PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT POLICY AND GUIDELINES Working Draft

February 2008

CONTENTS Foreword

2

How to use this guide

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Part One: About public engagement 1.1 What does public engagement mean to Transit?

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1.2 Drivers for engagement

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Part Two: Transit’s Public Engagement Policy

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Part Three: Guidelines for practice

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3.1 Guidelines for informing 3.2 Guidelines for consulting and involving

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Part Four: Resources 4.1 Guidelines for preparing communication plans

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4.2 Template for consultation/involvement plan

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4.3 Examples of Communication Tools

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4.4 Examples of Consultation and Involvement Tools

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4.5 Tips for preparing engagement documents

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4.6 Tips for analysing feedback

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4.7 Tips for preparing and undertaking evaluations

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4.8 Lessons learnt from other engagement processes

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Part Five: Appendices Appendix 1: IAP approach to Public Engagement

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Appendix 2: Public engagement requirements under the Land

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Transport Management Act 2003 and Resource Management Act 1991

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FOREWORD As the steward of New Zealand’s state highway network, Transit New Zealand’s (Transit) activities involve planning, designing, building, operating and maintaining the country’s strategic transport links. While transport is the currency of our business, what we actually deliver is mobility – mobility for workers, for businesses, for tourists, for all New Zealanders and their families. Impacting the daily lives of so many New Zealanders means their views, aspirations, and opinions about how we deliver that mobility is an important part of Transit’s business. While legislation requires us to respond to the needs and concerns of those affected by our decisions, it also makes sound business sense and is part of our responsibility as a good ‘corporate citizen’ serving New Zealand. For Transit, engagement means both informing people and stakeholders about decisions that Transit has made, and consulting with them as part of Transit’s decision-making process. By engaging New Zealanders, we make better-informed decisions, which help us improve our projects and deliver a responsive state highway network. We gain a better understanding of how people, communities and organisations are affected by our decisions and how we should balance our social, environmental and economic responsibilities. Equally, engagement helps New Zealanders make better decisions about transport and how it will affect their lives. For example, what mode of transport should people use to get to work? How will a proposed transport corridor affect their quality of life? Engagement also offers us a means to improve our stakeholders’ understanding of our business - the opportunities and constraints - and our role within the sector, especially in land use and transport planning of the country’s growing communities. Deciding when and how to engage the public requires judgment. While some issues and projects may otherwise be considered minor, their significant impacts demand public input. Similarly, major issues and projects may not warrant engagement, where their impacts are less considerable. This document sets out Transit’s engagement policy and provides guidance for deciding when and how to engage the public. It explains the steps involved and provides a number of engagement resources. This document needs to become the source book for everyone involved in informing, consulting and involving the public on Transit’s behalf. Rick van Barneveld Chief Executive

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HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE This document sets out Transit’s policy and guidelines on public engagement. It is intended to apply to all Transit staff and agencies that are involved in engaging with the public on Transit’s behalf, to ensure a nationally consistent approach. The public engagement policy and guidelines form Part One of Transit’s Public Engagement Manual. This manual also includes Transit’s Guidelines for Managing Stakeholder Relationships and Consultation with Maori, which details best practice principles for managing relationships with Maori stakeholders. The public engagement policy and guidelines also complement a number of other protocols, agreements and guidelines that Transit has in place for engaging with key stakeholders e.g. Transit’s Media Policy, Transit’s Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Conservation. Further information on these documents can be found on page 8 of this guide. When applying the public engagement policy and guidelines users should use professional judgement at all times and take into account local circumstances and contexts. While the policy provisions should be applied at all times, the guidelines are advisory and provided as an aid to planning and decision-making. The Transit Board retains final decision-making responsibility in respect of all public engagement activities. Furthermore this document does not apply when Transit is being consulted by an external agency e.g. as an affected party under the Resource Management Act 1991. In such instances, Transit’s Planning Policy Manual describes the applicable practices. The public engagement policy and guidelines are a working draft, and replace the draft Consultation Policy and Guidelines for Network Management and Improvement Projects (2003). Currently the document focuses mainly on public engagement in Transit’s project development and decision-making processes. In the future, more guidance will be provided on our day-to-day operations, ensuring people have timely, accurate information for use in their own decision-making processes. Transit welcomes comments on this document at any time. Any agency or individual wishing to provide comment is encouraged to do so by emailing [email protected] or writing to: National Standards Manager Transit New Zealand PO Box 5084 Wellington Transit is committed to continually improving its public engagement practices and processes. Transit uses what it learns from project reviews and evaluations to develop more effective public engagement plans, tools and techniques and to enhance public engagement outcomes.

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Part One: About Public Engagement

PART ONE: ABOUT PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT Deleted:

1.1

WHAT DOES PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT MEAN TO TRANSIT?

Simply, ‘public engagement’ refers to any time individuals, communities or organisations are involved or impacted by Transit decisions. There are two main ways we engage with people: i.

Informing Informing is mainly one-way communication, where Transit provide information to people about: • how a decision will impact individuals, communities and organisations e.g. by impacting on peoples’ travel plans; • particular issues; • key decision-making criteria that Transit will use to evaluate options; • options that Transit is considering; • decisions that Transit has made; • how the decision meets the decision-making criteria and solves the issues. Transit examples: Stakeholder surveys; notification of works on the highway; emergency repairs.

ii.

Consulting and Involving Consulting and involving is based on two-way communication. It includes informing as above, but also includes the opportunity for people to consider the information and respond with comments before a decision is made. You can choose to consult and involve people at different stages of the decision making process. For example, you may choose to get public feedback on different options that have been developed by Transit. Alternatively you may choose to ask people to contribute ideas throughout all stages of a decision making process, from defining the issues and the key criteria to be met, as well as developing possible solutions. Once a decision is made, you then need to inform people of that decision and how the solution met the criteria and solved the issue. Transit examples: policy development such as the Planning Policy Manual; tolling proposals; property acquisition; landowner access; obtaining resource consents and designations for state highway projects.

Transit supports the principles and approaches to public engagement promoted by the International Association for Public Participation (www.iap2.org). Refer to Appendix 1 for more information on the IAP philosophy. Public Engagement Manual – Part 1 Effective date: February 2008

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Part One: About Public Engagement

1.2

DRIVERS FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Transit’s activities impact on the lives of many New Zealanders. Transit therefore has a responsibility to ensure it understands and responds to the needs and concerns of the public we serve. Engaging with the public is an integral part of Transit’s business and is an essential part of being a good corporate citizen. Deciding when to engage The decision to engage the public in a decision-making process is largely a matter of judgment. In determining whether to inform and/or consult with the public you need to: •

Determine the legal requirements In some cases Transit is required by legislation to engage with the public. In particular, the Land Transport Management Act 2003 (LTMA) requires Transit to consult on: 10-year State Highway Forecast; activities likely to affect Maori land, or Maori historical, cultural or spiritual interests; toll projects; and concession agreements. While it is not mandatory to consult under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) when obtaining consents or designations, it is considered good practice and is often an essential part of an Assessment of Environmental Effects. See Appendix 2 for more information on Transit’s legal consultation requirements. Make sure you check Transit’s legal obligations to consult and/or inform the public. If you are unclear, you may need legal advice.

