Community Engagement Strategy

Community Engagement Strategy adopted

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Strategy adopted

Central Coast Council has adopted the Community Engagement Strategy at the 25 March Council meeting, marking a significant step in enhancing engagement and collaboration with the community.

The adoption of the strategy excluded the Community Participation Plan 2024-28, which will be exhibited separately.

Based on community feedback and in collaboration with Councillors, the Community Engagement Strategy sets out the below commitments.

Place-based engagement where possible
Making communication clearer
Increasing face-to-face engagement
Developing a First Nations Engagement Strategy

Background

We are committed to proactively engaging with the community on major issues and plans affecting the future of the region, and activities that have significant impact on the community.

Our draft Community Engagement Strategy has been developed from your feedback on how you want to be engaged with. Each year, staff conduct a number of engagement activities to better inform Council’s decision-making process, and this document guides us in best practice.

It ensures that Council receives continuous community input and promotes awareness of opportunities for residents to actively participate in shaping how services are delivered. Additionally, it underscores our commitment to ensuring those affected by decisions have the right to participate in decision-making.

The Strategy includes:

Our approach to engagement
The specific methods we use to engage
Community engagement risks and opportunities
Our focus areas
How we measure the success of engagement
How we close the loop on engagement activities.

How we engaged

We invited the community to review the Draft Community Engagement Strategy and share their feedback between 2 August and 30 September 2024 via:

Online survey (now closed)
Email: engageme@centralcoast.nsw.gov.au
Mail: PO Box 20, Wyong, NSW 2259

Survey and research responses totalled 634, which included:

The community also had the opportunity to interact with Council staff in person during the public exhibition to discuss engagement or to provide feedback on the draft Community Engagement Strategy, including at:

Outdoor Movie Nights - The Entrance, Toukley, Gosford and Wyong
Sustainable Futures Festival - Visitor Information Centre, The Entrance

Two engagement officers gather under a tent with a blue umbrella, engaging the community for feedback at a pop-up event

Feedback poster displaying information and prompts for the community to share their thoughts and suggestions

What you told us

You've told us you want:

more transparency and accessibility in development planning
more inclusive spaces for youth
stronger focus on accessibility for those with disabilities
diverse representation in decision making
more place-based engagement, ensuring local voices shape local decisions.

View the Engagement Summary to learn more about the feedback we received.

Council onsite at a popup event to get feedback from the community

Document Library

Timeline

Timeline item 1 - complete

Stakeholder consultation
Timeline item 2 - complete

Develop draft Community Engagement Strategy including Public Participation Plan
Timeline item 3 - complete

Public exhibition and community research
Timeline item 4 - complete

Draft strategy deferred to 25 March Council meeting for further refinement
Timeline item 5 - complete

Community Engagement Strategy Adopted, excluding the Community Participation Plan.

FAQs

Council’s Engagement Framework, initially adopted in 2017, built staff engagement skills and fostered a culture or engagement throughout our organisation. We have now integrated the principles of this framework into a unified strategy, creating a single, cohesive document and point of reference for our staff and community.

The purpose of the Strategy is to establish principles and guidelines for how Council engages with the community and to also inform the community about their opportunities and rights to be involved in Council’s decision-making process.

Having an engagement strategy is legislatively required for councils in NSW. The draft Strategy is guided by NSW Government legislation which requires each NSW council to develop and implement a four-year engagement strategy under the Local Government Act 1993.

Now more than ever, our community is seeking better access to information and greater transparency in decision-making. To meet these needs, we are updating our understanding of how various groups across our diverse population prefer to engage with Council matters.

We aim to continue running activities that effectively reach all individuals impacted by our projects and plans. This involves offering accessible opportunities for everyone, particularly those who are hard-to-reach, such as busy families, youth, disadvantaged groups, and those with limited access to technology. The Strategy includes methods for achieving this, along with Council’s guiding principles for engagement.

Community engagement refers to how we engage with our community. The process commences with providing information to our customers and community, with the aim to seek and incorporate informed feedback to ensure we reach the best possible outcomes that benefit all stakeholders.

Education is key to effective community engagement and decision-making. It also allows our community to make informed choices that maximise the services we deliver.

Council’s previous Engagement Framework was developed using community feedback, best practices from other councils and levels of government and insights from the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2).

In 2017 and 2018, we held five ward-based community workshops, conducted surveys and gathered input from the Community Strategic Plan engagement. This extensive feedback provided a clear understanding of community preferences for engagement and consultation. After reviewing the feedback from the public exhibition, we finalised the strategy and presented a report for Council's consideration at the 26 March 2018 Council Meeting. Council received the report and implemented improvements to the Engagement Framework.

