A community workshop was held on Wednesday 20 August 2009 and two focus groups were held on the 26 August 2009 as part of a program of consultation designed to improve Bayside City Council’s Draft Community Engagement Framework.

A range of issues were raised that highlighted the frustrations communities can feel when public bodies are not felt to engage effectively with them.

The sessions were attended by more than 40 people ranging from interested Bayside residents to members of a range of groups and organisations from throughout Bayside.

Discussion was wide ranging and covered both the draft document’s form and content as well as Council’s current and proposed approaches to community engagement. A variety of themes emerged from the discussion including:

• The need for feedback to community input to be clearly articulated and disseminated.
• The need for communications to be robust and supported by the culture within Council.
• The importance of consistency and continuity of experience among council staff.
• The need for information regarding council services to be available in a range of formats.
• The need for the roles of Councillors, staff and other stakeholders to be clearly delineated.
• That all proposals should be carefully researched and necessary information made available to all parties.
• That consultation should only be undertaken where there are meaningful options available.
• That stakeholder analysis is critical to the process.
• Weighting of stakeholder interests needs to be carefully examined.

Practical suggestions included the holding of occasional community forums to discuss important issues with agendas to be set by the community. The use of online resources was discussed such as project logs for upcoming works and web/email based alert systems for significant events or projects.

Broadly, it was felt that the community’s opinion should be valued and actively sought on matters of importance. Better use could be made of the expertise in existing stakeholder and advisory groups.

Overall the feedback on the draft document itself was positive with respondents commenting on its intent and content while highlighting the need for language in Council publications to be clear, concise and non-adversarial.

Information collected through the workshops and focus groups will complement that gathered through submissions and surveys and will be used to inform the final version of Bayside’s Community Engagement Framework.

Many of the suggestions received were around practical steps that council can use once the framework is adopted.

For more information:

• View Bayside's Draft Community Engagement Framework (PDF, 251KB)
• Complete the Community Engagement Survey   
• Have your say using the online feedback form