Leicester Regeneration Company (LRC) is one of the 20 urban regeneration companies promoted by the government to drive focussed and integrated regeneration in the towns and cities of England and Wales.

A public consultation is undertaken for each project LRC is involved in, with development documents outlining the proposed plans. Some consultations were carried out in collaboration with Leicester City Council.

The client felt that previous consultations had not reached enough people and they did not cater for minorities. When they needed to consult the public on a programme to create a New Community in Leicester, we were approached to help reach more people.

The city council was also planning a consultation on a larger area of the city, which would include the New Community.

The objectives of our involvement were

• To reach as many members of the local residential and business communities as possible.
• To communicate the positive aspects of the proposed developments.
• To coordinate with Leicester City Council to ensure both consultations ran smoothly.

Research

Discussions were held with LRC and the city council to coordinate the two consultations and to suggest what improvements could be made to increase public engagement.

Due to the diverse cultural backgrounds of Leicester residents, we consulted the city council on which languages to translate the information into and to ensure the appropriate interpreters were available.

Venues for a public display were researched to get the best spread of respondents, both geographically and demographically.

Planning

It was agreed that the two separate consultations should be combined so as to avoid public confusion. Each organisation was to receive all of the responses and extract the data relevant to them.

The plan was designed to reach the biggest range of people possible. A mix of the following was used:

• Posters
• Information leaflets and questionnaire
• Pull-out section in the Leicester Mercury, the main local paper, to include a questionnaire
• Staffed public exhibition
• Interpreters speaking six languages
• Large print versions of the leaflet
• Website and e-mail response mechanism
• Copies of the full documentation were available at various public buildings in the city
• Mailing of leaflet to all homes and businesses in the area covered by the consultation.

Two weeks before the consultation started, posters were posted in 50 locations around the city, giving times and locations of the public exhibitions.

A six-week programme of public displays was undertaken. In venues where a mix of different languages was spoken, interpreters were available.

The Leicester Mercury supplement was printed at the beginning of the consultation, outlining the proposals, where the exhibition stand would be and when it would be staffed. The supplement also carried the questionnaire. Extra copies were supplied by the publication for distribution on the stand.

Press releases were written and distributed to local print and broadcast media, including county press, announcing the consultation, the closing date for responses and then the results.

Results

A previous consultation undertaken by LRC and the city council only received 38 responses. The New Community consultation generated over 60 questionnaires, including a number of large print versions. Ten people wrote detailed responses covering several pages.

The exhibition stand proved invaluable in communicating with the public, with almost 500 people visiting on the days the stand was staffed. The website was also popular, with more than 1,200 hits over the consultation period.

Analysis of the results showed that 84 per cent of respondents thought the plans were worthwhile, with some saying they wanted work to start immediately.

Positive coverage was gained throughout the campaign in the press and on local radio.