Community Consultation - Have Your Say
Gold Coast City Council's Strategic Priority Outcome for Community Consultation is "Innovative, co-ordinated and transparent community consultation that facilitates citizen participation in Council's planning and decision making processes."
The Have Your Say Site includes current, recent and past consultations.
- Current consultations - about to happen or happening now.
- Recent consultations - delivered but reports are required.
- Past consultations - completed and archived online.
Community Consultations methods survey
Would you like to have your say about Council’s community consultation methods?
This survey will assist Council's Strategic Priority Outcome and by registering your email address Council can send you information on future major community consultation projects.
Why community consultation is valuable
To enable a full decision making process by Council Committee or Council’s elected representatives, Council staff may consider and report on a cross-section of information:
- regional guidelines and national/international best practice
- local values
- professional assessments of local needs
- resource availability
Community consultation is the key mechanism for the identification of local values and local needs that form part of staff advocacy to Council for a preferred project approach. During the community consultation and reporting processes Council staff must be mindful of the resource constraints and best practice standards affecting the project.
In addition to ensuring internal Council control of collected information, correct analysis, and transparent reporting to Council bodies, good community consultation is able to:
- identify stakeholders – a consultation process identifies those with an interest in a decision making area, and helps define their expectations
- define the agenda – sets boundaries for the questions to be asked, encouraging debate around a structured set of opinions
- allow for two-way discussion – dialogue assists in reaching choices acceptable to a wide range of interests
- improve information flow – in addition to helping the community to interact and discuss issues through the careful planning of public meetings, a wide range of mechanisms are used to invite stakeholders to consultations
- ensure a plan for evaluation
Objectives of Council's community consultation
- Ensure community views are considered in council decisions.
- Ensure that community consultation is appropriately innovative.
- Ensure that community consultation is coordinated and integrated in a consistent manner across Council.
- Ensure meaningful community engagement in consultation.
- Identify community capacity building areas for strategy development.
- Establish and maintain partnerships between Council and community.
- Build a network of community contacts.
- Minimise burden on community representation.
- Adopt the values, behaviours and work plans necessary to give effect to the Gold Coast City Council Community Consultation Policy.
- Provide requirements for project management of community consultations.
- Provide planning and evaluation templates to be completed by staff and a registration form for registering community attendance at consultation meetings.
Community consultation project reports
Often after completion, each community consultation project has a report made available on Council’s website, libraries and administration buildings.
