There is a draft community engagement strategy being circulated by the Leith Neighbourhood Partnership (LNP). Somewhat ironically it's not on their website, so if you want to read it, you can download it here. To cut a long story short they're looking for ways to engage with more people. Here's our suggestions:

Improve the website

Have a look at the LNP website. It's a bit static isn't it? One simple improvement that would help people to engage is to set up a LNP news blog, with a news RSS feed. This news feed could then be used to automatically update Twitter, Facebook pages and an opt-in email list. That opt-in email list is especially important - if you let people automatically opt-in and opt-out of email updates then you cut down on the admin required by council staff, and people don't have to keep coming back to the website to check for updates. They get them straight to their email inbox.

The LNP news blog could also be set-up to allow all the partners to post information to it, to allow other people to comment, and so on. But first a local news feed please!

We can already hear howls of protest from some quarters that focussing on the internet as an engagement tool excludes people who don't have internet access. That's true. We're not saying only use the internet. However, given that engagement in this way is so cheap compared to other methods, and given the low engagement with the LNP from all walks of life - this has got to be a good, cheap and quick place to start.

There will also be people who think government business is a formal process and shouldn't reduce itself to playing the social networking game. If Twitter is good enough for Glasgow City Council, to choose just one government agency using twitter, then it should be good enough for the Leith NP. In cyberspace, just as in the world of bricks and mortar, you have to go to where the people are. There are 1,748 members of the 'I Love Leith' Facebook Group.

Promote and Publicise Public Questions

Have a look at that LNP website again. There's nothing that says 'Ask a question' in big letters is there? It is great that there are named contact people to call with queries. However, more needs to be done to encourage people to ask public questions of the LNP.

Why? Simply because this is one of the most simple and effective ways for people to engage with the partnership. Not only can you ask a question of the LNP, but the LNP must give you a formal response. In that way, the public question mechanism is a great way to hold our local elected representatives and public service managers to account. Not only that - you can do it at any time, not just when there is a meeting on.

It could be made easier by providing and promoting a simple web form for submitting questions. Freepost postcards could be distributed throughout the community centres, libraries and schools.

It would be great to see the LNP take inspiration from the website www.whatdotheyknow.com That site makes the process of making a Freedom of Information Request, and the response, public. It allows others to search and comment on the results. And yes they do have an RSS feed for Freedom of Information Requests made to the City of Edinburgh Council that you can subscribe to by email!

An LNP public questions version of this would allow people to ask a question, and opt to have it made public. The LNP would then publish the question, and the formal response. The very act of this would encourage more people to ask questions, inspire others to ask more questions and stimulate debate in the papers and local blogs. Not only does this gain more publicity for the LNP, but it would also show that the LNP is responsive to the concerns of the people who engage with it. It may also cut down on duplicate questions, as people would be able to see what questions had already been asked.

Cut Consultation Fatigue

It is a common complaint (at least amongst activists) that there are too many consultations, and then afterwards, no-one ever sees anything happen as a result. The LNP therefore has a role to play in coordinating and sharing knowledge. It could also do more to show how projects develop - that action does result from community involvement processes, even if it takes a long time. If possible don't just publish the results of the consultation, it's also necessary to keep an up to date, "what happens next?" page if the consultation is part of a wider project.

This can all be done via the website too - but we feel that all the agencies carrying out consultations have a role to play in making their results available in an easy to share format to the LNP staff. And before you ask - the Leith Links Ask results are on the LNP website!

What are meetings for?

Turn out at LNP meetings is declining to the point where there are more people on the top table than there are in the audience. This poses a tricky problem for the LNP. It is a formal council committee that has formal business, so a committee format of somekind is needed. But on the other hand, the 'large top table' format can be intimidating to people.

There are a few ways around this. One way would be to have a meeting of two halves. The first half would attend to the formal business of the LNP. The second half could be more interactive - taking workshop formats or more paricipatory appoaches to involve people in walking about and informal discussion. We'd like to see less 'death by powerpoint' and more 'post it note action,' that's going to get people out of their chairs and talking.

Greener Leith would also like to see less inward looking meetings. Too often the presentations at the meeting are provided by one agency that already has a place at the top table that seems to be addressed mainly to the other people at the top table. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised - afterall many of the councillors on the top table are on the police board, the fire board, planning committees, the NHS boards and so on. So they're reporting to their bosses! But does this need to be done in public?

Wouldn't it be great to look outside Leith sometimes to get a presentation from someone who's doing something innovative or exciting or different somewhere else - and to ask the question, "what are the lessons for Leith?" That's not to say that nothing innovative or exciting or different ever happens in Leith of course!

Invest in the activists

There's a lot of talented and committed people who give their time and energy to the LNP - often for free. In order to make the process work there needs to be a commitment from the LNP to invest in the people involved - and this includes the staff!

Just yesterday, at the Housing and Built Environment Sub-group a key member of staff began by saying, "and I've got two projects here that I'd like you all to approve..." This attitude shows that for some people engaging with the community is a 'rubber stamping exercise'. It's vital that the right level of information is provided in a simple format that will allow 'lay' people to make informed decisions. If the LNP is to work better, there needs to be training and a genuine commitment from CEC staff for involving non-technical people in decision making - and this is not always something that comes easily to staff who don't have a community development background. It's a skill that needs to be learned - the LNP should invest in their staff to make sure they've got those skills.

Too often, in the Housing and Built Environment Sub-group at least, the group is expected to make decisions based on partial or incomplete information. Fortunately, the group members are growing in confidence and are less willing to play a 'rubber stamping' role for council officers. This should lead to better quality projects in the long run.

Most of the community representatives involved in the LNP are not town planners, civil engineers, social workers, or community engagement experts. They also deserve training and support so that they are confident of playing their role in the LNP process. Afterall they're not being paid to do it - they're doing it because they want to improve Leith - and that's something that should be celebrated and supported.

If more resources were put into supporting the activists then perhaps there'd be more of them?

What do you think?

There are just our ideas. You might have many others. If you do, you can email them to the Neighbourhood Manager Peter Strong. You could also leave them in the comments to this post.