Community engagement, also known as public participation, is about getting people involved in decision-making; it is at the core of our democratic processes in local government. At the City of Parramatta, we are striving for a best-practice approach to engagement to help us create more liveable communities, better public policy, and ensure people are at the core of what we do.
In accordance with Section 402(A) of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), all Councils must establish and implement a strategy for engagement with the local community (called its Community Engagement Strategy) when developing its plans, policies, and programs, and for the purpose of determining its activities (other than routine administrative matters).
A Community Engagement Strategy must be prepared, adopted, and implemented, based on social justice principles, for engagement with the local community to support Council in developing its plans and determining key activities. This includes development of the Community Strategic Plan, and all relevant Council plans, policies, and programs. At a minimum, the Community Engagement Strategy must identify relevant stakeholder groups within the community and outline methods that will be used to engage each group.
Throughout the consultation we heard how important engagement is to our community and that while our residents and stakeholders feel as though Council is generally doing a good job, we have room for improvement. Our community wants:
- Greater engagement at Council events and more face-to-face outreach
- More tailored communication and increased accessibility
- Council officers to more consistently close the feedback loop and deliver improved customer service
- Further diversification of communication channels
Following extensive community consultation and the analysis of over 500 contributions, a number of key changes were made to the Draft Community Engagement Strategy (2024 - 2028), including:
- Clearer commitment to engaging with Dharug and other First Nations communities.
- Several short-medium term action items have been incorporated as part of our 'best-practice' commitments.
- Further details have been provided about the engagement methods which will be used for different levels of Development Control Plans.
- Council endorsed an annual program of face-to-face community ward workshops to ensure that residents have greater opportunity to have their say.
- We endorsed a Customer Transformation Plan that will see Council further enhance how we interact with residents and other stakeholders leading to improvements in customer service and increased closing of the feedback loop.
The Draft Community Engagement Strategy (2024 - 2028) provides a framework for how Council will engage on plans and policies so the community knows what to expect and has an opportunity to provide input. Prominent sections include:
- What is community engagement?
- Our approach to engagement
- Responsibilities
- Who do we engage with?
- What engagement looks like at the City of Parramatta
- When and how we engage
- Implementation plan
- Consolidated Notification Requirements
We have committed to a series of actions to ensure we deliver the objectives of the Draft Community Engagement Strategy (2024 - 2028). These actions include:
- Taking an organisation-wide approach
- Ensuring all non-administrative projects have a community engagement component
- Providing staff with ongoing engagement training and support
- Using best-practice online engagement tools
- Delivering an annual program of community ward workshops
- Where possible, delivering more in-person engagement opportunities
- Conducting annual community and stakeholder research and community satisfaction surveys to help improve decision-making and monitor the effectiveness of our engagement
The City of Parramatta Council is committed to engaging everyone in our community about the things that matter to them, in a transparent, open and accountable way. We are committed to providing engagement opportunites for all non-administrative projects. Some examples include our library services, skate parks, open spaces and reserves, roads maintenance, capital works projects, strategies and development applications.
We are committed to providing opportunities for everyone in the community to participate and ‘have a say’. Our Draft Community Engagement Strategy (2024 - 2028) supports providing information in accessible formats and using a variety of in-person and digital engagement methods. We encourage inclusive community participation and are committed to engaging with the community at key points in projects. This can be at the planning or project delivery stages, and also receiving ongoing feedback on the services we provide.
In accordance with the Integrated Planning and Reporting (IP&R) framework and Section 402A of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), a Council must establish and implement a strategy for engagement with the local community (called its Community Engagement Strategy) when developing its plans, policies and programs, and for the purpose of determining its activities (other than routine administrative matters). The Strategy must be reviewed within 3 months of each new local government election.
