12.2 Consultation techniques
The purpose of consultation is to get people involved,
from all the relevant sections of the community. Straightforward
public meetings tend to favour those who are able to attend easily.
They are often dominated by male middle class professionals. Techniques
to reach the views of the wider community include using a range of
venues such as clubs and societies, pubs, churches, shops, drop in
events and open meetings, community days, focus groups and workshops,
door to door visits, as well as the street itself.
The techniques could then include:
• suggestion boxes
• painting drawing
• photography
• community exhibition
• suggestion or comments chart
• pub quiz
• walk about
• scoring and ranking
• implementation matrix and responsibility chart
• questionnaire
Where public meetings are used it may be helpful to run them in a
sequence of three stages, which at the first, policy options are
discussed, at the second, the results are fed back to into broad
but practical options for consideration, and at the third, the selected
option is presented as finite proposals.
Consultation in Harrow
Local people having their say
