ONLINE consultations from BCP Council have been an “unsatisfactory process” – according to former council leader Vikki Slade.
She claims many people find the process difficult to follow, that some include questions which appear trivial and that there is little space for individual opinions.
“It feels that if you can’t complete all the questions you can’t engage,” she said.
The Lib Dem councillor has also questioned if the council could broaden the methods it uses for consultations pointing out that of 400,000 residents in the area a recent consultation saw 2,000 people view it – but only 100 went on to fill it in.
Cllr Slade told Monday evening’s overview and scrutiny committee that part of the reason for the low level of engagement could be that some people found the process lengthy and not intuitive and that the online method might be difficult for those not computer literate or who did not have English as a first language.
Lead councillor for engagement Cllr Jane Kelly said that work was taking place to improve the council’s consultation processes and said that a wide range of methods would be used to increase the numbers joining in.
“We are going to use every single tool that we have, it won’t just be digital…we need as much information as we can get, in any way possible,” she said.
Article originally posted on Bournemouth Echo
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