•

Assess the risk Comprehensive public engagement is needed where decision-making and actions will affect significant numbers of people, where public interest in the issue is high and/or where the likely solutions are controversial. In deciding when to engage you will need to assess the risks by considering: who is most likely to be affected by the issue – what kinds of people, how many people, how actively they might support or oppose different solutions e.g. neighbouring residents v all regional transport users. how complex is the information you are communicating – how much explanation is required? e.g. resealing project v tolling project to what degree could people be affected by Transit’s decisions or actions – are impacts minor or significant?

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Part One: About Public Engagement

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what are public reactions likely to be – is it likely to cause significant public reaction? what is the likely level of political and media interest – is it likely to be front page news for days or of little interest? how useful will public input be to Transit – does Transit know a lot about the affected community? Is the decision predetermined - are there little or no options?

• Look for the gains While identifying the potential risks is a key driver you also need to evaluate the potential positive gains from engaging with the public. As a general rule, it is desirable to engage the public where you have an opportunity: to improve relationships, especially with communities and other stakeholders; to improve stakeholder and community awareness and understanding of Transit’s decision making processes or business; to follow good practice e.g. consultation to help fulfil Resource Management Act expectations; and to generate positive media coverage for Transit. When not to consult/involve: It’s not always appropriate to consult or involve the public in Transit’s decisionmaking process, such as when: Transit has already made the decision or where the decision is apparent Transit already know the views and preferences of the affected parties and these have been accurately recorded the costs of public engagement far outweigh the benefits a quick decision is needed, for example in emergencies.

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Part Two: Transit’s Public Engagement Policy

PART TWO: POLICY

TRANSIT’S

PUBLIC

ENGAGEMENT

Background Transit New Zealand (Transit) balances many issues and the views of a range of parties when making decisions on state highway activities and priorities. Effective engagement with the public enables Transit to understand and respond to the needs and preferences of individuals, communities and stakeholders. Public Engagement Policy Transit will determine the need for and scope of public engagement depending on the potential social, environmental and economic impacts of the decision to be made, the level of public interest, previous relevant engagement, statutory requirements and the extent to which engagement can influence the decision. Transit demonstrates its commitment to good practice public engagement by: 1. Providing genuine opportunities for public contributions Transit plans its public engagement at an early stage in any decision making process and ensures there is adequate time and resources for quality engagement. Transit remains genuinely open to public input throughout the public engagement process and considers carefully public input in its decision-making. 2. Ensuring people are informed Transit communicates clearly the public engagement purpose and process, the decisions to be made and how public input can influence those decisions. Transit provides sufficient, accurate and objective information to encourage considered responses. Following the decision, Transit ensures people are informed in an accurate, objective and timely manner about decisions that affect them. 3. Adopting an inclusive and representative approach to public engagement Transit encourages contributions from all affected parties and uses a variety of methods tailored to the needs of participants. Transit recognises the special relationship of Maori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, water, sites, waahi tapu and other taonga. Transit works proactively with people to build effective working relationships. 4. Maintaining high professional public engagement standards Transit staff and agents seek to understand and respect the needs, views and concerns of individuals engaged and to demonstrate integrity. Transit ensures public engagement is led and managed by Transit staff and agents with appropriate skills.

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Part Three: Guidelines for Practice

PART THREE: GUIDELINES FOR PRACTICE This part of the guide provides advice on the actions you need to undertake for the two most common levels of engagement in Transit’s business: • informing; and • consulting and involving.

Guidelines on informing are provided on pages 9-10 of this guide. Guidelines on consulting and involving are provided on pages 11-22. See page 4 to understand how informing differs from consulting and involving.

OTHER TRANSIT DOCUMENTS TO CONSIDER In addition to this guide, process requirements and guidelines on public engagement are also contained in other Transit documents, including: • • • • •

• •

Transit media contact policy (Corporate Services Manual – Subsection 05A) Transit visual style guidelines (refer to the Manual section of Transit’s website) Transit’s memoranda of understanding with stakeholders e.g. OnTrack, Department of Conservation Guidelines for Stakeholder Consultation (Project Management Manual SM011 – Section 6) Transit’s protocols for managing communication with government agencies, local councillors, Government Ministers and Ministers of Parliament (refer Strategic Support Team at National Office). Guidelines for Managing Stakeholder Relationships and Consultation with Maori (Part II of Transit’s Public Engagement Manual). State Highway Control Manual (SM012) e.g. Appendix 1H Iwi consultation requirements when seeking an Order in Council to declare motorway

You may need to check all these information sources when you preparing and undertaking public engagement.

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Part Three: Guidelines for Practice: Informing

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GUIDELINES FOR INFORMING

While you should always be prepared and provide for people to ask questions about the information you provide, this level of engagement is essentially one-way. That is, Transit is telling people something that it is important for them to know. USING A COMMUNICATIONS PLAN As with other types of engagement, to be successful in informing the public, you need to plan what, how and when you are going to inform. The basis for planning any communication is five key questions: • Who needs to know? • What do they need to know? • How do we tell them? • When do they need to know? • What do you want them to do as a result of the communication? You can use a communications plan format to plan your activity. See pages 23-25 of the Resources Section of this guide for advice on preparing and implementing a communications plan. This resource takes you through the stages of: • • • • •

• •

identifying your target audience – looking at who needs to know and also where they may stand on your issue setting your objectives – identifying what you want to achieve through engagement identifying the risks and issues – looking at internal and external factors that will influence the success of communication working out your key message – the main information people need to know selecting your communications tools - identifying the communications tools that will be effective in reaching your target audience. See pages 28-29 of the Resources Section for examples of communication tools. implementing your plan – your action plan of what needs to be done and when monitoring the results – evaluating the success of your engagement and whether you need to do more.

In all cases, where you are informing the public you need to plan communication for both the front end of the exercise and then the follow up once the issue had been resolved or the decision made. PREPARING COMMUNICATION MATERIAL See pages 33-34 of the Resources section for tips on preparing engagement documents, including communication documents. Public Engagement Manual – Part 1 Effective date: February 2008

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Escalation While informing is largely a one-way communications exercise, it’s likely that once the public have learnt about your issue, some people will contact Transit to ask questions or to seek more information. You need to plan ahead for this likelihood. Preparing a question and answer fact sheet will be enough for most follow up enquiries. Transit has a protocol for the handling of enquiries from other government agencies, local councillors and Government ministers and MPs or their staff. Pass on any enquiries you receive from these people to your Transit manager, who will need to contact Transit’s Strategic Support Team at National Office. Also pass on any enquiries from local iwi. Transit may have in place a protocol with the particular iwi that needs to be followed.

