The Council started by publishing a Climate Strategy Discussion document aimed at developing community interest, focusing on an overview of the scale of the challenge and the opportunities. This was supported through engagement webinars where attendees were encouraged to submit written input, providing flexibility for how people could choose to engage. The document created at these webinars (and summary) was published, and included what people felt the priorities should be and what they could do to support. In all, 181 people attended webinars, with 300 replay views, and 105 written responses received.
One key element of the engagement plan was to target the right people, including those harder to reach, and not simply aiming to provide statistically significant responses. Such an approach would then provide wider community feedback on potential issues, identifying themes and priorities, and helping to spot gaps, creating a draft Climate Strategy that reflected the whole community.
To capture views from as wide a demographic as possible the Council delivered webinars and face to face events with residents, schools and disability groups. To make people aware of the events they sent out notifications of the consultation to parish, town and city councils and partners including businesses, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and Wiltshire Climate Alliance, so that they could promote it among their networks.
Ensuring the consultation was accessible to everyone in the community was vital. So, they developed an easy read summary of the strategy and worked with Wiltshire Centre for Independent Living to develop the summary. They also promoted the consultation, offered assistance in completing it, and ran a session with a group of disabled people to get their views, which were integrated into the results.
They also aimed to reach those who couldn’t access the consultation online by putting posters in libraries, leisure centres and parish notice boards, and putting a copy of the strategy in every library, including mobile libraries. Public sessions were then held at four libraries allowing passers-by opportunities to ask questions. They also worked with libraries to create book displays related to climate change, which included posters directing people to the survey.
During the consultation the Council worked with all major local media to develop positive and wide-spread coverage, with stories covering the launch and the discussion it inspired. This was supported with a social media campaign called #WiltsCanDoThis, promoting the survey and its themes to encourage people to take individual action. This included using the media attention on COP26 to promote the Council’s involvement in the conference and to push key messages and garner attention for the survey.
The consultation lasted six weeks, and the cost was kept low by delivering virtual events, using emails, and creating electronic surveys and documents. The overall cost was less than £1,000, which paid for posters, a banner, and producing an Easy Read summary, which all came from the climate budget. This was possible due to the Council having expertise internally, so at a time when finances are challenging, this project was cost-effective, especially given the outcomes.