Power to the people

Helen Bidwell describes the way in which public consultation on the regeneration of the Merseyside Waterfront has led to the growth of social engagement.

Consultation with the public is no longer a matter of ticking boxes and rubber- stamping projects. A growing acceptance of the importance of in depth public consultation feeding true social values into the decision-making process, has been a key feature of government reforms over recent years. How this can be achieved and how it can be encouraged is not always clear. What happens, for example, when the consultation is taking place across more than one local authority boundary? How are useful recommendations reached? Do the public really know enough to inform some of the tough decisions that need to be made?

In the past, decision-makers have tended to shy away from giving the public an opportunity to play an active role in the regeneration of their environment. Thankfully, this is changing and this article will look at a partnership project in which the fear of giving over too much power, or losing control of the decision-making process has been overcome and that is now beginning to experience the benefits of true social engagement. The Mersey Partnership are placing public opinion at the heart of the Waterfront – a £60 million regeneration programme set to revitalise approximately 120km of coastline across four local authority areas of Halton, Sefton, Wirral and Liverpool over the next ten to fifteen years.

The aim of the consultation is two-fold: to ensure the needs of the local community are not overlooked in achieving the wider vision of the Waterfront, but are built into its foundation; and to act as a sounding board of public opinion, a resource for the Partnership Board as the programme develops. To meet this end four separate area based panels of sixteen people, commonly known as ‘The People’s Panels’ were established. These Panels come together over a period of four days, to review a number of proposed projects aimed at improving their area and the Mersey Waterfront as a whole. Four Panel sessions have now been completed, exploring a wide range of proposed projects that are at an early enough stage in the process, for suggestions to be integrated.

The rationale behind the People’s Panels is based on the international Citizens’ Jury concept – an innovative, educative method of public involvement that gives those involved the time and information they need to discuss issues in depth, and question the experts, resulting in informed, realistic conclusions and recommendations. The Panels are an important method of revealing people’s ideas. Throughout the four-day meeting Panel members are given training and support to help them feel comfortable in the meeting and understand the ‘bigger picture’, hearing from a number of expert speakers, working with facilitators to look at various Waterfront developments. Talking about the process one Panel Member said: ‘Before we met I never thought I would speak in front of other people but as the meeting went on I felt very at ease speaking out and putting my opinions forward. It was a challenge for everyone but we got loads out of it – the knowledge I have gained has surprised me.’

The members come from a wide range of backgrounds and age groups. For instance the Panel for South Sefton is made up of predominantly younger people aged between 16 and 30 years old; and the Liverpool Panel is made up of: students, an administration officer, a landscape photographer, an artist, a homemaker, a bank clerk, a project manager, a support worker, a carer, a poet / writer and a few members of the retired community.

The methods used to facilitate and ultimately run the meetings have changed as the process has developed through continuous evaluation. Site visits have now been built in and different deliberative activities are now an integral part of the meetings, aimed at creating understanding around more difficult issues, such as the barriers and constraints faced by project managers when deciding exactly how to spend their funding. The latter resulted in some entrepreneurial genius by the Young People’s Panel for South Sefton who, in order to lever more money in to enable them to develop their particular project, decided to introduce sponsorship and social business into the equation.

So what’s the end result and how useful is it? Each Panel have produced their own report containing a series of recommendations and conclusions that both the Mersey Waterfront and those involved in the regeneration of the coastline, can use to ensure their projects have the needs of the community at heart and are therefore sustainable, whether they are at the stage of refining their project proposal, implementation or maintenance.

The Development Manager for the Mersey Basin Campaign made time to attend three of the four Panel meetings and was surprised by the differences between each Panel in terms of the issues raised and the questions asked. He noted the fact that whilst being supportive of many of the proposals, the Panels refused to simply rubber stamp them and allow project managers to tick the box to say consultation is complete. He claims that feedback from Panel Members was extremely useful and informative and that it will form an important part of their business plan.

But does it end here? What’s next? Key to the success of the process and the continued involvement of the Panel Members is a desire to keep them up to date and on board through a continuous stream of feedback. Panel Members are sent reports from other area Panels and kept updated through the dissemination of articles and update bulletins. Each of the Panels have shown great enthusiasm as the process has moved along, many of the Panel Members have found that being involved has been a great learning experience for them as individuals. The majority of those involved had no previous experience of civic involvement. The special relationship local people have with the Waterfront has shone through each of the Panel meetings.

At the end of the meeting Panel Members were asked how they would like to be involved in the future? Rahila Ali aged 19, said: ‘I’d like to help make decisions about plans, do questionnaires and so on. I’d like to be involved on a regular basis and do voluntary work.’ Other Panel Members have gone on to join different regeneration groups in their local area and one would like to start up their own. What we need to do now is harness this feeling and turn it into practical action taking both the process and the people who are now experts on the Waterfront in their own right, to the next stage of development – active citizenship.

Helen Bidwell, Senior Project Manager, Vision 21 is responsible for the development of work around regeneration and neighbourhoods. She designed and project managed the Mersey Waterfront People’s Panel process.

For more information on this type of methodology and others please contact Helen on 0161 200 800, or email: top hb@visiontwentyone.nettop