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Part Three: Guidelines for Practice: Consulting and Involving

3.2

GUIDELINES FOR CONSULTING AND INVOLVING

Consulting and involving requires two-way communication. People, communities and organisations need to be inspired to contribute ideas and comments that will inform Transit’s decision-making process. Careful planning, implementation, and analysis are required to make sure that consultation and involvement is a success for both Transit and the public. For some projects you may be required to consult and involve at various stages of the project development process e.g. strategic study, scheme assessment reports (SAR), resource consent, detailed design phases. The following principles should be applied every time you consult and involve the public on a Transit decision. If consultation begins at the pre-feasibility report phase you will also need to think about how the engagement processes will be carried on and how public feedback will be used through the investigation and reporting and design phases.

The stages to consulting and involving There are five steps you need to follow when consulting and involving.

1. Scope What are you trying to achieve by doing this?

Clarify the Transit decision to be made. Set objectives. Appoint the public engagement team.

How are you going to do this?

Identify the community of interest, determine timeframes and techniques, consider communication plans and support, develop feedback analysis and evaluation methodologies.

3. Implement

Is the process following the plan? Modify where necessary.

2. Plan

How will the plan be implemented?

4. Analyse & respond to feedback

Analyse feedback for decision makers. Communicate decisions and the influence of public input.

5. Evaluate

Evaluate the effectiveness of public engagement.

How will you measure success?

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Step one: Scope 1. Identify the decision makers Are there different decision makers at different points in the process e.g. is it the Transit Board, General Management Team, a project manager, and/or the environmental manager? What is the process for decision-making? For example, with tolling projects Transit needs to submit a toll proposal (including consultation outcomes) to the Ministry of Transport. The Minister of Transport then needs to recommend an Order in Council for approval by the Governor General. Each stage therefore has different decision makers. You need to involve the decision makers in: • defining the issues and the decision to be made • setting the objectives for public engagement • deciding how the public will be involved 2. Clarify the decision to be made Everyone involved in the decision making process needs to understand what the decision is about. If the problem or decision to be made is not clearly defined your efforts in the engagement process are not likely to produce useful information. Be especially clear about: • what is a ‘given’ e.g. what are the engineering, environmental and legal constraints/conditions that may limit potential solutions • what decisions have already been made • what can be negotiated Don’t frame the problem in terms of its solution, for example: “Should Transit widen Highway X between Intersection A and Intersection B?” Instead, use an open-ended approach: “How can we reduce the number of accidents occurring on Highway X between Red City and Blue Town?” You can consult on a preferred solution - as long as you clearly define the problem, for example: “Is widening Highway X between Intersection A and Intersection B the best way to reduce accidents between Red City and Blue Town?” “Should tolling be used to bring forward the completion of the Western Ring Route?” Public Engagement Manual – Part 1 Effective date: February 2008

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It can also be helpful to clarify why Transit prefers a particular solution, for example: “Is widening Highway X between Intersection A and Intersection B the most cost effective, socially acceptable and environmentally sustainable way to reduce accidents between Red City and Blue Town?” 3. Set your objectives Your objectives should set out: • what you want to achieve through consultation and involvement • what information you want to convey and to whom • how the public can influence the decision i.e. how will the consultation outcome influence the decision? • what kind of public feedback will be useful? Examples of consultation objectives from the Western Ring Route Toll Consultation project: - To increase public awareness of the consultation process - To provide balanced and objective information to the public on: o The decision to be made by Transit and their role in providing input to that decision; o The WRR and the benefits it will provide in reducing traffic congestion in Auckland; o The need for additional funding to bring forward the opening to 2015; o The advantages and disadvantages of tolling as a means of funding borrowing; o The specific tolling concept Transit is proposing as a way to deliver sufficient funding in an affordable way, with feasible untolled alternatives. - To provide opportunities for our stakeholders and the public to discuss our information so they better understand its complexity. - To listen to the aspiration, concerns and issues stakeholders have around Transits tolling concept with respect and consider them with an open mind. - To encourage stakeholders and the public to response to our information in a way that can be summarised usefully. - To provide accurate, reliable and useful summary information to assist the Boards decision making process. - To provide feedback to stakeholders and the public on Transits decision and how their input was used in decision making. - To meet the requirements of the LTMA.

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4. Identify the preliminary list of issues and stakeholders What are the key issues? How challenging or controversial are they? Who are the stakeholders? Who should participate in the process? What are their interests? What should their roles be in the process? What is their relationship with Transit? This information will be further developed during the planning phase. 5. Appoint the public engagement team Depending on the size of the project, you may need to appoint a team to help with public engagement. The more complex the consultation, the more likely it is you will need skilled people to assist. In some cases it is useful to include external people on the team who can provide valuable ideas and perspectives, and who may add validity to the decision-making. Consider representatives from road user groups, local authorities, or other organisations. Where you involve outside team members make sure they are clear about their role, that is, that it is a Transit decision-making process. Appoint a public engagement manager Make one person responsible for the engagement process. Often this is the project manager. But any team member can hold the position as long as they have the necessary skills and experience, knowledge and attitude to carry out the engagement effectively.

STEP ONE: SCOPE Key points to consider: •

Consult or involve the public only where there’s a decision to be made. Engage the public on a problem or decision not a project per se.

•

Ensure the final decision-maker approves the decisions and objectives that you are engaging the public on.

•

Follow the basic steps: - Identify the decision maker - Clarify the decision that is to be made - Set objectives - Ensure Transit decision-makers have approved the description of the problem to be solved, the decision statement and objectives. - Appoint a team with the relevant skills and experience, knowledge and attitudes - Be clear about the roles each party will play in the engagement process

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Step two: Plan A well thought out consultation plan will help you keep your engagement process on track. For a ‘minor’ or low-impact decision the consultation plan may be quite simple, perhaps less than one page. For a ‘major’ or high impact decision the plan may need to be detailed and extensive. If you are engaging people early in the project process the engagement plan should also consider each subsequent phase of the project e.g. engagement requirements in the investigation and design phases. Template for consultation/involvement plans See pages 26-27 of the Resources section of this guide for a consultation/involvement plan template. The first part of the template uses information prepared in the scoping stage (step 1). The rest of the template is based on the following information.

1. Identify the community of interest You need to scope the community of interest for your problem or decision. Importantly, a community is not a single entity. Many individuals, organisations and groups with different values, different needs and different levels of interest and knowledge make up a community. You must include those who are directly affected by the issue or decision. However, how much you involve others depends on the scope, size and significance of the decision. For example, where a decision is minor or local in impact you can contain public engagement to people directly affected. For decisions of major scope or size or with major impact you will need to extend engagement to a wider community of interest. You will also need to consider whether you are required by legislation to engage with certain stakeholders (see Appendix 2 for LTMA requirements). See page 26 of the Resources section (Part 5 of the consultation template) for a list of likely people and organisations you may need to engage with. You should also check Transit’s Stakeholder Relationship Management System database for information on Maori Stakeholders (refer Part 2 of Transit’s Public Engagement Manual). You can also check with local and regional councils for their community group information. It’s important to clearly identify at the start of the engagement process all the parties likely to be affected to ensure you avoid providing grounds for legal challenges. Public Engagement Manual – Part 1 Effective date: February 2008

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What you need to learn about your community of interest As a minimum, you should understand: • social demographics (e.g. ethnicity, age, socio-economic status) • the economic, environmental, social and cultural pressures that affect various community members • people (e.g. known community leaders) and organisations (e.g. churches or media) who are influential on the thoughts and actions of the community and can motivate the community to react • how people perceive or experience the character and quality of the environment potentially affected by the Transit decision • the values of the community and what is important to members • the visibility of the problem and potential solutions • geographical spread of effects (e.g. does a decision that may involve a road realignment have wider effects on the catchment?). For significant projects consider whether the scoping of community interests should be extended to a social impact report. This would enable a more detailed analysis of the factors listed above. Do try to think ‘outside the square’ about who should be engaged. Don’t keep the engagement focused too tightly to reduce your effort and cost. Any saving you make will be far outweighed if groups you leave out early on later seek to be included.

