During the month of November, the Economic Development and the Creative Services teams have successfully trialed out our new ‘streamline process’ to support Bradford on Avon Town Council in launching and delivering the Future of Transport consultation.
The new process takes learnings from our experience with large DCOs and transport plans and it applies the same principles to deliver successful local engagement in a more efficient way.
Copper has been providing support to the Town Council in the delivery of a data-led consultation. The project team was able to produce in a short time several visual, digital and printed assets, which helped to maximise engagement with local residents and businesses through different channels.
A consultation booklet (including a questionnaire), was produced, designed, printed and delivered to every resident and business in town. The project team also curated the content for the webpage of the consultation and delivered the digital version of the questionnaire, which included the interactive map (a tool that helps gather feedback on specific elements of a map).
In order to offer as many opportunities as possible to the public to have their say and their questions answered, Copper supported the Council in the planning and delivery of two drop-in consultation events. The project team designed a series of boards, which offered a clear and effective way to communicate complex and technical traffic information.
By delivering the consultation to the public digitally (via the website and the online questionnaire) and in person (via the consultation events and the printed booklets), we made sure that no one in the community was left behind. This hybrid approach has allowed the Council to take into consideration the views of everyone in town, including harder to reach groups.
Thanks to the mix of channels and assets used, the success of the project was already clear in the first two weeks since the consultation opened to the public:
The traffic issue in the town of Bradford on Avon has been affecting the local communities for over 30 years. Thanks to the clear and targeted offering, Copper has been able to help the Council to generate the necessary data that will be used by the Highways Authority to propose a solution based on the needs and priorities of the community.
If you would like to have a conversation about upcoming consultation or receive more information on Copper’s ‘streamline process’, please contact James.Gore@copperconsultancy.com
