Present: Cllr M J Steptoe – Chair (MS), Cllr Mrs D L Belton (DLB), Cllr Mrs J R Gooding (JG), Cllr R Milne (RM), Cllr C M Stanley (CS), Matt Harwood-White – SRO (MHW), George Farley (GF), Andrew Rowson (AR), Duncan Blackie (DB), Cllr M G Wilkinson (MW), Cllr R R Dray (RD) and Nicola Hopkins (NH)
Apologies: Cllr S A Wilson, Cllr N J Hookway, Cllr S E Wootton, Cllr M J Lucas-Gill, Cllr A L Williams, Cllr J C Burton and Dawn Tribe
Notes: Julie O’Brien – from recording
Duration: 15:00 till 15:46
Note 35/21
Overview of Plans for the Pre-Planning Engagement Webinar, Rayleigh Sites
MHW confirmed that this meeting would deal with the planned approach on the evening and efforts being made in preparation for the Webinar – 6pm on 17th March. A debrief had taken place and while the Rochford (held on 24 February) Webinar was successful lessons had been learnt and a key change would be enabling more time would for questions and answers live, which will provide an interactive experience and engage the audience in a more effective manner.
NH provided a presentation on the Voyage website to update members on the information now online and available to the public. It was reminded that a lot of recent communications had been issued and a press release going out today regarding current position in the Asset Delivery Programme (ADP) and encouraging residents to feedback via the ‘Have your Say’ campaign. Any correspondence issued signposts the public to the Have your say landing page on the Voyage website for consistency with message and ease of reference for the user.
The Have Your Say webpage lists the various sites within the Programme and identifies that the Civic Suite and Mill sites in Rayleigh are now open for public feedback. The start date was brought forward to 10th March in recognition that this gives people the opportunity to comment sooner, and an extended window now sees an end date of 11th April. The webinar is advertised here, with link to register and inviting questions to be submitted ahead of the event.
Each site has a link to take you to a page dedicated to that particular location and more detailed information accessible via additional link. To provide comments the user clicks on the survey monkey link is a mixture of pre-formatted questions and open text boxes to collect the feedback. The webinar is also advertised here again.
Having questions submitted in advance for the webinar will enable the team to be able to fully answer the question and meet the audience expectations. The opportunity is also being offered to those with questions to read them out live on the night of the webinar if they would like to.
NH confirmed that the Webinar does require registration to access the event as part of the audience, including officers and Members. The registration process enables contact data to be collected and provides a route for potential further engagement.
The questions and answers session at the Webinar will include live questions to be asked throughout via the chat function. A team behind the scenes will be in place to pro-actively answer questions so that these are addressed on the night wherever possible, this resource for this is greater than last month.
Should Ward Members receive questions from their constituents then they are encouraged to log via the Voyage website so that this feedback can be collated. Similarly, questions for the webinar to also be entered online.
Action: NH to email the Panel Members with details of the Webinar registration link (together with form for questions) and Have Your Say survey monkey link for ease of reference.
Hardcopies of the pre-planning engagement paperwork of each site and feedback survey continue to be made available wherever asked and this aims to reach those without internet facility to engage digitally. This has been advertised as part of the poster campaign and press release in the local paper.
It was noted that, the artist impressions used in the recent local paper article had led to some confusion among residents as they were not scale drawings. As these remain proposals at this point scale drawings have not yet been produced It is unfortunately difficult to portray all detail in a concise way and the in-depth description and pictures of the sites are on the Voyage website - this better display all possible at this stage and include the newer drawings now available. The Webinar will ensure to provide full information verbally and visually to explain in more detail.
Weekly press releases were now part of the programme to address and highlight the particular areas of interest on the Programme and help to tackle mistruths within the community. A new press release going out today in the local paper provides more visuals and key ADP facts and statistics across a double page spread.
All the questions answered from the last Webinar live on the evening and thereafter are published on the voyage website. The same process will occur with the upcoming Webinar so that there is transparency and as much information published to share with the wider public.
It was suggested that as part of the press releases issued in the days leading up to the Webinar that it could send a powerful message by addressing the top areas which are talked about and ‘myths’ by doing short Q&As to get the simple facts across. By way of examples, confirming parking and stage facilities. Also, information regarding how the proposals for the sites were reached.