2. Determine tools to consult and involve the public When choosing tools to consult and involve the public, think about: • the nature of the project and the appropriate level of public engagement or impact (decided in the scoping phase) • the likely impact of the decision on the community • the nature of stakeholder and community interest, including cultural and socioeconomic factors. Do you need to consult separately with Maori? • the engagement objectives. See also pages 30-32 of the Resources section for examples of different consultation and involvement tools. See also pages 33-34 of the Resources section for tips on preparing engagement documents, such as public submission forms and information sheets.

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Choose engagement tools that are the most effective for least cost to all Remember that the community, not just Transit, incurs cost during public engagement. You need to assess these costs over the whole of the decision process, not just the early planning phase.

3. Consider communications support All consultation and involvement will use some form of communication. You need to consider both ‘communication out’ – what Transit needs to tell people, and ‘communication in’ – how you will provide opportunities for people to feedback on the information received, technical concepts suggested, proposals made, issues raised and concerns. Drafting a formal communication plan, as part of a consultation plan, can help you to decide what, how and when you are going to provide people with information. The higher the risk and public interest in a matter, the more likely it is that a communications plan will be required as part of your consultation process. See pages 23-25 of the Resources section of this guide for advice on preparing a communications plan.

4. Determine budgets, resources and timeframes Make sure you allow sufficient time in your plan for all steps of the consultation/involvement process. Be realistic in setting your timeframes. Use your discretion – the objective is to achieve meaningful engagement. If your timeframe is too short it is unlikely that the output can influence the decision. If it’s too long, the public can lose interest and become frustrated that no decision is evident. If only a few landowners are affected, the timeframe may be relatively short. You may simply need to provide affected parties with access to the information and an opportunity to respond. A few meetings or a workshop may be enough. For activities involving major change or sensitive issues you need to provide for a more formal process. The timeframe will depend on the complexity of the activity and the number of people involved. You may also need to provide a longer engagement period where the decision requires input from Maori.

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Choose your timetable sensibly • Avoid scheduling consultation during times of importance to the public (e.g. festivals, holidays, etc). • Don’t expect to consult and involve the public actively between mid December and late January. • Be prepared to be flexible around such national activities as government elections (central and local), and international sporting competitions that affect many people.

When estimating budgets and costs, you may need to include publication and distribution costs, meeting costs, any external facilitators, interpreters, analysts, and data entry. 5. Develop a process for analysing feedback Make sure you have a process in place to analyse the submissions/feedback you will receive. You need to decide: • How the feedback will be recorded • Who will be responsible for the analysis • How the feedback will be analysed and reported to decision makers. Remember its important to make sure that public responses/feedback are analysed and presented in a way that relates to the decision statement. How respondents and/or the general public will be advised about the final • decision. 6. Establish processes for monitoring For complex processes you may need to think about how you make sure the consultation and communication plans are being implemented. Do you have the resources to ensure this can be achieved? 7. Establish evaluation methodology Evaluation of consultation and involvement is an important part of the decision making process. It offers a valuable opportunity for Transit to benefit from lessons learned. Plan the evaluation process as part of your consultation and involvement plan to guard against time pressures and to ensure more than just the obvious factors are included. Pages 36-38 of the Resources section provide you with a guide for preparing and undertaking the evaluation. Public Engagement Manual – Part 1 Effective date: February 2008

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STEP TWO: PLAN Key points to consider: •

Prepare a consultation and involvement plan and consider the development of a communications plan.

•

Research affected stakeholders and communities of interest so Transit understands their values, interests and issues.

•

Plan to start consultation and involvement early. Allow the requirements of a sound and respectful engagement process to influence the timetable of the project.

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Step three: Implement Transit expectations when consulting and involving the public When consulting and involving the public, either directly (through workshops and meetings) or indirectly (through letters, brochures, reports and advertisements) make sure you: Do •

act in accordance with approved consultation/involvement and communication plans and relevant Transit’s policies. listen to what people are saying and ask for more information about any ideas or suggestions from the public keep an open mind and genuinely consider their views and concerns focus on the decision you are engaging the public about and the relevant objectives respect the cultural diversity and traditions of the different groups acknowledge and validate concerns raised by members of the public take alternative suggestions seriously maintain impartiality respect local values and local knowledge

• • • • • • • • Don’t • • • • •

talk about the project as if it’s ‘done deal’ make it difficult for people to get information about the proposal close down discussions on alternative solutions prematurely allow yourself to be personally captured by a particular group become defensive about Transit’s concepts or ideas

Ensure a Transit ‘face’ A Transit project manager should lead any initial face-to-face contact and other key engagement events. Also, the more controversial the issue, the more important it is for Transit to lead or attend engagement events addressing those issues.

STEP THREE: IMPLEMENT Key points to consider: •

Ensure the public know that their views and preferences will be considered alongside technical and expert advice, as well as environmental, social and financial considerations.

•

Keep an active database of participants.

•

Encourage decision-makers to participate in the community engagement activities.

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Step four: Analyse and Respond to Feedback 1. Acknowledge each contribution You must acknowledge the contribution made by people providing input. You need to inform them: • that their views will be considered during analysis • of the date a decision will be made • the process from that point onward. Acknowledge all written submissions in writing and provide that response within a reasonable timeframe. 2. Analyse feedback It is important to ensure that you collate and analyse public feedback in a way that is useful to decision-makers. See page 35 of the Resources section for guidance on collating and analysing public feedback. 3. Communicate Transit’s final decision and the impact of public input When you seek input from people you create an expectation that their input will have some influence on your decision. Once Transit has made the decision you need to complete the engagement process by telling people what the decision is, how their input influenced that decision, and any other information they need to know. In all cases, but particularly where the outcome does not reflect the public’s views, you need to show that Transit has: • listened to public input • understood public aspirations, issues and concerns • considered public views with an open-mind. 4. Provide specific feedback to participants Provide feedback to participants about the summary of responses received, including: • how public feedback influenced the decision/proposal • the reasons for the decision made • issues raised by those engaged • the next steps from here. It may be more appropriate to directly inform those most affected by the decision, and those who actively participated in the decision making process e.g. by letter, email, or talking to them directly. You can use less direct methods for others like public notices and articles in the local media.