The Framework defines Council’s approach to engagement with the aim to ensure that we do what we say we will do and that we apply engagement in a consistent way. The Framework provides direction to effectively engage and communicate with our community and customers and provides guidance on when and how to undertake engagement activities and what steps and processes should be considered.

Since its adoption, the Framework has been supported by an Internal Engagement Improvement Plan to drive improvement and capability. The Improvement Plan has been continuously reviewed in 2019, 2021 and 2022 to adjust to changing community and organisational needs. The Improvement Plan and our community’s ongoing feedback have driven improvements to the Framework, resulting in the development of the draft Community Engagement Strategy.

The methods used for external consultation and feedback have included:
• 2018: Five workshops and an online survey; results reported to Council in March 2018
• 2020: Customer satisfaction survey
• Ongoing: Evaluations from the “Let’s Talk” initiative
• 2024: Community wellbeing survey, including questions on engagement
• July/August 2024: Public exhibition, market research, and targeted stakeholder
engagement.

Council follows engagement principles as outlined in the Strategy through the activities presented in the table below:

Engagement Activity	Comments
Your Voice - Our Coast (online)	This online platform represents best practice community engagement. The platform is used for complex consultation projects, surveys, polls, discussions, including a planned engagement calendar and exhibition items and acts as a one-stop shop for engagement in the online environment. This platform also provides the results of engagement activities and information back to the community on decisions made. This site also has links to Council’s social media platforms.
Social Pinpoint	Interactive map that allows comments and issues. We use social pinpoint so that participants online can identify the location of either the issue or where they live (or both) and leave a comment. This is particularly affective for masterplan engagement or complex planning or infrastructure projects. Analysis of this feedback is cross referenced with the face-to-face feedback and other activities for a rigorous consideration of trends, challenges and ideas.
Community pop-ups, drop-ins and workshops	This is one of the most popular community engagement initiatives with communities with the aim of having informal conversations with Council staff in local areas. The purpose of these activities is to understand what is important for ratepayers, residents, businesses, visitors and stakeholders.
Place-based Engagement	By understanding what residents need at a neighbourhood level, Council can collectively facilitate effective and robust community engagement across the entire Local Government Area (LGA). This program is building up capacity within Council to understand the issues, identity and character of an area as well as better coordinate service delivery and planning. In future the focus it is intended that comments from each local place should be analysed and themed so that trends and issues across the wider LGA can also be identified.
Projects, Partnerships and Program	Our tailored community engagement activities are developed and implemented to engage with external and internal stakeholders across a range of Council plans, projects and programs, to discuss changes to their local area, to foster long term relationships and community partnerships. Engagement methods are chosen from the spectrum and range from online and face to face conversations, surveys, focus groups, workshops, world cafes and activity planning. Where possible we continue to make it more convenient for people to attend and/or provide feedback.
Community Education	Community education activities such as workshops, tours and information sessions are developed and implemented to provide people with the opportunity to learn and embrace attitudinal/behavioural change, to achieve shared understanding between Council and the community and to implement awareness campaigns. Examples include estuary education, waste education, library programs, road safety and environmental education.
Contacting Council	Council's Customer Experience program improves contact with Council and provides regular updates and feedback to customers. Customers can currently use the following channels: • In person at service centres and libraries • Online Customer Service Centre • Telephone • Email • Web feedback • Social Media • By post • Submissions for items on public exhibition • View livestream Council meetings • Speaking at a Council meeting • Other online and mobile-enabled self-service portals

All relevant feedback on the document will be considered by the project team before the final document is developed. Council staff will then prepare a report on the outcome of the public exhibition process for Council's consideration.

Who's listening

Have questions or want to learn more about this project? Contact us below.

Contact Information
Name	Engagement Team
Email	engageme@centralcoast.nsw.gov.au

Contact Information
Website	www.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/
In writing	Gosford 91-99 Mann Street Gosford NSW 2250, Australia P. 02 4306 7900 Wyong 2 Hely StreetWyong NSW 2259, Australia P. 02 4306 7900

www.centralcoast.nsw.gov.au/

Gosford

91-99 Mann Street Gosford NSW 2250, Australia P. 02 4306 7900

Wyong

2 Hely StreetWyong NSW 2259, Australia P. 02 4306 7900

Community Engagement Strategy