COMMUNITY CONSULTATION

Consultation is a powerful tool for improving the quality and cost effectiveness of services, and for ensuring that policy makers stay in touch with citizens. The government attaches a high priority to effective public involvement in local transport policies, and this will be a key factor in its consideration of Local Transport Plans. The need for genuinely inclusive approaches to consultation is a requirement set out by DETR in its Guidance on Full Local Transport Plans (DETR, 2000).

The importance of community consultation as an aspect of speed management has been illustrated through the examples of good practice described in previous sections. Specific examples have been given from York, Kingston Upon Hull and Edinburgh, as well as from Devon, Surrey and West Sussex County Councils. These have linked community consultation to recent legislative requirements for regular public consultation under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Local Government Act 1999 (Best Value) and Local Government Act 2000.

7.1 Audit commission guidelines

The Audit Commission has published valuable guidance for local authorities on effective consultation, much of which is available on its website (www.audit-commission.gov.uk). Key issues identified in the Audit Commission’s Listen Up! guide to effective community consultation (Audit Commission, 1998) include the following:

• Many authorities are moving away from so-called traditional methods such as consultation documents, opinion polls and public meetings, with growing numbers using panel surveys, citizens’ juries and interactive websites. The key to success, however, is matching the methods used to the purpose of the exercise and the service in question.

• Consultation exercises need to be inclusive, and minorities (including children) may have different needs from those of the majority. If they are not consulted effectively, their views may remain invisible.

• Auditors reporting on Best Value performance plans will look for evidence of a strategic approach to consultation. Inspectors reporting on specific services, such as transport planning, will be looking for evidence that individual consultation exercises fit into a broader consultation framework, have been carried out to a high standard using appropriate methods, and have been used to inform relevant decisions.

7.2 Quiet Roads public engagement process

Quiet Roads is a new Countryside Agency initiative to enable shared use of minor rural roads by cyclists, walkers, horse riders and motorists. The Quiet Roads concept includes road speed reduction as well as environmental management. Acknowledging the importance of community consultation to the success of the schemes, the Countryside Agency has developed a process of public engagement which involves the community at each stage of the project.

The Quiet Roads public engagement process is based on the ‘community approach’ in which local authority officers, local groups, key stakeholders, professionals and the community develop the project together. Demonstration projects in Kent and Norfolk have developed a three-pronged approach based on the separate stages of information, consultation and participation:

Information

Use techniques such as workshops and meetings to inform the whole community about:

• the Quiet Roads concept
• opportunities for public involvement
• milestones achieved during the Quiet Roads network development
• the network in use

Encourage the public to contribute to:

• the identification of problems and issues in their area
• the type of measures they would like to see used to address those issues and problems

• levels of support for the Quiet Roads concept and the network locally
• preference for the final network and strategy

Directly involve a smaller number of people in:

• monitoring and review of strategy, design and implementation
• monitoring of the network in use
• evaluation of the network

Full information on the Quiet Roads public engagement process is available on the Countryside Agency’s dedicated Greenways and Quiet Roads website: www.greenways.gov.uk.

7.3 References for Section 7

Audit Commission (1998) Listen up! Effective community consultation, London: Audit Commission

DETR (2000) Guidance on Full Local Transport Plans, London: DETR

Further reading

Transport 2000 (1996) Feet first: public attitudes and consultation in traffic calming schemes, by Taylor, D and Tight, M, London: Transport 2000

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