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Part Three: Guidelines for Practice on Consulting and Involving Scope

Plan

Implement

Analyse & Respond

Evaluate

STEP FOUR: ANALYSE AND RESPOND Key points to consider •

Provide timely and accurate information about the decision Transit has made

•

Ensure all participants in the process are provided personally with information where possible (mail and email in large projects, phone calls in small ones.)

•

Ensure engagement feedback is analysed in a way that reflects the needs of the decision-makers .

Step five: Evaluate Evaluating consultation and involvement processes in accordance with a previously agreed evaluation frameworks is a critical part of the engagement process. See pages 36-38 of the Resources section for a step-by-step guide to the evaluation process.

STEP FIVE: EVALUATE KEY POINTS TO CONSIDER •

Evaluation is mostly about organisational learning and increasing the capability of Transit in planning and undertaking professional and effective public engagement projects.

•

Transit’s Policy and Guidelines on Public Engagement will benefit from the ongoing evaluation of public engagement projects. They will be modified and improved through the learning that occurs.

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Part Four: Resources

PART FOUR: RESOURCES 4.1 GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING COMMUNICATION PLANS There are six steps you need to follow in planning communications.

1. Target audiences

Who needs to know? What do they know or think about the issue.

2. Objectives

What do you want to achieve through informing? What do you want your audience to do as a result of the communication?

3. Risk & Issues

What are the risks/issues that Transit would face? What risks or issues might end up in media or have political implications?

4. Key messages

What do you need to tell the key audiences? What information do you want the audience to be aware of?

5. Tools

What tools are the most effective to communicate with your key audiences? What tools are most effective for the media to pick up? What resources will you need?

6. Implementation

7. Monitoring

What needs to be done? Who’s going to do it? When are they going to do it?

Is the communication working? Are you making progress? Do you need to do more?

These steps are further explained on pages 24-25.

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Part Four: Resources

Step one: Identify your target audiences See page 26 of the Resources section (Part 5 of the consultation template) for a list of likely people and organisations you may need to engage with. You should also check Transit’s Stakeholder Relationship Management System database for information on Maori Stakeholders (refer Part 2 of Transit’s Public Engagement Manual). You’ll be more successful in engaging the public if you can evaluate what each audience’s existing thoughts, view or ideas on your issue might be. For example, if you know a special interest group is strongly opposed to your likely decision, this will influence what your messages are and how you communicate with them. Step two: Set your objectives Identify what you want to achieve through your communication. Examples of objectives include: • improve peoples’ understanding of an issue - like Transit’s policy on highway stopping places. • let people know about innovations – such as electronic messaging, ramp signalling • warn people of an event – such as flooding, a road closure, upcoming maintenance works • get people to change their behaviour – use alternative routes, alternative transport , travel at different times – to avoid or reduce problems on the road • explain different plan options to determine peoples’ preference, identify their willingness to pay. Step three: Risks and Issues It is important that you are prepared for those difficult questions people might have about your project and/or information you are providing. While it is important to identify risks and issues, it is also critical that you think about how can you mitigate those risks i.e. what answers are you likely to give if you are asked about them. Often thinking about risks informs the key messages. Step four: Determine your key messages Bombarding people with lots of detail is not good communication. You need to condense your information into preferably no more than three to five key messages. All your communication should then be crafted around these messages. This condensing can be challenging – getting the balance between being brief and to the point and providing sufficient information. But making the effort results in a much greater chance that people will understand your issue more clearly and quickly. You Public Engagement Manual – Part 1 Effective date: February 2008

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Part Four: Resources

can always provide additional information by way of background fact sheets for those people who are more interested or who have further questions. Step five: Select your communications tools Knowing a little about your key audiences is very helpful when deciding what communication tools to use. In many cases you’ll need to use several tools. Where your decision is a one-off event that affects a smaller, localised population – such as a neighbourhood – you might want to consider a letter box flier combined with a public notice in the local newspaper. For more complex and ongoing issues you might instead consider a series of newsletters, brochures, public meetings, open days and feature articles in the media. See the examples of communications tools on page 28-29 of the Resources section. Also see pages 33-34 of the Resources section for tips on preparing engagement documents. At this stage you will need to decide what your timeframes are, and what resources and budget you will need. You need to consider these requirements carefully as they can become a significant component of your project costs. SIGN OFF Make sure you involve the regional/national Communications Team when preparing your communications plan. You will also need to get sign off on the plan from your Transit Manager. Step six: Implement your communications To serve any useful purpose the timing of the communication needs to be carefully considered. People need to have enough time to understand the information before being impacted by your decisions. Some people may have further questions they need answered. In other cases, for example where you’re informing people of a road closure, people need sufficient time to make alternative arrangements but not so far in advance that they forget they are taking place. Think about the impacts from your key audiences’ points of view Step seven: Monitor Monitoring the success of communications helps you to identify whether you are meeting your objectives or whether further communication is necessary. The mechanisms you can put place to measure include: • • •

Phone logs of questions received from the public following distribution of the information Keeping a track of media coverage on the issue e.g. clippings, talkback monitoring Formal or informal research of target audience.

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Part Four: Resources

4.2 TEMPLATE FOR CONSULTATION/INVOLVEMENT PLAN This template includes all matters that are likely to need to be addressed when you are planning consultation and involvement. Use these headings, as appropriate, for the written plan that you will produce. The complexity of the project will determine the level of detail you need to provide. In some instances you may not need to include a lot of detail, just the overview. Key Sections 1. Context

Guidance notes Provide a brief overview of the project. Describe the issues that have led to the consultation, what work is already being done. Outline risks for Transit proceeding, or not proceeding with consultation, advantages and opportunities from consultation. Also consider the political environment. Is a legal opinion necessary? If so has one been sought? What was it?

2. Decision Statement

What is the key decision to be made by the decision maker?

3. Consultation Objectives

Describe your consultation objectives. For instance, why are you consulting? What ideas and information you want to convey and to whom? What criteria or constraints will apply to the decisions to be made?

4. Identify the Transit Team

Who is the project manager? Is there a separate consultation manager? Is a consultant involved? What is the reporting arrangement?

5. Identify the community of interest

For Transit this is likely to include a combination of affected people and organisations: • Directly affected parties, which include owners and occupiers of land to which the proposal relates, adjacent/near by owners and occupiers. • Maori Stakeholders • Parties with whom Transit has made agreements to consult, including through a Memorandum of Understanding e.g. Department of Conservation, NZ Historic Places Trust. • Transport user representation groups e.g.. AA, Road Transport Forum, walking and cycling groups. • Utility providers whose services or networks may be affected by the proposal • Institutions such as schools, hospitals or businesses that may be affected by a project. • Emergency services • Local authorities • Other government agencies e.g. Ministry of Transport. • Members of Parliament and local body politicians for both the project area and any affected communities; • Tourism sector • Freight sector

6. Tools

Describe the tools you will use to involve and consult. Is separate consultation required with Maori? If so, who to approach, accessibility requirements, number and locations of hui planned and how these can fit in with other meetings.

