AlburyCity Councillors recently endorsed our draft Communications and Engagement Strategy, Engaging Albury, which is available at present for further feedback from our community.
You’ve consistently told us that you need more input into Council decision-making and would like to be better informed about what’s going on in your community. We listened, and Engaging Albury was developed to ensure there is a consistent approach to community engagement, with a focus on engaging early and often so that there is ample opportunity for you to have your say.
With people’s preferences for how they source and consume information continually changing, there is an increased need to deliver timely and relevant communications in a way that suits everchanging lifestyles and diverse needs. This means considering digital, hard copy and face-to-face methods to ensure the intended audience is being reached.
We generally engage with our community at two key stages during the development of a project, activity, strategy or masterplan. The first stage involves seeking input to help develop a draft for presentation to Councillors and will include whole of community engagement and targeted engagement of particular groups or individuals that may be affected or have an interest. The second stage takes place after the draft has been developed and reported to Council, after which it will be placed on public exhibition to seek further community feedback prior to being adopted by Council.
During the engagement process, we will assess and implement community feedback wherever possible, balancing it against legislation and case law, budget impacts, Council policies and resolutions, professional and technical subject matter expert advice, social impacts, economic impacts, environmental impacts, adopted plans and strategies and previous decisions and precedents and yes including new ideas!
The five-year Engaging Albury strategy contains a range of principles and objectives that will underpin all our community engagement activities, accompanied by an Implementation Plan that will be reviewed annually. Key actions in the strategy include introducing an enhanced and accessible digital engagement platform to replace AlburyCity’s Have your Say website; scoping the introduction of community partnering through identified community groups; building a calendar of proactive in-community engagement events and pop-ups; ensuring a Stakeholder Engagement Plan is developed for every project or initiative that may impact or be of significant interest to the community; developing communications to close the loop with the community and explain reasoning for decisions and much more.
You can view a printed version of the draft Engaging Albury Strategy at AlburyCity Customer Service, the Library Museum and the Lavington Library. Written submissions can be sent to Albury City Council P.O Box 323 Albury, or emailed to info@alburycity.nsw.gov.au, or have your say on the draft Engaging Albury strategy, before 27 October on the AlburyCity website.
Frank Zaknich
AlburyCity CEO