all our projects to bring more of a younger audience to our sites. We also have a YoungUp panel, a group of young urban planners who we consult with to understand how to reach younger audiences with our technology.

Q - Many members of the public find it hard to comprehend conventional maps and orthographic drawings. How do you ensure the visual material and other data gives people sufficient, relevant information, that it is complex enough to understand the issues but clear enough to make a judgment within a realistic time frame? How do you know what people have understood?

- Sarah Wigglesworth, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, Director

A - Commonplace places high emphasis on easy to understand visual representations of sometimes very complex master plans. Our clients will use highly visual assets but also have the ability to add complex and detailed plans to their commonplaces. Audience interaction can be understood and viewed via the customer analytics portal. This helps our customers see the engagement with different assets in their commonplace.

Post Webinar Report POLLS AND INSIGHT A number of polls were carried out over the course of the webinar surveying the audience of industry professionals.

Do you feel that planning committees should continue to sit at this time?

Is your organisation currently making use of any digital consultation tools for public engagement?

No 4%

Not relevant 12%

Unsure 11% Yes 85%

Considering current challenges posed by the pandemic, which of the below do you consider the best method for involving residents in planning consultations?

Face-to-face 4% Video conferencing 7% Social media 10% Mailers 0% (not shown)

Email 2%

Other 2% Digital platforms and virtual consultation 75%

Yes 58%

No 30%

How likely are you to make use of a digital consultation tool to run a public consultation within the next six months?

Unlikely 8% Neutral 3% Likely 22%

Not relevant 10%

Very unlikely 0% (not shown)

Very likely 57%

How can councils help tackle construction challenges post Covid-19?

14 May, 11:00 – 12:00 Idle building sites may soon be reopened as lockdown restrictions ease, but does that mean construction will quickly pick up speed? Will shortages in materials and in labour put a brake on construction? Are Covid-19 related contractual issues going to create a stand-off while legal disputes are resolved? Will contractors be encouraged to make speedy progress if the pandemic’s fast-forwarding of retail decline, a long-term increase in working from home and the abrupt downturn of the housing market mean schemes have become redundant? And what is the potential for councils to alleviate any of these issues?

Speakers: Cllr Keith Ferry Deputy leader, Harrow Council Chris Tredget Managing director for London and the East, Willmott Dixon

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In partnership with: For more information, or to be involved in future episodes, contact: finn@3foxinternational.com