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Part Four: Resources Key Sections

Guidance notes For major consultations you may choose to attach the submission, pamphlets, question and answer pages or other resources that are to be prepared to publicise and explain the main document(s).

7. Communications support

Consider how information will be communicated to communities of interest. If required, prepare and attach a communications plan detailing how communication will be undertaken.

8. Budget, Resources and Timeframes

What resources are available? What Transit or other personnel can assist? What are their skills? Make sure you allow sufficient time in your plan for the various steps, including: • preparing information and selecting appropriate engagement techniques • allowing people sufficient time to understand the material, ask questions, challenge the assumptions and prepare considered responses. • preparing for and facilitating the events, including locating venues and organising meetings • summarising and analysing input • meeting statutory timeframes.

9. Analysis of feedback 10. Feedback to interested parties

Explain how public feedback will be recorded, analysed, by whom, and when this will occur. Say when and how Transit will respond to people who have provided feedback.

11. Monitoring the process

What steps are proposed to measure the aims against the methods used?

12. Evaluation

Describe what you will measure, whether it is to be an internal only or internal plus external evaluation and who will be responsible for managing the evaluation.

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Part Four: Resources

4.3 EXAMPLES OF COMMUNCIATION TOOLS Some examples of communication tools are listed below, together with a summary of advantages and disadvantages. This list is not exhaustive – it is merely a starting point for you to consider. Be aware that when you are preparing these documents you will need to consider other Transit requirements e.g. Visual Style guidelines (refer page 8 of this guide for more information). TOOL

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

• Brief and to-the-point • Quick and economic production • Transit has control over communication • Good for small localised communication

• Limited space in documents for detail

• Size allows more detail/explanation than fliers • Good for presenting illustrations • Good for providing staged information over time. Can build a profile over time. • Transit has control over communication

• Longer production time than fliers

Public notices in newspapers

• Formal notice of decisions • Transit has control over communication • Can be used to meet Transit’s legal requirements for public notification

• Limited space for anything but the facts • Public notice section not widely read by general public

Media Releases

• Offers wide reach to many different audiences • Quick to organise • Can be used for regional or nationwide communication • Good for getting message out quickly

• No control over what is published or aired • Can ‘open the door’ to opposing coverage

• Summary of facts and background information • Transit has control over communication • Useful for making additional information available.

•

• Useful resource to answer commonly asked questions. • Can be used to provide additional background information • Useful for keeping Transit people/ spokespeople briefed on issues.

• Need to be aware of distributing sensitive questions and answers

Letters/fliers

Newsletters

Fact sheets

Question and Answer sheets

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Not applicable for all audiences i.e. risk of information overload.

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TOOL Website posts

Signs/Billboards

Open days/site visits

Advertorials and adverts Face to face (e.g. door

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

• Can either use Transit’s existing website or create a link on Transit’s site. • Transit has control over communication • Provides quick/real time updates

• Passive – depends on people seeking information.

• Building visual presence • Good for wide spread exposure, awareness raising

• Can be expensive • Requires planning in advance • Not suitable for complex information

• Opening sites to the public so they can see projects underway or once completed • Provides promotional opportunities • Improves the public’s understanding by seeing the issues • Builds stakeholder relationships • Builds community relationships

• Requires: - major organisation and resources - long lead times • Potential for difficult and unexpected questions • Requires good understanding of community to determine effective locations, operating hours etc

• Transit has control over communication - Gets the messages out that you want

• •

• Ensures that the right messages get to the right audience • More personal

• Limited audience • Takes more time

• More personal • Information can be received by the audience straightaway

• Reaches only certain audiences that use social media

Involves certain cost Needs to be booked in advance

knocking) Social media (e.g. blogs, podcasts)

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4.4 EXAMPLES OF CONSULTATION AND INVOLVEMENT TOOLS There is a wide range of methods for consulting and involving people. Each method has different advantages and disadvantages. The choice of methods should be based on the nature of the project, the likely impact on affected parties and the nature of the stakeholder and community interest. In many instances, it is likely that more than one method will be used. The following table summarises some common tools for consulting and involving people. A more detailed analysis of different tools is available on the IAP2 website - www.iap2.org & www.iap2.org/associations/4748/files/06Dec_Toolbox.pdf.

TOOL One on one meetings

Meeting with invited interest groups

Charettes

Focus groups & Deliberative Feedback

Open days /information centres

Survey Research

ADVANTAGES…

DISADVANTAGES…

• Good for small number of affected parties • Provides informal opportunity to understand issues • Can require less preparation than other tools

• Can only be used with limited number of people • Risk of negative response if trust not engendered by spokesperson • Need to be careful not to raise expectations about outcome

• Some confidence that views expressed more likely to represent defined interest group • Relatively low cost • Can engage with people in their own “territory”

• Potential for interest group to unduly influence outcomes, compared to wider community • Greater need for good facilitator

• Intensive sessions where participants design project features – participants can include technical experts, community representatives, elected members etc. • Best used to foster creative ideas. • Promotes joint problem solving and creative thinking. • Depth of information allows very detailed understanding of issues • Potential to provide “better informed” responses • Members selected randomly and typically selected to reflect characteristics of wider community of interest. • Example: Western Ring Route Deliberative feedback mechanism (DFM)

• Participants may not be seen as representative by larger public • Requires highly skilled facilitators

• Information is easily accessible to public • Can create a non-confrontational environment to raise issues

• Relatively expensive, time consuming • Requires good understanding of community to determine effective locations, operating hours etc

• Formal approach designed to provide a representative view of the opinions/needs etc of a defined

• Can be difficult to effectively capture qualitative information • Relatively high cost

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• Labour and time intensive • Relatively higher cost • Potential for “capture” – requires highly skilled moderators/ facilitators

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TOOL

Postal submission forms/ questionnaires

Public Meeting

ADVANTAGES…

DISADVANTAGES…

population. • Confidence that sample is statistically representative • Quantitative information can be easier to analyse • Statistical margin of error can be calculated

• Those surveyed may not have fully understood the issues

• Relatively low cost • Generally generates greater number of responses than through formal survey process • Useful to access large numbers of people • Professional advise can be sought to eliminate unintended bias in questionnaire • Useful forum to introduce staff and agents. • Relatively low cost • People are consulted in their own “territory” • Opportunity for “face to face” engagement.

• Requires careful consideration to ensure questions are not biased, and illicit appropriate responses • Sample may be biased towards those with more time to respond • Greater potential for capture by those with greater interest in issue • Little control over who and how many attend • Potential to be “captured” by interest groups • Require skilled facilitator - easy to get sidetracked onto other issues. • Limited opportunity to discuss details

An analysis of these consultation and involvement tools by target audience is presented on page 32.

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Meetings with individuals 8 Not suitable for accessing the whole community

Meetings with specific groups 8 Doesn’t represent the whole community

Directly affected parts of the community

8 Not suitable for dealing with groups

Key Stakeholders

9 Enables key stakeholder issues to be addressed but can be time consuming 9 Yes to deal with individual issues

V Likely to be more focussed than a public meeting but may not resolve issues. 9 Small group consultation May be effective.

