What is Community Engagement
Community engagement is the term the Council uses for involving residents in Brisbane City Council's decision-making process.
Benefits of Community Engagement
Community engagement has benefits for you as a resident as well as Brisbane City Council.
It allows Council to access wider sources of information, points of view and potential solutions. It also gives residents a better understanding of the issues behind the decision-making process and the related constraints or opportunities that exist.
Benefits to community
- have your opinions heard
- help Council better understand complex issues
- understand Council processes
- Council and the community work together and learn from each other
- strengthened community networks
- build information skills
- ideas and opinions are valued
- achieves sustainable outcomes
Benefits to Council:
- helps understand communities’ needs
- increases awareness and understanding about an issue
- identifies challenges and opportunities not previously considered
- gains public feedback about a range of options
- helps develop consensus and trust
- access to local knowledge about what is likely to work and what will not
Council's Community Engagement spectrum
Community engagement involves different levels of engagement that sit along a continuum, depicted in the community engagement spectrum.
The IAP2 Spectrum guides Council’s engagement strategies through assisting officers to develop engagement activities that reflect the needs of the project. Where some issues that arise may provide little or no scope for the community to influence the outcome, the community should still be informed and helped to understand the background and the basis of the decision that has been made.
The community engagement guidelines support this policy.
Information sharing
Community engagement can be as simple as Council providing information to members of the community about a project. This type of engagement is known as information sharing, and happens when Council has already made a decision or when there is only one way that Council can progress the project.
Community consultation
Community consultation is a two-way relationship between Council and the community where Council seeks feedback on proposals or to identify other important issues.
Active participation
Active participation is a partnership in which Council encourages community involvement in the development and delivery of specific projects.
Council's decision making process
Brisbane City Council believes it is important to consider the views of a community when making decisions about projects that affect their local area or the city as a whole.
There are many factors that can influence the decision-making process, including costs, technical aspects, environmental concerns, legal requirements and political commitment.
This can mean that some members of the public may sometimes not agree with the final outcome.
Council's general decision-making process could be outlined as:
- A need is identified or a project idea is formed.
- Council officers ‘size up’ the project and technical investigations are conducted.
- A preliminary proposal goes to the manager and/or Civic Cabinet.
- A draft proposal is developed by working with the appropriate areas of Council.
- A draft proposal may be made available for public consultation.
- The final proposal, including community feedback, goes to Civic Cabinet for final approval.
- Council makes a final decision.