 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
 |
Section C:
Choosing The Mechanism:
A Guide To Using Existing Community Consultation And Participation Mechanisms
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
||||||||
SECTION C: |
CHOOSING THE MECHANISM,
|
This section describes a number of the community consultation and participation mechanisms that exist already, and are available to use. There is a description of each mechanism and information about the sorts of consultation each is good for and any costs associated with their use. A contact name is given for each mechanism, as soon as you have decided that you may want to use a particular mechanism you should get in touch with that person.
Neighbourhood Forums
| Summary | Neighbourhood Forums are public meetings that take place in local communities three
times a year. There are 90 Neighbourhood Forums across the District. Local people, Council departments,
and other organisations can arrange for issues to be put on the agenda for discussion. Meetings are
advertised publicly and anyone who has attended a previous meeting receives a personal invitation. |
|
| Examples | Neighbourhood Forums discuss a wide range of issues. You can make use of them for a
number of purposes. Informing the public about a changed or new service (eg the introduction of wheeled
bins). Seeking views about the quality of a particular service to assist with service planning. Seeking
views about a particular local issue (eg proposed housing development, planning applications, closure of
service). Involving the public in making decisions about a local area (eg the introduction of traffic
calming, location of dog fouling signs, location and development of play areas). Conducting a district
wide consultation (eg community safety, unitary development plan). Providing information about local
services (eg advice centres, youth clubs, playgroups, pensioner groups). Consultation about local
regeneration (eg building a picture of the needs and aspirations of local people to improve their
neighbourhood). |
|
| Useful for | Usually a good combination of consultation and informing takes place. The Area
Coordinators offices have built up good relationships within most communities, this benefits consultation
by other agencies and departments. Getting a wide range of views from a cross section of the
neighbourhood and identifying issues of major community concern. |
|
| Not useful | Those attending Neighbourhood Forums are unlikely to be representative of the whole area,
therefore should not be used for getting numerical feedback from the public. Unable to deal with more than one "big" issue per meeting. Some groups of people less likely to attend meetings, for example, neighbourhood forums not the best way to consult with young people. |
|
| Equal Rights | Area Coordinators have already thought about a range of Equal Rights issues.
For example, access to buildings by disabled people, interpreting into Asian languages where appropriate,
holding some meetings during the day to encourage elderly people or women with children to attend.
You need to think about whether your particular consultation has any additional equal rights
implications. |
|
| Costs | The mechanism is there for Council departments and other organisations to make use of.
The main cost will be the time of your staff in planning the consultation and attending the Neighbourhood
Forum meetings. However, if your consultation requires the distribution of information to those on the
mailing list, you will be expected to contribute towards the cost of producing and distributing the
information. Similarly, if your consultation requires translation or interpretation of "technical"
language you will be expected to contribute to the cost of that. |
|
| How to use | In order to get your issue discussed at Neighbourhood Forums there are a number of
steps to go through. Like any consultation using neighbourhood forums requires careful planning and
preparation. If your consultation is with just one forum or with several forums within one constituency
you need to:
|
|
| Contact | Janice Thornton Head of the Neighbourhood Support Service Patrick Lawton Keighley Area Coordinator Bhulla Singh Bradford North Area Coordinator John Breen Bradford South Area Coordinator Mohammed Taj Bradford West Area Coordinator Chris Flecknoe Shipley Area Coordinator |
Tel: 01274 431447 Tel: 01535 438008 Tel: 01274 431066 Tel: 01274 431155 Tel: 01274 432597 Tel: 01274 437074 |
| Section B | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | Section D |
 |
 |
 |
||
|
Introduction and Framework Section A Section B Section C Section D Section E |
||||
 |
 |
 |
||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