9 Directly affected parties are often more willing than the whole community to attend focus groups V Similar to meetings with specific groups, but focus may be too broad to address key stakeholders issues

9 ‘Fireside’ meetings with small groups of property owners can work well.

8 More geared for identifying issues from a wider group

The whole community

Directly affected property owners

8 V

9 Best option understanding issues

for the

Open Houses /Information Days/Field offices 9 Can provide information in a constructive nonconfrontational environment

Survey Research

Postal/published questionnaires

Public Meetings

V Can provide a representative view of attitudes. Not good at capturing needs and desires.

8 Poor response from busy/uninterested sectors

9 Good first contact point.. Not good for understanding & resolving issues

9 Can provide information in a constructive nonconfrontational environment

V Same as above

9 Same as above

8 Better to invite them to groupspecific meetings

V Same as above

V Directly affected parties are more motivated to return questionnaires, BUT sampling issues still apply V Likely to be motivated to respond but may not enable specific issues to be dealt with

V May be suitable for providing information but still need individual meetings

V Same as above

8 Not appropriate given the depth of personal interest

V Only suitable if there is a large number of affected property owners.

32

Table key Suitable, worth considering in the context of identified disadvantages Unsuitable, disadvantages outweigh advantages May be worth considering, but care should be taken to minimise disadvantages

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8 Better to invite them to group-specific meetings

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9

Focus groups

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4.5 TIPS FOR PREPARING ENGAGEMENT DOCUMENTS Follow these tips when creating documents to engage the public. This information applies when you are informing the public, as well as when you are consulting and involving the public. Ensure the public can understand your engagement documents. •

Keep engagement documents simple and straightforward; a useful rule of thumb is not more than four A4 pages of combined text, pictures and diagrams in any one document

•

Use plain language, avoid jargon and only use technical terms where necessary (use a glossary if you do)

•

Describe technical concepts clearly and use diagrams where possible

•

Don’t use the whole document to provide technical information

•

Provide a clear context for public engagement, including: o

what the situation is

o

a statement of the problem

o

the process for solving the problem

o

the public’s role in solving it.

Make your engagement documents readily available. •

Make sure people have access to the documents at the start of the engagement

•

Provide the information electronic/internet

•

Display information at public locations – libraries, council offices, community halls

•

When you publicise the availability of the documents choose the publicity channels that will ensure you reach the people you need to engage with

•

Make sure that the costs to the public of participating doesn’t prevent them from doing so

•

Include groups that may otherwise be overlooked (ethnic minorities, disabled people). You may need to make special arrangement to engage with such groups, taking account of their specific communications needs (e.g. language, written versus face-to-face etc).

in

a

variety

of

formats

-

paper/hardcopy,

When you are preparing consultation and involvement documents, be clear about what you’re engaging on. Clearly explain: •

The decision to be made as an outcome of the consultation. Be clear about the aspect of the decision that is being consulted on.

•

The extent of influence the public can expect to have over the decision and why.

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The consultation process, including the deadline, and what the public can expect.

•

The likely impacts of the decision, including benefits, costs and changes, both positive and negative.

•

Any constraints on the decision that could affect solutions – while consultation should be open and no option ruled out, some things may not be able to be changed because of regulatory or legislative requirements so make these ‘givens’ clear.

•

Where public input is required. Pubic input is likely to be more useful to Transit if the public has a clear indication of where to focus their efforts. Who the public should respond to and direct queries to. You should provide a name, address, phone number and email address.

•

Make sure your public feedback/response forms give you the information you need • Make sure your public response/submission forms are designed to allow data to be collected in a way that provides useful information for Transit decision-makers. • Open comment forms are not the most useful. They are difficult to read and summarise usefully. • Use direct questions that will generate responses that will deliver a clear statement(s) about the public’s views. Consider the decision statement and the public’s role in the decision making process when preparing public response questions.

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4.6 TIPS FOR ANALYSING FEEDBACK The following steps will help you collate and analyse engagement feedback. Step one: Finalise the needs of the Transit decision-makers. Review the public input in light of these needs. Step two: Assess the information gathered. • Classify responses by the issues raised by each stakeholder. You need to have carefully analysed these with an open mind before being presenting to the decision maker. Do not simply count votes. • Consider the views and preferences of the public alongside technical, environmental, financial and political considerations. The weighting given to public input needs to be consistent with the level of influence promised to the public in the scoping and planning phases. • Consider the appropriate weight of contributions from representative bodies – depending on who they represent and from whom / how they gained the input into the response. Give particular attention to: o possible new approaches o further evidence of the impacts (costs and benefits and changes) of the preferred option o the strength of feeling among particular groups. Step three: Prepare a report • Present your analysis as simply and succinctly as possible and structure the report to meet decision-maker needs • Include in your report the objectives of the consultation process, a list of the affected stakeholders, the key messages communicated and the method used to collect stakeholder input. Avoid paralysis by analysis Take care to avoid the trap of continually deferring a decision to gather yet more and more information. There is a cost to public engagement and you need to exercise your judgement on whether: • the incremental cost of further engagement will provide information of sufficient value to Transit to justify the cost • whether any additional information will lead to a better decision.

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4.7 TIPS FOR PREPARING & UNDERTAKING EVALUATIONS Using this six-step process will help you evaluate the success of your public engagement:

Step one: Purpose Begin by clarifying the purpose of your evaluation. Possible purposes include any one or a combination of: • providing evidence of a legally defensible community engagement process; • demonstrating (to an external party such as a government auditor) that the engagement process produced sufficient benefits like improved stakeholder relationships or a more informed decision, to justify its cost; • monitoring of Transit staff’s compliance with its Public Engagement Policy and guidelines and that decision-makers are using public input to inform Transit’s decisions; • encouraging learning to improve future public engagement. Step two: Objectives Once your purpose is set, establish your objectives for the evaluation. Possible objectives could focus on: • the process of engagement - whether it was undertaken according to Transit’s policy and guidelines? • the impact of the process on stakeholders - whether they participated in the way you planned, whether the process achieved the public engagement objectives established in the plan? • the outcome of the engagement and whether it enhanced Transit’s decision and Transit’s relationships with its stakeholders? These objectives will provide you with Evaluation Questions e.g. how well have stakeholders been engaged? Step three: Performance Indicators Identify what can be observed or measured that would indicate you have been successful. These are your Performance Indicators e.g. proportion of identified stakeholder groups that attended stakeholder briefings, listening sessions, and deliberative feedback sessions; or percentage of households in Auckland who received the information brochure, read it and understood it. Step four: Set Targets Set realistic targets for each indicator e.g. X% of stakeholders attended meetings; survey in which 60% of Auckland households surveyed said they received the information brochure, 60% of those said they read it, and 60% of those said they understood its contents. Step five: Data Collection Public Engagement Manual – Part 1 Effective date: February 2008

