How To Include Everyone
| 4. Getting everybody involved - discover the issues It is important to find out the views of as many people as possible. You may need to concentrate on how to include those who do not traditionally involve themselves in parish affairs. |
There are many different ways of consulting with the community; the important thing is to choose the methods that best suit your community.
The majority of people will respond positively when approached but you will need to reach out to people in ways that are interesting and entertaining, which best suit their lifestyles.
All communities are comprised of a wide variety of people of differing age, background and skills. It is important to think about how to reach the different groups within the community and it will be necessary to use a variety of methods of consultation to achieve a high level of involvement.
Things to consider:
More consultation will give greater weight to the final document. A high level of response is desirable but it is unrealistic to expect 100% participation. The important factor is that everyone in the community is given an opportunity to contribute and to get involved at every stage of the process.
Be flexible and adaptable, some people may not want to attend an open meeting or a community event but would like to raise one or two points when given a flier.
Make as much effort as possible to involve all community members. Try to hold a range of consultation events. Choose a variety of methods that will include the variety of people in your community.
Keep a record of who has attended events by age, how long they have lived in the village and where they live in the village. This will enable you to build up a profile of who you have consulted with and establish whether you are missing the views of a particular group/section of the community.
Keep a record of the information circulated and the events organised as evidence of consultation.
Inform the community of progress to ensure continuing support and enthusiasm.
Publicity:
You can’t over publicise events. The more opportunities people are given to be aware of what is occurring the more likely they are to get involved.
Examples include: posters, fliers delivered house to house, parish magazine, community groups, schools, existing points in the community - parish notice boards, shops, pubs, Village Hall, bus stops and local paper/radio.
For any Parish Planning correspondence to the whole village why not use the same colour paper each time so people can instantly identify your information from junk mail. Pick a colour and stick with it!
Possible Consultation Venues and Methods:
There are many different ways of consulting the community; click on these internal links for some ideas:
Counsultation Methods
Possible Venues
There is no specific requirement for you to chose one method over another.
The places and methods described here are not meant to be taken as prescriptive, they can be adapted to suit the needs of each individual community. There may be other venues and methods that you feel would be equally as effective - use them!
Groups: sections of the community you may wish to reach
You may wish to think about how you could reach out to different groups in the community (some are listed below) to find out what issues they think are important. Different methods will appeal to different groups so it is important to tailor your methods to the people you are trying to target.
- School children
- Young people
- Parents
- Those in full or part time work
- Over 60s
- Businesses
- Shift workers/commuters
- People living in outlying or more isolated areas
- Village clubs and societies who hold regular meetings or events
- People with visual, hearing or mobility difficulties
- Minority ethnic groups and travelling communities
- Religious groups
It is a good idea to keep a record of who you have consulted with at all stages of the consultation process. This will enable you to build up a profile of the people that have taken part and identify any gaps.
Catapillers, bar charts and maps can be a good way to collect this information. Examples of these are given below:
