Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 7^th March, 2019 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair introduced the item and invited The Service Manager, Scrutiny and Democratic Services to present the report to the Panel.  The Panel were advised that the primary purpose of investigating community engagement was to ensure that an effective mechanism for members of the public to help influence and shape Ashfield in a proactive and meaningful way was provided.

Members outlined that it is important the correct people are consulted with via the most appropriate channels. This ensures that engagement and consultation is representative of the communities we have and demonstrates that views have been considered appropriately in the decision making process. If participants believe that consultation and engagement is nothing more than a tick box exercise, it can disengage residents

In discussing how the Council could actively improve engagement, the Chair outlined a number of suggestions such as, changing the venues in which meetings were held and promoting the use of social media in an attempt to encourage younger members of the community to become involved.

The Health and Wellbeing Team Leader addressed the Panel advising them that a Community Engagement Strategy was in the early stages of development. In producing the document there were a number of key objectives that should be considered:-

·                the importance of avoiding a tokenistic approach to consultation;

·                creative ways of engagement with appropriate groups;

·                targeted liaison to support the inclusion of under represented and hard to reach groups;

The Assistant Director, Place and Wellbeing advised Members that as the development of the strategy was in its infancy, it was a good opportunity for Members to be involved in contributing and steering the project in line with agreed corporate aims and objectives, supported by Lead Officers being actively involved in the development and consideration of this project.

The Chair thanked officers for the information they had provided and asked all Members present to put forward any suggestions they felt would contribute towards strengthening community engagement.

Members discussed that previously adopted practises of holding formal meetings to disseminate information created an arena in which only a limited number of people were comfortable interacting, this in turn could result in a low attendance rate from community groups and residents. 
Consideration was given to the ways in which community engagement should be undertaken.  Particular regard was given to encouraging younger people to actively involve themselves and the Panel felt that they would respond positively with topics involving their immediate area and those which impacted upon their social time. 

It had previously been discussed that the one of the most effective methods of engaging with younger people would be digitally, as many of them use social media on a daily basis and this could be used as a platform. 

In contrast to this Members were keen to ensure that a diverse range of people were involved in the consultation process and would like other avenues to be investigated in order to ensure the inclusion of older generations who may not be digitally confident.

The Health and Well Being  ...  view the full minutes text for item SA.3