The Policy and Engagement Officer introduced the report which set out the public consultation policy statement, guidance notes for Swale Borough Council Councillors, officers and public on consultations.

The Chair invited Members to make comments and these included:

·           Did the public consultation statement policy affect the public conveniences consultation which was currently active?;

·           paragraph 5.1 in the officers report mentioned the Informal Administration Meeting as a formal consultation, but it should not be referred to as a consultation because it was not properly represented by all Members;

·           there was an issue with online consultations as residents were required to fill out every answer in order to submit their consultation response. Whereas residents who completed a paper copy only needed to complete questions that they wanted to. Could officers look at updating online consultations to match the same process as paper consultations?; and

·           were officers planning on consulting the public on the public consultation document to see if it addressed their concerns with how the Council was currently dealing with Public Consultations?

The Policy and Engagement Officer responded to points raised and said that the officer undertaking the public conveniences consultation had already spoken with her before it went out to consultation to make sure that it was not affected by the new policy statement. The Policy and Engagement Officer added that she was happy to look into the online consultation process and update it, so it was in line with paper consultations. 

Councillor Mike Baldock proposed an amendment to the recommendations that the public consultation policy statement be sent to the public for consultation so that Members could seek their views on how they would like consultations to be submitted to them. This was seconded by Councillor Richard Palmer.

The Chair invited Members to make comments on the amendment, and these included:

·           Did not agree with consulting the public on a public consultation document;

·           the response rate of public consultations was very low sometimes, so seeking the public views on the Council’s consultation policy would not be beneficial;

·           Members could not rely on public consultations when often there was a small number of people completing the consultation compared to the area it had been submitted to;

·           when a new policy and procedure was being introduced, it was important that it worked for the public;

·           officers could use this as an opportunity to understand the best method to consult the public;

·           the policy did not tie the Council down to one method of consultation and sometimes a consultation required different approaches;

·           needed to be careful as the public might ask for paper copies of all the consultations and that would not be environmentally friendly;

·           the public might not respond to the consultation on the public consultation policy statement and if this happened Members would not have gained anything in delaying the policy statement; and

·           agreeing a policy that did not necessarily improve the response rate and did not ask the public how consultations could be improved would not achieve anything.

The Chief Executive said that the response rate of consultations was sometimes poor because members of the public had a negative opinion on consultations and did not see the advantage in responding to consultations, rather than the consultation process being the issue.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

Councillor Julien Speed proposed an amendment to recommendation two that exceptions to the 6-8 weeks minimum consultation would be where there was specific legislation stating a different consultation period, or where the 6-8 week period was not practically possible, or where the relevant committee voted to extend it. This was seconded by Councillor Mike Baldock.

The Chair invited Members to make comments on the amendment and points raised included:

·           Local Plan consultations got plenty of responses and often included very large documents that the public needed time to consider and review, so thought it was important to give them longer than 6-8 weeks to be consulted on the documents;

·           Regulations 18 and 19 consultations should take place for a period of 12 weeks;

·           had sympathy with the amendment but there could be situations which required a swift consultation response from the public;

·           considered that 8-12 weeks would be better than 12-weeks;

·           the policy stated exceptional circumstances where 6-8 weeks might not be practically possible, therefore the consultation period could be changed when desirable;

·           exceptions to the minimum of 6-weeks were often required to last just 28 days;

·           could the period be extended where it was supported by Full Council?;

·           could the consultation last 6-weeks preferably, then 8-weeks with an option of extending it to 12-weeks in the case of Regulation 18 or 19?;

·           the document stated ‘minimum of 6 weeks’ so if the consultation needed to be extended then officers were able to; and

·           if a service committee decided they wanted the consultation to last longer than 8-weeks, they needed to give a valid reason and it should be agreed by Full Council.

The Policy and Engagement officer said that paragraph 2.4 of the report mentioned that exceptions to the 6-8 week consultation period was for when specific legislation affected the consultation and the period could be altered. Planning consultations which related to the Local Plan would be included in these exceptions, so officers were able to be more flexible with the consultation period.

The Chief Executive responded to the points raised and said that a valid reason for a service committee to extend a public consultation could be when the period it is run for fell within a public holiday or that it was a large document. There did not need to be anything more specific in the policy statement to outline what was exceptional circumstances. She added that it was more appropriate for the service committee that was making the decision on the public consultation, were the ones who decided the length of the consultation period if they felt that the recommended time period needed to be altered.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

The Chair invited Members to make comments on the substantive recommendations and these included:

·         Could the policy include some guidance for Councillors sharing the consultation to residents in an accessible way and that it be actively encouraged by the Council?;

·         it was the political responsibility of Councillors to ensure that any consultation gathered support;

·         there was no guidance on threshold of responses or how decisions were made when the result of the consultation response was small compared to the area of residents that had been consulted;

·         Councillors were elected to represent local residents and the decision should be made by them when the response rates were low; and

·         Members had some discretion with making a decision based on the consultation response rate when it was appropriate.

The Policy and Engagement Officer responded to the points raised and said that members were not bound by the results and that she was happy to add into the wording of the policy that the public consultation could be extended if the results were not sufficient to make a firm decision.

Resolved:

(1)   That the public consultation policy statement be agreed.

(2)   That consultations should take place for a minimum period of 6-weeks but preferably 8-weeks, exceptions to this would be where specific legislation stated a different consultation period, or when exceptional circumstances made it practically impossible to follow the 6-8 weeks, or where the relevant committee voted to extend it.

(3)   That the Swale Borough Council Councillors’ guide to consultations be agreed.

(4)   That the Swale Borough Council’s officer consultation toolkit be noted.

(5)   That the public guidance on consultations be agreed.