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Consider what data you can gather and how you will gather it during the engagement process. Identify data to be gathered and the data gathering processes. Consider the data sources that currently exist. Consider the cost of gathering data that is not easily available. Try and balance the need for good robust data that will measure important aspects of the process with the cost of gathering it. For example you could use a statistically based survey to find out the level of public satisfaction with the engagement processes. Surveys are robust but expensive ways of measuring outcomes. Consider less expensive methods of data collection, such as: • putting a short feedback questionnaire on chairs at an information night, or workshop session • encouraging every participant to complete the questionnaire and hand it to Transit personnel • taking the time to summarise the information - an easy and relatively low cost way of evaluating the public’s view of an event. Step six: Process data Plan how to process the data so that the results provide answers to evaluation questions. Information created by the analysis may include trends and comparisons or be used to create benchmarks for future engagement processes. Step seven: Interpretation Interpret the information against the success factors for both process and outcomes. Document knowledge obtained, and evaluate how Transit may either modify the current process or undertake its public engagement activities differently in the future. Be careful when interpreting information not to make it say more than it does. Information gained from a small sample of people who are not necessarily representative of all project stakeholders is not evidence of public views. What is useful when interpreting evaluation is to consider whether what you are learning from the evaluation would suggest that the planned public engagement process should be modified, reduced or extended in any way. Useful outcomes include: • making changes to current project plans. • communicating ideas and new learning to others. • recommending changes in templates for the future. • making suggestions for additional training. • developing new engagement methods.

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Step eight: Consider writing an evaluation report An evaluation report on the engagement process could include information on: • the evaluation process • the evaluation questions and their answers resulting from the evaluation work • if the evaluation questions were not answered, some discussion of why with recommendations on what might need to be done differently in order to answer them • what was learned from the evaluation - both positive and negative • whether the public engagement process met it objectives • recommendations for the future projects as a result of what was learned. Recording the evaluation results in a report is a useful way of ensuring that lessons learnt can be communicated throughout the organisation.

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4.8 LESSONS LEARNT FROM TRANSIT-LED ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES Reviews and analysis of Transit led public engagement activities can be found in the following locations: National Office filing system: • B10-1023 Western Ring Route consultation (including “Toll Consultation: Lessons Learnt Review”). • PR2-2011 Review of Consultation Process It is anticipated that information will also be available on Transit’s interchange.

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Part Five: Appendices

PART FIVE: APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: IAP APPROACH TO PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT A definition of public engagement Any process that engages the public in problem solving or decision making and uses public input to make better decisions. International Association for Public Participation (IAP2)

Increasing level of public impact Inform

Consult

Involve

Collaborate

Empower

Goal To provide the public with balanced and objective information to assist them in understanding the problems, alternatives and/or solutions

Goal To obtain public feedback on analysis, alternatives and/or decisions

Goal To work directly with the public throughout the process to ensure that public aspirations, concerns and issues are consistently understood and considered

Goal To partner with the public in each aspect of the decision including the development of alternatives and the identification of the preferred solution

Goal To place final decisionmaking power in the hands of the public

Promise to the public We will keep you informed

Promise to the public We will keep you informed, listen to and acknowledge aspirations, concerns and issues and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision

Promise to the public We will work with you to ensure your aspirations, concerns and issues are directly reflected in alternatives developed and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision

Promise to the public We will look to you for direct advice and innovation in formulating solutions and incorporate your recommendations into the decision to the maximum extent possible. The public has a seat at the decision-making table

Promise to the public We will implement what you decide. The public is supported to make the decision.

Example tools Fact sheets, websites, open houses

Example tools Public comment, focus groups, surveys, public meetings

Example tools Workshops, deliberative polling

Example tools Citizen advisory committees, consensus-building

Example tools Citizen juries, ballots, delegated decisions

Transit’s core focus for the majority of issues and decisions is the Inform and Consult levels

Transit’s occasional focus is at the Involve level when the public has useful information to contribute. Transit is less likely to use the Collaborate and Empower levels.

Source: International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) 2005 4Hwww.iap2.org

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Part Five: Appendices

APPENDIX 2: PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS UNDER THE LAND TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT ACT 2003 & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACT 1991 The objective of Transit under the Land Transport Management Act 2003 (LTMA) is: To operate the State highway system in a way that contributes to an integrated, safe, responsive, and sustainable land transport system. In meeting its objective, Transit must exhibit a sense of social and environmental responsibility, which includes— (a) avoiding, to the extent reasonable in the circumstances, adverse effects on the environment; and (b) taking into account the views of affected communities; and (c) giving early and full consideration to land transport options and alternatives in a manner that contributes to paragraphs (a) and (b); and (d) providing early and full opportunities for the persons and organisations listed in section 15(1) to contribute to the development of its land transport programmes. (Section 77 Land Transport Management Act 2003). Under the LTMA, Transit has a specific obligation to consult on any proposed: • 10-year State Highway Forecast (section 15(1)); • activity likely to affect Maori land, or Maori historical, cultural or spiritual interests (sections 18); • toll roads (section 49); and • concession agreements (section 59). The LTMA sets down specific consultation procedures that apply to the situations listed above. It is important that people understand the consultation principles and the special consultative procedure outlined in Schedule 2 of the LTMA, as failure to adequately consider these provisions may be grounds for judicial review. While the LTMA and Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) do not explicitly require consultation on individual capital and maintenance projects (with the exception of those scenarios listed above), it is good practice, and often considered essential, to undertake project-level consultation under the RMA i.e. to obtain resource consents and designations for state highway activities. The LTMA does not conflict with this approach, and acknowledges that Transit has other consultation obligations e.g. sections 49 and 59.

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One of the leading cases on consultation is Wellington International Airport v Air New Zealand [1991] 1 NZLR 671. This case identified certain key elements of consultation, including: •

consultation is the statement of a proposal not yet fully decided on.

•

consultation includes listening to what others have to say and considering the responses.

•

the consultative process must be a genuine process and not a sham.

•

sufficient time for consultation must be allowed.

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the party obliged to consult must provide enough information to enable the person consulted to be adequately informed so as to be able to make intelligent and useful responses.

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the party obliged to consult must keep an open mind and be ready to change and even start afresh, although it is entitled to have a work plan already in mind.

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consultation is not to be equated with 'negotiation'. The word 'negotiation' implies a process that has as its objective arriving at agreement. However, 'consultation' may occur without those consulted agreeing with the outcome

The Courts will, if necessary, ensure the discretion to consult with appropriate persons/organisations is exercised correctly. The concept of “legitimate expectations” also needs to be borne in mind. Established consultation practice, or specific promises about who will be consulted, or about what will be the subject of consultation, may create "legitimate expectations" which are enforceable 1.

1

The doctrine of legitimate expectation was considered in Te Heu Heu v Attorney-General [1998] NZAR 337. Roberton J stated that the test was: “whether objectively the Council conduct or assurance had created a situation which gave rise to a legitimate expectation as to consultation about matter affecting the mutual interest of the two groups”.

Public Engagement Manual – Part 1 Effective date: February 2008

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