Agenda item

To consider a report (copy enclosed) by the Corporate Director: Customers which invites members’ views on how the Council progresses with the theme of Getting Closer to the Community and how best to engage with residents.

The Lead Member for Customers and Communities, Councillor Hugh Irving, introduced a report (circulated prior to the meeting) which invited the committee to comment on how the Council engages with the community and the redefinition of the strands informing the Council’s approach to being an ‘excellent council close to the community’.

The CD:C explained that, previously, community forums had offered an opportunity for communities to engage with the Council’s work, but that public participation had not been strong and the forums were discontinued, without being replaced. More recently, the Council’s most effective work with local communities had been through a series of public consultations on specific issues, such as the review of primary education. The CD:C invited members to offer suggestions of potential options for improving links with local communities in Denbighshire and a number of suggestions were made:

·                     Providing an option for residents to sign up for the ‘Denbighshire Today’ emails that are circulated to members.

·                     The suggestion of Special Member Area Group meetings being held, either before or after the normal meeting, at which members of the public could discuss issues with their local members.

·                     Flintshire County Council’s recent distribution of a ‘Democracy Cookbook’ to youth clubs, which had been designed to help explain to young people how democracy and politics work, was cited as a positive example of engaging young people in the work of local authorities which Denbighshire could learn from.

·                     Better communication between officers and local members to ensure that local councillors were aware of everything that was going on/affecting their wards.  There was some concern that, now and again, the local member became a secondary consultee on matters affecting his/her ward.

The Head of Communication, Marketing and Leisure noted that a new Communication Strategy had been adopted by the Council and the 1^st Year Action Plan looked at channels for development, particularly relating to social media and press releases. It was also mentioned that a recent youth forum was held in Rhyl to discuss The BIG Plan, which was attended by the Council’s senior leadership and other organisations involved in the Local Service Board such as the Police, and had been well received by those in attendance.

The CD:C directed the Committee to the second part of the report, and explained that the Council was looking to review the definition of the Council being ‘close to the community’ to align with the priorities set out under the new Corporate Plan. The progress that had been made in implementing the Getting Closer to the Community Action Plan over the last 18 months was summarised under the three themes of ‘Representation and Engagement’, ‘Service Delivery’ and ‘Community Development’. To build upon this work, four new strands were being proposed, and the Committee was invited to comment before the new strands were finalised. The proposed strands were:

1)            Democratic and community engagement

2)            Putting our customers first

3)            Mapping community needs and aspirations and building capacity

4)            Service improvement

a)            Developing the right culture

b)            Designing services to be physically close to their communities

During the discussion that followed Councillor Huw Williams emphasised the importance of relaying information through Member Area Groups to ensure that councillors are fully informed of what is going on. The Chair stated that the proposed strands were agreeable but that the important work would be in their delivery, which would need to be monitored. The CD:C said that the ‘actions’ flowing from the strands would be clarified, with arrangements for monitoring their success to be established once the four strands have been agreed.

The Lead Member for Customers and Communities added that a workshop on customer services had been arranged for 5^th March in order to help identify customer needs, which all councillors were welcome to attend.  Following an in-depth discussion it was:

RESOLVED – that:

i)             the Committee support the methods outlined in the report, including increased use of social media tools, for the purpose of improving engagement opportunities with county councillors, residents and interested groups;

ii)            consideration is given to holding ‘issue-led’ Special Meetings of the Member Area Groups (MAGs) when consulting/engaging with communities on specific matters; and

iii)            the Committee support the revised approach to the definition for being ‘An Excellent Council Close to the Community’ and that an outcome-based action plan, to include success measurements and key milestones, be drawn up with a view to delivering this aspiration, and that the action be closely monitored.